To all my supporters:
I just wanted to say thank you one more time for all the encouragement and support you gave. Well I finally crossed that ultimate finish line and reached not only my fundraising goal but raised $2300+ and experienced again what it feels like to complete a marathon. The feeling was different this time because I had two other teammates with me who I had been mentoring through out the season and to see them finish was even better. I don’t think I would have done as well as I had with out Gabby and Peter running with me.
The night before the marathon, me and my teammates received a heroes welcome once again this year and where greeted by hundreds of coaches who clapped and shouted for joy for what we all were about to do the next morning. It was so amazing and breath taking and I still got emotional as I did last year with what I saw and felt that evening.
On October 19th I woke up and ran a 26.2 mile race with 20,000+ other women and finished in 4 hours and 44 minutes. I beat my last year’s time by a whole hour and I still can’t believe I did it. The first 15 miles were fun and challenging but once I reached mile 16 I hit the wall and had a major cramp in the middle of my torso and the cramp never went away. There were times in the race when I had to stop and kneel on the ground due to the pain the cramp was causing. Each time I kneeled I was praying for some relief and once I looked up and saw all the runners pass by I started to run again. I knew I had to keep going because most of us who were running were doing it for others and not ourselves. At mile 24 and during many other miles we had people from our team such as coaches and mentors to run by our side and give us words of encouragement. I was feeling really hurt and wanted to stop but I pushed on and concentrated on the memory of my sister and all of the people who I dedicated the miles to and the research this marathon was going to benefit.
At mile 26 I was ready to be done and looked back for my running partners and said “let’s finish this” we gave all we had and ran for the finish. I reached for Gabby’s hand and once we saw the finish I said “let’s finish together” we held hands with Peter next to us and crossed the line. Once I crossed my legs were ready to fall apart as I reached for the beautiful Tiffany’s finisher necklace I nearly took down the fire fighter. I was so shaky I nearly knocked down the tray holding the necklaces. The fire fighter moved a step back and said with a laugh and smile “congratulations on finishing your marathon”. I got my necklace and headed towards my brother and boyfriend Scott for my long awaited hugs!
This event raised 18 million dollars and more towards research in the fight against blood cancers. You all helped to reach this goal so be proud to be apart of this.
Many have asked what keeps me going and there are two things that kept me going during this race. First is always the memory of my sister Alex and second the verse from Isaiah 40:31 “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint”. This verse was repeated in my head the whole race along with my sister’s memory. I hope to do this again next year and get an even faster time!
Thank you for helping me do something so amazing!
I just wanted to say thank you one more time for all the encouragement and support you gave. Well I finally crossed that ultimate finish line and reached not only my fundraising goal but raised $2300+ and experienced again what it feels like to complete a marathon. The feeling was different this time because I had two other teammates with me who I had been mentoring through out the season and to see them finish was even better. I don’t think I would have done as well as I had with out Gabby and Peter running with me.
The night before the marathon, me and my teammates received a heroes welcome once again this year and where greeted by hundreds of coaches who clapped and shouted for joy for what we all were about to do the next morning. It was so amazing and breath taking and I still got emotional as I did last year with what I saw and felt that evening.
On October 19th I woke up and ran a 26.2 mile race with 20,000+ other women and finished in 4 hours and 44 minutes. I beat my last year’s time by a whole hour and I still can’t believe I did it. The first 15 miles were fun and challenging but once I reached mile 16 I hit the wall and had a major cramp in the middle of my torso and the cramp never went away. There were times in the race when I had to stop and kneel on the ground due to the pain the cramp was causing. Each time I kneeled I was praying for some relief and once I looked up and saw all the runners pass by I started to run again. I knew I had to keep going because most of us who were running were doing it for others and not ourselves. At mile 24 and during many other miles we had people from our team such as coaches and mentors to run by our side and give us words of encouragement. I was feeling really hurt and wanted to stop but I pushed on and concentrated on the memory of my sister and all of the people who I dedicated the miles to and the research this marathon was going to benefit.
At mile 26 I was ready to be done and looked back for my running partners and said “let’s finish this” we gave all we had and ran for the finish. I reached for Gabby’s hand and once we saw the finish I said “let’s finish together” we held hands with Peter next to us and crossed the line. Once I crossed my legs were ready to fall apart as I reached for the beautiful Tiffany’s finisher necklace I nearly took down the fire fighter. I was so shaky I nearly knocked down the tray holding the necklaces. The fire fighter moved a step back and said with a laugh and smile “congratulations on finishing your marathon”. I got my necklace and headed towards my brother and boyfriend Scott for my long awaited hugs!
This event raised 18 million dollars and more towards research in the fight against blood cancers. You all helped to reach this goal so be proud to be apart of this.
Many have asked what keeps me going and there are two things that kept me going during this race. First is always the memory of my sister Alex and second the verse from Isaiah 40:31 “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint”. This verse was repeated in my head the whole race along with my sister’s memory. I hope to do this again next year and get an even faster time!
Thank you for helping me do something so amazing!
