UPDATES:

9/23/11: And the winner of the Panera Bread giveaway is.......

STEPHANIE MULLENIX!!!!

Congrats Steph and thank you for your donation! Thank you to everyone who helped me reach my fundraising goal yet again. I am so thankful for everyone in my life and I am so lucky to be able to do great things for such a great cause!

9/16/11: There's still one week left to make a donation and enter your name in to win FREE Panera Bread for a YEAR! Make your donation today! :)

9/6/11: Just to re-cap what I've already written on my personal blog, we recently found out my dad has non-hodgkin's lymphoma. I started working at LLS and even participated in TNT before I had any personal connection to blood cancers. Now that my own father is battling the disease, it has reinforced my urgency to raise this money so we can put it to good use. What started as a way to make a living and also get in shape turned into a mission to help my father. Please help me reach my fundraising goal because this just got personal. Thank you for your support!

8/27/11: Have I told you all how much I love Panera Bread? Well, if I haven't, I am telling you now: I love Panera Bread! And not only because they have delicious food. They have donated to my fundraising efforts and I am now raffling that donation off to you fine people!Each $10 donation enters your name to win 1 dozen bagels and 1 coffee tote once a month for a year!!! It's a $310 value, but all I'm asking for is $10! So, if you donate $10, your name will be entered once, $20, it will be entered 2 times, etc. The name will be chosen and announced on Friday, September 23. Thanks in advance and good luck!! :)

8/26/11: Over the weekend, my dad found a lump in his neck and spent all day Sunday at the ER because of it. He already goes to a blood oncologist, Dr. Blair, who works very closely with LLS, because of enlarged lymph nodes in his liver that were discovered while I was training for my first half with TNT this past spring. Well, it looks like there's now an enlarged lymph node in his neck that is causing Dr. Blair some concern so my dad is having a biopsy on the lump on Tuesday. I'm getting nervous and am hoping the results are not serious.

This most recent health concern only reinforces the importance of the money I'm raising both through my work on Pennies for Patients and also through my training and fundraising for TNT. I never thought when I started working here that I would have a personal connection to a blood cancer and that I would make it my career to try to help people like my dad.

8/14/11: I had a GREAT race! I was so worried about this race this morning because I felt like I hadn't prepared and that I was going to struggle through it. Boy, was I off! I felt great the whole time and was able to hit my goal, which was to finish under 2 hours, 10 minutes. My official time was 2 hours, 7 minutes, so I knocked 7 minutes off my last race time! I really can't believe it was as smooth as it was. It really helped that I ran with a friend who kept me from slowing down.

At the end, someone asked me, "so in the fall, you know you're going to have to do double that...right?" and it really didn't sound good. I think I'm going to switch to the half for Columbus instead of doing the full because, let's be honest, 26.2 miles is a long freaking way and I don't think I will enjoy it as much as I do my half marathons. Maybe if I take some time off, I can start training for a full, but with two half marathons under my belt, I am looking forward to getting a third by the end of the year.

Our roadblock yesterday went well too! I'm not sure how much we made but we collected a lot of dollar bills. We ask for change but we really appreciate the bills! The money collected at each intersection will be divided among 10 people. Hopefully we raised enough to get me to 50% of my goal! I have until September 10 to get all the money in and that date is approaching quickly!

8/12/11: I have a BIG TNT weekend coming up! Tomorrow, I'm participating in a roadblock, standing on the corner of an intersection collecting donations from passers-by, in my glorious hometown of Upper Arlington, from 9am-2pm. My roadblock-mates and I will be at two intersections: Northwest Blvd & Zollinger and Reed & Fishinger. Everyone collects money and the total amount collected is split evenly among the roadblockers: teamwork at its best!

Then, of course, my second half is on Sunday morning. I'm not hoping for any time in particular; I just want to run the whole thing. It seems like the weather has broken and it's not Africa hot anymore, which is REALLY awesome! There's a chance of showers but I don't mind running in the rain...as long as it isn't snowing, I'm good!

So, if you're in the UA area tomorrow, feel free to drop some money in our buckets! Or, if you'd rather not waste money on gas, feel free to donate online. That's always an option :) Thanks everyone!

8/3/11: My second half is in 12 days!!! Then the next race is Columbus! I signed up for the Ultra-fit Half, which is on August 14, the day after Cap City because I wanted to keep my momentum going and I can't believe it's almost here! It is also what would be my mom's 60th birthday so it has extra significance for me.

Help me get to 50% of my goal by August 15!!!! That is the date that I am re-commiting to TNT meaning there is no turning back. Thanks in advance!!! :)

7/25/11: Well my training isn't going as smoothly this time around as it did for Cap City. I'm feeling very overhwelmed because I'm having trouble finding the time to get my miles in. I've had something going on almost every weekend in July, plus I'm moving next weekend, so I feel like all my free time is spent packing. I'm just trying to get through this half marathon on August 14 and then I think I'll be able to follow the training schedule more. I just want to get two more longish runs in before the half but the trouble is finding the time to do those. Hopefully I'll be able to buckle down here and get this show on the road! I'm determined to run the full in the fall; everyone keeps telling me that I can always just "do the half" or that I can "walk some of the full" but I've set this full marathon goal and I want to complete it!

I'm feeling a little better about my fundraising, which has been my biggest concern over training. I've received a few more donations from my letters and have a fundraiser planned for August 13. I'm hoping I can do one more fundraiser plus find some more generous friends out there with a few dollars to spare to get me to my goal ;) Any and all donations are greatly appreciated!! To be continued...

7/14/11:I ran with the team for the first time in a long time tonight and it was fantastic! I hardly remember it because I was chatting with my old friend Nicki the whole time. I also realized that I will be running my second half marathon in one month from TODAY! I signed up for it literally the day after Cap City and I can't believe it's almost here!

The race is on August 14, which would be my mom's 60th birthday. I'm going to run it as a tribute to her because I know she would be so proud of my efforts so far if she were here. I've worked really hard to get to this point and I'm just hoping I can get through the full without injuring myself or, ya know, passing out. Fingers crossed!!

6/1/11:The year's almost half over! Where has the time gone?! I've officially been back to running regularly for 6 months! It's crazy how fast it all goes by. However, I have to admit, it doesn't seem to go by that quickly on those days where it's a struggle to get the miles in. I'm glad I'm only doing 4-5 miles until mid-June. The excitement is building for the longer runs to push myself and see how well I do. I'm trying to beat my Cap City time (2:14:31) when I do the half in August but for now, I don't really have a goal time for the full. As long as I finish, I'll be happy!

I'm still fundraising for the full and can use all the help I can get on that front! Even if you just donate $5, that is enough to cover the cost of sending a newly diagnosed patient a packet which includes information about their specific disease and support. As I always say on my own LLS campaign, Pennies for Patients, every penny counts!! Thanks in advance for your support!

5/15/11:Another great run with the Team this morning! The rain held off until we were done too, which was nice (mad props to capital H-I-M.) We only ran 4 miles; I feel like I can do more but the coaches assure us that we need to start low and not get too excited and over-do it. I don't want any injuries and/or issues for this one so I'll do what they say! I added some pictures from Cap City-looking at them makes me that much more excited for October!

5/12/11: Well, yesterday was the first HOT run I've been on. The heat defintely makes a difference; I felt like I needed some water after a mile. I did 5 miles and it was still at a 10-minute-mile pace but I felt like I was going soo slowwww. Hopefully tonight's run with TNT will feel better. My first team that I managed was Cap City last year (2010) and that's when I started running again. I would run with three participants, Sarah, Nicki, and Kelley, but I haven't seen them since I started working on the Pennies for Patients campaign. I just found out Sarah and Nicki are doing the Columbus Full with TNT! I can't wait to reunite with my old running buddies!!

I'm baaaack! I had SUCH a great experience at Cap City, I decided to take the plunge and sign up for my second TNT event, the Columbus FULL Marathon on October 16, 2011. Since my dad is still in the "wait and watch" stage of his lymphoma, I figured I would continue to do my part to try and find a cure. I also wanted to challenge myself to running the full marathon because I've rediscovered my love of running and want to keep it up! Plus, the support I received from my donors (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU) and TNT at Cap City is pretty much how I got through that race and I can't imagine doing a full with out my purple people around me! Double the distance, double the fun...right?!

Please help me reach my fundraising goal while I train to reach my running goal. We never know which dollar will be the dollar that finds the cure!

Thanks for your continued support! To be continued...