Yes, we are all done Hank.

From sassy in the morning...

To happy at noon...

(After getting through the final mile saying the names of our kids, our loved ones and those we were honoring with our run, over and over.)

This is how it felt to finish that race. Thousands of dollars raised, hundreds of miles on our legs, it came down to this. We couldn't have been more thrilled to have had this experience. Thank you.

What's next..

not quite as in, "What will they think of next?" TNT Barbie -- She does kind of look like me though, right?

(This was actually a doll made by a woman across the country to raise money for TNT-LLS. Very cool.)

What's next...

could also refer to the constant thought going through my head the whole time training..."What's next? What's next?" 5K PR, 10K PR, then my half-marathon PR (1:54:39 thanks! @ Madison pic below:

and then there was the full marathon PR (4:00:16 - yay! but, darn port-a-potty stop, I could have gone sub-4!) @the Quad Cities a couple weeks ago, pic below:

Boy, marathon training has been great for my races along the way!!

What's next...

more importantly, could refer to "Who's next?" It could be any of us. It was my high school friend Lori and, for those of you who have donated and shared your amazing stories with me (thank you), it was your friends and family. Recently, my sister Lauren wrote to me, sharing a story about her lifelong friend Bailey, who was recent diagnosed with lymphoma. (Donations can be made to Bailey, by the way, @ www.donationto.com/believeforbailey. Please consider a donation to Bailey if you have already donated to TNT and are looking for more ways to give.) I will be thinking of Lori, the friends and family members of donors, and Bailey when we are out there running.

Ah ha!

What's definitely next...

THE MARATHON...NIKE WOMEN'S MARATHON IS SUNDAY!!!

I'll be there with my sister running by side, my family cheering for us at the end (including my BRF Hank in his TNT-LLS outfit.) Can't wait!! Updates on how Wittsle and I are doing will be available on Facebook and through NWM via our bibs. Check us out! Cheer us on! Consider a last-minute donation! I have made my minimum, but would love to give TNT just a little more!

I thought it might be nice to anwer a few FAQs now and then. This FAQ is the #1 question I get asked in life, especially when people open their eyes wide when they hear I have four kids, work and run, well, quite a bit. I feel like I am hearing it more and more often -- from family, friends and co-workers. This question even recently came up at a luncheon organized by the female psychiatry residents and faculty...the faculty answers are the same as what I'll give here, so I know I am not alone. This is just how it is.

First off, "I don't."

Exhibit A: Mt. Laundry...There it is, in all its' glory. Occasionally we'll conquer it as a family (see my second response to this FAQ below), but mostly it looks like this, or maybe slightly better. This room is supposed to be my home office...and I am sure someday it will be. For now though, being with my kids, working, running, occasionally helping at school and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society are taking precedence. I won't die wishing I had folded more laundry, but I would regret moments lost with my children and not setting the example of attempting to balance family, a meaningful career helping others, being physically active and volunteerism. I have plenty of other "piles" in my life...you don't need a photo of all of them, but you can just imagine what my desk at work, desk at home, closet, and well, any surface I come near might look like...

Second, "I get by with little help from my fam."

Here we see the use of "child labor" -- first, my little helpers at the grocery store buying the makings for pumpkin bars for some of our on-line donors and second, my post office crew, stamping and decorating the donation letters that many of you recently received. THAT is how it gets done! We all chip in because, well, that's what you do for family.

Speaking of family, that is one of the ways running fits into our busy family life. Family members are wonderful occasional sitters, as are teenage neighbors, and college-age daycare providers (past and present!) My husband and I both run marathons, so we have to be especially resourceful and running dates are far better than movie dates (though I would like to see Hangover 2.) Running works at 5:30 AM with a sleeping baby in the jogger (when the other spouse is likely on the treadmill.) It can also be a welcome break in the work day. My favorite recent strategy is what I now call "passing the kid baton" running -- one of us runs to a destination that we need to be at anyway (e.g. the swimming pool), the other sets out slightly later with the car and a subset of kids, we meet, "pass the kid baton" and the second runner sets off for home while the first runner drives all the kids home (batons and swimmers) and starts dinner.

So, bottom line -- you can't do it all (and even the things you do are often less than perfect), but you can get more done if you work with your family and are a little creative.

Two years ago my sister and I decided we would run the Nike Women's Marathon with Team in Training to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Back then, it just seemed like a good thing to do. Why not run an awesome marathon and raise lots of money for an awesome cause ($3200 to be exact) while we run our households and raise kids?!

I wasn't thinking about someone in particular whose life this could impact -- I like to forget that gals my age can get sick. That's typical for the invincible mindset of teenage girls, maybe like a few I knew in the backseat of a hatchback on their way to Hempstead High. That's how I knew my friend Lori, back in our big hair days.

Now my hair is greying and Lori's is, well, falling out. I hate this -- gals my age do get sick. In January she was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin's Lymphoma. As anyone can tell from her blog (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lorischmitt), she is as funny and sassy as ever, as she goes through this fight. Like me and my sister -- she is a mother, a wife and TOUGH! (I better watch out on the race course -- she's talking about running a 10K when this is all over.)

For the giveaway in Lori's honor, I will bake her favorite, pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, and send them to individuals donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at the $25 dollar level and up. If you donate to Lori's benefit as well (checks can be made to the "Lori Schmitt Benefit Fund" and sent to: c/o Dupaco Community Credit Union; 3299 Hillcrest; Dubuque, IA 52001), you get a double batch!

Donating is easy! Visit http://pages.teamintraining.org/ia/nikesf11/rkopelman and click "Donate Now". To be eligible for a double batch, leave a comment under the April giveaway entry on my Team in Training site indicating that you also donated to Lori. You have until May 22nd!

Lori has been on what she calls the "chemo and puke diet" -- enjoy some pumpkin bars for her!

Me & Quinn 2010 (Hank hidden from view)

Today I ran a personal best, this time in the 10K (52:50, 53:09 gun time), at a run that has come to have a lot of meaning for me. Last year, I crossed the finish line when I was 36+ weeks pregnant, with my then 9 year old son, Quinn, at my side. Running, and maybe a little positive thinking, had gotten me through some bumps in 2009-10, and this race was a bit of a book-end for all that last year. I'd say that training in 2011 is going well and I am certainly picking up speed as I make my way to NWM in October. As I raced today, I thought back on the past year, but mostly I was trying to think positively to get myself to a fast (for me anyway) finish in my beloved River Run.

The race: My left leg is always heavy between miles 1-2 and I reminded myself..."this will pass." As my quads burned at mile 4.5 (a new feeling for me) I told myself, "well, I am sure it doesn't mean I am injured and it probably means I am doing a good job. I can do this." Then, as my legs began to feel fatigued -- especially that darn left one -- at 5.7, I thought, "Only 0.5 left. I can hold on!" I was proud of myself and know that my thinking carried me steadily to the finish. I am a believer in the power of positive thinking. Given my job (part-med provider part-therapist), it makes sense. I thought, "What a neat entry for my TNT page that might be...making a parallel to the power of positive thinking in the cancer literature." While I wound I doing a nice review of psycho-oncology on a Sunday evening, what I found surprised me.

There is very limited evidence to suggest that positive thinking or coping style has a marked impact on outcomes for cancers in general...and there is little research specific to leukemia and lymphoma. What I thought would make a heart-warming type entry instead reminded me of one of the reasons I am running this race and asking friends and families to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. There is no cure...and positive thinking alone will not get us there. We need more research -- including in the interface with my own field of psychiatry.