Well, it's officical: I have signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon on October 6th! I can't believe it...

I will still be posting on a regular basis, so you can read all about it here:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/mn/twin13/ckitzenber

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful support and love- you guys helped make this happen :)

We did it! After 4 months of training through the rain, snow and ice, we finally made it to race day! As I write this post, I am watching TV, and thinking about how fun today was.

The race started at 6:30, and we met as a team an hour earlier. I woke up around 4:15 without an alarm, and with a huge pit in my stomach. I was SO nervous, but once I met up with everyone, and we did our mission moment, I was ready to go.

During the race, I remembered and applied all 4 self-chosen rules as best as possible: Start slow, it’s ok to walk if needed, have fun, and remember who you are running for.

I started VERY slow, and was able to maintain a similar pace for the entire time, but still walked when it felt necessary. Coach Vicki and I walked mile 7, which was such a nice way to keep my spirits up, and a good reminder to enjoy the experience. I also took a bunch of pictures of the race itself, mainly because we ran through parts of Minneapolis that I’d never seen before. I loved seeing all the people cheering, and volunteers passing out drinks. Having the TNT cheer stations at miles 6 and 10 were AWESOME! It was so encouraging to see familiar faces and crazy outfits screaming and waving cowbells as I ran by.

Although my feet started hurting at mile 4, and my legs started cramping up at mile 11, this was a run I am so proud to have done. It wasn’t quick, but it was a great stepping stone to running a full, and certainly a humbling experience.

Thank you for all your support, donations, words of encouragement, and words of wisdom. I had so much fun!

The other day, I opened up one of my TNT emails to look at our training schedule, and I realized how fast time has flown! It was such a weird feeling to only see one more month of training on the books. We are quickly approaching race day, and honestly, I never thought running a race like this could be possible. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and have gained a sense of comradery to a team and sport that I thought I left in the pool 6 years ago.

Something that I haven’t addressed in these posts is fundraising. THANK YOU to my friends and family for all your support. Not only have you supported me to help achieve my fundraising goal, you have helped so many others in their struggle with cancer.

To give you an idea how you’ve helped, check this out:

LLS is not federally funded. 78% of all LLS funds go back to Research (23.6%), Patient and Community Service (37.2%), Public Health Education (14.4%) and Professional Education (2.8%). The other 22% of LLS funds go back to Management and General Expenses (8.0%) and Additional Fundraising (14.0%).

To help put that into perspective, these are some things LLS did in 2010:

• Invested $72M into 103 new grants for academic research
• Invested $8M into the LLS Therapy Acceleration Program
• Helped support 347 additional research projects in the US, Canada, and 9 other countries
• Assisted patients with financial support, and family group support nationwide
• Sponsored scientific conferences, and produced educational materials and videos

So, now you can see that every dollar matters, and that your contribution, large or small, has directly impacted more people than you think.

Now, for those who are interested in a different kind of donation, I am hosting a Stella & Dot online trunk show. S&D is a jewelry and accessories line that creates gorgeous and unique pieces anyone can enjoy. 75% of all money made from this show will go back to LLS. You can shop online until June 23 using the link below:

http://www.stelladot.com/ts/wszp5

Thanks everyone, and I’ll be posting one or two more times before race day!

At one of the Wednesday practices, my coach asked me what my connection to TNT was. I told her about a commitment I made to my friend Emily, and how I would run the TC marathon with her and her family in October. As a non-runner, this half would be a good starting point.

As I learned more about TNT, I started becoming more aware of people who had been affected by cancer. I was genuinely surprised at how many people had gone through that battle as a survivor, a family member, or a friend. I am very blessed to have my health, but I started thinking about 2 of my family members who I want to dedicate my race to:

In 1994, my Mom’s sister, tita Annie, passed away from Lung cancer. I wasn’t old enough to fully comprehend the loss of my Aunt, but was very confused as to how she had lung cancer in the first place. She was incredibly healthy, and never smoked a day in her life. How can this happen to someone so ‘textbook’ healthy? I always thought that people who smoked got lung cancer. It still doesn’t make sense to me.

On Dec 1, 2012, my Dad’s dad passed away from deteriorating health due to Alzheimer’s/dementia. My grandpa had been showing signs of deterioration for a while now, so we tried to visit him as much as possible. My friend Sabrina and I were literally in the middle of running the Mustache Run 5K when he passed. It was an odd race because the colors of my mustache hat reminded me of my grandpa, and he was the only thought in my mind for the entire 3.1 miles.

Neither family member lost their life to a blood cancer, but they did lose their lives to sicknesses we don’t have a cure for (yet). The only way I felt helpful in these situations was to be present for my mom and dad, and to be with family. After a while, that helpful feeling started transforming into a feeling of helplessness. Being able to fund research and spread awareness to help find cures for these diseases is so incredibly important, and it is one way I can be helpful in this fight. So, this is why I am running.

As you read this, I urge you to help LLS and/or other organizations who are working toward finding cures for diseases. You may not know who you are saving directly, but know that you are making a huge difference. Thank you to everyone for your support in kind words, donations, and by sharing these efforts with your friends and family.

I’m baaackkk! Never went anywhere, but I’ve missed the last couple weeks of updates. We are halfway through training, which means it is time for the signing of “Recommitment Papers”. At this point, you have the option to discontinue your training if you want to do so. If you decide to continue, you sign these papers and commit to running the race and raise money. Obviously, I recommitted, and am geared up and ready to go!

I remember what the first practice was like: cold, dark and rainy, and I had to stop and walk after mile 1 (of 3). Now, I want more miles!! This experience has been very enlightening in so many ways. I was so freaked out by the idea of running a marathon, and even a half marathon. Now, I am PUMPED to do it! Joining TNT was one of the best decisions I made this year, and I am so thankful I did.

When I got our training schedule for April and May, I was disappointed to see that the longest runs we will have this month are only 8 miles. Come May, we will be running farther, but I really wanted to do that this month. It sounds absolutely crazy, but I love pushing myself to see how far I can go. And I really want to get to double digit mileage.

Recently, my feet started hurting during my runs, so I took a week to focus more on cross training, and run less. As it turns out, I needed new shoes! They were beginning to wear down in specific areas, which were causing a lot of pain. Not only would my feet be swollen after the long runs, but I would be limping around the house due to general pain. No fun. So, I am trying out some new shoes tomorrow and we will see how that goes! I can’t wait to break them in!

I don’t have a mission moment this week, but next week’s post will be dedicated to the people I am running for. Stay tuned!