Here we are at the starting line, getting ready to go! My pals are Gloria (peeking through the middle) and Rosemary (to the right). Rosemary and I stayed together through the whole grueling race.

Gloria is a cancer survivor. Meeting her several months ago gave me a bigger reason to complete this journey. She had benefitted from the services of LLS, and she was alive and fighting for other people now. She's an amazing woman, and I am proud to call her a friend. She'll be mentoring the next group as they train for the winter season of races.

Race day was strange. We had to be up and ready to go while it was still dark out. Luckily, we were on east coast time, so it wasn't as trying as I anticipated. I slept pretty well the night before, and I was as ready as I was going to be. It was very cold that morning, and I had bought a sport hoodie the night before, just in case. I kept it on almost the entire race. There was a whole lot of waiting around till we were finally allowed to go. (It was a lot like a TV shoot, actually. Hurry up and wait.)

It was foggy and chilly the whole time. We were told that we'd been going past a beautiful view of the ocean and Golden Gate, but all we could see was fog and the steep hills coming before us. At mile 3, my NY cheering squad (Alana, Liz, and Merri) showed up, and I was delighted to see them shouting loudly with signs and everything!

Mile 10 for me was the worst. It was straight uphill through a beautiful neighborhood, but I was feeling defeated at that point. Luckily Coach Barb showed up and did that mile with us. We also got Luna bars at that mile, which helped a bit as well. Rosemary was a big source of strength as well. We powered through and finished together.

It was a great relief to see my cheering squad reappear at the finish line, and next to them, I saw my west coast friends as well. They made me stop and pose for pics, and I was happy to do so. I picked up my Tiffany's necklace at the finish, and then it was all done. What a relief! And what a sense of accomplishment.

I could not have made this journey without your support and well wishes and encouragement. So for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This experience has changed my life, especially meeting cancer survivors, who have battled a lot worse than a 13.1 mile race. Thank you thank you thank you.

With love,

Manashi

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Race day is finally here. On Sunday, in San Francisco, I will be participating in my first half marathon race! I am thrilled to have trained for this event for the better part of this year. It's given me strength and confidence that I never knew I had inside me.

My last group practice was on Saturday. It felt great to be trekking with these people who have all worked hard and raised so much money to fight cancer together. I feel ready for the event on Sunday, and I am proud of myself and my team for working towards this cause.

We have raised more than $1 million at this point, and I must heartily thank all of you for helping us to get to that number! My friends and family are THE BEST. Love you all, and please send your good vibes my way on Sunday morning!

This week my group did shorter mileage to prepare those team members that are running in the Hamptons event on 9/28. Clearly I've been sniffing too much sunscreen lately, because I saw eight miles listed on the training schedule and thought to myself, "Hooray! We have an easy run this time." Ahem.

We walked over the George Washington Bridge from Manhattan into New Jersey's gorgeous Palisades Park. It was downhill most of the way there, so you can guess what the return trip was like.

This was the base of the park, where we turned around and headed uphill all the way back home to Manhattan. We also had an amazing water stop provided by the head coach Christine and her adorable family. They had all kinds of goodies for people to imbibe and nosh on, and they raised a fair amount of cash for LLS. Go team!

These cliffs are on the New Jersey side of the Hudson, and the park's main road curves around them in a very picturesque way. (Did I mention it was uphill all the way back? We had to get to the top of those cliffs and then some to get back on the bridge.)

I couldn't get a great shot of myself under the GWB thanks to the angle of the sun at that hour, but you can tell that it was a beautiful day to make this journey. No humidity and high 60s all the way.

That's Manhattan over there!

Again, I'm ending this write-up with some bridge structure pics. (I am my civil engineer father's daughter. I adore bridges.) Till next week!

Last Sunday morning (ON VACATION, NO LESS), I geared up to run with the Westside TNT group out in Santa Monica, CA. So Jena and I finally had a trial round before our big race next month. She is kicking butt at training, and she left me in the dust with the walkers while she did her 11 minute miles. I met some lovely people out there, and I'm excited that I'll know some other familiar faces on race day.

This team does not mess around. They have friendly coaches, supportive mentors, and amazing water stops which supplied water, various types of sports drinks, pretzels, pringles, gummy bears, and salt packets. I learned about the value of using salt pills, and I even networked with a couple of women who work in my industry.

We logged nine miles that morning, and I didn't have my phone on me to take pictures as we ran/walked along the beautiful California coastline into the quaint Brentwood neighborhood. But I had an incredible time with this fabulous west coast team that made me instantly feel as if I'd belonged with them them whole time.

This experience is becoming quite fun, and nobody is more suprised than I am about that!

I actually ran/walked over to Randall's Island from my apartment on Sunday. This is the view from Randall's of Manhattan.

I did this by myself, in an effort to stay on top of the miles that my group was slated to do on Saturday. My group was supposed to do 8-10 miles, so I aimed for nine. I am proud to announce that I did complete it, even if I did stop to take some photos along the way.

I made it to the base of the Hell Gate bridge and then had to turn around because the path didn't go all the way around the island as I'd anticipated. As a civil engineer's daughter, I've always been fascinated with bridge architecture, and the view of these two important connectors really made the trek an amazing one.

I even learned where all the Indians and Europeans hang out on the weekends. Cricket and football games were all over the fields out there. Good scenery indeed!