My cousins Ashleigh and Linsdey with me (center) after finishing our first 1/2 marathon with TNT! Together, we raised just over $8000 for blood cancer research!

All in honor of Nicole.

What an experiene! I can now officially say I have trained for, and finished, my very first half-marathon......and raised just over $4000 for blood cancer research! I am blown away! Wow. Just wow.

It was not easy, but it was worth it!

The entire time I was fundraising and training my sister, Nicole, was in and out of hospitals for her Leukemia treatments. I had to balance being a caregiver for her little boy, fundraising, training for the big run, and maintaining my own health in the middle of the emotional rollercoaster that comes with a cancer diagnosis. It's been tough.

Then, just for fun, my knee decided that it didn't want to play nice anymore and started bothering me. After talking with the running coaches, I did what they suggested to prepare for race day. Felt good going into the race. But before I even finished the first mile, my knee started acting up again.

At mile one, I had a choice to make: keep going, or quit because of injury.

At the beginning of the year when Nicole came out of remission within six weeks she had a choice to make: keep going, or quit because Leukemia is so agressive and her odds weren't so good.

We both chose to keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Every mile or so when my knee started hurting more, I made the choice again to keep going. Every time Nicole's bone marrow biopsy results come back showing the Leukemia is still there, she makes the choice again to keep going. This just goes to prove the point on one of TNT's training T-shirts that says "If you think training is tough, try chemotherapy!"

With Nicole as my inspiration, I kept going. I stopped a lot to stretch and ice my knee, but I kept going. And along the way, I met some pretty cool people that I would not have met otherwise.

One man I met is a 6-year Lymphoma survivor. He started back running after his treatments. He is also 70 years old. Way to go!!!

Another lady I met is a 10-year AML survivor -- the same type of Leukemia Nicole is fighting. I walked at least a mile with her as we shared stories and experiences. Very inspiring!

Nicole says Asheigh, Lindsey and I are her heroes for participating in TNT, but she is the one who is an inspiration and a hero to me. Thinking of her kept me going. And after a little break to heal my knee, I will keep going too. More fundraising, more running, more training. My sister is worth it.

I love you, Nicole! You are a beautiful picture of strength and perserverance when life is tough. Even though you were my "honored hero" for TNT, I am the one who is honored to have run and raised research money for you. I can't wait for they day when you join TNT's survivor team and we do this together. Keep fighting, girl. I'm with you all the way!

It's almost time for my half-marathon event with TNT!!!! Just three more days and all my training will have to back me up to finish 13.1 miles....... I'll admit, I'm a little nervious, but geting super excited too! Wow. Who would have ever thought I'd do something like this.

As my run draws near, I'm also thinking a lot about why I even signed up for this in the first place...... My sister, Nicole, is my inspiration. She has been fighting Leukemia for almost a year now. Talk about an endurance event! I've got nothing to complain about sore muscles after a long run compared to what she's dealing with.

It is my sincere hope that the money I have raised while training for this half-marathon will benefit patients like Nicole through much needed research. Nicole is still trying to get into remission. I'm sure other patients are too. If helping fund luekemia research will help the doctors find a way to get patients into remission then every bit of work I've done raising money is worth it!

Even though my run is almost here, it is never too late to donate! I'd love to break $4000. Will you help? Any donation amount is treasured. No amount is too big, or too small.

As far as Nicole's treatments go, today she is at Duke starting a new chemo drug fresh out of clinical trials. Research made this new drug possible. Donations like yours, and thousands of others, have helped make the research possible. We are praying this new drug gets Nicole into remission so she can finally have her bone marrow transplant. She's had a donor avaliable since May, but hasn't been in remission since then to have her life-saving transplant.

Will you help save a life today? Donate towards reasearch. Donate blood or platelets. Register on the marrow donor list. Or do all three. =)

Wish me luck on Nov. 5th as I run my best endurance to finish 13.1 miles. But more important than all the rest, say a prayer for Nicole and other patients liker her. They need strength and endurance for their race to life too.

Just two more weeks until my big run with Team In Training! I'm getting nervous and excited and, and, and...... Training for this half marathon has been quite the undertaking! However, it's nothing compared to my sister's struggle with Leukemia.

The easiest part about all this??? The fundraising. A huge thank you to everyone who helped me meet my inital goal, plus some! As Nicole continues to baffle the doctors by not responding to the chemo as they expect, I'm becoming more and more aware of how necessary it is to fund cancer research. Somebody's research in the past helped get us where Nicole is today. Continued research will help us find better treatments and hopefully a cure! If not for Nicole (oh Lord, please let it be so!!!), then for someone else's sister, mother, daughter, wife..........

Please consider a donation to help fund cancer research. No amount is too small. Help make a difference in someone's life. I know I've already met my goal, but I'd love to double, or even tripple the amout of money going to blood cancer research in my sister's honor. Please consider making a donation.

Please continue to pray for Nicole, her husband Michael, and son Nathaniel. Pray for our whole family as we face this fight together.

Please pray for a cure. Bottom line, that's what we need.

Tonight was fun! The Chick-Fil-A on Bush River Road in Columbia very graciously agreed to host a fund raiser for my TNT fundraising efforts. A fellow TNT member, Kristina Hardesty, and I got the word out with the help of another friend, Melissa Munn, who just rocks with putting gether press releases and event pages on FaceBook, etc. We also had some friends from local news and radio stations show up to help with the fun.

In addition to the 10% of evening sales that CFA is donating, customers made additional donations, totaling near $150. One that stands out the most is a man who handed me some folded bills, refused a tax receipt, and walked away before I realized he'd just donated $60.

The CFA cow was a big hit, as usual. Cow even made a donation of his own and posed for lots of pictures...........he's such a ham! (pun intended)

Can't sleep, so I might as well update this site.....especially since it has been a while.

My running is going well. Did 9 miles by myself the other week. Should be ready for 13.1 in another month! =)

The fundraising is going well. Just finished another fundraiser with Moe's Southwest Grill. Waiting to get the final tally from that. A big thanks to my friend Bryan Dunleavy for helping get the fundraiser going. By the way, since being my friend, he has been promoted to District Manager for Moe's. How 'bout that! Be friends with me and good things happen to you! ;-)

Fundraising for blood cancer research is very important to me. The results of research is what has gotten my sister, Nicole, this far in her treatments. But we need more.

Nicole's last two bone marrow biopsies - both following very intense rounds of chemo - have not shown any improvement in her blast counts. She cannot go to transplant until her blast counts are below 5%. The doctors don't know why she isn't responding. We need a miracle. Please keep Nicole in your prayers.

And we need more research! If not for Nicole's sake, for the next patient, and the next, and the next....... No donation amount is too small. Help fight against blood cancers. Make a donation today!