Eyewitness Account

The 2,501st Running of the Athens Marathon

November 13, 2011

We are finally here!! After almost two years of dreaming, planning, and training, we are waiting for the gun that will mark the start of the 2011 Athens Marathon – the 2,501st running of this marathon! It’s a cold, wet, windy day. The 8,500 people around us are speaking a strange mixture of languages. We are dressed in ponchos and garbage bags and hopping up and down to keep warm. I few brave souls are dressed like hoplite soldiers and Greek music is blaring from a loud speaker somewhere behind us. We are shivering from the cold, wet, windy conditions but mostly we are trembling with anticipation. We are, in fact, almost giddy with excitement and almost cannot control our laughter when we see that the man in front of us has discovered his Gu energy gel has exploded in his back shorts pocket – a very sticky situation!

We may not be wearing Greek hoplite outfits but we have the distinction of being the only participants in Team in Training jerseys! We have a picture of Zachary and his friend Jack (currently in treatment for ALL) on our backs and are ready to go! We have, not only the privilege of running the Athens Marathon, but the privilege of doing it in honor of Zachary, Jack and every other person who has struggled with blood cancer. The gun sounds and we are off! See you at the finish line!!

December 3, 2011

As most of you now know, Crystal, Kim and Debby (me) were successful in our goal! We completed the Athens Marathon in 5 hours and 48 minutes that, while not our best time, was pretty respectable considering the weather, the hill (basically, the first half of the marathon was a slow climb up a never-ending hill!), and the fact that we had no qualms about stopping to take pictures – pictures of the vineyards, the lovely Greek Orthodox churches, the mountainous landscape in the background, the Greek signs and, of course, ourselves running alongside Phidippides (well, his statue!)

As you can probably tell, we had a wonderful time! We saw so many things, met some awesome people (Jess Galloway!) and finished – TOGETHER- in the beautiful, marble Olympic Stadium! Most importantly, we raised almost $15,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society – thanks to all of you!! Our fund-raising page is still open until December 15, so it’s not too late to donate. We want to thank EVERYONE who donated, supported us, and encouraged us along the way. We could NOT have done it without you and we are so grateful. We thank you and Zachary thanks you. GO TEAM!

We are ready to go! Crystal and Debby drove to Woodbridge, VA yesterday and spent the night at Kim's. Today at 6:15 we will board our plane to Greece!!!! And we are SO excited!!Thanks to all our many friends, families, and supporters who have donated to Team Zachary and encouraged us along the way. We couldn't have done it without you. Our goal is, of course, to finish the Athens Marathon and make you all proud. But our ultimate goal is to help put an end to blood cancers so that, in the future, no one will have to endure the challenges of chemotherapy. Won't you please help us towards this end? It is not too late to donate. In fact, you may donate up until December 15th. Give the gift of life! Zachary, this one's for YOU!! GO TEAM!!!

I can not believe it is almost November and 13 days until the marathon. Team Zachary will leave in 9 days to go to Greece.

The Tastefully Simple fundraiser did ok but not as well as I had hoped. The show is still open until the 6th of November so get your orders in if you want anything. I will find out how much will be donated on the 6th.

Thank you to those who have donated over the last few days. We are 43% of the way to our goal as a Team. If there is anything you can donate, even $5, it will help. It is incredible that we are up to $14,152. Thanks again to all those who have donated.

There is so much to do before next Wednesday!!! Pray for us.

Kim

Debby here! I just talked to Kim and Crystal and NONE of us can believe that, in less than one month from today, we will be in ATHENS!!!! Only one month from TOMORROW we will be running the dusty (poetic license!) road between Marathon and Athens - and we cannot wait!!!

Speaking of tomorrow - it is a very special day because it is Kim's birthday! Happy Birthday, Kim! And, speaking of birthdays - last Sunday, October 9th, was also a very special day because it was Crystal's birthday!!! And, if you don't know, it was Crystal's 30th birthday that started all this talk about running the Athens Marathon!!!

We were on a training run and I think the conversation went something like this:

Crystal: "You know, my 30th birthday is next year. What did you do for your 30th?"

Debby: (Trying to remember that far back!!) "I think my family took me to Myabi."

Crystal: "I think I want to run the Athens marathon. Wanna go?"

Debby: "Uh - Sure!"

Crystal: "Athens, Greece - not Georgia."

Debby: "Uh - OK!" long pause . . . "You know . . . we're crazy!"

Crystal: "Yeah, I know - wouldn't have it any other way!"

Debby and Crystal: ~smile~

Training is going well! Crystal and I did our 20 mile run on October 2nd and it was a PERFECT day! Coach Barbara Halpern(she will always be our coach!) ran with us, as she was down from Raleigh for the week-end. Megan Provost (honored hero who just got married - Congrats!! Megan and Peter!!!) ran the first 10 miles with us. Kim got her 20 miler in the week before us and also had a great run! Wish we could've done it with you! Let me tell you, people - it is VERY difficult to run a long run alone - and 20 miles!!! So Kim is really doing awesome! Way to go, Kim!

This week-end, Crystal and I will be driving to Raleigh/Durham where we will be running the Duke Ramblin' Rose Women's Half Marathon with Barbara! That will, thankfully, also serve as our weekly long training run.

The following week Barbara will be back down and she and I will do our last 20 miler on Saturday. I tried to talk Crystal into joining us, BUT she will be doing her MARATHON 12 mile swim in the Charleston harbor on Sunday and felt, rightly so!!, that a 20 mile run the day before this mammoth swim just MIGHT be a bit too much! We will be there Sunday to cheer her on but I will NOT be in that water!! Check it out and give her your support - it is an unbelievable and awesome thing she is doing! www.swimaroundcharleston.com

FInally, I would like to say THANK-YOU to all of our friends, supporters, donors, family members, encouragers and team members out there! Without YOU we never would've dreamed so big, raised so much or trained so hard. We still have a long way to go with the fund-raising but we know the money is going to keep coming in! Please consider making a donation - any amount is appreciated! Remember and honor the MANY blood cancer victims and survivors and together let's put an end to blood cancers!

Hey, Zachary!! This one's for YOU!!!!

It is Saturday, the 24th of September and this past week has been difficult. I found out a couple of days ago that the son of a fellow coach at the school I coach for was diagnosed with ALL. The child is 2. Zachary was 18 months. I have been in this person's shoes and I know what the family is going through. With life as busy as it has been for me recently this news made me stop and think. In 2005, we were getting the same news this family just received and there are families that get the news every day. Their lives will never be the same. It is time we found a cure! Help us find one. Please donate. This has got to stop. $5, $10, $15...anything. I know times are tough for everyone with the economy but think about what this family just got dealt. Can you imagine? God bless.

Thank you to all who have donated. You all are my heroes. Thank you again!