My Fundraising Page

RACE Day!

January 25, 2009

We did it! We finished the race today and here are the statistics:

Finishing time: 4 hours 39 minutes

Pace: 10.39

I placed 474 of all women (951)

"We" is all of you - my donors - who ran with me today.

It was a beautiful day today, termperature perfect for a marathon - 54 degrees at the start warming to 68 with a light breeze,...amazing.

The alarm went off at 4am in order to get to the starting area to meet the team at 5pm. The American Airlines Arena was the start and they were kind enough to open the facility for the facilities ...if you know what I mean - very useful and kept me off the port-o-lets the entire race...ok, more info than you may want to know but a very important thing for the racers - ha!

The course was gorgeous! Over the McCarthur Causeway to Miami Beach with beach and ocean views and amazing panoramas of the MIami skyline.

My cheer team - parents and friends who came from out of town raced around town themselves through closed roads and lack of parking but still met me at three points on the course and helped me with chapstick and Gu (carbohydrate gel) to keep me going and the spectators where amazing...uplifting all the racers the entire way with cheers and signs, water and Gatorade.

My stomach turned inside out and my entire abdomen cramped up at mile 19 and stayed that way until mile 25...and as painful as it was - I remember what team member Mike told me at the start of the race - his 5 year old son Dominic has been battling Leukemia for 2 years - that the pain of a marathon race is nothing compared to daily chemotherapy. Dominic kept me going.

I was hoping to finish in under 5 hours and was surpised to make a better time than expected - I out-ran all the young 20-something members of our team....and how they let an old lady like me beat them...? Don't know but I'm feeling pretty good about it. hahaha.

Thank you all for your sponsorship, it is extremely important to all those who suffer from blood cancer. TNT truly makes a difference for them and has increased survival rates from 60 - 85% through drugs they have financed the development for.

I'm going to lay down. HA but wanted to write this quick update before crashing...more soon.

Thank you again for being part of this amazing day and important cause.

Love! xoxo

Susan

Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

It is New Year's Day and I have 25 more days until the Marathon!

This past Sunday, my champion and sister Jill hopped on her bike with a heavy backpack filled with Gatorade, Gel and layers of my cold weather gear to accompany me on the peak of my training - the 20 mile run. She did this despite a busy family Christmas week, loads of work, and her back that went out the week before... The location was the beautiful White Rock Lake near Dallas with hundreds of other runners, bikers and walkers who greeted us warmly with typical Texas hospitality. Phew, I made it. Yippee. !! The feeling of accomplishment is intoxicating! I highly recommend that all of you to train and run a race at least once in your lifetime - you will be so glad you did!

Once again thank you to all who are sponsoring this event and supporting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The LLS is an amazing organization that has seriously made a difference with research, new treatments and support for those suffering from blood cancers. I've had the privilege of meeting some amazingly brave people who are fighting these diseases and they have profoundly changed my perspective on life. We can all be reminded to always be present and mindful and not to fret over the small stuff. Good health is a precious gift that should never be squandered.

Best wishes to everyone for laughter, health and happiness in the coming year and I hope to see you in Miami on the 25th.

xo

Susan

PS, the photo is of my dear friend Dr. Modie. We ran a 10 K a couple of years ago in Aruba...and to our utter suprise we both brought home trophies...it was a brilliant day.

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I'm training to participate in the ING Miami Marathon on January 25th as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of my Aunt and my late Grandfather and all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!