The raffle tickets were picked this morning, and the winners are .....

Frontline Plus Feline - Paige A.

Frontline Plus Canine - Lois H.

1 bag Sammy Snacks treat - Carol W.

Gift card to Changing Reins - Gretchen F.

Gift card to Ashland Feed Store - Jennifer N.

Gift card to Fin & Feather - Erin T.

Gift card to Caboose Wine & Cheese - Anthony R.

Reusable shopping bag from VESC/Furry Friends Jubilee - Peter T.

Richmond Flying Squirrels gift pack - Shelia C.

Hill's feline hypoallergenic treats - Peter T.

Hill's canine training treats - Chris N.

Thank you to everyone who donated! I'm sorry there weren't more gifts to go around, but y'all raised $128 for LLS - that's an awesome amount.

But we aren't going to stop there. I'm still going to take donations through the end of October. Right now, we're only $355 from my personal goal of $2000. That means that if I can get $12 per day between now & November, I can meet my goal.

Spread the word! Tell everyone you know! Together we train to beat cancer.

It's time to finally get the raffle rolling! There are several great items up for grabs. Tickets are $1 each, or get 6 for $5. I'm running it through the whole month of September, with the drawing on October 1st.

I know the majority of you are nowhere near able to come into the hospital to get your raffle tickets. However, the website makes it all easy. In the comment section of your donation, just leave a note as to which item you want your ticket to be entered.

• Frontline Plus - either a box of feline or a box of appropriately sized canine
• 1 bag Sammy Snacks treat
• Gift card to Changing Reins
• Gift card to Ashland Feed Store
• Gift card to Fin & Feather
• Gift card to Caboose Wine & Cheese
• Reusable shopping bag from VESC/Furry Friends Jubilee
• Richmond Flying Squirrels items (hat, travel mug, ball, bag, timer)
• Hill's feline hypoallergenic treats - 1 case

• Hill's canine training treats - 1 case

GO TEAM!

I'd like to thank the following Ashland/Richmond establishments for their donations to the raffle (drawing scheduled for October 1st). Stay tuned for more information!

Richmond Flying Squirrels

Fin & Feather of Ashland

Changing Reins

Caboose Wine & Cheese

Ashland Feed Store

Saturday started reeeaaalll early. For my day off, the alarm was set for 5 am. This was to give me enough time to get situated & have something to eat before I hit the road at 6. I needed to be at Byrd Park before our 7 am start.

Fortunately traffic was light, making it easier to get to Richmond. I pulled into the boat lake parking to find Coaches Mark and Susan there. Others soon filed in - we ended up having only about 12ish of us there. (I didn't catch many names o_O ) Things started with Coach Chuck giving statistics on how, even tho humans may discriminate against races, cancer does not. We did some warm ups [including 'goose poop' =)] then headed out. The Richmond beginner half's were slated for 4 miles, and the intermediates for 5, but I didn't know what milage I was going to do.

I started in the back with coach Susan and another half first timer. Coach could tell I was kinda biting at the bit, so she said for me to head on if I needed. I hung with them for a little then around the VMFA building, pulled away.

I felt pretty good. A couple herds from the SportsBackers full training teams hauled past me. I passed The Diamond, wondering where our water was. I caught up with Katherine (a Richmond full) just under the 95 bridge. She hadn't seen our water either. I decided to hang with her until we found hydration, then to head off.

Turns out, as Chuck told us, our water had been lifted. Hmph. Jerks. However, we ended up having a rolling water truck! We crested the railroad bridge & here comes Mark's truck with the cooler in the back =) I hydrated, then headed off. The 2nd half was very smooth. I felt even better. I did intervals of jog-a-block, walk-a-block. Eventually I caught up to Susan (they did a 4 mile), and went out in front.

We met back at the boat lake, had more Gatorade, laughed, joked about the icy pops and chocolate milk.

I can't wait for the next run I can make - there's potential for an Ashland meeting!

As you can see on the right, I'm at 75+% of my fundraising goal! I have the best friends & family!

Not only am I way excited by that, but tomorrow morning I finally get to join the rest of my Team for a group run!

I'll post more about that when I return home.

GO TEAM!