Thanks to my friends and family, I have reached my fundraising goal of $1,500!!! I'm truly blown away by the support and encouragement I've gotten from all of you. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done. It's made a huge impact on me, but it's also making a huge impact on cancer research.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all you've done! Now, six more weeks of training ahead before the big day, December 1...

I've definitely hit that lull in my pre-marathon excitement. I suppose that's normal when you start training in mid May for a race in December. :) Most of my friends are done with training; Portland was 10/6 (congrats Laura, Melissa and Sandy!) and Nike is this Sunday at 6:30am (ouch!). The team is getting much smaller. And the fact that it's dark for our 6:30 runs during the week is just depressing. But I've almost hit my fundraising goal--THANK YOU ALL!--and I've only got 6 1/2 more weeks before the big race. I'll consider this whole thing a success if I can just make it through that one long run on 11/9. I'm aiming for 20 miles, since I hear that last 6.2 is a breeze (ha!).

About a year ago I wrote up a sort of bucket list that included two things that I wasn't sure would ever happen: become a runner (whatever that means) and run a half marathon. I'm not sure I'm a "runner" now, but I'm certainly starting to feel like it. Today I ran 13.1 miles during our TNT weekly run, my first half marathon. It was followed promptly by an ice bath. I now understand the mysteries of running, like when to Gu, why you never wear cotton, why Bodyglide exists.

With a little less than 4 months before the Seattle marathon, I'm going to rest and recover. Next month I'm doing the Labor Day half so I can get a t-shirt for doing exactly what I did today. :)