Run, Forest, Run!

It's been a few weeks since we started our training and things have been going great! A few Saturdays ago our honored teammate, Maya Cid, came to visit us at practice. What a beautiful little girl!! She came with her mother, sister and brother and was a typical 2-year old - joking around and getting into trouble. She stole her mother's car keys and kept purposely setting off the car alarm. It was hysterical. Her mother said that her chemo has been going well, and that she's not as sick as she once was. Maya is eating and playing well now... and getting into mischief! The Cid's were very thankful for our support. I can't speak for anyone else, but I ran a little harder that day.

Since then I've continued running on my own during the week. Jeff, Maddie and I took a vacation to Pennsylvania to see family and celebrate Maddie's 1st birthday. Jeff and I had the luxury of leaving Maddie with her grandparents while we ran along beautiful central Pennsylvania roads. We found an especially lovely road that paralleled a creek and eventually turned into a dirt trail through the woods. It was one of the most beautiful runs I've had in years. Ahh, it makes me miss the East Coast.

I missed yesterday's training run with the Team because we were traveling all day, but I made it up today. 5 miles. I had every intention of getting up at 7am and running, but I kind of slept in. Jeff got up with Maddie and I stayed in bed until 8:30. I finally headed out of the house at 9:30 and huffed and puffed my way around the Woodlands for 5 hot, humid miles. Two things I will not forget - 1. keep good breakfast food on hand (there was nothing in the house to eat because we had been gone for 9 days) and 2. BRING WATER. It's bad when you start getting chills because your body temperature is so high. Live and learn I suppose!

This coming week: we up our daily runs from 2 miles to 3 miles and a 6-miler on Saturday. Should be interesting!!!

Good Morning!

Today is the first day we are supposed to train on our own. We had off yesterday, Mother's Day, to eat Texas BBQ and drink Coronas. (or do whatever YOU do to celebrate Mother's Day!)

My husband Jeff and I have been running together in the evenings for the last 4 weeks. He's not a runner, although he's built like one, and is taking to it very well. We've decided to run the San Francisco Half Marathon on July 26th, which coincidentally is about half way through my Dublin training, so it will work out perfectly. Anyway, my point is that we normally round up the troops (Chula the cattle dog and Maddie in her running stroller) and head out for a nice run around 5 pm. 5 pm used to be nice! Now 5 pm is filled with mosquitoes and gnats and heat and humidity. So we're pushing our workouts to the morning, which so far appears to just have humidity. And cobwebs.

This morning Jeff got up at 5:30, did his run with aforementioned cattle dog, came back, woke me up, and I did my 2 mile run while he got ready for work. Sweet little Maddie just slept away in her crib. She's still sleeping away, probably because she was awake intermittently between 2:30 am and 4 am. As was I.

In short, this is going to be tiring, but exhilarating. There are few things that will get me up in the morning before my daughter wakes up, especially after she's been up throughout the night, and especially if I have to exercise!! I think of Maya and I think of Sig and the fight that cancer patients are putting up all over the world, and a few miles seems like nothing.


our usual entourage after our first 3 mile run

It's 9 o'clock on a Saturday...

Our first run was great! As it turns out, it's bloody humid in Houston!! Phew! Luckily it was only 2 miles followed by a team meeting and breakfast at La Madeleine. Yum. Meanwhile, MY Madeleine woke up for my husband at 6:45am (as I was leaving the house) and proceeded to yell at him for the next two hours because he wouldn't nurse her. Poor boobless Jeff...

I also had the opportunity to sign up for a fundraising event at the Woodlands Pavilion. I get to serve beer to people at the Aerosmith and ZZ Top concert in July!! Wheeeee!!!!! That should be a blast. I picked them over No Doubt because I thought the crowd would be more fun. Sorry Gwen Stefani fans... but Aerosmith/ZZ Top fans are crazy. And will hopefully give me more money. :)

6:30am, Saturday

It's 6:30am and I'm about to leave for our first Team run! I thought I'd jot something down while my tea is steeping.

I'm completely exhausted!! I slept terribly last night, worried that I was going to sleep through my alarm. Sweet Maddie only woke up once though, so I'm going to have to give her props for that. Also, we had friends over for dinner last night and we decided to show off our margarita-making skills. Yum. So although I'm certainly not hung over, maybe I could be more hydrated?

off to run!

Our Honored Teammate

TNT gives each team (I'm Team Woodlands) an Honored Teammate - some one to get out of bed for at 5am to run 10 miles. Some of us come to the program with our own honored teammate, like my aunt. Some people who are doing this haven't been touched by a blood cancer, and that's when the appointed honored teammate is especially important.

We have been appointed this little girl named Maya Cid. She is 2 years old. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) when she was only 23 months old. ALL is the most common childhood leukemia. Luckily, there is a good cure rate. Currently she's in the "consolidation" phase of her chemotherapy, which is the most intense.

She is almost exactly one year older than Maddie. I can't imagine what she must be going through! This poor girl has probably only been walking for about a year, she's just learning to talk and play... and she has to go through chemo! It just makes me so sad to think about her. She's definitely going to be an inspiration to get me out of bed and keep going.

Let's Start From The Very Beginning...

So, here we are. Yet another blog. But this time it's not fluff about how cute my kid is (although I will, no doubt, slip that in on occasion). This one is important! There may very well be fluff to come, but the premise is serious.

I have signed up for Team In Training, a program that is part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The deal is this: I raise money for them and in turn they train me for an event. I could have picked a triathlon, a century ride (100 miles on a bike), a half marathon or a marathon. I chose to train for the adidas Dublin Marathon in Dublin, Ireland on October 26th. It will be my first marathon - I completed the San Fransisco half marathon in July 2 years ago. For those of you not familiar, a full marathon is 26.2 miles. Yes, TWENTY SIX point TWO! And, no, I'm not on drugs.

I'm not doing this because I'm a masochist. Actually I am, but that is not why I've decided to do this. I'm doing this in memory of my aunt Mary King Lyon - Sig. She lost her battle with Leukemia last November, although in the end she died of complications with her treatment. It is still hard to write that sentence because I always thought she'd be around. She had SO MUCH life and wisdom and beauty and I never imaged that could end. She was a constant. Something you can't imagine living without. She was the glue that held my family together. She touched everyone that she met.

And although her spark was rare, I'm sure that there are people around the world who have meaning to their loved ones the way she does to hers. And maybe their lives are in danger because of a blood cancer. And maybe the money that I raise can help find a cure, or help pay for medicine or counseling. Possibly someone will get to live with their 'Sig' for a little bit longer. I'd like to think that I DID something to impact someone's life.