I crossed the finish line!!!

I am so grateful for all of the supportive calls, emails, and text messages I received this past weekend. Thank you so much for thinking of me and keeping me in your prayers. Apparently, all that positive energy did some good – I crossed the finish line for the 2nd time! And, I'm injury free!

My frenzy began on Thursday when I checked my emails, after writing to all of you in a panic requesting some of your favorite songs. The fear that “I Ran” would be stuck in my head during the race was immediately dismissed at the sight of responses in my inbox and those posted on my blog. I received 146 song suggestions!! I spent most of Friday night getting my new music downloaded and organized to transfer to my shuffle. I think you might get a kick out of the songs that you all suggested so I’ve included the list in the previous post below. For your own protection ;-), the people who suggested the songs will remain anonymous.

I went to the armory on Saturday afternoon to pick up my bib, my racing chip, and some other information about the race. I ran into my running mate Carolyn while I was there – which was odd because there were about 20,000 other people there. I agreed to meet up with her and Megan at 7am at the Pentagon Metro stop, and we would walk to the starting line together. When I got on the metro home after the expo, I got really excited looking through the race packet, envisioning myself running past crowds and crowds of spectators to the finish line. I admit I was sad that my Wonder Woman finishing photo from 05 didn't make it into this year's spread, but since I occupied an entire page last year - opposite the measly quarter page message from Dubya - I figured I would let it go.

Tracy, Ryan, Smitty, Juli, Rose, Ravas (Steve #2), Steve and I met for a glorious carbohydrate dinner at Anna Maria’s on Connecticut Avenue in Dupont. The meal was great, and I felt pretty tired afterward. I admit that I was getting really nervous about the race. I may have watched way too many Seinfeld episodes in my day, but I feared that I would sleep through my alarm and miss the race. The cheering crew went out to a Halloween party around the corner while I went home to finish my songlist. I set my alarm and went to sleep.

Somewhere around 2am my clocks set themselves back one hour, having been programmed during their assembly to “fall back” for the end of Daylight Savings Time. I embrace technology - and under normal circumstances, this would have been very convenient. However, this was not the weekend for our seasonal time change.

I got out of bed at the sound of my bedside alarm at 5:25am, thankful for a restful sleep and happy I had some time to eat breakfast and properly prepare myself before leaving to meet my team at the Pentagon at 7. I started organizing my music, making sure my Ipod was fully loaded with all of the great song suggestions I had downloaded the night before. When I realized the mistake a few minutes later - that it was not 5:40 at all but 6:40, I stuffed a power bar down my throat and rushed out the door, leaving Steve to bring me my music and other necessities I didn’t have time to worry about. I lubed up my feet with Body Glide while on the metro – which I admit is totally gross on any other occasion, but since the station was filled with soon to be marathoners, I fit in perfectly among the crowds of people rubbing Vaseline in their body crevices and taping bandaids on their nipples. Ahhhh, Marathon Day.

I met Carolyn and Meg a little after 7:30am and we walked together to the starting line. It was an amazing day for this event – last week’s 4 days of rain gave way to a bright and clear Sunday morning. The temperature was perfect too, once the sun crept above the horizon. As we waited for the guns to sound to signal the start of the race, it was about 60 degrees under a beautiful sunny sky – I could not have hand-picked better conditions for this adventure.

The first 10 miles flew by. The three of us stuck together through Arlington, across the Key Bridge, up and down Canal Road and MacArthur Boulevard to the Whitehurst Freeway. I saw Rose and Steve just as we rounded the curve onto Constitution. It was so exciting to see my fans for the first time – and I was feeling great! Steve gave me his Ipod shuffle, which was queued up with all kinds of great ammo. About 4 miles later, I caught sight of Tracy ahead in the crowd of spectators waving her arms wildly and jumping up and down. Ryan, Juli and Smitty were there too – I stopped to kiss them hello and got back on the route with Meg and Carolyn. I called Steve to tell him I was approaching Hains Point, which had been a source of most of my anxiety about the race. He was stuck on a metro train that had overshot the station stop, and was waiting to get out at Smithsonian. My family was stuck too – Mom, Gerry, Colleen, Keeley, Bridgette, Meghan, Trisha and Tom. I realized I had a good reason to finish Hains Point now – to see them all on the other side!

MCM athletes who have run Hains Point admit that this stretch is where “the wall” sets in. The 3 mile stretch on Ohio Drive is lonely, windy and boring. The environment alone can kill your stamina, crush your endurance, and suck the wind out of your marathon sails. Spectators are sparse at this interval, since they must walk quite a distance to get there. Hains Point is surrounded on both sides by the Potomac River, and in October, the wind coming off the water can be fierce. The route itself is pretty flat (thank goodness) but very boring. Running south, tall trees line the street to the left while a beat down metal fence lines the river to the right. Going North presents the same view in reverse. We runners push on in between without a view of anything but pavement under our feet, other runners on either side of us, and the occasional porto-potty off to the side. Oh, and when you start thinking about the fact that you still have 10+ more miles to go once you climb out of the Hains Point pit, you realize how badly it sucks.

Meg, Carolyn, Al and I ran into mile 14 feeling great, ready to beat the marathon-proverbial Hains Point wall and run strong over the 14th street Bridge into Crystal City. We decided to listen to our Ipods for the first time during the race to keep us going for the next few miles. I was feeling amazing - exhilarated by the miles I had conquered and high on the cheers from all of the fans screaming GO KATIE GO! My watch signaled for walk breaks that I didn’t feel I needed, but I took them anyway since my group was aching for them. At mile 15, when my watch sounded and my running buddies stopped for a break, I kept going, telling them I’d see them up ahead when I took my own walk break. I wanted to be finished with this part of the race – each walk break meant it would be that much longer before I saw my Mom and Gerry, my sisters and brother in law, my nieces, my friends, and my husband – all of whom were waiting for me at the end of Hains Point right before the bridge. I kept running, past the Awakening Sculpture and up along the Southwestern Waterfront. I flipped through my Ipod and laughed thinking of each of you as I heard your songs. I must have looked like a total fruit – running and laughing to myself, occasionally singing to a gem I found along the way. No "Flock of Seagulls" for this girl. I was running 10 minute miles at this point – faster than I trained – and was feeling great. In my mind I could see my friends and family on the sidelines at the end of this torturous stretch as clearly as I visualized my old rusty shopping cart sitting idly in the Potomac River months ago. I never hit the legendary Hains Point Wall. If there was a wall in my way, I could have climbed it, and would have kicked it in the ass on the way over. I felt THAT great.

I was sad that I didn’t have my running buddies by my side any more, but I was on such a great high that I couldn’t slow down and wait for them. I will admit I was a little jazzed at the thought of completing the rest of the miles solo. I knew I could do it. When I looked back as I rounded curve out of Hains Point, they were nowhere in sight. So I kept on. I saw the crowd of fans just after mile 19 and located my cheering section right away. The pictures (links listed on the right side of this page) will show you how happy I was to see every single one of them. Just past where my nieces, my sisters, my friends and Steve and Tom were standing, I found my Mom and Gerry, and I was so excited!!! Mom looked so happy and so proud – and Gerry too – they both seemed thrilled to be a part of all of the excitement. I was super pumped up from their excitement! It is contagious!!

The very generous outpouring of music suggestions came in quite handy as I ran the last leg of the race. “Deep Elem Blues” came on as I started pushing through the long long windy bridge over the Potomac. I listened to it twice as a matter of fact, and had two completely different experiences that I'm not yet prepared to verbalize. “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey carried me into Crystal City, and it almost made me cry when I crossed the 21st mile marker. The bridge was not friendly and it was cold, and step after step I wanted to be on the ground away from the wind. That was the mile I ran for Cimini - #20 - and it had been one of the hardest, but it wasn't something I realized until I was well into 21. Just like Cim to creep up on you and sometimes make you realize how good you really have it. Smile.

From 21 to 25, I listened to the first minute of almost every song in my Ipod and realized how very different the music suggestions were, and also how different we all are. It made me smile. From Fergie to the Annie Soundtrack – I think I may have spanned every single music genre over those last 5 miles! I was so grateful to have each one of you there with my during that stretch – every song sparked the image of one of your faces in my mind, which was a great reminder of your enthusiastic support! There is one song that sums up the impact that music has had on me throughout the entire training season. Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder. Listen to the song when you get a chance. The first few lyrics are what got me on race day:

Music is a world within itself
With a language we all understand
With an equal opportunity
For all to sing, dance and clap their hands
But just because a record has a groove
Don't make it in the groove
But you can tell right away at letter A
When the people start to move
You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people
You can feel it all over
You can feel it all over people

This was an inspiration in so many different ways -- mentally + spiritually + physically. I felt it all over people! I again looked like a goon (dorky word courtesy of Amy Lawlor/Tracy Fauls) singing and moving my hands like I was but I seriously felt it all over. I'm a total dork but I have no shame in admitting that. I ran 26.2 miles, people. I felt it ALL OVER!!

Being the youngest child in a family of 5, I am born with a natural inclination to go out of my way to get attention. I know some of you are shocked at this admission. As I neared mile 26, I started thinking about how I could finish this race in such a way that would turn heads and get people talking - maybe even make it into the newspaper or be interviewed on the local news or get into next year's marathon book in another full page spread. I convinced myself it was a great idea to cartwheel across the finish line – hey, I had the energy – and started to mentally practice my gymnastic form. I thought about telling Gerry, Aunt Anne, Aunt Kathy, Rick, Mr. Dillon, Mr. DiRita, Teacher Barbara and Bob Carr about my exceptional finish to the race I had run for them.

At that very moment I stopped running and collected my thoughts – my thoughts were pretty absurd at this point and needed some logical organization. I decided to walk for a few minutes and while I did, I thought hard about these people – this group of survivors who had inspired me so far to run to 25.5 miles. I thought about their fight against illness and the happiness they must have felt crossing their own finish lines. I was humbled by their respective accomplishments, and by the amazing humility with which each of them fought for their lives and eventually won. It wasn’t about the ‘exceptional finish’ at all. It was about winning the fight. And there was no acrobatic move I could do that would make their accomplishments any more amazing. This effort was not about me at all. How could I forget that? I abandoned the cartwheel idea. Instead, I would show my appreciation for these 8 special people by giving everything I had from this point to the finish line.

I started my sprint about 400 yards before the hill at Iwo Jima, and started up the hill passing people with speed I never imagined I could have after running for over 5 hours. The incline was longer and a bit steeper than I remembered from 2 weeks ago, but my sprint never slowed as I neared the crest. A sudden burst of pain shot through my knees up through my thighs then down the back of my legs once my body realized the extra work I was demanding from it. I could not feel anything but heat in my feet, toes, and ankles. My neck was throbbing and my back was numb - in shock at the sudden jerky movements of my arms pumping up and down to help me move up the hill. This, my friends, was that wall I expected to face at Hains Point. It's ugly head unmasked itself in a form I did not expect at mile 26.1 with just .01 miles to go. This wall was different. It wasn't that I feared I couldn't go on, finish, or even climb it and kick it in the ass as I said I would. I did that - kicked it cold and hard as I sprinted the last few yards. It was the immense struggle I met when I reached the top, my body ready to collapse, and realized the finish line was still about 50 yards away. I kept up my sprint and focused, forgetting about my aching joints and limbs. At the top, the path was flat and I knew I had just a few more steps to the finish. I ran my heart out - still sprinting - reciting over and over the names of my honored teammates: Gerry, Aunt Kathy, Anne, Rick, Mr. Dillon, Mr. DiRita, Teacher Barbara, and Bob Carr. I found strength in realizing this wasn't about me at all, and leaped over the finish line to end my 26.2 mile journey. I crossed it very appreciative of my honorees, who have endured (or in some cases will endure) far worse physical and mental strain in much greater capacity than I can even begin to understand. Thank you so much.

My medal is yours.

Feel it all over, people. This is what it is all about!!

After the run I found Steve, Tracy, Ryan, Rose and Bern. We met up with the rest of my family at The Front Page where I was debriefed on the day's happenings wondering around the city. I also learned some of the best news I've ever heard in my entire life: TRISHA AND TOM ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!! A NEW BABY!! OH MY OH MY!!!!!!!!!!! A NEW BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS TO TRISHA AND TOM!!! Check out their picture to the right - you can already see how adorable their baby will be!!!!! It's the Mulqueen genes, I'm sure. ;-)

xoxo

PS - I'm not finished writing my blog yet. There's more to come from this entire experience - and I will share it with you as I post!!! Thank you so much for reading!!!

Kate

YOUR Song Suggestions!!! Thank you for helping me get through the final stretch with great music!!

GREATEST LIST OF RUNNING SONGS EVER!!!!
HERE ARE YOUR SUGGESTIONS!!

Eye of the Tiger Survvor
Fergalicious Fergie
Sweet Escape Gwen Stefani
Franklins Tower Dead
Cumberland Dead
The Wheel Dead
Lawyers Guns Money Franklin Zevon
Sundown Gordon Lightfoot
Poison Bel Biv Divoe
Iron Lion Zion Marley
Shine Collective Soul
Same Song Digital Underground
Right Here Right Now Jesus Jones
Show me what you got JayZ
I ain't heard of that JayZ
Michelle Shocked Anchorage
Such Great Heights The Postal Service
Old Crow Medicine Show Wagon Wheel
Any songs by Police
Angel from Montgomery Carly Simon
Coldplay and Buena Vista Social Club Clocks
Summer Wind Frank Sinatra
This Year's Love David Gray
Snoopy The Royal Guardsman
Any songs by Big Head Todd
Let's Stay together Al Green
Baby I need your loving 4 Tops
My Girl Temptations
You Can't Hurry Love Phil Collins
Make a Memory Bon Jovi
American Girl Tom Petty
LoveStoned Justin Timberlake
Stronger Kanye Eest
The Way I are Timbaland
Forever in Blue Jeans Neal Diamond
It's Raining Men The Weather Girls
Fantastic Voyage Coolio
Crockodile Rock Elton John
The Anthem Good Charlotte
Don't Stop Believing Journey
Going the Distance Cake
Not to touch the Earth The Doors
Running on Empty Jackson Brown
Sunny Side of the Street Pogues
What about Everything Carbon Leaf
Me and Julio Paul Simon
Pride U2
Southern Cross CSNY
The Weight The Band
Jenny From the Block Jennifer Lopez
Soul Meets Body Death Cab for Cutie
Sexy Back JT
Toxic Britney
Under Pressure Queen/Bowie Miz
Africa Toto
Good Vibrations Beach Boys
Sympathy for the Devil Stones
Going Down Springsteen
Video Killed the Radio Star
Don't Call it a Comeback LL Cool J
Let's Get it Started Blackeyed Peas
Suspicious Minds Elvis
Stayin Alive The Bee Gees
Let's spend the night together Stones
Wild Thing Troggs
I'm a believer Monkeys
Good Vibra Beach Boys
I danced till a quarter to three US Gary Bonds
Twist and Shout Beatles
Emotional Rescue The Stones
Ether Sunday Trey Anastasio
Fidelity Regina Spektor
It's Your Thign Isley Brothers
Mint Car Cure
Pressure Drop Toots and the Maytals
Over and Over Again Clap Your Hands and say Yeah
Starry Eyed Surprise Oakenfold
Watershed Indigo Girls
Born to Run Springsteen
Me and Julio Paul Simon
Oh Very Young Cat Stevens
Lik a Prayer Madonna
Against the Wind Bob Segar
Eyes of the World Dead
What I am Edie Brickell
Lighthouse The Waifs
Here Comes the Sun The Beatles
I can't Wait Nu Shooz
Sunday Bloody Sunday U2
Fool in the Rain Zeppelin
Clothes Off Gym Class Heroes
My Best Friend Queen
Under the Sun, Moon and Start Jimmy Cliff
Watchtower Dylan, Dead, Dave Matthews
It's a Heartache Bonnie Tyler
Africa Toto
The Motown Song Rod Stewart
Just Walk Away Renee The Left Banke
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted Jimmy Ruffin
Any songs by OAR
Paint it Black The Stones
Hey Jude Beatles
Rubber Soul Beatles
Stay Frankie Vallie
Old Time Rock and Roll Pete Seger
We just Disagree Dave Mason Band
Bat our of Hell Meatloaf
Video Killed the Radio Star Buggles
My Girl Temptations
Alice's Restaurant Arlo Guthrie
Puff the Magic Dragon Peter Paul and Mary
Summertime Mungo Jerry
I just need somebody to Love Queen
Soul Inspiration Richeous Brothers
Find yourself another man Barbara Streisand
Don't you want somebody to love Jefferson Airplane
White Rabbit Jefferson Airplane
Shout Beatles
I want a new drug Hewey Lewis and the News
Bolero Not sure?
Any songs by Andre Bocelli
We didn't start the fire album Billy Joel
Philadelphia Springsteen
Any songs by Bob Marley
Any songs by Cat Stevens
Any songs by Phil Collins
Any songs by Supremes
Any songs by Temptations
Any songs by Four Tops
Any songs by Aretha Franklin
Any songs by Miracles
Any songs by Elton John
Any songs by John Denver
Any songs by Frankie Vallie
Any songs by Jersey Boys
Any songs by Gloria Estefan
Any songs by Jim Croce
Any songs by Mama Mia Zbroadway
Any songs by Aida Braodway
Any songs by Richie Havens
Hallalulya Rufus Wainwright
The Body Guard Whitney houston
American Pie Don McLean
Devil with the Blue Dress Mitch Ryder
Annie the Musical All songs
Fame Movie All artists
Flashdance Irene Cara
Any songs by Marc Anthony
Rocky Movies Soundtracks All songs
Shreck Movies Soundtracks All songs
Any songs by James Taylor

Bob Carr - A new honored teammate

The following is an email I received on Thursday evening from my friend and former teammate Bob Carr, who I wrote about last week. You'll remember that Bob withdrew from the 2007 MCM race due to health concerns. Below is an update on his prognosis. I refrain from commenting not because I have nothing to say, but because I'm still completely in shock.

Please read and keep Bob in your prayers. To donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, please CLICK HERE.

FROM: Bob Carr, October 27th, 2007
Dear Team,

I have been thinking about all of you a lot these past two weeks. As
the day of the marathon gets closer, I think of you more.

The last time I checked in, I was looking forward to volunteering and
cheering you on to the finish line.

So here is the rest of what turns out to be a pretty ironic ending to
my running this year. I'll keep it short, you've got too much on
your minds (or you should anyway) right now to get into this piece of
news. I can fill all of you in on any details you wish after you have
finished the marathon.

I started, like all of you, to train, be healthy and to motivate
myself and others in dedication to finding a few dollars to advance
the research for those with leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

And during the process, I suffered acute kidney failure and as you
already know, I have had to withdraw from the marathon this year.

But the epilogue to that ending is this: the blood tests that
revealed loss of kidney function also disclosed a thing called the m-
protein. That in turn lead to a bone marrow biopsy. And ironically
that led to the diagnosis that I have multiple-myeloma.

Now don't get all sad about that. I'm not. MM is not a killer. You
just live with it like my friend, Geraldine Ferraro (9 years). In
fact yesterday I was in Boston with my new favorite friend, Dr.
Kenneth C. Anderson of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He assures
me that I'll die an old man, having run more marathons, and I'll die
of something other than MM.

But as you are looking forward to Sunday, I want you to know that in
spirit, I'll be right along. Maybe you'll make me your (2nd) honored
teammate.

Oh, and yes, I'll keep posting the photos, that during the running
season I did not have time to post.

You won't see me on race day. I'm attending the annual gala
fundraiser for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation in
Connecticut Saturday. But I'll be looking you all up on the Internet
to see how speedy you are!!

Good Luck, Do Well and thanks, now - from the other side of the
street - for raising money and awareness for the treatment and cure
of blood related cancers.

I plan to see you all next year, as a race participant, again.

Sincerely,

Bob Carr

SLIGHTLY PANICKED - but nothing too serious...

Loyal readers, donors, and supporters, I need your help! The Marine Corps Marathon is just 3 days away!! I was asleep a few minutes ago, and woke up singing a song that was so awful I can barely admit to you what it was. But, this is an honest and sincere request, so I will be honest and sincere in return.

The song I just woke up singing is "I Ran" by Flock of Seagulls. Normally, having this song stuck in my head wouldn't really bother me. I don't really LIKE it, but I can tolerate it just fine. I would probably consider it pleasant if I heard it playing over the PA system while waiting to check out at the grocery store. I might even hum along to it if the song happened to be the telephone hold music being played while my party was being paged. I don't mind it late night at the bar when the DJ makes the switch from classic rock to 80s retro...even when crazy women fight for their spot on the dancefloor to recreate their sexy dance moves from 1982.

Tonight, however, is a different story. I had settled into a wonderful carbohydrate induced sleep - the rain pitter pattering on my windows sent me into a comfy cozy dreamland I had been longing for all day.

Because I have only three more days until the marathon, I've been drinking excessive amounts of water- hydration is paramount at this point. I end up getting up a couple of times throughout the night to pee because of all the liquids I've consumed during the day.

About an hour after going to sleep tonight, I got up to use the bathroom. I returned to my cozy comfy bed, still warm from when I left it only minutes ago, I laid down on my back, closed my eyes and folded my hands accross my chest, and waited to fall asleep. That's when the song got into me -- started in my fingers then my toes and the next thing I knew I was tapping feet together and I swear my folded hands were seconds away from full fledged clapping.

'And I ran....I ran so far away"

It was then I realized I had not returned to my bed - my comfy cozy sleeping place - but to a den of cult 80s music that was less comfortable than having climbed into a puddle to return to my slumber. I jumped out of bed and immediately and frantically searched for my shuffle, plugged in the earbuds and erased that song from my memory. Luckily my shuffle was queued up for an amazing rendition of "The Weight (take a load off Fanny...)" so I was happy and ready to go back to dreamland.

Then I panicked. 26.2 miles is a long way to run with a shitty song in your head. As I was lying in bed, about to drift back off to sleep to the sounds of The Band, I realized I needed your help. Forgive me as it is almost 1:30am right now but I need to ask YOU to send me 4 songs you love. They will keep me company during my race. Your songs don't have to be exercise or running related at all - just songs you love to hear over and over. I'll buy them and put them on my shuffle before the race and listen when I need the exra push - like when I'm pushing through the BORING Haines Point loop or fighting the wind on the 14th Street Bridge. At the very least, I'll need your songs to switch my mind out of a "flock of seagulls" moment into one I want to embrace with full steam (and good music) ahead.

I have put so much time and effort into making this coming Sunday a reality. And so have all of you!! I would hate to have the experience of marathon day be shaken because of stupid songs getting into my head. And you know they say music is contagious just like hiccups - if I'm feeling badly about it there's a chance someone else might be hearing the FLOCK sing in their head tooo --- please save all of us runners from the possible meltdown.....

My request is very simple. Please help? Either post right here on this page or send to me via email. I will be so happy to hear from you.

Right now, though, I will attempt to go back to sleep...

"Well, Luke, my friend, what about young Anna Lee? He said, "Do me a favor, son, won't you stay and keep Anna Lee company?"

THANK YOU

How far is 26.2 miles? See for yourself!

This post serves the sole purpose of illustrating the distance of the marathon in approximate relative terms. Please read on...

DC METRO AREA:
The distance from our place in Dupont to the Dulles Airport
OR
The distance from National Airport to Habitat for Humanity in Gaithersburg :-)
OR
The distance from the Capital Building to Tysons Corner, AND BACK!

PHILADELPHIA:
The distance from Villa Maria in Malvern to the Tweeter Center in Camden (if only I could run this far from the nuns in high school)
OR
The distance from King of Prussia Mall in PA to the Concord Mall in DE (via 202)
OR
The distance from Villanova to Downingtown (via 30)

DOWN THE SHORE:
The distance from Mom and Gerry's in Cape May to Tina's house on 44th in OC
OR
The distance from the Borgata in Atlantic City to the Lignelli's house in Avalon on 16th
OR
The distance most of us travel on 55 South to get to the shore - 26.2 miles!!

Wish me luck!! Posts welcome!!

Last LONG run of the Training Season!!

On Friday night, Steve and I drove to Charlottesville to celebrate our One Year Anniversary. We got in to our hotel pretty late after fighting traffic and driving through a major rainstorm on 66. On Saturday morning at 6am, when the alarm on my running watch signaled it was time to get up for my last ‘long’ run of the training season before race day, I got out of bed, turned off my watch, and went back to sleep. Hours later, I welcomed a much more pleasant alarm – a knock on the door from room service - our breakfast in bed had arrived. It was the perfect start to a perfect day – waking to the smell of bacon and fresh coffee, and realizing I had slept until 10am. It was what I imagine heaven to feel like.

We spent the rest of the day taking in the sights of Central Virginia and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, touring the local vineyards and tasting their wine. After an early dinner, we walked down to the Charlottesville Pavilion to see the Wilco concert. It was truly an amazing day from beginning to end.

This morning I woke to my alarm at 5:30am and headed out for my last long run of the 2007 training season. My program suggested a 6 mile run, but I decided to try for 8. I started out on my normal route into Georgetown. I ran down the C&O towpath for about a mile, turned back, and ran across the Key Bridge into Virginia. I followed the GW parkway along the Potomac, under the 14th Street Bridge, and curved around to the Memorial Bridge. I ran across the Memorial Bridge back into DC, looped around the Jefferson Memorial and followed the Rock Creek Parkway and sprinted up the hill to P Street, and ran to my finish line at 20th and S Street.

I thought a lot about my blogging on my run. How odd it is that people actually read this every week! I have thought this before during my training - that you are still reading four months after my initial post -- you really might be crazy. JK. What I really want to say is thank you for your support and for your sincere interest in my training experience. I love writing and always have. One thing I've learned is that writing isn't nearly as much fun if no one wants to read what you've taken the time to create. So thanks.

I thought a lot about the people who have been a wonderful inspiration to me throughout this training program. I am specifically referring to the 7 individuals who have been an example of strength, courage, and determination to me in the quest for their own personal finish lines. As I stated in my first post of the season, it is their example of fighting for life that I am honoring in this run. Often people dedicate their efforts to those who have died because of a certain disease - dedicating their expenditure to a cause in hopes to prevent future lives from being lost. While I wholeheartedly embrace that principle (and have actively done so by fundraising for TNT for this event), I decided back in April that every step of my 26.2 mile journey would be dedicated to the people in my life who have beaten the odds and emerged a survivor. On Sunday, I - no, WE will be celebrating LIFE.

I heard 3 pieces of good news recently.
1. Gerry's latest MRI showed that the cancer in his body is contained. In some areas, the cancer is shrinking. After more than 2 years of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, doctors finally found one that has made progress.
2. Aunt Kathy received her last chemotherapy treatment a couple weeks ago, and docs say no trace of cancer remains.
3 - Mr. Dillon has been scheduled for surgery to remove the second mass on his brain they detected just last week. The location of the tumor is such that they can "clean up" the surrounding areas to make sure the cancer does not spread or grow.

Good reports - a great way to step up to the starting line on Sunday.

Wish me luck!!

Confession, and Comfort in Slacking Off

I confess that I did not run my 12 miles last weekend while I was in California. We arrived in San Diego late on Friday night for the rehearsal dinner, attended the wedding on Saturday, and got right back on a plane early Sunday morning. There wasn’t much time to map out a 12 mile route – much less run it. Since I have run every one of my Saturday miles this training season, I decided to take the weekend off. We spent our time in California catching up on over 5 years of being apart from my college friends. It was a weekend of hillarious laughter and craziness, as most of you who know the RU crowd could guess. I'll sum it up by saying that we woke up on Sunday morning to find that our hotel room had been toilet-papered while we were sleeping. We laughed the entire way to the airport. As of today, no one has confessed and Steve and I have absolutely no idea how they got into our room.

TNT hosted a training run this past Saturday for the entire Washington Metro Area team. Instead of setting out in our pace groups like we normally do, the entire team -some 250 marathoners-to-be - all ran together. The route started at the Key Bridge Marriott, followed the GW Parkway trail, and looped around back to the Marriott.

I found Megan during the morning announcements and was happy to learn that she was feeling great – no feet or back or muscle/joint issues. I was also secretly relieved when she told me she didn’t run the 12 miles the previous week either. We agreed that one weekend off is appropriate after 6 months of training. She told me that her cousin Al decided to run in Richmond this week and would not be joining us.

I looked around for the rest of our small running group but could not find them in the crowd. I remembered that Carolyn had just returned from Thailand and was probably still adjusting to the time change and jet lag. It was strange that Bob wasn’t anywhere to be found. For the first time since our 16 mile run, our normal running group of 5 was reduced to just Meg and I.

We started out on the trail as a group of 250+ runners. It was slightly difficult to run without ample room in front and in back of us, but it was kind of a nice change from our usual Saturday meeting. A group of about 4 Marines led the pack along the trail, stopping cars and guiding traffic as we crossed the streets. As we crossed over the parkway, I realized we were running on an incline. I looked beyond the runners in front of us and caught sight of the top of the steep hill we had just started to climb. Before I was able to register in my brain what the hill meant to my stamina, I noticed a crowd of people dressed in TNT gear, waving TNT flags. They were lined up on either side of the trail all the way up the hill, cheering us on and chanting “GO TEAM!!!” It felt great, and I remembered the excitement I felt on race day in 2005. I forgot about the hill and high tailed it until we hit the water stop at the top of the hill, then followed the direction of Coach Rich, who asked us to step off the trail and pose for a group photo. Rich thanked us all for coming out for the run, congratulated us on our efforts in training and fundraising and gave us some helpful information about race day. Meg and I jumped in the front row of the group photo and hammed it up for the camera. As we waited for the photographer to get her shot in focus, I turned my head and scanned the crowd for Bob. It was then, when I caught sight of the huge landmark behind us that I realized the significance of this spot and why we had stopped here. We were posing in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial, the exact location where we will cross the finish line on October 28th. I should have remembered that hill!! I was pumped!

The last few miles were painless, very easy, actually and enjoyable. It was such a great experience to visualize myself climbing up that hill at Iwo Jima and crossing the finish line – and it put me on a high for the remainder of my run back to the Marriott. I turned on my Ipod and ran a faster pace than usual -- keeping the momentum from my finish line realization going strong. I listened to Sister Christian as I finished my last mile, and laughed out loud thinking about Cimini playing air guitar in my old apartment singing the lyrics as loud as he could. I thought about Mimi, Carly, Arch and Kathy laughing hysterically as I did at Cim's antics throughout our four years of college. I realized how much I missed that stage of my life, and how happy I was to be with my friends in California last weekend. Suddnely, I had no regrets about skipping my 12 miles. It was worth every last bit of tissue paper the Best Western had to offer.

Last night I got an email from Bob. He suffered renal failure and was hospitalized the night before the run I just described. After discussing health concerns with his doctor and his family, Bob has decided to withdrawal from being a participant in the marathon. I'm heartbroken I won't be able to share the feeling of completing 26.2 miles with Bob by my side. He was, after all, a huge part of my inspiration for this race ever since I met him at mile 7.

Thanks for reading.

Come back again soon.

12 Miles on the West Coast!

This weekend Steve and I are headed out to San Diego for Carly and Sean's wedding. I'll be running my 12 miles against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean. Plan to take a page from Bob Carr's book and document the experience by carrying my camera!! Stay tuned and enjoy your weekend!!

I ran 20 miles and I'm ready for 20 more!!!

20 Miles

Well, I finished running 20 miles today and I still feel really good. I am getting really excited for race day on October 28th. Meg, Carolyn, Bob, Al and I decided to get a head start on the trail before the other runners today, so we met in the parking lot in Reston at 6am. The other runners were meeting at 7. It was still dark, and I wasn’t quite awake while driving there. I tried everything to wake up on my way there – switching from heat to AC to heat again, windows down, windows up. It was the saving grace of the sleeve of Ritz crackers I brought with me to eat after the run that kept me awake while driving to the run site – it is nearly impossible to fall asleep while eating. So, after eating about 20 crackers I arrived at the run site and was surprised to see a handful of others who had the same idea as us. Apparently we all wanted to get this run finished as soon as we could.

I arrived a little before 6 and took a 5 minute nap in my car while listening to the new GD channel on Sirius (which is fabulous, I might add). When I woke up, “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” was playing on the radio. Not a good omen to start a 20 mile run, but I interpreted it as if the song were saying the hardest part was behind me: trying to stay awake while driving to Reston. Megan and Al had pulled up behind me and were preparing themselves for the run. I got out of my car and realized it was much cooler than I had anticipated – I was freezing and wanted to start running ASAP. I got back in my car and put Bodyglide on my feet and other areas where I was afraid of chafing, and waited for the rest of our team to arrive. “Ripple” played softly through my speakers and I smiled thinking about the last concert I went to, watching an older, grayer Bob Wier sing one of my favorite songs with the Allman Brothers Band. Carolyn and Bob showed up and we hit the trail. At 6:15 it was still dark, but Al and Meg came prepared. Al had what looked like a strobe light one would strap to their head while spelunking. Meg had 2 lights and gave one to me to strap to my belt. As a group of 6 (another runner joined us for the early start) we were lit by 3 of us, thereby ensuring “safety first” on the trail.

Carolyn, Meg and I were very giddy – and were also very happy at the idea of getting a head start before the rest of the team. When we reached the 2 mile marker, Meg screamed that we were already 1/10th of the way finished. Great – only 18 to go.

At mile 5, the sun started to come up, and we had paired off into 2 groups. Bob, Al and the newcomer whose name we learned was Matt were about 100 yards ahead of us. Meg, Carolyn and I stuck together. We were already 1/5 of the way to our goal of 20 miles, and we were extremely happy.

The WO&D Trail could be the most boring place to run 20 miles. Runners World Magazine named DC one of the 10 best cities in the US to run in –why oh why were we stuck on this awful plain jane trail for 20 miles? There was no scenery to look at but power lines and backyards and the occasional soccer field. Mile after strenuous mile, there was gray pavement and green grass – it was taxing to me to find new things to think about to keep me going. I looked forward to calling Steve at mile 7 (yes – I brought my cell phone on the trail) to wish him luck in the LSAT. After that, I started to get a little bored, so I let my brain run free for a bit.

I returned to the thought I had in the car about the Allmans' show. It was such a great experience - great company, great music. It poured down rain that night just before the show started, but no one seemed to care - there were more important things to take away from the experience. There we sat on the lawn at the Tweeter Center as I have done so many times in my past, with some of the same friends who joined me for concertas on that same lawn almost 15 years ago. When Bob started playing Ripple, I thought of Sue Cowperthwait, an old friend who I have known since 7th grade. The song has always been one of our favorites, and every time I hear it I think of her and our silly antics teenagers driving around in my wood panneled Jeep Wagoneer listening to that song and singing it at the top of our lungs. At that point of the concert, I realized that it had been a long time since I talked to her last. I pulled out my cell phone and left her a voicemail, making sure she could make out the distinct melody of the song playing in the background. As I was running I must have looked so goofy to people watching me reminisce. I didn't care, and kept smiling as I remembered listening to my voicemail after the show. It was a message from Sue, who was there at the same concert!! She heard the same song and had the same memory, and left a very similar message on my own voicemail, without even knowing I had done the same on hers. Music can be such a wonderful connection between people. I know I'll always have that with her.

We hit the water stop just around mile 8 or 9 and I loved eating the sugary treats and gulping down the juice. I had been craving gummy bears and power ade for the last 4 miles, so this was perfect timing!!

At mile 10, Meg, Carolyn and I decided to break down the remainder of our journey mentally into 2 sets of 5 miles each. The boys were about ½ mile ahead of us, so it was up to us to keep the momentum going. We did. We told stories in great detail that kept us entertained for a few miles. The sun was strong and at this point, in our face, but we rallied through it. We all felt pretty good, and made it to 15 without a struggle.

We embraced the face we only had 5 miles to go, and pushed forward. The super fast TNT runners started to catch up to us, and pass us, but that was OK since we’d still finish an hour ahead of our normal pace group, having started out so early. Mile 17 came, and Meg started to fade. Her heel was hurting her, then her entire leg, then her back, and a joint connecting her back with her heel?? Something like that, but it wasn’t good. We took some time to stretch and drink water, and stretch again, but she was in serious pain. Each of us knew we only had 4 more miles, but that distance in such distress isn’t as easy at is sounds.

I hope you remember Meg from these entries. Many of you emailed me after I wrote about the 16 miler and the heat and the torture of being out on the trail in the sun on one of the hottest days of the year. Meg, as you might remember, was my hero that day, she stuck with me and wouldn’t leave my side no matter how much I begged. She is the reason I finished that run, and I was going to make sure she finished her 20 no matter what. We walked and ran, and walked and ran, but we stuck together.

We walked more than usual, which at first was frustrating because I felt so good, and I knew I could finish the remainder of our journey in no time. I had an itch to take off from my team and sprint the remaining 3 miles. I was feeling great, and I had hit the point where I was sick of being on the trail. It was getting hot and the sun was strong, but the breeze cancelled out any feelings of discomfort. I could easily run the last few miles without a stop and I’d be on my way home in no time. Then, suddenly, I had a realization. I didn’t need to prove the fact I felt so good to anyone else – because I had already proven it to myself. I knew I could finish strong, but that wasn’t the point right now. I would save my excitement to finish for race day. Meg and I walked the remaining 1.5 miles – and finished the entire 20 in less than 4 hours. Meg was limping, but she finished and was happy to do so. I was happy to be by her side.

About an hour ago I got a call from Meg thanking me for sticking with her through the hardest part of the run. That, to me, was the point of our 20 mile run today. I was glad I could return the support she showed me a few weeks ago. Sometimes you gotta know when to hold’em, and know when to fold’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.

After everything, I feel amazing. My knees don’t hurt, I have no blisters and my energy is super high. I’m siked to have finished my last long run before the marathon – I know I’m going to finish strong on race day. I can’t wait.

I know I just quoted “The Gambler”, but that isn’t what helped me through this run. It is the song I heard right before I headed out onto the trail for our 20 mile run. It was in my head the entire time, and makes sense now that I read the lyrics. Here’s a little piece of gold for those of you who haven’t heard it in a while. For those of you who have, listen to it again. And then listen again. xo

RIPPLE
Grateful Dead

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung,
Would you hear my voice come thru the music,
Would you hold it near as it were your own?
Its a hand-me-down,
the thoughts are broken,
Perhaps theyre better left unsung.
I dont know, dont really care
Let there be songs to fill the air.
Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.
Reach out your hand if your cup be empty,
If your cup is full may it be again,
Let it be known there is a fountain,
That was not made by the hands of men.
There is a road, no simple highway,
Between the dawn and the dark of night,
And if you go no one may follow,
That path is for your steps alone.
Ripple in still water,
When there is no pebble tossed,
Nor wind to blow.
But if you fall you fall alone,
If you should stand then whos to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home.

La dee da da da, la da da da da, da da da, da da, da da da da daLa da da da, la da da, da da, la da da da, la da, da da.

Blisters and Tourists

Ten miles went by fairly painlessly on Saturday, although I must say I made a few mistakes. Overall it was a nice day to run and I was glad to have slept in, though I missed the companionship of my fellow team runners. Just a few points…

1. Just before I started out on my 10 mile run (first time I’ve ever completed this distance solo, might I add), I went to Fleet Feet and bought myself new running shoes. When I tried them on, I felt like I was walking on clouds. Instead of heeding the advice of my coaches who tell us never to run more than 5 miles in new shoes, I put away my old shoes in the shoebox and wore my new purple ones for the run. The new shoes solved the problem of aching knees, but around mile 8 I felt the chafing on the back of my heels. Sure enough, when I took of my shoes after the 10th mile, I had two huge blisters. Lesson learned.

2. I should have planned the timing of my run a little better. At 3pm when I started out, the sun was hot and the humidity had risen to its height for the day. I knew it wasn’t an ideal time of day to tackle 10 miles but I wanted to get the miles on my new shoes. It wasn’t that bad outside – the temp was perfect, actually, but the direct sun bothered me a little after mile 6, and the humidity was inconvenient. Another thing about timing – crowds of people. Instead of running a steady pace with my teammates, stopping for water breaks and calorie intake at the assigned TNT water stops, I darted in and out of tourists on every leg of the trail, and waited in line at mobile refreshment stands to pay $3 for a 12 ounce bottle of Aquafina. Because of these factors, it took a lot longer than I expected to finish the run. And, because I didn’t eat while I was running like I normally do, I was starving at the end. Another lesson learned.

While I wish I had more to write about this experience, I do not. I feel glad to have put in the effort, but it just isn’t the same without the support of my teammates. I counted down the miles while I was running, which made the entire experience more physical than anything mental. I plan to correct this on Sunday for a nice ‘recovery’ run somewhere a little less crowded.

Sorry for the boring post.

10 Miles alone...

I had a wonderful experience this morning when my alarm clock started buzzing at 5:45am for my team run. I turned th alarm off and the decision to run 10 miles by myself later in the day. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep.

I've mapped my route --- you can see it by clicking here: http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=165982

I'll post once I've returned from my solo adventure.

"Don't surround yourself with yourself, move on back two sqaures"

It was just about year ago I learned of my dear friend Michael Cimini's passing out of this world. I found a perfect picture of him this past weekend while looking through my old college photos. He’s in total Cim fashion – it’s a shot of him in his red Nissan pickup truck sporting a cowboy hat, his redneck rebel flag tattoo, and a smile from ear to ear. His adorably cute, yet handsome, dimples complete the perfect picture. There is never a day that goes by that I don't think about Cim - I often laugh out loud. Sometimes I admit I roll my eyes (Cim was hilariously funny but he did have a pretty sick and sometimes twisted sense of humor). I have finally come to terms with the fact that my friend has gone away. I will never resist the opportunity to laugh and smile or even cry at his memory. Please keep him and the Cimini family in your thoughts and prayers. It is a very difficult time for his parents who lost their only child.

Alright. Dry your eyes people!! THERE'S NO CRYING IN MARATHON TRAINING!!!!!

"Don't surround yourself with yourself, move on back two squares". Interesting introduction for an entry, no? For those of you diehard www.mulqueentrainingdiary.blogspot.com fans who have read all of my posts word for word, you'll remember I've quoted this lyric before.

It isn't as though I was actually trying to “move on back two squares” today on my morning run, but it just happened. It was a cool morning – it was 54 degrees out as reported by Steve Inskeep on my radio wakeup call – so for the first time this season I layered up. It felt great to get out into the brisk morning air, although initially I wanted to stay in bed, I admit. I followed my usual route from Dupont to downtown to Georgetown and ran up M street over the Key Bridge. On my route home I detoured over to the Circle to have a gander at some good people watching – the hustle and bustle of very self-important people rushing to their very important work. I always love the ego-tastic people watching in Dupont. Talk about surrounding yourself with yourself. Ha!

I found myself sitting on the fountain inside the Circle surrounded by scores of desperate looking people, all of whom were lined up for waiting for something. I followed the line of people with my gaze and found the source of all of the commotion. Parked nearby, just off the circle, was a truck distributing food to the homeless people of Dupont Circle, their volunteers being mobbed by crowds of people with every extended arm. Needless to say, this was a very different approach to my morning than I had expected. I stayed seated on the fountain and watched people scramble for the food being unloaded from the trucks.

“Your Move” came on my Shuffle. I love the riff right before they sing "I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way". It's such a fun song! When it ended, I removed the earbuds, and put my shuffle in my water belt. I decided to sit and see what would come. I “moved on back” if you will.

A worn out looking man with long dirty gray hair and a big shopping cart approached the fountain. He was wearing gray sweatpants, a maroon Redskins tee shirt, sneakers with holes in the toes. He parked his shopping cart to the side, climbed the steps – carefully balancing his plate of pancakes and his juice in his right hand, a plastic shopping bag with what I assumed to be his belongings in it in his left hand - and sat a few feet from where I was planted.

Immediately – instinctually – I became uncomfortable. I tightened up, grabbed my water belt and held it close and pretended not to notice this guy. Having lived in this city for 5 years I learned to be cautious in situations like this. Why was this man eating here – encroaching on my space during my people-watching time. He looked dirty to me – obviously a result of not having access to the things that most of us consider part of a normal life routine. Shower, soap, clean clothes. Like I said, he was dirty looking, but once he plopped down next to me, I realize he smelled dirty too.

Mind you – those of you who are not familiar with the layout of Dupont Circle – I was in a very open park – surrounded by the bustling crowd of people I had initially intended to see there. It was safe, and I didn’t feel threatened with so many people and cars and cops around. If I did – trust me, I would have run away and ran fast. I realized that I was just uncomfortable by this new unfamiliar neighbor - a feeling most people usually don’t want to embrace. For some reason, today, I didn’t “not” embrace it. And instead of getting up and running home, I sat.

“Did you get yer food?” he asked, this dirty, skinny man, sitting next to me. Why on earth did I take off my Ipod, and put it away? I could have avoided this situation completely by ignoring him while listening to my music. Damn. No Ipod. No cell phone. I had no refuge.

I looked at him warily – “huh? No, it’s OK.”

“Haven’t seen you before. The trucks are only here for another few minutes. Then they pack up and go to 11^th Street, then” blah blah blah. “You better get over there before they go or you gotta wait ‘till next time.” I watched him stuff pancakes in his mouth with his hands, and was amazed at how much room he had in there. I am pretty sure he ate 3 in one single bite. He titled his head back when he slurping down the Orange Juice, making sure to get every last drop. I was amazed at the fact this man, who looked as though he hadn’t eaten in days, was making sure that I – who I’m assuming he thought was a fellow street wanderer – had plans to eat breakfast before he bit into his own.

I looked down at my attire – my shoes look worn from the miles I’ve spent on the trail. They were dirtier than dirty – to me it was pride, evidence of miles out on the trail. To anyone else, they looked like his shoes did. Old shorts and a long sleeve tee shirt – I realized I didn’t blend in with the K street crowd, but I wasn’t aware that I actually looked homeless.

The man wore a watch on his left hand – like the kind the boys in 5^th grade wore with too many buttons and a big digital face. I asked him what time it was in an effort to pretend I was late for something important, thereby indicating I was NOT one of these people looking for handouts. I had a place to be. I had to go to my home and get ready for work.

“Not sure”, he said. His watch didn’t work, he told me, haven’t had a battery for weeks, but said that from the traffic in the circle and the amount of sunlight coming through the trees he guessed it was about 6:15. He said he had to be at a certain location in a few minutes to give out newspapers, a job he was lucky to get after the previous employee never showed up. He couldn’t be fired for being late or else he and his son would be kicked out of his shelter. I understood why he ate with such haste. I thanked him for the time. He didn’t say anything else – just picked up and took off. I sat there and thought for a while. I got up from my space on the fountain and surrounded myself with myself as I walked up Connecticut avenue towards my apartment. I retreated to my own ego-tastic existence and went to work.

At the end of the day, as I was stopped at a red light while driving around the block trying to find a magic parking space near my building. A homeless man was screaming in the street waving his cane around in the air. I didn’t know what he was saying, but it I don’t think it was anything literate. No eye contact, but I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He approached my car and spit a huge loogie on my driver side window.

I surrender the opportunity to debrief on this day’s experience. It is yours to behold and hopefully, yours to consider.

Instead, I leave you only with this: “Take a straight and stronger course to the corner of your life…”

I just ran 18 miles and I FEEL GREAT!!!

I just finished my longest run of the training season so far - a whopping 18 miles. And I feel great. It wasn't a monumental journey - in fact I swear that the 16 miler was much more difficult - but there are some things about the run I want to note.

At 5:30 am my alarm went off signaling it was time for me to get out of my cozy bed and get ready for a grueling 18 mile run. I snoozed for 15 minutes, during which I dreamed that I had completed the 18 miles already. At 5:45, I leaned over and woke Steve up. It was raining outside and I really didn't want to drive all the way to Reston Virginia. Don't you need a passport to get there? And I really didn't want to run 18 miles. Steve was only half awake, but managed to tell me to get up - that the hardest part of today would be the drive to VA and the first 2 miles. He said everything else will go by fast. Just get there.

Easy for him to say, laying in bed wrapped up in the covers fading off into dreamland. But I took his advice and got out of bed and got dressed. In the fridge were leftovers from last night's dinner - vegetarian pizza from Ducchini's. By this time it was too late to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal or fruit, so I grabbed a piece of cold pizza, wrapped it in a paper towel, and ate it in the car on my way to Reston. The rain stopped just as I got off the highway at the exit to meet our group. Good sign.

I arrived at the run site in time to hear the morning announcements from our coaches. We were running Northwest on the W&OD Trail starting at mile 17, going up to mile 22, then turning around and running to mile 13, and back again to mile 17. It seemed manageable when I mentally broke it down into 3 legs of 6 miles each. I found Carolyn, Bob, Megan and Megan's cousin Al (he is training for the Richmond Marathon and comes up here to run the longer runs with us) and as always I was glad. We started out on the trail just as the sun was coming up. It was a pretty sight. Another good sign.

The rest of the run is pretty boring so I won't write a play by play per mile. The only thing I can say that was a little odd is that somewhere around mile 7 my stomach started cramping up. I totally regretted eating the pizza and as I was thinking about it, I remembered why. Last night I had to pick off all the jalepenos before I ate - not a good thing to have spicy food in your stomach before a big run like this. But this morning I was in such a rush, and was half asleep until I got to the run site, and forgot to remove the hot peppers from my pizza. My stomach was telling me what a bad idea it was. I pulled out my Ipod and listened to one song in order to get my mind off of the peppers and the cramping in my stomach. I don't know for sure what made all of the cramping stop - but after one song I felt better. I put my Ipod away and joined the group again for the remaining 11 miles.

It was an awesome run. Seems as though everything lined up for us to have a perfect day out on the trail. Even the bikers were nice to us -- I couldn't believe it. We ran the entire 18 miles under sunny skies - zero humidity - perfect 70 degree temperature. As always, the company was wonderful and we kept each other going strong even as we tackled the hills. It almost felt like we were in some kind of Marathon Training Wonderland. Also, I drank about 432 gallons of water on Thursday and Friday, which helped a lot. I never felt tired or thirsty - just strong and happy and even proud.

When we finished the race, the teams were gathered around the food table. It is an interesting sight: happy, tired runners whose faces are still red from running and striped with white salt streaks , shoving bagels and pretzels and peanut butter into their mouths, talking about what a great run they had. I overheard one person say that the 18 miles "was cake compared to the 16". I could not agree more. I was craving a pickle sandwich and realized that nothing at the table was going to sate me right away, so I munched on a power bar to replenish and drove back to DC. When I arrived, I showered (best shower ever), dressed and made my lunch (YUM) and thought about what an awesome experience I just had. I had to write it down right away so I wouldn't forget.

For the next two weeks we have 10 mile runs which are both in DC (no passport, yay!). The 20 miler is back in Reston - same trail as today - on the 29th. Believe it or not, I am actually looking forward to it.

;-)

Thanks to all of you who have supported this cause. I cannot tell you how much your support has helped me - mile after mile. Even more, your support has helped others who suffer from Lymphoma, Leukemia, and other blood/bone cancers like Myeloma, the one my Aunt Ann is fighting. Research in this area has saved so many lives, including Aunt Ann, and will continue to do so as we advance into the future. For those of you who wish to donate, click HERE.

Your donation is also tax deductible - let me know if you need any info on this. Thank you again so much for your encouragement. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

8 Miles on Sunday

Hi everyone,

On Sunday, I met my running buddy Carolyn for a 'short' 8miler along the mall, around the monuments, the reflecting pool, across the Memorial Bridge into Virginia. We walked up the hill to Iwo Jima and took a break to take in the sights of the DC 'skyline'. From my watch, we had started out a little fast - and made it to IwoJima a little before 11am (not bad because we started a little after 10). The second leg of the trip was quick - and at that point in the morning there were shaded areas of our route, and of course lots of tourists. Overall it was a great run and I was happy to have a running buddy so we could keep eachother going. No heat stroke, no misplaced anger, and no breakdown in tears. We kept eachother going for the entire 8 miles!

Next week we have a 12 mile run. Will send updates as I feel they may be interesting enough to read.

16 Mile Training Run - Saturday, August 25

Hi again.

We were originally supposed to run the trail that lines the C&O Canal - from Fletchers Boat House south into Georgetown, then north into Bethesda, and back to Fletchers. It would have been ideal for the 16 miler because almost the entire path is shaded by big tall trees, which keep it relatively cool on the trail. Would have been great since Saturday was such a scorcher. But, Canal Road, the access road to Fletchers, was closed for construction, so at the last minute we had to change the route to the Custis/WO&D Trail in Virginia.

I got lost on the way to Washington and Lee High School, which is where we met for the start. This is my experience each time we meet in VA - I think I know where I am and then suddenly I'm lost and can't find my way. Somehow, I always end up at the run site just in time to hit the trail with the team, but I have no idea how it happens. To prove this, I'll tell you I always get lost going home from the runs. I would blame it on exhaustion, but honestly I just don't know my way around there. It makes me laugh at myself each time I do it, though. I mean really, why not just look up directions??!! Maybe next time. Although, after my experience you are about to read about - I never want to see that stupid trail again.

I have been nervous all week about this run for a few reasons. First, I was unable to run my 10 miles last Saturday. I tried to run it on Sunday, but my knees were still recovering from the 14 miler. That, and I wore some crazy wedge heels to the Allman Brothers show on Friday night and I'm pretty sure my knees were getting their revenge.

Second, I was away at training for work all week and wasn't able to get any solid maintenence runs in. I didn't have the confidence I normally do for the long runs.

Third, the weather outlook for Saturday was extremely hot and humid!!

Last, 16 is an intimidating number of miles, no?!

When showed up at the site at 7am, it was already 95 degrees out, I realized we were running on the hilliest route for the first 2 miles and the last 2 miles. Although I spent the entire Friday night hydrating, I was apprehensive about the conditions this run presented.

I found my running buddy Megan at the sign-in table. I first met Megan at a water stop during our 7 miler and we have run together ever since. Megan lives here in DC, but grew up outside of of Philadelphia - which is probably why we get along so well! She's very sweet and an absolute hoot - and I'm fascinated by her line of work as an Art Therapist - her answers to all of my questions about her patients make these runs enjoyable and passes time nicely on the trail. It is also fun to talk about home, going to the shore, etc. etc. I was relieved to see her Saturday, because none of my other teammates were there. I did not know, however, that I would need her more than ever to finish this run. We agreed to run 7 minutes and walk 1 minute for the route.

So off we went onto the Custis Trail. The air was thick and the sun was bright and the hills were challenging to say the least. We got past the hills to flat ground around mile 3. Running was difficult even without the hills. There were parts of the trail that were shaded by the barrier wall that butts up to Route 66. It was dangerous to run in the shade, though, because it is on the right side of the path (park traffic rules say to stay on the left side) and bikers, who have not a bit of sympathy for their jogging trailmates, speed around blind curves with no warning and little care for people in their way. We ran slower than usual, but we had no choice. It was way too hot to be time ambitious on a day like this. I just wanted to get the miles on my shoes.

At mile 8 we hit a stretch of the trail that was even hotter than where we had just come from. There was absolutely no shade, and the sun was growing stronger with every passing minute. We continued on into the heat, which seemed to be paralized at ground level by the thick vegetation on either side of the trail. Because of this, the humidity was much worse than the first 8 miles - trust me when I say that this can hit you really hard when you are not expecting it. Meg's feet were hurting and my knees were starting to ache. We pushed eachother to keep going, and shared thoughts about how this was easy compared to those lives of people for whom we're running. We made it a few more miles. Breathing at that stretch of the trail was hard -- I can only compare it what it might feel like breathing through a canvas bag.

At mile 11, we reached a water stop and the turnaround point at George Mason Drive. All we had to do was run back! 5 miles - cake, right? Not so much. My knees really hurt. I wasn't sweating any more yet I had been drinking tons of H20. I had to pee. The sun was so bright and fierce - I wanted to hide from it. At this point, it was probably about 100 degrees or more, considering the direct path of the sun on the trail and bushes and weeds and plants that kept the heat and humidity grounded. The anticipation I had been feeling all week about this run crept into my head. The combination of the elements and my lack of confidence sent me into panic. I felt goosebumps on my arms. I was ready to give up - and I told Meg to go on without me.

Meg refused to leave me, and suggested instead that we change it up by listening to our Ipods. After a bit I started sweating again. I forwarded past a few songs - Simon&Garfunkel was too slow, Squeeze was too fast, the Beasties weren't doing it for me either. I got frustrated and started to get angry. It is amazing what pushing yourself to an extreme can do to you emotionally. Anger, really? In my head I was cursing the trail, the bikers who kept speeding past us, cursing my knees and those stupid wedge heels, cursing myself for being such a wuss. I was angry at the smells in the air and the leaves on the trees. I was mad at Meg for pushing me this far -- when I easily could have given up 4 miles ago. I was insanely angry at the DC Dept of Transportation for closing Canal Road. I was mad at Coach Rich simply because we ran past him and he was there for me to hate. It was an awful and irrational spiral of mental rage, and I thank God Meg was busy listening to her Ipod during these few minutes. The heat was living in my head as the emotional form of hatred.

As we approached mile 14, The City of New Orleans played on my Ipod. It was the trigger I needed to release my emotional toxins. Tears started pouring down my face as I remembered the CD that Cimini burned for me years ago. It was senior year - and I didn't know the name of the song, or the artist, but just a few lyrics I kept singing over and over. I came back from class one day to find a CD on my desk with the words "Play Me' written on it in black sharpie. I thought of his face and his dimples and his contagious smile, and cried. It was a release like no other - cathartic as Meg would say later.

At the water stop I was still crying, but I can't explain why. At this point, it wasn't the memory of Cim, it was overall exhaustion and extreme discomfort. It felt so good to let it all go - the hate, the sorrow, the worry, the panic. All of it taking the physical form of salty tears streaming down my face. Meg was right there next to me, making me think that none of this was strange or abnormal. She's an absolute saint.

Coach Mark suggested I pour water on my head, my wrists and my ankles to cool off. It worked. His words of advice were so soothing - he had a very similar experience during a 10 mile run in these conditions and could only run 8. He told me I wasn't the first runner of the day to break down and cry, and even said that he pulled runners off the trail at mile 9 due to heat stroke/exhaustion. I felt much better. Mark had been suggesting that no one run the last 2 miles - because of the hills - and reassured us that it didn't matter how we got 16 miles in our shoes, just that we finished. He also mentioned that I shouldn't blame myself for not training properly last week - that the elements on a such a day defies all norms about marathon training. As we walked away from the water stop Mark called us heroes.

Meg and I walked the remaining 2 miles and were thrilled to be finished. I drank some powerade, got in my car, and got lost on my way home.

I thought about this experience all day yesterday and woke up today thinking about it some more. I'm positive I could not have done this without Meg by my side. She encouraged me to keep running when I was going to give up, and refused to leave me even when I insisted that she do so. I hope to be that pillar of strength for someone someday. I believe that to keep it going, you have to pay attention, pay it back, and pay it forward too.



City of New Orleans
Written by Steve Goodman
Best performed by Arlo Guthrie

Riding on the City of New Orleans,
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.
Passin' trains that have no names,
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

Good morning America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car.
Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score.
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor.
And the sons of pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel.
Mothers with their babes asleep,
Are rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

Nighttime on The City of New Orleans,
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.
Good night, America, how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Hi everyone,

Couple of quick notes -- I plan to chat a bit after my 16 miler this coming Saturday so for now I'll be brief.

1. I think it is time for a new pair of shoes. My knees were pretty sore after the 14 miler - it is odd when you realize that you need new running shoes to make your runs better. It wasn't too long ago that I'd say I have to stop running so much in order to make my knees feel better. HA!

2. I can't stop thinking about Marathon Day. I know it is very far off, but I am so excited for the crowd, the excitement and the thrill of charging up that hill to finish my 26.2.

3. I haven't gotten a whole lot of comments about what kind of costume I should wear this year. Send your suggestions - and keep in mind it should be runner friendly. I'll be wearing my TNT gear for the first 23 miles. But as I did in '05 I'm going to change into a costume 2 miles before the end. I remember how siked I was when I met Steve to change into my costume. I changed right there on the course, and then sprinted the last 2 miles! I wasn't planning the sprint, but I was so overwhelmed with excitement I couldn't help it! All the spectators (I'm sure it wasn't really ALL of the spectators, but in my mind it was) was screaming GO WONDERWOMAN GO! The band, who was lined up on 110 about 3/4 of a mile before the finish, stopped playing music and started cheering for me. Of course my favorite part was my catching sight of my personal cheering committee (all my fans who came in from PA, VA and friends in DC) -- completely going crazy with cow bells and the embarrasing signs they held.

Send me your suggestions!!!

Oh, another thought : Guess whose wonderwoman picture occupied a FULL PAGE in the 2006 MCM running brochure? Yep - me. The book was distributed to all 32,000 people who ran the race - so if you think about it, I'm famous in some circles.

3. Check out this website. One of my running partners (I think I've mentioned him in prior blogs) runs with a camera strapped to his left hand. He takes really great pics. You can really get an idea about the beautiful backdrop I tell you about. See Bob's message:

Hi everyone,I just updated my website and thought you might want to check it out. To visit, just click on the link below or paste the URL into your browser.
http://web.mac.com/bobcarr/MarathonTraining/The_Starting_Line.html
Take a look and let me know what you think!


That's all for now. Come back for more updates.

14 Miles - Best Run Ever!!

Today I have two achievements to write about. The first is a physical feat. I completed the 14 mile run with my Team in Training Group. After a week of 100+ temperature and heat indexes soaring way above, I was VERY happy to wake up on a Saturday to hear the weekend weather report -60 degrees. At 7am the temp was a PERFECT 70. I ran with a group of 5 - Roz, Bob, Megan, and Carolyn. I have run with all of them before but on separate occasions and not all together, but today we all ran together. It was a great group - essentially we were pretty new to each other as running group. It worked for me!!! I had the best time running up and down the smelly C&O canal south from Fletchers Boathouse into Georgetown, then back up the trail into Bethesada. Our turnaround in Bethesda signified we only had 3.5 miles left...so we were all pumped for it. We picked up our pace a bit on this last leg, not really on purpose but more because we had no choice. This point is primarily all downhill until the finish! It was a great run and I was happy to be in such good company with my running buddies. My knees hurt for most of the day on Saturday but since I didn't do much but sit on a train (I went up to NYC to see a friend - Annie Stingle) and in a way I thank Amtrack for being the awful organization it is. The train kept stalling and running out of power and so we were shuffled from train to train...etc. I had a seat where I could lay my legs out across the one next to me in the quiet car, so I fell asleep for the ride, which turned out to be a 6 hour trip instead of 4. AND, they gave us all vouchers to "make good".

Anyway, it was a great run and I had a blast with my teammates. I toook the liberty of singing to our team certain songs that get me going while I'm on my own maintenance runs. Lately, I'm into QUIET RIOT -- COME ON FEEL THE NOISE, and MR. ROBATO by Styx. I think they wanted to kill me for singing such songs out loud but it passed the miles and most of my teammates agreed that they were good running songs. I finished the 14 miles thinking I could very easily continue for a few more.

The other accomplishment I realized is that I am absolutely going to finish this marathon. Up until this point, I've had some doubt that I'd really be finishing it this year. Since this part is a loinger explaination - I will describe it in my next post. Estoy muy cansada porque neccesito a attendar en clase de espaniol todos Martes y Jueves. Tres ahoras en un cuarto de clase de espanol es muy intenso. Especialmente despues una dia de trabajo difficil.

Katie






.

Running, Good Music and Good Running Music

Hi there.

Last Saturday I ran with my Team In Training group for an 8 mile run. We met in Virginia - you all know I hate crossing that bridge - and ran on the Custis and C&O Trail. What the HILL??!! It was challenging to say the least, as I'm not really accustomed to running on hills when I do my weekly runs in DC. But, I made it and I was siked to have another few miles on my shoes.

I met a great group of former AIDS Marathon runners for my 7 mile run and was looking forward to meeting up with them on Saturday, but none of them showed up. It was for the best, though, because I ended up meeting two very nice girls and we kept each other going for the entire 8 mile trek.

Monday I went for a maintenence run on a short trail from Dupont to Georgetown and back. In total it was about a 3 mile run. I don't have too much to report about this particular run because it was pretty boring and I had things on my mind - I wasn't really focusing on the usual things I focus on during a run. I was frustrated after being yelled at by a patient in a doctor's office and the run was more about blowing off steam than anything else. Stupid Michael Moore is making things tough for us in the Pharmaceutical industry.

Only because I've been so into listening to old music as a new vehicle to energize me during my run, I thought I'd leave you with a suggestion: Listen to "Baba O'Riley" by The Who if you haven't lately. It's gold.

"The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same" and "Seeing is Believing"

Two over-used cliches...I know...but read on and it will make sense why I decided to use them for a title. It has been almost a month since my last post -- my apologies. I'll summarize as simply as possible. I'm wordy, as you know already if you are reading this, so please be patient because "simply" means you'll have something to read during your entire lunch hour.

Yesterday I went for a 4 mile run after work. As I ran, I remembered my training experience in 05, when I trained along the same route, against the same DC skyline, along the same dirty Potomac River, listening to many of the same songs that inspired me two years ago.

As I ran past the Kennedy Center along the river, I found myself looking for my landmark of old -- an abandoned and rusted grocery cart in the water which was home to a turtle, though I only spotted the turtle a few times. I looked forward to seeing it each time I ran by. The cart was fully visible when the tide was low. When the tide was high, I could spot the handle of the grocery cart sticking out of the water. Whatever the purpose of the cart before it ended up in the Potomac was irrelevant. It was my own personal landmark that signified I had made it to the hardest part of my journey - the half mile stretch across the Memorial Bridge into Virginia.

As I rounded past the spot where I remembered the cart to be, where I was just about 2 miles into my run, and I hit my stride. My heart pumped hard and I could feel the sweat dripping down my knees. My KNEES!! I was moving at a smooth pace, and I felt great. I was about ½ mile from the bridge.

I couldn’t find the cart, and with the realization of its absence came a kind of discomfort that scared me – I started to think I had missed it or made a wrong turn or wasn’t looking hard enough. It sounds so goofy to say this about a stupid rusty shopping cart but I panicked when I didn’t see it. My familiarity with that trail had been tampered. And along with it, my confidence.

My first reaction, one instinctual to fear in all of us from childhood, was to turn around and go home. My second, which involved some self motivation, kept me going, allbiet at a slower pace. I made sure I “saw” the end of the bridge, cart or no cart. I was going to finish this run the way I had intended to finish.

I’ve said it many times, these things sound absolutely absurd, as do so many of the thoughts I have during my runs. It is a wonder I actually share the insanity with anyone, and I am thinking you might be a little strange if you haven’t lost interest already.

I came upon the part of the Rock Creek Parkway that turns into Ohio Drive, a U shaped turnaround about 100 feet long that offers an overlook to the Potomac at its most shallow spot. It is kind of a gross sight – a part of the river exposing more trash and gunk than you could imagine – sometimes I expect to see dead bodies there- and I wondered as I ran past why on Earth someone would think of such a place to put a “scenic” overlook.

But, it was here, among the countless pieces of other trash I found the cart. It was turned on its side, in about 2 feet of water, front wheel missing, and seaweed (or some river funk) carelessly caressing its once metal grid-like side. Ah. I found my security blanket, and decided to run across the bridge into Virginia. . I picked up my pace and finished my run in record time.

My run back was only notable because I realized that there was in fact no grocery cart in the river. There was nothing to suggest I had made a mistake – a bunch of trash and a few appliances, but no grocery cart. Whatever image I had created in my head was exactly that – in my head. It made me realize that in fact seeing IS believing, and I was subtly reminded me at that quarter mile stretch, don’t stop.

Why write about a stupid grocery cart on a trail I ran a hundred times two years ago? The experience paralleled (on a much smaller scale) the experience of those who I am running for in this marathon - those who have used every bit of strength in them to fight to live. All of the people mentioned at the beginning of this blog have made a commitment to see their own metaphorical cart that has helped or is helping them cross their next bridge. Seeing is Believing, so Don’t Stop.

I decided not to include the entire song for fear that some of you still have misgivings about the season finale of the Sopranos. And I know we’ve all heard it so many times. BUT, there is one stanza that gets me every time, take it or leave it. It hit me especially hard as I “found” my cart:

Working hard to get my fill, everybody wants a thrill
Payin' anything to roll the dice, just one more time
Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on
Don't stop believin' Hold on to the feelin'

What is the best part about running 7 miles?

Stopping.

He he he.

Go ahead and try it -- see for yourself.

7 miles this Saturday

Hello everyone!!

I have held off writing about my 6 mile run probably because it was so painful. Not painful like I couldn't do it, but it was humid and hot and at times I felt as though I was breathing cotton. It has been SUPER hot the last few days -- I sweat just walking out the door in the morning, so you can imagine what was like to run in that heat. I must say it felt great to complete, but I did need a walk break or two.

My maintenance runs have been fun -- there is so much going on here -- there are so many things to see and people to watch while passing the miles and minutes. During my 4/5 mile run, I saw so many interesting things. First, A motorcade on Massachusetts Ave had me stranded at a stoplight for about 5 minutes. Dick Cheney, I presume. I watched a fight between 2 truck drivers and a cabbie - the cabbie was double parked and the truck couldn't get through -- the truck drivers were screaming in Italian (I think) and the cabbie was also screaming in a foriegn language so you can only imagine how entertaining that was. The cars stuck in traffic behind them slammed on their horns and held them down for a long time (as if that will do anything) - those of you who live in a city know the effects of the acoustics on small streets. I watched a homeless man receive a $5 bill - he thanked the woman as she walked away, and then walked straight into the liquor store. I also saw a father pushing his daughter in her stroller - he was so focused on talking to her that he ran the stroller into a newspaper dispenser. Child was fine - no worries. I watched what seemed like the entire working population of DC stuck in traffic headed for the suburbs. All + of + it = absolutely priceless.

The weather today was absolutely perfect - 8o degrees and much less humid than usual for DC in June. It made for a great run! I started out from my neighborhood and ran to Georgetown.

Seems like ever since I decided to run the 20th mile for Cimini, I've been seeing his look-a-likes everywhere. At least 3 times today, I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't him. For those of you who knew him, he was easy to pick out in a crowd -- the thick brown beard, glasses, his stocky frame, khaki pants, Birkenstocks, and a tee shirt (more often than not - the tee shirt was a concert purchase, or perhaps a freebie from one of the many parts distribution companies he worked with - BMW, Napa, etc). Anyway, DC is a place where you don't see to many hippies out on the street - even in the GW or Georgetown area. When and if you do see them, you assume there's a Widespread Panic show in town, and that all the kids from the suburbs have flocked into the city for it. It's a shame, really. I love hippies. I've accepted the fact that each time I "see Cimini" while I'm running, its a sign that he's thankful for my effort. Each time, I think of a great memory he's blessed me with - I always laugh to myself and smile a bit. I still miss him like hell, though.

Anyway, halfway through my training run today, I stopped at the waterfront in Georgetown to enjoy the view of the almost perfect blue sky over the Potomac. I had one of those moments when you feel like you're not anywhere, like time doesn't matter. As if planned, "The Only Living Boy in New York" by Simon and Garfunkel was playing on my IPod -- a perfect song to "have a moment" to. I could have stayed there all day, sitting on a cement stoop watching the clouds in the sky assemble and reassemble themselves into my own personal artwork. Then, out of nowhere, "Lose Yourself" by Eminem came blaring over my IPod earphones and I got up and sprinted home.

Yes, Eminem brutally killed the moment.

Music is something that has been a big part of each of my maintenance runs during the week. I have found myself enjoying a lot of classic rock these days --- The Who, Yes, Traffic, the Beatles, Steely Dan, Zero, The Allman's and the Dead (those of you who know me well know these last two have always been a staple), but who would have guessed that these artists would be fun to run to? That's what is so great about music - each time you hear a song, there's something more to appreciate about it. There's no limit on your interpretation. I spent about 10 minutes deciphering what "Your Move" by Yes is really about. While running. Apple is genius -- who remembers running with a Sony Walkman or Discman? And your hand would sweat and you'd lose a grip or the disc would skip or the tape would end and you'd have to flip it. The IPod makes everything so much easier. Wish I were Steve Jobs.

So, I've babbled quite a bit in this blog. Sorry for those of you who have stuck it out this far. I'm running a 7 mile run on Saturday and I only hope the weather (and the overall experience) is as perfect as today.

If you care to come back to read about the rest of my running week, I'll be posting on Friday evening. If you don't - no prob. Just tell me to stop sending you emails ;-)

Thanks to Aunt Terri, Megan Remsen, and Steve for your VERY generous contributions to this cause. I'm absolutely blown away by your generosity.

I've decided to leave you with the lyrics to "Your Move" by YES. The part that got me today was "Don't surround yourself with yourself". Leave it, or take it all for what it's worth:

YES - I've Seen All Good People/Your Move


I've seen all good people turn their heads each day
so satisfied I'm on my way.
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day
so satisfied I'm on my way.

Take a straight and stronger course to the corner of your life.
Make the white queen run so fast she hasn't got time to make you wise.

'Cause it's time, it's time in time with your time and its news is captured
For the queen to use.
Move me on to any black square,
Use me any time you want,
Just remember that the gold
'Sfor us to capture all we want, anywhere,
Yea, yea, yea.

Don't surround yourself with yourself,
Move on back two squares,
Send an instant comment to me,
Initial it with loving care
Don't surround
Yourself.

'Cause it's time, it's time in time with your time and its news is captured
For the queen to use.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit Don't surround
Didda. Yourself with yourself.
Don't surround yourself with yourself, Don't surround yourself.
Move on back two squares,
Send an instant comment to me, Send an instant
Initial it with loving care Comment to me. Don't surround Yourself.

'Cause it's time, it's time in time with your time and its news is captured
For the queen to use.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.
Diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit diddit didda.

'Cause it's time, it's time in time with your time and its news is captured.



- Kate