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!!