almost there

i'm so close to achieving a fundraising dream of $10,000 when i cross the finish line on Sunday. it's freaking amazing that i can even write those words. i want to underscore that my biggest block in signing up for this race was thinking about fundraising. i'm amazed at all the donors (look to the right!)....

although you don't see the donation numbers right beside each donor, i want you to know that no one donated more than $400. only three individuals gave more than $300. the majority of my donors donated on average $25-50.

i am deeply inspired by those that are giving (and some gave twice!) to this run, this cause, and to my many friends who i started running for and will be running for on sunday.

My Teammates: Erin & David

This past weekend's run was amazing. It was perfect in its challenge and pace. While I was running, I realized two things:

1. The importance of being in a group.
2. The importance of inspiration.

Erin

I met Erin at the beginning of training. She was literally the first person I met. She had a yellow jersey over her running shirt so I thought she was someone with information. My hunch was correct, she is a TnT Mentor. Before I get ahead of myself, let me explain a TnT mentor. Due to the number of people training for various marathons, TnT decided to break the group into smaller groups, assign a mentor, and create a small community with a liasion to the bigger TnT group. My mentor, Emily, is amazingly sweet. She runs in the advanced group so I rarely run with her.

Back to Erin. She was wearing a yellow jacket because that is what mentors wear to be spotted easily. She runs in the Intermediate group, like me. During my first Tuesday run, my stomach started cramping around mile 2.5. I started walking and doubting myself. How could I ever finish 26.2 miles when I can't even finish three? A few moments later, I started up again. As I started to get into the groove with running and nursing a stomach cramp (caused by dehydration, a common issue with me), a person ran by and asked me, "You doing okay?" She waited long enough to hear my response, "Yeah, I'll be fine." At that instant, I felt like I was on a team. I haven't been on an athletic team in a long time and it felt good! That person who cared and followed up with me at the end of three miles turned out to be Erin.

Ever since that practice, Erin and I have been running buddies. She has introduced me to her mentees and I have introduced her to my mentor and mentee collegues. She encourages me to keep running and I try to do the same to her. This Saturday, my knee started to pain around mile 4. She kept going and ran ahead of me at her own pace. She would look back and make sure I was running. Watching her run ahead of me inspired me. It kept me going, I didn't stop even though a voice in me wanted me to (sidenote: I would have stopped running if I was in advanced stages of pain.). Erin has been nothing but an amazing running partner. Some days I run faster than her, other days she runs faster than me. But, I know that she is always looking out for me.

David

Around mile 7, my body was starting to hurt a bit more. The voice was getting louder. I knew I had one more mile, but the sweet bliss of walking that one mile started to tempt me. All I could think about was David. If David could do it, so could I!

David is an honoree teammate for the New York City Chapter. He is also running the Chicago marathon. And, get this: he finished his last radiation six.weeks.ago. SERIOUSLY people, how does this happen? The man is a pure hero with such a great heart. He shared his story with us on Saturday and not only did it bring tears to my eyes, but it brought a lump in my throat. He has such a unique ability to share a story, his story, with ease, humor, and gratitude. I wanted to hug him afterwards. He was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease a few months back. TnT asked him to speak on a cold Saturday in January. He had just finished chemo that week and was tired when Saturday rolled around. But, he got out of bed, caught the subway, and his subway had a malfunction at 72nd Street. He left the subway and ran to Central Park. He missed the morning meet-up. Then he saw the running crew making their way down Central Park West. He cheered them on, in the snow and sleet. All of a sudden, he said, he started running with the team. Although his body was aching and cold, his heart was filled with such warmth as he finished running one hour (for the first time e-v-e-r).

His tests came back negative on Friday and he gave a huge smile when he shared the results with us this Saturday. And I noticed that his front two teeth were missing. David later said that he bought a bike and got into a bike accident, when he crashed into a tree. He lost his bike and his two front teeth. He is going to the dentist in a few days to get replacement teeth. And he is STILL running!

After the eight mile run, I found David munching on a muffin. I went up to him to thank him for sharing his story. I told him that his words inspired me to finish the last mile. He smiled and thanked ME for running and raising money for more research in finding a cure to cancer. Pshaw! It is nothing compared to the obstacles (including trees) that David has had to overcome.

Finding a Friend in Random Places

I won't lie. This is not my first time training for a marathon. It is the first time I am training in a group setting. This is also the first time I am fundraising for a cause. And the first time I am excited about running in SF. Up the hills, down the hills, and by the bay. E40, a Bay Area rapper, couldn't have said that previous line better. :)

When I started training for the San Diego Rock n' Roll marathon, I inspired a friend to start training for her first marathon--the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC. Now, she inspires me. Mel and I became friends in the most randomest ways: via apartment hunting.

~00~

Back in sweltering summer of 2003, I decided that I needed to move out of Maryland and into DC to get the real city life experience. Apartment hunting in any city is tough. But add humidity, a tight market, and limited budget and you have yourself a recipe for disaster. One day, I saw a Craigslist posting for an apartment in Dupont Circle. It sounded amazing (red flag) and relatively cheap for a relatively expensive area (another red flag).

After some (dis)orientation after getting out of the Metro, I found the apartment building. I opened the doors and a cool wind chilled my body which reinvigorated me. I jumped into the elevator, pressed "7" and a few other people trickled in. No one pressed any other floor. "Great," I thought, "possibly my new neighbors."

We all exited on the seventh floor and everyone made a right turn. And then I noticed. Several people were hanging out near the end of the hall. I pushed my way through thinking that the apartment open house was another apartment. Of course, it was not. I took one look at the apartment where people were up against the walls, filling out their lease applications.

Disappointed, I left. A smaller group formed near the elevator and we all laughed at how expensive that disgustingly small apartment was going for. We got to the ground level and went in different directions.

~oo~

A few days later, on a Sunday, I made a list of apartment openings. I started in Adams Morgan, National Zoo area, and then Cleveland Park. Each apartment had such hopes on paper that in reality never had full potential. I often likened this to online dating.

On my last apartment viewing of the day, the Craiglist posting said to be there by 3:00PM. I showed up and saw that a few other people hanging out in the front of a building that looked like a retirement home. Rather a dilapidated senior citizen building. I asked one of the guys who were hanging around if they were waiting for the apartment open house. They were. One of the people looked familiar. She looked at me, and I looked at her, and we asked at the same time, "Were you at another apartment open house?" And that started our friendship. The building owner met us all and showed us the open apartments. All of them were terrible and in the stair well which we took to each floor, there was a HUGE roach. HUGE.

~00~

That night, we went to Starbucks and laughed about our "luck" with finding a great apartment. We bonded over our dislike for DC because it wasn't the West Coast (she is from Washington). We talked about everything under the sun. And as soon as we walked in different directions, I knew I had another friend in DC.

A few weeks later, she found an apartment and then got me an apartment in the same complex. Although our schedules never matched up, we tried to make an effort to see each other once a month, or at the very least, once every two months. We shared a desire to run and explore. And we balanced each other out.

Over the years, we have inspired each other in different ways. She has inspired me to treat myself more. She questioned why I didn't spend money on me, but on other things. She gives self-lessly, from clothes to CDs to furniture to her time. She has a deep appreciation for me time and us time, which I really look up to and try to emulate. And, the best part of Mel, is that she finds humour in her life. She laughs to the point of when tears trickle down her face (can you see why I love her so?) and she makes me laugh too much.

She trained for her first marathon in 2005. Ever since then, Mel has not stopped running. She runs and/or cross trains most days of the week. As a runner, nothing more encourages me to run then to see friends run or share their running stories.

In August 2006, after half a decade in DC, Mel ventured back to the good old West to plant roots in Portland, Oregon. The cool thing about Mel is that her friends know me as an urban legend. The party jeans urban legend. Those and other memories keep me running every single mile this week.