Run One Done!

As I am sure you have guessed I take on this fundraising mission with passion, conviction and determination.. my first race, however, was approached with just a little less gusto.  It probably didn’t help that my husband, Mike, and I signed up for it after enjoying a 3(+) beer lunch on an unseasonably warm Saturday in March.  Sure, we hadn’t run more than 5 miles since November but we were feeling so awesome we were positive our marathon training from 5 (five!!) months prior would carry us through. After we signed up we made a training plan and then spent the next four weeks ignoring it. Never to be one to leave a friend in a bind, my best friend Annie decided to sign up the Wednesday before the race stating “friends don’t let friends fail alone.”

And so, my friends, that is how Mike, Annie and I came to run the Chi Town Half Marathon on April 1. The longest run between the three of us was almost 9 miles.. once. Our average “training run” was somewhere closer to 3 miles.  As we toed that starting line, the phrases “we’re idiots” “this is going to hurt tomorrow” and “I hope I don’t die” were thrown around.

I’m not going to lie. It was rough. There were a lot of mental games I had to play to get through.  “Ok, just two more miles and you get a GU! You like GU!” I’d say to myself. Or “you are doing this for fun, so enjoy it …dammit” and one I’m nearly ashamed to admit “should my facebook say this.. or this if I finish”  And that is what we did. FINISH!  Mike and Annie both set PRs* (Mike was 30 seconds away from a sub 2 hour half) and I cut nearly 15 minutes off of my previous half time.  It’s safe to say we were all rather shocked and quite impressed by the end. Take a look at our beaming faces below.

Moving forward I’m planning to train more since, as they say, lightening doesn’t strike the same place twice. And to assume I can finish every half without training would be pretty dumb. And now that the PR bar has been set for the year.. I just have to get a PR myself!

1 race down… 11 to go! Thanks for joining me on this journey :)

* PR = personal record

Donate here:  http://www.dbafoundation.org/donate.php (Please mention Amy or Lizzie in purpose)

And so it starts...

As most of you know I have spent my career fundraising for very important causes. I love what I do. I love who I work with and I love the missions I support. But, as worthy as they may be none of them directly impact the reason I got into this field in the first place, my sister Lizzie. It is for that reason I am embarking on 12 races in 2012 to raise funds for Diamond Blackfan Anemia (DBA) research and promote the bone marrow registry.

The facts are these- Lizzie has 10% working bone marrow.  Lizzie continues to develop antibodies from her years of being transfusion dependent. These antibodies decrease the pool of blood donors available to her. Lizzie does NOT have a bone marrow match. Lizzie is half Mexican, half German which makes it harder to find a match. Lizzie needs a match or a cure. WE NEED YOUR HELP.

Now, I don't want to scare anyone. We aren't frantic and we continue to monitor Lizzie and keep a close eye on everything. She is currently doing well. But we would be remiss to not plan for the future and make sure that we are doing everything we can to be prepared for anything. More than that, thousands of other people would benefit from furthering DBA and marrow failure research and hundreds of thousands of people will benefit from adding new donors to the bone marrow registry. 

Please check back frequently as I update you on my  12 races in 2012 (half marathons, 10Ks, 5Ks, maybe another marathon), share stories about Lizzie, talk about ways you can get involved and show that with every step and every mile I plan to literally run for her life. 

Join me, donate money, donate blood and/or sign up be a bone marrow donor. Together we can be the difference. 

donate here: http://www.dbafoundation.org/donate.php (please mention Lizzie or Amy in the purpose)