Archive for the ‘Team In Training’ Category

Doug lost his battle with Leukemia today.

I don’t remember if I ever posted his video about searching for a bone marrow donor, so I’ll post it hear, so you can see and hear Doug.

My heart aches for Nancy and their two children. How sad.

Kids, please consider signing up for the bone marrow registry. Becoming a donor is so simple: four cotton swabs swiped along your cheek. No blood letting. Just a swab.

Blood cancers are so cruel.

I have nothing else to say.

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I stand corrected, I’ve done platelet donations recently. It’s a roughly two hour process. In case you have never done a platelet donation before, this is what it looks like (from my mother’s day donation — I’m overdue, you can do this donation weekly or bi-weekly, something like that).

You’re hooked up to a centrifuge-type machine. You have one needle but three tubes connected to your arm.

Your blood is pumped out of your arm and into the machine, where it is separated. The platelets (yellow) are funneled into a collection bag. Meanwhile, a nasty-tasting anti-coagulant solution is pumped back into your arm, with the platelet-free blood. When the return is happening, an atrocious taste enters your mouth. Also, you get very cold. It’s not pleasant. It sucks, in fact.

But the life you save could be Doug.

Hell, the life you save could be my husband, who endured many blood transfusions as a child.

If you don’t have a couple hours, please go donate a pint of blood at least. Great is the need.

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Doug had a second bone marrow transplant on Monday.
Doug is very unwell.

Please pray. Pray. Pray.

And if you can, please drop $5 into their paypal account. Money is very tight, and Nancy can’t possibly be working much since she’s spending so many hours sitting at Doug’s bedside. Plus all the stuff that insurance doesn’t cover. And their two children.

Pray. Just pray.

So frustrating to know you and I together raised almost $4K for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and thousands of other people have raised millions, yet we do not have a cure for blood cancers.

I might re-consider taking this coming season off from fundraising. The need is so great.

Time to set up an appointment to do another horrid plasma donation. I hate doing it, but according to Doug’s blog, he’s receiving plasma, and the plasma I donate might help him.

It’s just heartbreaking. Pray for Doug.

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Please continue to pray / think happy thoughts for Doug. He apparently had a really rough night last night. Today is day 14 after his bone marrow transplant.

And please consider registering to be a bone marrow donor. All it takes is a couple swabs of your cheek to be registered. The life you save could be someone as wonderful as Doug.

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But some of my runner friends are. So, if you’re feeling generous and want to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, feel free to contribute to:

my mentor, Lisa

my coach, Jen

They’re raising money for a race in San Fran, and I think also a race in Dublin, Ireland.

There’s no way I would have gotten through my races without them.

I’ve linked to Jen’s fundraising over in my sidebar, since she’s trying to raise $15K. But if she gets close to her goal, I’ll update that link to go to Lisa’s fundraising goal of $10K. Go team!

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This is Doug:

That was taken the morning of my half marathon in January. I’m pretty sure the stylish trash bag I wore the entire race came from him.

This is the recent story of Doug’s health journey and fight against Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. Doug’s cancer came back, but he is a fighter.

Today, Doug has his bone marrow transplant.

Prayers / happy thoughts much appreciated. Stupidly, I forgot to go to the hospital with the rest of the TNT team at 745a today to stand outside his window and show him moral support. But it’s because of Doug that I registered with the bone marrow registry.

Doug has two small children.

Doug has a paypal button on his site. I dropped in a few bucks to help them with groceries or whatever. Because his treatment is not entirely covered by his insurance, and they’re in need of some relief.

Pray for Doug. Pray for Doug’s wife. Pray for their children.

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I never posted a picture of the ribbons I wore on race day back in January. I wore four ribbons; in memory of Jackie, and in honor of Bobbert, Frank, and Nick. Of course, I wore a black trash bag the entire race, so no one saw my ribbons anyway, but I did run for people who are/were fighting blood cancers. When my cousin saw me outside the Magic Kingdom, they kindly took this picture for me:

since I didn’t think to take a picture with the ribbons before the race. Or after.

I have since mailed the ribbons to the people I ran for, and am keeping the ribbon with Jackie’s name on it as my own keepsake.

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I opted not to stay at my Disney hotel last night, preferring to sleep with my warm husband in my sleep number bed. I was so cold after that wet, frigid run, that I needed my space-heater-husband to keep me cozy. But, I had team mates and my CIL to cheer on this morning for the full marathon, so I was back up at 330a and on the road to Disney at 4a. For a change, my gift for getting lost enabled me to find the perfect route to get to Epcot, and I missed all the traffic! Fortune smiled upon me, then, as I ended up like the 7th space from the exit of the Family Reunion area (where the runners reunite with family after the race). That’s also where the runners congregate before heading through bag check for the mile long walk to the start line. As I was pulling layers of jackets on, my cousin, to whom I had texted my location, knocked on my car window and let me know where their friends were collected.

Bunch of crazy runners sporting the fashionable garbage bags

The crazy girl in the ears ran the 5K on Saturday, and did Goofy. That means she ran (3.1 + 13.1 + 26.2) 42.4 miles this weekend. Nutter!

I haven’t checked the weather all weekend, but I’m pretty sure it was colder this morning than it was yesterday. But dry. Thank god it was dry.

There was much dancing and jumping around to try to get warm.

After the runners went through baggage check, my cousin and I headed over to the viewing area to see the start. Turns out the start line was way far away, but we stayed until some runners passed before heading to the monorail tracks to watch the runners. We saw CIL at that point, and then hiked up to wait in line to get to the transportation station.

By this time, I imagine we had been standing outside for an hour and a half or more. And, we were cold. The wind was biting. I wore my long sleeve 13.1 race shirt, a sweatshirt over that, a zipper fleece over that, a button fleece with hood over that, and my husband’s fabulous winter coat over that, with a scarf wound around my head/ears/nose. And gloves. It was cold. I wish I had more than one pair of jeans on. My cousin was, I think, trying to text message with gloves on, which is impossible, and she was complaining about how much her fingers hurt from the cold. It was cold.

Over at the Magic Kingdom, I managed not to get CIL’s picture as he came up Main Street, due to my gloved hands being securely placed in my warm pockets. But here’s my cousin watching for her husband to come through the castle.

And, just over 11 miles, my CIL was kind enough to veer off course to come in closer for a picture. I hollered to him, “You’re going the wrong way!”

The girl in pink with the ears is the aforementioned nut who did 42.4 miles this weekend. I have so much respect for her. She’s done something like 13 ironmen competitions. Amazing woman.

And then I got the text update about my running buddy from last year crossing ten miles and ran to the other side just in time to catch her taking a picture of the castle.

I hollered to her, and she came up to give me a big hug and thanked me so much for being there to cheer her on. She finished the race in 6:57 and change, I think, which is faster than my time last year. Go her!

I then had the text update that one of my teammates had crossed 20 miles. Since I had his tickets to tonight’s victory party, it was very important that I catch him at the finish line. My cousin and I parted ways (she was still tracking her hubby, as she should), and I stood in a ridiculous monorail line to get back to Epcot. And even though I stood with a view of the finish line, I missed his crossing. He’s pictured here with the mom and step-dad of the little boy, Alex, who died December 8th. My teammate had also run all three races this weekend, for 42.4 miles. And he PR’d today by 2 hours over his last best marathon time. I think he did 4:32 and change. Amazing man. He raised a ton of money for LLS, too. Go team!

I missed my CIL crossing the line, but I watched him get his medal. He did it in five hours and some seconds. Amazing! Well done, CIL! I am so proud of you!

This is when he was telling me the first 20 were easy, but that last 6 nearly killed him. Funny, the full 26 nearly killed me last year!

I couldn’t find my cousin and CIL in Family Reunion, but my cousin texted that they were on their way to my car. Poor CIL was starting to show the pain.

He asked me to please drive them to their car, and I had to apologize for how high off the ground my Element is. You never realize it until your legs are screaming and you try to climb up!

Tired CIL. And that’s dried Cliff Shot on his face. Sticky stuff, that.

I am so proud!

Don’t be fooled by the sun being out; it was still wicked cold, and I remained bundled up until I got to my car and cranked the heat.

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The Disney site reveals my race results:

Chip Time: 3:25:15
Clock Time: 3:55:59
Ovarall Rank: 15,572
Sex Position: 8,530
Division Place: 1,308 (what does that mean?)
Age Grade: 32.2%

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Last night, on the way to and at the TNT Inspiration dinner:

Teammate and his mom

My fabulous mentor from last year who, let’s face it, was my mentor again this year, too.

we were on that bus for far too long waiting to get to the dinner last night

Walking into the inspiration dinner. Coaches line both sides and cheer as we enter. Quite a cacophony!

my running buddy from last year

My Osceola coach cheering for us

My Orlando coach from last year who, you may recall, got me through my final two miles last year.

my other Orlando coach from last year (the blonde)

one of my mentees

my running buddy from last year

John “The Penguin” Bingham is famous in the running world. He spoke last year, and I was looking forward to hearing him again this year. And, since I’m a stalker, after the dinner, I beelined for his table:

Me: Mr. Bingham, would it be terribly rude of me to ask for your autograph?
He: Not at all.
Me: (pulling a book out of my purse) Because I have a few of your books with me… (pulled three out)

He had a handler type with him who then took my camera from me:

my teammate/mentee J, who is pictured above with his mom, followed me over and also had his picture taken with The Penguin.

This morning, our coaches let us sleep in. Of course, my roommie and I did not sleep at all last night. She had a 3a lobby call, but my coaches gave us a 330a call. This is me and my mentee on the bus:

The UP! balloon.

Port-o-let city in the Epcot parking lot. Let me tell you how unpleasant it is to drop trou in a port-o-let in 20 degree “heat”!

The other side of port-o-let city.

As we walked the mile from port-o-let city to the starting corrals, it began snowing! This picture was supposed to catch the snow in the light, and failed. Dammit.

my mentee modeling the most popular running accessory: a garbage bag.

Snow became sleet became rain. Never have I been so happy to have a trash bag!

You’d be amazed how warm a plastic bag can keep you. It keeps your body heat in and the moisture out.

At 540a, the race started… for those in the front of the pack. I was in corral G, so my race started a good thirty minutes later. I was in the fourth and final start. They did fireworks for each start wave, which was nice.

approaching my start, finally. It was so cold just standing around waiting for the start. Remember, I had been at the start since about 420a. So I was quite cold by the time I had my start, after 6a.

My start!

This picture does not capture the beauty of these huge illuminated balloons that they had marking the road.

As I approached the rear of the castle, I asked some random runner to take my picture. FAIL. Too bad, too, because it looks like I was rawking that black trash bag! I took the bag off for professional pics, or anytime I wanted a good picture.

See my trash bag on Mickey’s shoulder? Yea, I pulled if off for the picture, and immediately put it back on! It was raining steadily for miles, and my arms and gloves were wet. So thankful for whomever gave me that garbage bag this morning. It kept my torso dry. I considered tossing it around mile 2, which is around when I tossed the blanket I had been wrapped up in. So glad I kept the bag. (this was around mile 9)

So this is around mile 11, approaching Epcot. I was so relieved to see so many people behind me. No worries about the sweeper bus!

The final big hill.

This particular stretch was really slippery for me. I was concentrating hard on not falling.

Mile 12ish

Subtract 30 minutes or so from that time, since that’s clock time, which started when the first person crossed the start line, some thirty minutes before I crossed the line.

My CIL, who is running the full marathon tomorrow, and my cousin, were at the finish line. CIL took this picture of me. I had removed my garbage bag just before crossing the finish line so I could hopefully have a good finish line photo. But boy, did I miss my bag after the race, when it continued to be super cold, and began raining even harder. This was also when I realized I had not yet turned off my iPod. So my iPod time is not quite right. I’ll have to go online and see what my chip time was for this race.

My iPod says it took me 3:27′40″. I’d shave a couple minutes off that since I forgot to stop the iPod. Average pace: 15′50/mile. Slow, but it was so cold and wet, and several stops for either pics or port-o-lets.

Overall, it was a good race for me. I like running in the cold. But it was so wet, that the cold ended up being brutal.

UPDATED: I forgot to post the pic of who I was running for:

My cousin hopefully took a pic of the ribbons on my shirt when I saw them at the transportation center. In the weird weather, I failed to get a pic of the ribbons fastened to my shirt.

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