marathon madness

a couple of weeks ago i signed up to train and complete a marathon in san diego on june 6, 2010. i've started training as a member of the leukemia & lymphoma society's eastern north carolina team in training team. (you can read all about the leukemia & lymphoma society here and even more about their amazing team in training program here.)

now i'm not a runner by any means and this will be my very first marathon. for those of you who do not know, a marathon is 26.2 miles. yikes! but as part of the team in training program, you are paired up with a coach and given an extensive training program to follow. at the first meeting the coaches said they could get me "from the couch to the finish line" by the race date if i did my part, worked hard and trained per my schedule. so i've gotten off the couch and have started training! my plan is to walk/run with probably more walking than running. did you know that you can actually walk a marathon? obviously at this point i'm not concerned about my time....my goal is just to finish....

so why the leukemia & lymphoma society? last year one of my very best friends was diagnosed with leukemia just after the birth of her second child. at the time of her diagnosis she was 38 years old and a mother of two beautiful children - a six year old daughter and a seven month old litte boy. immediately following her diagnosis she underwent six months of agressive chemotherapy and in early january she was officially in remission! but her battle with leukemia is far from over.

since the day i found out about her diagnosis i have struggled with the question of why all of this is happening to such a wonderful person. my friend is an amazing mother, wife, daughter/daughter-in-law, sister, aunt and friend. i continue to pray for her and her sweet family, but the truth is that i was and am constantly amazed with her strength, her courage and her determination. she is a fighter, a survivor, and she is my inspiration. i am training and completing this marathon in honor of her....

as a member of the team i am also raising funds to help find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers. my goal is to raise $2900.00 for the leukemia & lymphoma society. you can view my fund raising website here.

so why i am writing about all this on my blog? well i plan to provide weekly updates on my training and fundraising efforts here. just little updates to let everyone know how i'm doing, how my training is progressing, my thoughts on the training updates, etc. so now through june, you can look for a weekly post called marathon mondays. i've even designed a cute little logo for the posts....

wish me luck! i'm going to need it! check back next week to see how things are progressing....