I am a Rock Star! :)

My first marathon is over. I have officially moved to a "marathoner" status... only 0.5% of the world's population has ever finished! We raised $10,575 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and as a North County Run team, we raised ~$2.2 Million for this race! Overall, the L&L Society raised ~$12.5 Million (net) for this Rock 'n' Roll Marathon race alone!!! That is so amazing, and brings me hope that we'll find a cure and/or better therapies for blood cancers by 2015! The marathon was amazing. I am not exactly sure how to put it in words because I learned that the spirit of the marathon isn't just in the race, but in the months of preparation for the race and the challenges one needs to overcome physically, emotionally and mentally. I did complete my part of the deal from last year's marathon. Mike ran it FOR me last year while I was going through chemo, and the bet was that I'd get better and run it WITH him this year...and I did! I added Mike, Judy and Joe's names to the bottom of my race shirt as my "supporting sponsors" because they've seen me through thick and thin this past year!

Lisa, Jen and I started the race off together -- the sound of the start was so exciting...and we were off! We did great pacing for the first half of the race to mile 13.5 when we were cheered on by my family & friends in their orange "Cures Rock!" t-shirts and signs. A while after that, I started to not feel well with a nagging old IT band injury (thanks to running on the slanted I-163 highway) and in general, a little "off." Jen ran ahead of us because she was doing great! Lisa stuck with me at my pace. All three of us finished the race eventually, and it was our first marathon! I crossed the finish line at 5:54.

If you go to this site (http://video.nbcsandiego.com/player/?id=257872), you can view me crossing the finish line!! If you watch the clock in the video and fast forward, move it to the clock time of 6:02:27. You'll see Lisa (left) and me (right in black shorts) running down the center, we hold our hands together and run across the finish at 6:02:34!! You can even hear the announcer calling my name. Much more to come, I promise!