Over the course of this training cycle, I've had an opportunity to share quite a few miles with one of this season's Alaska Team mentors, Christy. Christy lost her son Bryant to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and will be running the Chicago Marathon in October in memory of him. She has been doing TNT as a means of fundraising to establish a grant in his honor. After much thought and indecision and more thought, I have decided to continue working to fundraise for TNT through the next fundraising and training cycle so that I can join Christy and other members of the Washington/Alaska Chapter in Chicago on October 9th. I know I have been asking many of you for money for Seattle, but if you wanted to contribute to my fundraising efforts and hadn't gotten around to it, I would be incredibly grateful if you sponsored me for the Chicago Marathon. No amount is too large or too small. Click here for my Chicago fundraising page.
I'm also really stoked about doing Chicago because one of my best friends from university days got in through the lottery. Also as longtime readers may recall, it was a race I was training for back in 2011. I had logged quite a few miles on my training plan before I had to make the tough decision to DNS due to a hip injury. While I'm a little nervous about training while being in Europe for part of the summer (more on that soon), I am so excited about doing this marathon! It's been on my bucket list for a long time, and I hope TNT can help me get to the starting line healthy, happy, and running for a purpose!
Is there a race or event that you really want to do?
That is so sad that your running buddy lost her son to lymphoma. I can see how that gives you extra motivation to keep raising money for a cause now that it's more personal to you. How exciting that you will be doing Chicago! I was supposed to run it in 2013 but wasn't able to due to my stress fracture and RA diagnosis, but I spectated at 3 different spots, which was pretty taxing honestly, so I feel like that was my 'mini marathon' for the day. Amber, Lauren, and our friend Anais ran it and had a wonderful experience so I am sure you will, too!
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to do the Chicago marathon, but I am hanging up my marathon shoes. I know there are people who go on to do marathons after hip surgery but I just don't want to push my body too much so I will be doing 1/2 marathons and tris going forward. But there are lots of beautiful 1/2s for me to check out and it's still a challenging distance so I am not too upset about not doing marathons anymore (well, most of the time...).
I'm a bit nervous about being able to raise enough two cycles in a row, but I really do feel like it's an important cause!
DeleteThere are many lovely half-marathons, and I think it's important to honor what's going on with your body rather than risking continued injury.
Chicago is definitely on my bucket list. I can't think ahead to another marathon if I already have one on the calendar. Very brave of you!
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