12 Hours To Go

We just got back to the room from the Team in Training Pasta Dinner. It was an emotional, funny, encouraging, sad, entertaining and inspiring dinner. All of the honorees and memorial pictures were being displayed on a large screen.

We had a couple of speakers that were really good speakers. One was John “the Penguin” Bingham who writes for Runner's World and he was HILARIOUS. It was like going to a stand up comedy show that was all about running- - -great stress reliever!

The other speaker was a woman whose niece was diagnosed with leukemia when she was only 3 years old. Her story brought many tears at our table. Thankfully, because of the money that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is raising, the type of cancer that this little girl has has gone from a 55% cure rate to a 95% cure rate! Her niece is now 6 years old and in remission! It was really hard watching a family at our table shed many tears as I am sure they have probably lost a loved one also to this terrible cancer.

There are 650 Team in Training participants here in Chicago and combined we have raised 1.6 million dollars for LLS. It was so fun to sit with all of the other members and share what the M.C. called "our last meal" before the race.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Expo

Dad's Memorial Screen (these did not turn out well)

Marilyn's Memorial Screen

Shelby's Page

These next 2 pictures are of the amazingly LOUD reception the wholeTNT team received as we entered the dining hall for the pasta dinner. They went above and beyond to make us feel important!

Expo Picture

Pasta Dinner

Now it is time to TRY to sleep- - -hopefully it will come. But as I head off to bed, I wanted to leave you all with the email that I received from my dear sweet Camryn when I got back to the room tonight.

Hi mom, How are you?? I know you aren't going to stay up late but I hope you get this e-mail before the race. I just want to let you know that I love you a lot and I hope you won't get hurt. Mommy I wish I could be with you right now. I will be trying to check my e-mail a lot on Sunday. GOOD LUCK MOMMY!!! Here are some verses. I hope you like them.

Here they are:But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die" Judges 3:23


The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. Psalms 118:6


Mommy I love you with all my heart.


Camryn


P.S. I hope you cross the finish line. I love you a lot.

I love this huge banner from the expo. Tomorrow truly will be the victory lap!!

Counting Down the Days

I just went to my friend Dalene's blog so I could see her ticker for the countdown of the marathon. 8 days 13 hours. . . .oh my goodness!! That is so soon and I am scared to death! I received my Team in Training jersey in the mail yesterday. That really made it feel real. I really am going to be running this thing- - -I can hardly believe it.

I love that we get to have the names of the people we are running for on our jersey's. If you look closely on the back side of our jerseys you can see "Dad" Walter Pilant and Marilyn Williams under the "In Memory" and Shelby Batley under the "In Honor". What a neat way to remember and honor those who have fought this terrible disease. I need to continue to focus my thoughts on this instead of my fear of not finishing.

Back of Jersey

Chicago, Here We Come!

Our journey begins. . . .we decided to run a marathon. We wanted to run Chicago because a couple of our friends are running there. It was closed. Then we noticed it was still open to run for certain charities. PERFECT!! Then we noticed we could join Team in Training and run to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. EVEN BETTER!! We now can raise money for a good cause- - and in memory of my dad and Marilyn. I had heard about Team in Training a few years back after dad had passed away from lymphoma and knew in my mind that I wanted to do this someday. I tucked it away in my mind because I still had a tiny baby at the time. I have recently been reinspired to run again after listening to a good friend of mine talk of her experience. She ran her first marathon last year and it has inspired me to run my first one this year. Next. . . .I talked my dear sweet husband into running with me!! He hates running, but he loves me, so he is doing it. I love him dearly for his willingness to travel this road with me. Thanks honey! We are keeping a journal of our 16 week journey leading up to the Chicago marathon.