Here is a quick re-cap of the last few weeks for me:
1. Philadelphia Marathon - I successfully completed my 3rd consecutive Philadelphia Marathon! It was my fastest time yet in Philly. This was my 7th overall full marathon. One of my co-workers (Jeannie) joined me on the road trip up to Philly. We had a great lunch on Saturday at a restaurant appropriately named Marathon Grill, and met up with my friends Caroline & Niall Saturday night for some pre-race carb loading at Mercato Restaurant. Caroline & Niall ran the half marathon on Sunday & met up with us post race to share our race day stories & celebrate! This year was the 20th anniversary of the Philadelphia Marathon & the race medal spectacular. It looks like a gold medal. Really a fun race & weekend. I anticipate I'll be back to run Philly again in 2014!
2. Secret Santa - This is the absolute busiest time of year in my office. I work for an accounting/payroll company - so think bonus payrolls, W-2 adjustments, 1099's, year end tax planning. It's like working in Santa's workshop. To keep up our spirits during this busy time of year - a few years ago I suggested doing an office Secret Santa. This year I went all out and purchased an Elf on the Shelf for my Secret Santa (Kelly). I had no idea what I was getting into - moving the elf every night was much harder than I thought. I found myself scouring Facebook & Pinterest daily for fresh ideas - leaving little time for blogging. It went fairly well. Kelly named our office elf "Cindy Lou", and she quickly became part of our work family, but the best part was the finale. Thanks to the help of Buddy the Elf who made an appearance at our office Christmas party to give Kelly her final gift!
3. Lotteries - I was accepted into 2 race lotteries! I was accepted into the Cherry Blossom 10 miler for the first time ever. It only took 3 years, haha - but I'm in! That race is on April 6th - a perfect pre-Boston warm-up. I also gained entry into the Nike Women's Half Marathon on April 28th with my high school friends Elizabeth & Katie. Yep, that would be a half marathon less than a week after the Boston Marathon. April is going to be intense! I'm currently entered in one other race lottery - the NYC Marathon. Keep your fingers crossed for me on that one - the drawing is in the spring!
4. Sparkly Soul Fundraiser - I ran a small fundraiser during the first week in December. 10% of the total sales went towards my fundraising efforts for NORD. There was $182.70 in sales, and Sparkly Soul rounded up the donation to $25. Overall, I've seen quite a bit more activity on my fundraising page for the 2014 Boston Marathon these past few weeks. I logged in this morning, and was thrilled to see a $500 donation from the Knobloch family. We are up to $1,828 raised! I can't begin to tell you how touched I am by those of you who are supporting me and the rare disease community! BIG THANKS to all of you who purchased headbands, made donations & have shared my fundraising page with your family & friends!!! I'll be posting about some upcoming fundraisers soon: a Superbowl Block Pool, and hopefully another fundraiser around Rare Disease Day (February 28). Stay tuned!
5. HCU Heroes - I've exchanged emails with a few HCU patients & families over the past few weeks. The 2014 Boston Marathon is going to be a very special Boston Marathon. In an effort to further increase awareness for HCU, I plan on dedicating each mile of my 26.2 mile run on April 21st to a different HCU patient including my buddy Will who helped me out last year! Leading up to the race, I'll be sharing with you their stories and pictures. Look for a post about Brave Maeve very soon! And if you know of a HCU hero whose story should be shared - please leave me a comment below :)
6. Rehoboth Beach Delaware Marathon - I completed my 8th overall marathon the first weekend in December. This was my third marathon in less than three months (Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Rehoboth Beach), and my knees are starting to complain. This was also the fourth state I have completed a full marathon in. I have alluded to it before, but for those of you who are unaware - my long term goal is to run a full marathon in all 50 states. This may sound crazy, but people actually do this - more people than you might think. They even have an organized group aptly named the Marathon Maniacs. I met one of these maniacs on the Delaware course. Jody was running just ahead of me when I was about 3 miles from the finish line. I noticed her race shirt had a big "50" on it, and decided to ask her if she's run in all 50 states. Well, not only has she run a full marathon in all 50 states - she was in the process of running her 96th overall full marathon. She went on to tell me she is 56 years young, and she's completed 40 marathons in the past 2 years. There are definately some inspiring people out there!
7. Patient Advocacy Group - I had a conference call with a pharmaceutical company in Israel that is interested in helping to start a patient advocacy group for HCU. They are working on developing an enzyme replacement therapy for HCU - which would be wonderful if it's safe, effective, and affordable. I'm not a doctor or a scientist, and have very little information on this research - but, nonetheless, I'm happy to hear there are people out there working towards better treatments & a cure for HCU! It was an interesting phone call!
8. Ugly Sweater Run - I participated in an ugly sweater run last weekend - it was an untimed 5K - more of a "fun" run if you will. The race course was lined with giant inflatable Santas and reindeer. They had hot chocolate "water" stations and snow blowers. It was a truly festive atmosphere & a great way to kick off the week of Christmas.
9. Winter Cold - after all the activity this month, it was bound to happen. I woke up the day after Christmas with a horrendous cold - coungested, coughing, sneezing, sinus pressure, chills = no fun! I managed to battle my way through Thursday & Friday at work, but this weekend I crashed. I spent the good part of Saturday & Sunday in bed with a box of tissues. I guess my body was telling me to slow down. I took advantage of the downtime to map out a few races for 2014 & fine tune my Boston training plan. I'm still not operating at 100%, but think I'm past the worst of it, and looking forward to ringing in the New Year tomorrow night!
I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season. Wishing you good luck with your dreams & goals in 2014!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment