Well, I did it! I ran the NYC Marathon and officially checked my dream race off my bucket list. It was an unreal experience that truly exceeded all my expectations. Since I am still on a high from the whole weekend, I thought getting my thoughts on paper would be the best way to capture the experience.
Friday, November 3rd, Eliana, Nicole and I flew to NYC, checked into our hotel and headed to the race expo at Javitz Center. The race expo is the place where you pick up your running bib, get your finishers shirt and purchase any other swag you want from the race. Heading into race weekend my excitement level had been pretty low compared to previous races and I couldn’t figure out why but walking into the convention is where the excitement really kicked in. To be surrounded by thousands of runners who all have to the same goal never gets old. The energy in that rooms cannot be replicated.
After we left the convention center, we walked across the street and Eliana noticed Lulu Lemon was having a pop-up event. I was tired and hungry at this point and didn’t want to stop but we did and good thing we did because we all walked away with FREE Lulu Lemon gear. All we had to do is run for 1 minute on a treadmill and I walked away with a FREE pair of $128 leggings!!!!
Later that night we had our pre-pre-race dinner with our families. This was the start of support that we all felt the whole weekend. It was great to have everyone together and to continue with the carb loading at a family-style Italian restaurant.
Saturday was basically a rest and prep day. I needed to get my breakfast for race day (peanut butter and bread), add my name to my race shirt (thanks, Eli!) and get all my stuff together….
and it is a lot of stuff!!!!
Saturday night was my team dinner through the V Foundation for Cancer Research and it was truly a special night and something I needed to really get motivated. Being a part of this team was so special for many reasons. As I have mentioned in many posts, I started running because I wanted to get involved with a charity that fundraised money for cancer research because of my mom. I hate cancer and everything about it. I don’t think it is fair my mom passed away when I was 21 years old. I am mad that she can’t be here in the physical world to see everything me and my sisters have accomplished in the last 11 years but this is why charities like the V Foundation exist. They exist to fund researchers who will hopefully, one day very soon, find new treatments and cures for this horrible disease. And you know what, it’s working so let me get into the stats.
- Team V’s original goal was $275k; we raised over $572k
- Outside of the 3 charities connected with the New York Road Runners (the people who put on the race), Team V raised the most amount of money of any charity
- I raised $5,625 which exceeded my original goal by a long shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I mentioned that fundraising for cancer researchers is working. Here is an example…
We had a few speakers at our dinner and one was a guy named Howard. He raised over $60k on his own and was doing it in memory of people he lost and in honor of friends who were currently battling cancer. One person, in particular, was a woman who he brought to the dinner. She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer late last year. She is currently going through treatment and has her bad days but she is still here. I’m sure there are differences between the type of lung cancer she had and what my mom had but she is still here almost a year later where my mom was sick for only a short 3 months. That is progress!
Another speaker who touched my heart that night was Jack. Jack is 68 years old and ran his 90th marathon on Sunday. You read that right, 9-0! Jack’s wife Bonnie was diagnosed in February with Pancreatic Cancer. Jack had run NYC several times and wasn’t planning to run it again until he noticed the date of the race; November 5. November 5 was the 52nd anniversary of the day he and Bonnie met. Jack was 16 and Bonnie was 15. Jack, who by the way raised over $200k, explained that Bonnie was at death’s door (his words). She was currently in the hospital he wasn’t sure how much time she had left. They spoke about it and Bonnie wanted Jack to do the race so to honor her wishes he flew to NYC, however, he said he wasn’t going to run this one. Instead, he was going to walk and go on a journey of their relationship over the last 52 years. Let me tell you, there was not a dry eye in the room. My prayers are with Jack and Bonnie.
As much as I talk about running and early mornings and sore legs, this is the real reason I do what I do. As I got off the ferry in Staten Island, there was a man in front of me with “Imagine a world without cancer” on his race jersey. Think about that for a minute. Can you actually imagine a world without cancer? I am looking forward to that day!!!
So to end the first part of my race weekend recap, I want to say thank you! Thank you from the very bottom of my heart to every single person who made a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research in my name. The money we raised this season is enough to fund 3 researchers for 2 years each. THAT IS REMARKABLE!!!!!
Lastly, I am going to make one more shameless push for donations. My link below is still active so if you would like to make a donation and add to the amazing work being done by the V Foundation, I would greatly appreciate it.
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