Thought 26: 3 months and 2 weeks . . .

I became "Aunt Sue" in Wichita, Kansas on June 7, 2000. My Kaylen was born and I sat in the waiting room with my parents waiting for my brother Steve to come announce "it's a girl!" I love being an aunt and I am proud to now have four nieces and three nephews, with one on the way in the next month! I have been in the waiting room for four of their births and anxiously waiting by the phone for the news of the others. I love them all to pieces and would do anything for them. In looking back on the year 2000, my happy memories are mixed with difficult ones. After three years of being sick and not knowing what to do, Bob and I met my parents in Rochester, Minnesota so I could be evaluated at the Mayo Clinic. I saw multiple doctors who poked and prodded me from every angle. In the end, they sat me down and told me I had Crohn's Disease and connected me with a specialist back in Michigan. I was floored by this news, but I was glad to have some clarity on what was wrong. Bob and I returned to Ann Arbor and I completed my Masters degree by the end of the year, some of it from my bed with IV antibiotics flowing in my arm. But I was Aunt Sue now and that brought me so much joy. 

And the journey continues . . . I am sitting on the porch of our beach house rental for the annual Hubbard family beach week. What a special tradition! I have been coming to this week with the family for over 17 years and every year brings another full set of wonderful memories. It is pouring down rain today from Tropical Storm Arthur and we are having a "quiet" day inside - with four kids under the age of four. I have eaten my weight in chips this week, but you can't really mess with tradition. I brought my bag of running gear with me and have already logged a 6 and 4 mile run. I hope to kick off the 4th of July with a 9 mile run, but Arthur is going to have to get out of the way first.

I am excited to report that I just completed my first full month of training for the Chicago Marathon. I now have 3 months and 2 weeks to go until Race Day! Although I have been running pretty consistently all year, it feels good to have one month of official training behind me. I feel really good.
 I have struck a groove with my running and feel strong. I have come a long way from April when I hit such a rut with my training. Since I know what it takes to train for a half marathon, I now feel the difference in training for a full marathon - the longer weekday runs. I never ran 6 miles during the week in past training, and that mileage will only continue to climb. Wiser souls have warned me that I will really feel the marathon training when I run my first 15 mile long run. I'm sure they are right!

I received my "Run for ALS" singlet a few weeks ago from my charity team, the Les Turner ALS Foundation. Things became more real when I opened that package. I now wear it for every long run. I have to make sure it is good and broken in for race day. On the back it has a place to write the name of the person you are running for with the charity. I run for my mom every time I

lace up my shoes, so that is who I wrote on my shirt. But, since starting this journey, I have learned of three people in my life or connected with someone I know that are living with ALS or have lost their life to this devastating illness. I will include their initials on the back of my shirt as well, which includes my surgeon and friend, Dr. J. I will continue to add initials to my shirt as I learn of them, so if you know anyone who's life has been affected by ALS, please let me know and they will be running with me too. This disease affects a lot more people than most would think and needs much more attention than it is being given.

One of the great things about getting started with my marathon training is having a training plan that outlines my journey. I have my weeks mapped out from now until October 12 with what days I will be running and what days I will cross train. I know I will be running my longest run of 20 miles on Saturday, September 20. I was bouncing between two different training plans for some of June, but I have now settled into the TrainingPeaks plan sent to me through the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA) and the Les Turner ALS Foundation. I have an app for it on my phone and can access it whenever I need it. The remote support I have received from CARA has been very useful. I also hope to join a local running group in July for my long Saturday runs.

The anticipation is gone. The waiting is over. I am doing it. I am training for a marathon and getting deeper into the journey every day. It's funny, I am not feeling scared because I know I will just take it one run at a time. I am prepared to run the distance in front of me and nothing more. There are some very hard days ahead of me and probably some tears along with them. I am comfortable now with running my own race and will use the incredible strength of those on my shirt along with my own inner strength to take the miles as they come.