It's Saturday, so you know what the means!

It is Long Run Saturday! We did 12 miles today out in Moraga, it was a beautiful trail and we ran 6 miles out and 6 miles back. I felt great the first 7 miles, I had a pretty steady pace, my breathing was in control and my legs were moving. Overall, I thought this run was going to be easy. BUT THEN, around mile 7 my legs started to get tired and I noticed some stinging on my feet. By the end of mile 7 I had full blown blisters on both the arches of my feet. I have high arches so it was pretty painful running with blisters, so I stopped and walked as fast as I could for about 2 miles. When I made it to the 9 mile mark, Coach Al was cheering me on and said he would run/walk with me back to the starting point. We ran mile 10, walked mile 11 and ran mile 12. Let me tell you, he is a great coach, because had it not been for those stupid blisters, I would have ran all three miles. He talked to me about his amazing wife and all her running accomplishments (she is some lady and can beat all the boys in race!) and it took my mind of my tired and achy legs. I am tired but happy I completed all 12 miles.

After the run, we had an Honoree BBQ to honor all those people we were running for. It was very inspiring and again, made me so very thankful for my family, friends and my health. Here are some shortened versions of our honorees' stories:

* Joe and Ruth- Joe and Ruth are a married older couple. Joe was diagnosed 8 years ago with cancer and thanks to Ruth, his wife and caregiver, recovered and has been in remission for over 6 years. However, 2 years ago, Ruth found out she had lung cancer and had to have 1/2 of one of her lungs removed. Ruth is still in recovery but is thankful to be alive everyday.

*Jon- My mentor, runs in honor of his best friend, who was supposed to be his best man in his wedding, but unfortunately, he passed away 6 months before his wedding. Then, 2 weeks before his wedding, Jon also lost his mother to cancer. John named his first born son in honor of his best man and runs every race in honor of his mother and best friend that he lost.

*Miss Maes - was a client of a teammate, Michelle, and was full of life, she was a young single mother to two very young children. She had been having problems and went to the doctor. The doctor misdiagnosed her as having IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) in reality, she had colon cancer. She fought for her life every single day and her last words were "this damn cancer". Unfortunately, Miss Maes lost her battle to cancer just over a month ago and left her children without a mother.

As you can see, we are running for some very brave and amazing people. If you haven't made a donation yet, I'm asking you to please, make a difference and give to this amazing organization to help find a cure! http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/cwebster

Thanks for checking in and check back soon! I might have some new pictures to post up! :)

Peace, Love & a Cure!
-C.