The Race that Never Happened

The journey to my second marathon is a story, I tell you. It starts with registering right after my surgery in June. I put it on the calendar as a goal. A way to remind myself that my body was capable of lots of things. I got excited about it and started training as soon as I was cleared to run.

Fast forward through months and months of training.  Better training than last year, in fact. E and I were pretty confident we could beat last year's time. And even better? Our team was raising more money for St. Jude than we ever had before.  Our first year there were four of us and this year we were up to 19. The funds kept pouring in and we were so excited for the Mizzou Maniacs to have a fun, productive time in Memphis to benefit St. Jude and introduce new team members to this great race and amazing hospital.

Well, right before Thanksgiving I got bronchitis and started to get a little nervous about the race. But I was hellbent on running. I was going to run NO MATTER WHAT. Because I am stubborn as a mule very determined.

We packed and were ready to go Thursday. This is our 5th year running this race so we have a pretty good game plan. E and I head to my parents' house the night before and then we all travel together early Friday morning. We started on the roads to my parents' and an hour in, we slipped, slid, and turned around to go home. We had high hopes of going Friday but couldn't make any decisions.

Friday morning we hemmed and hawed but eventually decided to get going, along with my brother, his girlfriend, and best friend. I'll spare you the details of our harrowing journey. Bottom line: It took us way too long, it was way too scary, and we arrived late to the expo to get our tickets to the fundraising banquet. Right as we arrived, they canceled the race. Perfect timing.

Trees down the street from the expo. Long travels mean I had a dead phone for the banquet.

I won't lie. Tears. They arrived. I didn't shed them but they welled up in my eyes. All that travel and we weren't even going to get a chance to run. But Rick Shadyac, the fundraising CEO for St. Jude, was sadder than I could ever be. He stood on that stage and very apologetically explained that 30% of their volunteers had already canceled, as well as 15% of their medical staff. Branches were falling all over the city and Tennessee was in a state of emergency. The wise thing to do was to cancel the race. And so they opened beer in the back of the ballroom and we all understood. Mostly.

We went back to the expo to grab some St. Jude gear (can't have enough of that!) and saw the coolest thing...an SUV with the names of every HERO (fundraiser) on it. Check it out!

Pretty neat, huh? While we were at that car, I ran into a sweet patient. Miss J is a teenager who was in chemo for a brain tumor last year during the race. She brought a team from her small Mississippi town this year and her team was so bummed to miss the race.  We commiserated together as she told me about her story. St. Jude began to treat her tumor but then referred her to the premiere specialist to remove her tumor. This specialist happened to not be a St. Jude doc. So when the bill for almost $90,000 arrived, the family was overwhelmed. But...because St. Jude referred them to that hospital, they paid it. Every dime.

Keycard to our hotel

This is why we run.  This is why we traveled through the snow to get there. It didn't matter that the race didn't happen. Miss J is so appreciative of St. Jude. And she thanked us for being there. Wow.

Since we didn't get to run, we put on our jerseys and headed down to Beale Street to enjoy some jazz at B.B. King's. 

cute parents!

No, E is not wearing his jersey. Because for some reason they didn't have one in his size. But cute St. Jude shirt, right??

We woke up Saturday even more deflated. But we put on our gear and headed to the fundraising lounge. There, lots of people were milling around, eating, taking pics, and commiserating about all the training that ended in a cold, frozen weekend. At least we looked cute.

We sat down next to a St. Jude family and Sweet C. told me his story. He's been a St. Jude patient for 13 years. He has his own team and even invited us to join. We promised we'd find him again next year.  He thanked us for his hard work and told us story after story of how much his family appreciates St. Jude.

This is why we run. Or don't run. This is why we love St. Jude.

CEO of the Fundraising arm of St. Jude, Rick Shadyac

When we finished our time at the lounge, ran by the stadium. It was icy and reaffirmed why they didn't have the race.

But they did give us a finisher medal. Getting there was accomplishment enough. So we said thanks and wore our medals with pride.

Check out all that ice!

We went to Rendezvous, our after-race tradition, and enjoyed some ribs.

Then, we geared up for a sad game. And that's all I'm going to say about that. Here's our team watching the game:

So you could say the weekend was a bust. But I just can't say that.  My supporters raised more than $1,000 and our team, jointly, raised $11,264,73. That, my friends, is a big deal.

Special and overwhelming thanks to each of you who donated, wished us well, prayed for us, and encouraged us along the way.

Will we run another race to make up for this one? We haven't decided. We'll have the opportunity to apply our race fees to another marathon. But that means continued training in the cold. So for now we're going to get in the holiday spirit and decide about the race later.

Either way, St. Jude hasn't seen the last of us! Next year we'll have bigger fundraising dreams and a point to prove. We'll be back, Memphis. You haven't seen the last of the Mizzou Maniacs!!

Running in Memphis, Part Two

Continuing on my St. Jude marathon weekend wrap up...

Friday (continued)

3:30 Hotel Check In

We stayed at a different hotel this year but the great news is, all the hotels downtown are within walking distance of the race and the expo/dinner/Friday night activities. Our hotel this year was across the street from the expo and dinner. This was the first year our family brought enough people to have two hotel rooms. So fun! Luckily, we got adjoining rooms. So Dad and Mom were in one, Eric and I in the other. We split Pete and his girlfriend.



Once we unloaded our luggage, toaster and all, we shuffled on over to the expo. St. Jude runs an amazing expo. It's quick to grab your race number, there's lots of deals and fun stuff to look at, and there are always great speakers. My favorite part, though, is the amount of fun St. Jude merchandise and the St. Jude Heroes area. I got some sleeves to wear on the race, a pair of shorts, and E got an armband, all with St. Jude logos. We may have gotten some other race gear from other booths too. Then we made it over to the Heroes area to pick up our dinner tickets and lounge passes. We may have also gathered some swag, like I heart St. Jude tattoos. They had a fun photo booth, where we each got fun photo strips.  And a side photo area where this beauty was taken:

5:45 Heroes Dinner

If you raise $500, you get a free ticket to the St. Jude pasta dinner. Our team has been going for a few years now and it is one of the highlights. Every year I forget to bring tissues and every year I end up sniffling into my sleeve.  This year there were more Heroes (that's what they call anyone who agrees to fundraise, FYI) than ever before. There were SO MANY people. As we entered, St. Jude staff and volunteers cheered us on with pom pons, cowbells, and lots of shouts. Oh, I cried. I can't explain how hard it is to be called a hero by people who fight childhood illness and disease every day. It will never get less humbling. It's just too much. Here's an arial (aka--taken by Eric) photo of us walking into the dinner.

Our team filled a whole table and I proceeded to load up on pasta. One of my main concerns throughout the week was getting enough carbs so I let loose. I am so glad I did.  After we had filled our bellies, the speakers started.  The emcee, who has been running and supporting St. Jude since the first marathon, was Joe Birch, a local newscaster. He runs the marathon in even years and the half in odd years. This year, he was recovering from a car accident where he broke his neck and he still ran the full. Wow. He's so inspiring and a great emcee.

The fundraising arm of St. Jude is called ALSAC. Their CEO, Rick Shadyac, spoke about St. Jude and the important mission they carry out.  This year, Rick ran the half marathon for the first time ever. I'll explain how I know that later (spoiler alert: I got a firsthand account of his run from a family member).   Rick introduced the top fundraisers and fundraising teams. Two of the top fundraisers were young girls--age 9 and 10. Sisters, in fact. Between the two of them, they raised more than $200,000. Phenomenal.

Last year, ALSAC started a new award called the Heroes Among Us award. It goes to someone fundraising who has also done something extraordinary for St. Jude. And, for both years, the person(s) who won had a personal connection.  This year it was no surprise that the Dismuke girls (those motivated young ones mentioned in the previous paragraph) took home the award. The surprise, however, was when their entire family came up and their dad told their family's story.

The Dismuke family raised quite a bit of money for St. Jude last year, when St. Jude was just their local neighborhood jewel. Everyone in Memphis takes great joy and pride in the accomplishments of the hospital. So, it was quite a surprise when, about six months later, their young son Ingram was diagnosed with a brain tumor and started treatment at St. Jude. Craig, Ingram's dad, spoke so vulnerably about what it's like to hear your child has cancer. The whole family stood boldly and professed their love and dedication to St. Jude. And sweet, darling little Ingram (who is a firecracker!!) spoke into the mic and said, "I had a tumor in my bwain. It's gone. I don't wike it."  Then he said his signature phrase, "Get your move on!!"  He is so cute. He didn't stop moving the whole time and pretty much ran off the stage, making friends around the room as he went.  I have since fallen in love with their blog. You can read more about their darling family and how the Lord is working in their lives in the midst of tough stuff on their blog.

Pete, on the elevator back to the room. He was trying to convince passersby his banana was a telephone.

8:30 p.m. Bedtime

We left the dinner with full hearts and bellies and headed out to our hotel. We laid out all clothes, pinned on race numbers, and crossed every t and dotted every i for race day (and yes, I realized their is neither a "t" nor an 'i" in race day.  E and I grabbed a glass of wine and then crashed.  I would like to say I slept really well. But, not so much.

5:00 a.m. Wake Up

My alarm was set for 6 a.m. but I was up all night, back and forth. At 5 a.m. I grabbed a banana and from 5-6 I had the best sleep of the night. Figures:). At 6:00 I was up for good and both our rooms were rocking and rolling. The toaster was poppin, the coffee was brewing, and we were layering and unlayering over and over again.

We woke up to the news that it was, in fact, still predicted to be warm. In fact it was about 55 before we even left the hotel.  So, on December 1, we ran in shorts and tank tops. We made our way down to check in our gear and really split into our corrals before we had a chance to even say goodbye or good luck.

E and I always have the strategy to go one corral ahead of our time plan and go to the very back. It makes it roomier and less stress.  That was our plan this time as well. We lined up and waited.

8:12 a.m. Our Corral is Officially "On The Move"

The race took more than 4 hours but I don't have a whole lot to say about it. It was, in some ways easier than I anticipated and in other ways, it was harder.  Some favorite signs:

--a picture of McKayla Maroney that said, "McKayla Maroney is not impressed with your running but I am"
--"Run like a Cullen"
--"Any idiot can run but it takes a special idiot to run 26.2"

Then there were lots of sad and inspirational sights.
--The guy next to us had a bib on his back that said, "Running in memory of my son."
--At mile 12 two men embraced in tears and it was clear this race was very, very personal to them.
--Smiling, baldies at St. Jude and Target House. A few waved at me and in the 24th mile as we passed by the St. Jude gates for the 2nd time. I pointed and said, " we're running for you guys."  It was definitely a moment for both of us.
--So many people out and smiling, cheering us on, thanking us for running.

Some other highlights
--My mom ran several miles next to ALSAC (St. Jude's fundraising arm) CEO Rick Shadyac. They shared conversation and parted ways but it was fun for her (and for me!).
--My HUSBAND! He stayed right next to me for every. single. mile. Even when it wasn't comfortable to go at my pace. He's amazing. So, so amazing.
--Running through the gates of St. Jude, especially having been there the day before.
--Iced towels. People, when you are running that much, 72 degree weather might as well be 100. It was so hot!! But they had ice cold towels at 4 different spots and they made all the difference

Finishers! Before the exhaustion set in.

12:30 (ish) Crossing the Finish

While I walked a lot (and I mean a lot) in the last 5-6 miles, I am so, so proud to say I finished. I held hands with my darling man friend and we crossed together. Our team trickled in one by one. Let me say, when you have just run for more than 4 hours, wearing a heavy medal around your neck is easier said than done.

I tried to grab some food but got a little woozy. It took a while before I finally felt better and, at that point, the massages were closed. Bummer! But, we were so proud of a strong finish it didn't matter. Mizzou Maniacs headed back to the hotel, showered, rested and hit up the downtown sights.

Celebratory Toast with Caitlin at Rendezvous

5:00 Dinner Out on the Town

We have a Mizzou Maniacs tradition of heading to Rendezvous. Best ribs ever!! While I wasn't too keen on eating when we finished, by six I was ready to try some food. And by some, I mean a bunch of nachos and a full order of ribs. Delicious!

View of the famous Peabody Hotel from the Rendezvous Alley

Every other year we've gone straight home so this year we enjoyed our overnight stay. We headed down Beale, enjoyed a drink and took some fun pics. And by 8:30, it was once again lights out for our team. I mean, we did run quite a bit!

In the middle of Beale Street

6:00 a.m. Up Again

As it turns out, when my body is in discomfort, I don't sleep. If I ever get pregnant, I am sure this will be an issue. It is also an issue in marathon running. I pretty much didn't sleep. So that makes three nights in a row. We woke up and I was officially STARVING. Days later, I am still starving all the time. Eh, I am going to do what I want for a week. Then, I'll start worrying about eating habits. I digress.

Back to Sunday morning. After live streaming The Crossing's service for a lil while, we headed to The Blue Plate Cafe for breakfast. Since Dad works at a church and I work at a church, we rarely do Sunday morning breakfasts. This was a huge treat. I don't know if y'all have been to the Blue Plate but if you are in Memphis, please go. Please. For $9, I had biscuits and gravy, eggs benedict, and three giant pancakes. Told you I was starving. OK, I didn't eat it all. But still. So good.

Blue Plate Menu

We zoomed on home from breakfast and concluded our trip.

I am telling you this trip was one of my favorite family outings.  Of course, all we needed was Marky.  But for the rest of us, it was a great trip. I am so emotional just thinking about it. I can't wait to support St. Jude more. I can't wait to run for them again. My heart is for children and St. Jude is all about em.

Thank you to all of you who have supported me in the past six months. You've listened to me as I've dealt with this. You've heard me whine about injury and difficulty. You've donated to St. Jude. You love me and you love kiddos. Thank you thank you thank you.  And if running for St. Jude sounds like something you want to do, we could use more team members! Registration opens in May and it closes quickly. You won't regret it.

I know many of you are thoroughly exhausted of hearing about all this.  You've got a few months until I start fundraising for December 7, 2013.  Enjoy em:).

Four Years of St. Jude race medals. Can't wait to make it five!

**Update** I forgot to give you all the final total!! Our team raised $6,585.32!! Praise God! What a blessing to be a part of such a neat cause.

Running in Memphis, Part One

After months of training and raising money and more training and more raising money, I can finally say proudly, I am a marathon finisher!! Woot Woot!!

I have tried several times to express what it's been like to train for this marathon but I don't know if I've really been able to express it. Yet, somehow, this weekend made all of that melt away. I'm left with tearfully beautiful memories, wonderful photos, and some tokens of the race.  Here's words and photos to try to explain the weekend.  I have so many thoughts that this will be separated into a few entries. Today, enjoy the travel and the tour of St. Jude.

Thursday

8:00 p.m. On the Road

Thursday we packed everything in sight in our house (maybe it just felt like that) in preparation to head toward Memphis. The weather was predicted to be in the 60's but the forecast kept changing so it was hard to pack. We were stuffed! Warm pants, light pants, tank tops, shorts, stocking caps, mittens, rain coat, and so, so much more! And that was just for the race.  By the time we got our house sitter settled, went to a meeting, and got on the road, it was around 8:00.

10:00 p.m. Arrival at Dad and Mom's

We settled for the night at my parents' house. Since we had an early wake-up call, we pretty much crashed the moment we got there. Well, after we all expressed our anxiety about the race. Out of our 7 person team, 5 of us were doing our first marathon and it made for quite the jittery bunch. This cold be why I didn't get an amazing night of sleep. That and we were off early...

Friday

6:00 a.m. Wake Up Call

Getting six people (one of our teammates drove separately) showered and ready was not as much of a challenge as packing all our stuff:). We each had all the race gear previously mentioned. BUT, there was more! This was not our first trip to Memphis to run. This time, we (by we I mean Mom:)) didn't forget anything. We brought bananas, a giant jar of peanut butter, gu, a stick massager, a coffee pot (yes you read that right!) and, wait for it, A TOASTER! I mean, once you have a race routine, you have to stick with it.  One we got all that in, we were off by 7:15 a.m., only 15 minutes past our goal.  Which was good because what came next was a little unexpected.

9:00 a.m. Suburban Maintenance Stop

When you're on a road trip, you just never know what's going to happen. We hadn't even left Missouri when the check engine light came on and Pete The Mechanic got nervous. We stopped a couple of times for diagnostics before doing an oil change. Yes, it was a little delay but it allowed a Walgreens stop for nail polish and some Redbox movies. I will admit I was a little nervous because we had a tour scheduled and we were pushing to get there on time. Luckily, the oil change seemed to do the trick and we were off.  With only a few more stops. Let me just say race hydration and a four hour drive don't go hand-in-hand:).

1:55 p.m. Arrive at St. Jude

Yes, we arrived on time. After waiting quite a while to make it through the gate and hopping in for a bathroom stop, we started our tour at the statue of St. Jude.

Our tour guide, Adam, was also a former patient. His tour was neat because he not only spouted the facts but he gave personal experiences as well (like the way the registration desks are child-height and he would check himself in as a child to feel more a part of the process. So cool).

For privacy reasons, you can't take pics of people in the hospital. I did manage to get quite a few pics that I feel give you at least a glimpse of the cheery atmosphere.  For instance, the hospital has a mural at the entrance that portrays all four seasons. Then, as you go through the main floor, each section is a giant mural portraying one of the seasons. It's so bright and beautiful and reminded me of a beautifully painted nursery.  The kids portrayed on the walls (not the mural, I didn't get a picture of the walls) intentionally are of all types of kids--some with hair, some without, some with all their limbs, some missing.  It's a neat way to "normalize" some of the things the kids are going through.

I didn't get a picture of the cafeteria but it was a neat place. Adam told us they intentionally don't section off any area. So, kids, parents, researchers, doctors, and other staff all eat side-by-side. The chefs work so hard to make sure the kids have kid-friendly food to help them nourish their recovery. In one instance, they even worked pretty diligently to find a patient's grandma's mac n cheese recipe since that's the only thing he wanted to eat.

If you are in the hospital for any amount of time or even if you talk to someone who's been there, you'll hear the word hope. It's hard to express it in words but St. Jude is for sure a place of hope.  Almost every day, there are activities and parties for kids. The hospital was currently dressed up for Christmas. We didn't go upstairs to the rooms but there are Christmas trees in the main area and they're said to be in the rooms as well. Kids will spend their holidays here so they try to make it festive.

As we walked through, staff said thank you and patients with masks and little bald heads waved and smiled through glass. It's amazing how you can see a smile through a mask.  It was incredibly humbling to have such a warm welcome. They are so appreciative of the St. Jude Heroes and it's kind of hard to accept the thanks. I mean, these families are going through some rough stuff and yet they look at you with such gratitude. I am tearing up just writing about it.  Of course I did there as well.

The ABC wall is made by kids. In fact, lots of the hospital art is made by kids. The ABCs rotate out periodically and they express the emotions and experiences of the children, both patients and families.  You can see here K is for Kemo:). Some other notable letters were T is for Tears,V is for Vomit and  Z is for Zofran. They are sweet, heartfelt, a little funny, and incredibly sad all at once.  

I mentioned the patient art. This one was one of my favorites and was particularly poignant since we toured right before World AIDS day.  People often think of cancer when they think of St. Jude but they also do groundbreaking research on H.I.V. and AIDS, Sickle Cell disease, and many others.

The blood donation center is in-house and provides about 50% of the blood used by patients.

I'm not describing all of it and I'm for sure not doing it justice. There are tons of toys, rooms just for teens to hang out, video games in all the waiting rooms, and just so much cheer.  And that's just in the main area. The hospital is about to go through an expansion as well. In fact, as we were entering, Eric Trump's posse was leaving. He had just been there to announce a nearly 20 million dollar donation to the hospital and specifically to the new tower.  It will have new surgery suites, a fancy schmancy tumor shrinker (there's a real name but let's be honest, I will get it wrong if I try to say it. It has the word proton. That's all I got.)

We finished with a walk through the garden and a trip to the gift shop. Because, when all the money goes to St. Jude, you gotta buy!! We left with a water bottle, a Christmas ornament (our second) and some post cards. And of course, lots and lots of love.

Look at my cute parents in the garden.

Some interesting facts about St. Jude:

--It takes 1.8 million dollars per day to run the hospital. PER DAY! 

--The majority of donations are from individual donors

--The average individual donation is around $30 

--No family ever pays for anything. EVER. If a family has to fly to the hospital, it's covered. If they have to stay somewhere, they stay at the Target House or another place that's covered. If they need to eat, it's covered. Having a sick kid is trying enough. Finances shouldn't be an issue.

--St. Jude focuses on being a place of hope and healing. They have school, graduation, prom, last day of chemo parties, and celebrate holidays. Kids, after all, deserve to be kids.

--Siblings aren't left out. They provide counseling and activities for siblings and families. St. Jude explains how to handle questions and how to process feelings. They truly are a holistic place of healing.

I am so thankful for my tour of St. Jude. I can't wait to tell you about the rest of the weekend. But for now, I'll let you know it's still not too late to donate!  I'll be accepting donations for St. Jude until the end of they year. You can go to my website  to donate.

I'll see you around here tomorrow for the rest of the weekend:).