Honoured Teammate Picnic

we had our "honoured teammate picnic" on Saturday... a five mile run followed by bagels and fruit and such, and a series of speeches by our honoured teammates (people who have/had a blood cancer and receive support from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society).




there were people there who were treated for blood cancer 20 years ago, and people who were currently in treatment... people who had children who were in remission, and people who had lost loved ones to cancer.


each and everyone one of them remarked on all the amazing things that the LLS has done, from pushing forward on research to helping individuals who are struggling to pay their medical bills.... and they thanked us all for what we are doing to help the LLS achieve their mission.


it's a good feeling to know that i'm literally playing a part in saving people's lives.

tomorrow i'll be a runner

oh, i'm such a slacker!

i've been terribly lax at updating... which goes right along with my approach to training thus far.

i'm blaming it on the heat. i feel sluggish these days.... sweating about the place, leave a trail of slime... feeling legless and limp. not much good for the running!!

however, the mileage is starting to go up, and i really MUST get myself in gear or i'm going to struggle later on. fortunately, i'm going home to cool and rainy eastern Canada for most of July... where i'll be able to run in comfort, and with my mom to boot! what joy!!

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in other running news, tomorrow is our first DCA Team group training... which means we could be several hundred on the trail together tomorrow morning. it's going to be happy chaos.

and then, it is the honoured teammate picnic. i wish my honoured teammates could be here to see what we're doing on their behalf. but it is a long way to come just for a picnic, clear across the continent and back again for a bagel and some nice speeches...

**

my fundraising is sluggish too.... sigh.

i'm such a slug.

tomorrow, i'll be a runner.

last night on my run...

i have a friend staying with me for a few days, so he's been coming on my runs. he's much shorter than i am so we don't go too fast, and he's much more interested in checking out the scenery than i am... so as we were out for a run last night, here are some things that we saw that i might have otherwise missed if he'd not been along:

ducks swimming in the puddles that remain on peoples' lawns and driveways from last week's heavy rains.

the little house tucked back in the trees (unlike all the other monstrosities that occupy every square inch of their lot) with the lovely gardens has a sign up saying "plants... $1". i might take them up on their offer when the day finally comes that i have gardens of my own to plant.

(live) deer hiding in the hedge... and we are not exactly out in the countryside here in Alexandria!

mushrooms growing in the long grass in front of the gas station... am hoping they weren't toxic, as i only noticed them because he was licking them (he is a dog, by the way)...

the big stone house on the corner near the park that my husband has long coveted is now for sale.

fireflies!! everywhere fireflies! i've never lived anywhere that had fireflies before... and they're beautiful. well, their twinkling like sparks flying from a campfire is beautiful anyway...

Kick-Off tomorrow :-)

this is it... every Saturday from now until late October is spoken for. Kick-off for fall season is tomorrow morning... and then we run!

although i have enjoyed sleeping in the odd Saturday since March, i have definitely missed the early morning runs with friends. and i'm looking forward to getting into that habit again.

i'm a little nervous about how i'm going to manage training in the heat and humidity of a Virginia summer... but, i'll manage, i'm sure. more fluids, earlier runs...

*

i had planned to be a Team Captain for Marine Corps Marathon... but there was an abundance of people who wanted to be team captains, and no one had signed up to be Mission Captain (the person who reminds the team just why it is we're running... gives updates on our honoured team mates, organizes events that connect runners with the lives of the people we're running for, etc).

i think i'm going to like it.

and as hard as it might be to get out of bed at 5:45 tomorrow morning in order to drive to Maryland for Kick-Off... i'll be glad to do it, once i'm up ;-)