Click here to get a $50 gift card with a pledge of about $40 to help me fight cancer.
On Sunday, I’ll be running the San Francisco Marathon. It’ll be the 94th time I’ve laced my shoes up for a 26.2-mile footrace and I’m pretty sure this one’s going to be tougher than any of the others I’ve ever run. Granted, San Francisco isn’t a fast, flat course. There are plenty of hills and it’s anything but easy (as if there’s an easy marathon out there). But the reason this one’s going to be tough isn’t the course. It’s Sue.
This race wasn’t originally on my radar. I started mentally mapping out my 2011 calendar last fall. I planned on training for the Boston Marathon in April, switching up to get ready for a 5K in July and then picking a marathon for either October or December. But then a terrible thing happened. A friend of mine named Sue Dailey was diagnosed with cancer in October. As she struggled in the fall, I started thinking about doing something to raise money to fight cancer. I had already cemented my decision by the time she lost her battle in January.
I was thinking about various things for the fall instead of my second marathon and a mid-summer race didn’t fit into the schedule, but the San Francisco Marathon invited me to come back. I just didn’t know how it would work into what I was doing. Plus, how in the world would I possibly be able to raise money for a cause that means a lot to me with just one marathon, after setting the bar at 61 of them last year? But after a little bit of brainstorming, we decided I’d be a Charity Chaser, starting dead last and collecting pledges for each person I passed.
I’ve been thinking about raising money to fight cancer through the San Francisco Marathon since about February or so, but the reality of why I’m up there is going to sink in and be pretty sobering. I wouldn’t have run this race if not for her. When I’m ready to run and need to be focused on running my best, I’m going to be thinking about Sue instead. It still seems unreal that she’s not around any more. She was so full of life — she always lit up a room with her energy. It’s just unfathomable when I see pictures of her that I’m not going to see her again in this world.
I only knew her for two years, but it was still very upsetting when she was sick. It was tough to see her husband struggle. It’s tough to know that she left behind two young kids. I just know when I get going on Sunday that I’m going to have a really tough time keeping my focus. I’m not one of those people who likes to run when I’m stressed to calm down. When I’m stressed, I cancel my runs, because I can’t handle them. I know this is going to be tougher than any marathon I’ve run.
Us marathon runners always aim to “leave nothing out there,” and that’s going to be the case for me on Sunday. I don’t want to cross the finish line and think I didn’t run hard enough for her. If I’m not hurting at any point in the second half, I’m going to try to step it up to bring on that hurt. It’s my one chance and I need to do it right. This reminds me a little bit of when I ran the Arizona Rock ‘N Roll Marathon last year and dedicated it to a man I knew who died earlier that week. I knew Sue a lot better, but still, I ran Arizona with a heavy heart, finished harder than I possibly thought I could, then just about burst into tears when I crossed through the finish line.
I don’t know how Sunday is going to go, but I intend to be in as much pain physically at the end of the race as I’ve ever been for a marathon. I expect to be a wreck emotionally when it’s all said and done. I think the 26.2 miles are going to be a mess for me mentally. When I think it’s going tough, I’ll be reminding myself it’s nothing compared to what Sue went through.
I was really determined to attack this training cycle harder than I had ever attacked a training cycle. The faster I run, the more money I raise. And with every dollar I raise, there’s that much more of a chance that lives will be saved through the American Institute for Cancer Research and the Be Aware Foundation, the two charities I’m raising money for. But my body didn’t respond. It rejected me early and I constantly tried to adjust what I was doing to figure out something that would work. Nothing really did.
If not for the charity aspect of this race, I would have backed out a couple of months ago. But I need to go up there and do a good job. I’ve got a fair amount of physical fitness somewhere inside of me. It’s just going to take a lot of heart to pull it out. Once my legs start moving, anything is possible. God gives me my strength. I can do all things through Him, and I trust His plan for me this weekend. I can’t wait to give it everything I have for Sue. I have no doubt it’s going to be my toughest marathon ever.
And with that, I’m going to ask one last time for a pledge. It can be a flat donation or an amount per runner. I don’t care if it’s a dollar total or a dollar per runner. It all adds up. To make a pledge, just click here. You don’t even need a credit card right now. Just your name, email address and pledge. I’ll contact you next week. I have a deal where if you make a donation of about $40, I’ll send you a $50 gift card. So check it out. And please, please, please, use the share buttons below to help spread the word!
B and B Latham says
Wow. Just Wow.
We hope to see you out there on Sunday. The hubby and I would consider it an honor to be passed by you!
All the best –
The Wife
and
Hubby
JenSmith says
I’ll have a donation ready to go – I sure hope to see you!!