Let the long runs begin!

Wow! First of all I have to say thank you so much to everyone for their support. The response to my first blog has been amazing. Many people have already donated money to the Hawxby family!

I got to start my weekend off very early Saturday morning. Usually I do my long runs on the weekend with my dad but he was visiting family in Nebraska this weekend. At first I had just planned to put in a really good long movie and brave the 12 miles on my treadmill but then Kelli and Penny (friends who are running in the marathon with me) invited me along to run with them. The only catch was that they both had to work that day so their plan was to start at 5:30AM! I honestly have never minded waking up early but have never had much luck running early in the morning. I have tried to wake up early before work to fit my runs in and my body has always felt so heavy and sluggish so I thought this run could be very interesting but ANYTHING is better than running on the dreadmill! I woke up every hour worried my alarm didn't go off but finally 4:20am rolled around and I was surprisingly pumped! I had a piece of toast with peanut butter on it and was out the door. I met Penny, her husband Gene, and Kelli at our starting location we stretched and then headed out. I am so glad Kelli had stopped by earlier that week and showed me their route because it was very dark out. This was the first time I had ever ran in the dark and I loved it! The streets were dimly lit by street lamps here and there but the slight eeriness of it all really built up my excitement. Kelli really hooked me up on supplies too she brought me a couple strawberry banana gels (for those of you who aren't runners this is gel you eat to keep you nourished during long runs), put water at many points along the route, and even brought me a recovery protein drink! After 4 miles I was already feeling a little sluggish so I decided to try some gel when I got to one of our make-shift aid stations.. YUCK was my first thought. That stuff is thick! It is like really thick honey and sticks to your teeth, gums, the roof of your mouth so I washed it all down with water. The taste wasn't bad but I am big time texture person and I really just wasn't a fan of all that goo in my mouth. I only ate half of the pouch and ate the other half at mile 7ish. The pit stop really did help though and I felt great until about mile 8. We stopped for a quick drink and my knees and left hip were starting to feel a little achy. But I was still so pumped! I had just ran 8 miles... that is insane! Only 4 miles to go which really felt like nothing. The only bad thing was the last 4 miles were down a dirt road..usually I love jogging down dirt roads. My road by my house is a perfect 5k so I run it pretty often. This dirt road had just been graded though which left rocks all over the surface. It felt like running through sand. I didn't let it get me down though because at this point I was just so excited that I was doing this... 12 miles! I had such a great time with my running buddies and was so glad I decided to run with them. Next weekend we are hitting up the trails. This will be my first time ever running on trails so I can't wait to see what I think about it. I have a feeling I am going to love it. The training plan calls for 12 miles again next weekend and I have been warned that running on trails takes a lot longer so I will be on my feet a lot longer than I was this weekend. Bring it on!

After my run I showered and headed to see Cara at a St. Jude's fundraiser that was being held in her honor. Knowing I was going to get to see Cara (the main reason for me running the marathon in April) later in the day really helped me get through those 12 miles especially the last 4).  The fundraiser was a jewelry party where Cara and her friends walked the runway modeling the jewelry. It was adorable! Half of the cost of certain items went to St. Jude's. Cara was feeling really well and had a great time with all of her friends.  Here is Cara modeling some of the jewelry. All of the girls really worked it!

I  am selling the bracelets Cara designed that say "I refuse to give in! Cara".  There is a picture of them on my first blog. They are $5 with $2 going directly to St. Jude's and $3 going to the Hawxby family to help with traveling expenses. Cara is in remission which is a huge blessing from God but she will still have to go through chemo treatments for another two and half years. You can donate by clicking on the donate button on the right side of my blog. There is also an account set up at Century Bank in Gainesville under "The Hawxby Family" where donations can be made. Thank you so much for your support!

PS: I am not a writer by any means. I was lucky to have my highly intelligent beautiful mom edit my first blog. Oh yeah, she is also the publisher of a newspaper and a really good writer (You can tell she didn't edit this blog because there is no way she would have let me leave this in). I know she will not be able to edit all of these so please forgive me if they are choppy, have misspellings and horrible grammatical errors.