The End is in Sight...

A busy week lays ahead as DFMC events occupy Monday-Thursday, but at this time of year, these are perfect and help motivate us as the marathon draws near.

First, a huge thank you to the 20+ donors from the last 3 weeks who have helped boost our total amount raised to $7,777!  This is fantastic and puts the $10,000 goal within reach before the marathon.  As a team, DFMC has raised over $4,000,000 to date!!  This is an incredible amount and will help researchers continue innovative cancer research in the years ahead.  Examples of the benefits of these funds are highlighted in the Barr Program Impact statements as well as via DFCI releases such as this one on how genomic testing links patient response to treatment.

After traveling for work this week, today was our 2nd to last major group run and our longest run of training - 22 miles.  We started with ~170 DFMC teammates at Boston College, ran through the Newton Hills and out to Natick.

170 DFMCers preparing to head out for 20-22 miles!

Turning at mile 11 to head back to BC, we joined 100s of other charity runners running the course and took advantage of the lane closures the town set up for us.

Runners and cars get 1 lane each. Who is the happiest? :)

We had 'fans' and little kids giving us high fives along the way.  This was immensely helpful as after turning at mile 11, we realized that we had had a tail wind the entire way out, uh oh.  We preserved, picked it up and finished with negative splits (better 2nd 1/2 than first 1/2).  Overall it was a good training run and a nice springboard to feel positive for the marathon in 3 weeks!  If you'd like to see more about it, here's a NECN link from the training run. 

22 miles completed!

Proof that we did it, and could have finished the marathon in a bit over 4 hours.

A Great Fundraising Week! THANK YOU!

What a great week for DFMC and reaching our $10,000 goal!  13 generous donors donated over $800 to bring our total to $6,862!! On top of that, Amy and I threw our St. Patty's Day brunch and had a great turnout.  We have some great friends who ate all the food we prepared, nearly drank us out of the beer, whiskey, Bailey's, coffee and mimosas, and helped raise over $750 for our DFMC efforts!  Wow, what an incredibly busy and crazy day, but so worth it to benefit DFMC and innovative cancer research!

After last weekend's run, I was ready for a 2nd consecutive good run this weekend. That was not to be.  Waking up on Sat AM for the group run, I was already not looking forward to it.  Luckily it was a drop down week and we were only planning for 16 miles.  By mile 5 I was already starting to feel tired and started lagging behing our group by mile 7.  Returning to the start and completing the 16 miles was just exhausting and not fun.  I felt as I had after running the marathon in 2012 in 88F temps, but I had finished it.
I didn't have long to recover as it was the Patient Partner Poster Party.  After grabbing some food and a coffee I started to feel a bit more energized, but still not like myself.  Luckily, seeing RJ and helping to put his poster together made up for a blah morning run.  It was great to catch up and seeing the other patients and runners.  Hoping that the positive aspects of the patient partner party and the St. Patty's brunch translate to a solid week of training and fundraising.

Lots of patients (& partners) working on their poster

Working together on RJs poster

 

Nearly finished product

 

Thanks to Lakota Bakery for the delicious sugar cookies and frosting!  My decorating job isn't 1/2 bad

 

 

Nearing $6,000 & Passing 18 Miles

This weekend was a nice change of pace from the previous ones.  First, thanks to another 4 donors this week, we are nearing the $6,000 mark!  As of tonight, 62 donors have helped raised $5,982 for DFMC!!  With these donations and the many others from teammates, DFMC has raised more than $3M for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research!  We are making great progress toward our goals of $10,000 (personal) and $5.4M (DFMC) at this stage.

As for training, this was one of the first weeks I've felt pretty good through all my runs.  The speed workout on Tuesday went well, though a bit tiring at the end.  Thursday night's 7miler went well, even in another blast of cold air. Saturday's group run was a nice 18mile run along the marathon course and one of the first group runs in a while that I felt strong throughout.  It was a gorgeous day and we stopped along the way to take a picture at the Johnny Kelley statue at Heartbreak Hill.  A 30F day with bright sunny skies and little wind resulted in 100s of other charity runners joining us along the course, making it a festive day and a great training run.

Polar Vortex Returns

After a long run last weekend, I got lazy and didn't post to the blog, though I meant to (that counts, right?).  This week I made sure to skip my nap and get this done, and then hopefully I'll nap :)

First, we received good news this week from Harpoon Brewery, who is donating a gift back for some lucky guest to win at one of the upcoming fundraisers that Amy and I are putting together. Additionally, the Charles River Canoe and Kayak group has generously donated a certificate valid for up to one full day of boat rental of one standard canoe, single or double kayak, or stand-up paddleboard at any of our rental locations. For those of us looking forward to the summer, this will be a great way to enjoy the warmth in Boston!  Thank you very much to both donors!

Fundraising for DFMC has also gone very strong this year, both for me and for the program.  At our group run today we learned that DMFC has raised more than $2.7 million for the Claudia Adams Barr Program thus far, more than 50% of their goal for this year!  I'm also more than 50% of the way toward my goal.  Nearly 60 individuals have helped raised $5,652 thus far!  With less that $4,500 to go to reach the $10,000 goal, we should reach this as the marathon approaches.

We also heard from Don, a 2014 DFMC teammate, who is training and running while battling prostate cancer.  He has undergone hormone treatment so far and enters the next phase of his treatment in the coming weeks.  Additionally, we heard how others treated at Dana-Farber on experimental protocols are responding well and have lived beyond earliest expectations. The Barr Program Impact Statements remind us of this every week.

As for running, last Saturday was a gorgeous day to run here in Boston and we hit the marathon course. As many people have not shoveled sidewalks well, we were forced into the street at times, but mostly, drivers tolerated us well.  After starting at 7am in 30F temps, the day quickly warmed up and we finished an 18 mile run with temps near 50F! It was a great day for a run, especially being National margarita day.  Unfortunately, the weekend weather didn't last and the cold has returned in force.  Thursday we ran with team members on a chilly and windy night and today was another group run with temps in the teens to start.  Luckily we dropped in mileage, only running 14-15 miles, making it a bit shorter in the cold.  We will recover from the weeks training and prepare for the week ahead.  A few pics are below from the past runs.

Celebrating National Margarita Day during our run

Running in the melting snow/ice and salt leaves some nasty salt stains on our shoes

Run completed in more spring-like conditions