Last Week Before Taper

The last week flew by, as will this one.  Since posting a week ago, another track workout occurred, another 25 sections of the Harvard Stadium was run and the 2nd-to-last group run took place at the BSC in Wellesley, MA.  The run was a good one and covered the hill section of the marathon course.  After running 9 mi of the course, we turned around and ran it in reverse.  It was a good long run and this week's group run will do the opposite...starting at BC, we'll run 11 mi of the course in reverse and turn around at the 11 mi mark to run the marathon route, hitting the Newton Hills just like on Marathon Monday.

In addition to all the running this past week, the weekend was super busy with the Patient Partner Poster Party after the group run on Sat.  All the patients in the Patient Partner Program and families in the In Memory Of program make a poster of the child who is fighting cancer or lost their battle with cancer.  These are then on display at the team dinner the night before the marathon.  While it may seem depressing or sad to see all these posters, and it is of course, it is incredibly powerful and really helps the runners and families see what an impact the DFMC experience has on all involved...the kids, the runners, the researchers and everyone who is a part of the team, including the 1000s of donors who are "behind the scenes."  RJ and I made his poster and then got to catch up and enjoy the afternoon for a bit.  We both had busy nights though.

Sunday AM was St. Patty's Day and in South Boston, we're the center of the celebration!  Amy and Kim had the 'brilliant' idea of throwing a St. Patty's Day Fundraiser for friends, which we did.  It was crazy and LOTS of food was made, but it was a great idea they hatched as over 25 friends came by and lots of money was raised for DFMC.  That said, there's no rest for the weary as Wed 3/20 is another fundraiser at the Asgard where hopefully even more people will come and more money will be raised.  Speaking of which, time to prepare for that one...

Ups and Downs

It's late on a Sunday night, we lost an hour of sleep and after running 19miles in 24 hrs, attending 2 Boston Marathon fundraisers in 24 hours and planning/shopping for my upcoming fundraisers I'm a bit exhausted.  What better way to end the day though than seeing an email from Union Bar and Grill (Link) saying that they'll be donating a $100 gift card to the fundraising raffle next week!  After seeing the success of friends' fundraisers this weekend, I am hoping that I can be that successful.


This was also a big week for another reason...donations have totaled more than $5,000 thus far!!!  A huge THANK YOU to the 68 donors who have helped reach this amazing amount and surpass the 1/2 way point in my fundraising goal!  An additional Thank You to RJ for continuing his efforts and chatting with his teachers about his experience, the Patient Partner Program and DFMC as several have also donated to support our efforts.

All that fundraising helps as yet another snow storm rolled in to Boston on Friday and caused the cancellation of another DFMC group run.  While it is disappointing, I remember vividly the run through Wayland last year in a snow storm and understand why Jack and DFMC cancelled this run.  I had a nice run around Tufts University with a number of hill repeats and followed that up today with a 5K in Davis Sq for St. Patty's Day.  Overall 2 great runs, 2 fantastic fundraisers for fellow Boston runners supporting both DFMC and the American Liver Foundation and the weekend is over.  Looking forward to another week of training and ending the week seeing RJ at the Patient Partner Poster Party, which I'll try to describe later in the week.

2 More Donations!

Thanks to Eastern Standard (LINK) for generously donating a gift card to the DFMC fundraiser on March 20th at the Asgard (LINK)!  Additionally, the Asgard is donating food for the event as well as a gift card.  Lastly, KissMyKakes (LINK) is donating a cake as a raffle prize!  The fundraiser has some great prizes and hopefully attendance will be just as successful.

Supporting Mystic Brewing Supporting DFMC

This past week was another good week for training and fundraising.  Through more generous donations, ~50 donors have helped raise more that $4,700 for DFMC and Cancer Research!  That's a great start and incredible generosity from so many individuals!  With about 6 weeks to go, I'm nearly 1/2 way to my goal!

In 2 weeks I'm having my fundraiser at the Asgard Irish Pub on Mass Ave and as part of that went to Mystic Brewing (Webpage) to pick up their very generous donation.  Of course, while there, we had to enjoy their new tasting room, free tasting session and support Mystic Brewery with a small purchase!  While tastings are available on Sat from 1-4pm (and other times, check their webpage!), we missed the tour given at 1pm.  I guess another visit will be required :)

Besides fundraising, this was my first group run in over a month!  After the various 1/2 marathons in February and the winter weather resulting in cancellations, I rejoined the team in Waltham for a 17 mile run.  I had never run this course before and it was great.  The water stops were in 'central' locations with fingers as short out-and-backs.  This allowed us to see team members on multiple occasions and support everyone throughout the run.  It was also a bit hilly to get the legs ready for the Newton hills from mile 16-20 of the marathon course.  Lastly, spring was in the air as the sun was peaking out, temps were rising above 40 and many of us were starting to shed layers.  Looking forward to the upcoming weeks as we get closer and closer to the marathon!