Week 15: One Month to Go!

There is less than one month until marathon day! When we started training, it seemed like the day would never come. Now it's almost here, and I'm reaching the parts of my training that scared me the most!

This week was fairly uneventful in terms of training. I actually completed all of my mid-week runs this week, no skipping due to injury. Hurray! My shin still gives me some occasional pain, but the exercises and compression sleeve continue to make it easier to work with. I didn't feel any pain at all from my shin on today's 10-mile run.

Now, the pain I'm dealing with most is in my left knee. My left side takes the biggest beating when I run because the roadways are dome-shaped for drainage and I spend most of my time running on the left shoulder. It's nothing more than a nagging ache, but I wish I could have a roadway to myself so I could run in the middle! My coach advised me to skip some of the mid-week runs this week if it continues to bother me so that I'll be in good shape for the weekend.

This weekend's run will be really important, because it's the longest run of our entire training: 20 miles. After running over 19 miles last week, I'm not too worried. It's actually exciting to reach this point in my training! I'm also happy that it's going to be in West Hartford, where I'm more familiar with the roads and hopefully won't miss a turn. There's still a part of me that can't believe I'm capable of running that far, so I'm nervous. I'm afraid my shin or knee might act up to the point where I can't finish. Fingers crossed my body holds itself together!

Whenever I'm in pain or thinking about the road ahead, I remind myself why this is so important. When LLS was founded in 1949, a diagnosis of blood cancer was considered fatal. This year, my friend Caitlin was able to achieve remission almost immediately after starting treatment, thanks largely to the research programs that LLS has helped to fund. Though much progress has been made, we still have a long way to go. One-third of all cancer-related deaths in children are caused by Leukemia, and every 10 minutes, a person in the US dies of blood cancer.

Based on that statistic, during my marathon run alone, over 30 people could lose their battle to blood cancer. My hope is that we can work to cure blood cancer once and for all!

Thanks to all those who have donated so far! Here's what your donation helps to fund:

• Encourage scientists to pursue blood cancer research. Grants to young scientists help grow research talent even as federal research funding becomes increasingly limited.
• Develop "targeted therapies" that kill cancer cells selectively. By hitting specific molecular targets, these treatments don't harm patients' healthy cells, resulting in fewer dangerous side effects.
• Test immunotherapies. Immunotherapies strengthen a patient's own immune system so it can better fight infections and attack cancer cells, reducing the need for damaging chemotherapy.
• Improve the safety of today's cures. LLS funds research to predict, manage and prevent complications in patients most at risk for long-term and late effects of treatment.
• Help patients and their families make informed decisions. LLS supplies information and counseling to help guide patients through their cancer journey and access current treatment and clinical trial options.
• Provide financial aid and co-pay assistance. A cancer diagnosis is hard enough without having to deal with its financial burden. We provide programs to help relieve the economic strain of a blood cancer diagnosis.
• Offer community services. Among the wide array of programs LLS provides are those that link newly diagnosed patients with trained volunteers and that help young cancer patients return to school after an absence resulting from treatment.
• Encourage our state and federal legislators to support blood cancer issues. With your help, LLS brings to the attention of lawmakers the urgent need for increased government funding and support of research and patient access to affordable treatment and quality care.

(This list is from LLS's Why Give? page)

If you haven't made a donation yet, you have until September 30th. Any amount that you can afford to give is appreciated! Just click on the "Donate Now" link to the right to make your donation.

Thanks so much to my week 15 sponsors:

• John Darasz
• My White Ave. neighborhood, who donated bottles and cans from our block party