Nike Women's Marathon...San Francisco Style

This past weekend was the Nike Women's Marathon up in San Francisco. I got to hang out with most of the women in my life...Lynn, my sister Amy, and my mom to celebrate life and how precious it is. My other sister Jaime couldn't make it up there. It was a powerful event in my life. Not only was Lynn running the marathon, but Amy was also walking the half marathon. Amy is just a month removed from her last radiation treatment for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and she finished the half marathon with flying colors. She is completely cured now, save for the semi-annual checkups she has to attend.

So Saturday night before race day, there was a big pasta/carb loading party at the Moscone Center. As we walked into the Convention Center, there were hundreds of Team in Training volunteers, coaches, & mentors clapping, yelling, and ringing cow bells to get everyone pupmed up. It worked. I was overcome with emotion as I walked through the line of TNT greeters. I was thinking about how just six months ago I had heard the news that my little sister was diagnosed with cancer. Now she is all better and it's because of groups like Team in Training that are raising millions of dollars on her and others' behalf to fund cutting edge research on blood cancers. I can't say enough about this group. The night only got better. TNT asked my sister to speak in front of the 9000 people at the dinner. What can I say. My sister is now a rock star. She gave a powerful 10 minute speech that had me in tears as well as lots of others who were there on behalf of a friend or family member affected by this insidious disease. The night was awesome.

There was about 23,000 people that did the race. Almost 6000 of them, including Lynn and Amy were with Team in Training. Together we raised over $18.5 million dollars this weekend for cancer research. What better way to spend a long weekend.

This was Lynn's first marathom and she fought through all the pain and suffering it brought and finished strong. I think she's addicted to these now. She's vowing to do the OC Half Marathon in January and the LA Marathon with her brother Mark this March.