One Inspirational Weekend!

This one's jammed packed folks. Travis and I were so lucky to be able to visit with our great friends, Tony & Julie! As you know, Tony is one of our personal honorees. We were so happy that they were able to come out to San Francisco for Julie's work and we sure took advantage of all the time we had to spend together! Last Thursday started out with a wonderful dinner in the city, followed by a trip over to Ghirardelli Square. Friday, we went on a solid 2 and a half hour hike at Muir Woods, followed by lunch and a walk in Sausalito then ended the day with the Brewers Vs. Giants game. You can't ask for anything better than seeing the reason behind why you started running right before going into your TNT race weekend.

On Saturday, Travis, one of our friends and I headed up north to the Humbolt, CA area in preparation for our race with our Team in Training crew that signed up for the Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon. After 4 hours of travel, race bib pick-up and finally check in at the hotel, we laid low and carbo loaded. Sunday was WONDERFUL!!! We met up with our fellow teammates and all started the race together amongst the giant redwoods! This is one of the most scenic races I've ever done, but to be honest, sometimes I don't notice my surroundings because I'm so focused on why I run, who I run for and getting to the finish line! The camaraderie when you are running with fellow "purple peeps" is amazing and the crowd support is too. As I sprinted to the finish, a woman looked right at me and yelled, "Thank You For What You Do." I still get chills hearing that because a stranger who I didn't know was thanking me for running to help those battling blood cancers. This was my best "official race" half marathon time to date. I ran a 2:01. Travis also had an "official race" best of 1:47. Enjoy a few photos below and feel free to contact me to learn how you can get involved. Thank you.

Travis, Ben, Anne, Me, Willie, Maddie, Nancy & Jen

All done! Apparently hiking 2 days before a race did the trick!

Tony at the Brewer's Vs. Giants Game on 5/4.