Today Rocks

1. I got this text from the H this morning...

Gab hasn't looked sideways at fruit or veggies in weeks. I am so stoked :D.

2. I got my bib number for the Disney Princess Half Marathon... I suppose that makes it Official!!

3. You guys rock. My fundraising for Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation has gone super well, and thank you to so many of you for reposting! Link here if you've missed it.

4. Don't forget my CSN giveaway! Don't forget, you'll get an extra entry just for reposting my fundraising story! Plus, Little Fruit Fly and her mad Googling skills earned an extra 5 entries for naming Serenity as the movie I snagged my quote from :D

5. I have my first training run with PCRF this weekend, and I'm excited. It's short, so I'll have to add on a bunch of miles to hit my long run.

6. I'm trying a recipe this weekend for a potato, sausage, and kale soup, and my cousins are coming over to share it with me.

7. I took (another) night off from running yesterday, and I think it was the right choice. I've been icing, stretching, and I think I slept off an oncoming cold, but woke up today feeling fantastic.

8. I think I might go vegetarian again after I hit the farmers market this weekend.... Hmm.

9. My sister is coming to visit in 2 weeks!

and finally, but best of all...

10. We had a procedure with Gabby on Wednesday (bone marrow biopsy and lumbar puncture - ick), and found out not only are her numbers doing GREAT, her ANC number (the complicated number that's calculated based off of a lot of other stuff, but for a real definition, you can click here) is around 600. It was ZERO when we left the hospital... and, I hear, at around 750 you can start discussing with your doctor taking her out (in the shade) for walks :D.

Doing Good Things Makes Me Happy

Who knew, right?

Sunday, I had the privelege of working aid station #2 at the 4.5 mile mark of the Operation Jack Marathon. As I blogged a few weeks ago, I had originally signed up for the half option, but chickened out last week. Since I already had the morning free, and they were still looking for vounteers, I figured, why not.

And I'm so glad I did.

I've done two races. One had great support for the runners (CDM5K). The other had one, abandoned and messy, aid station (Dana Point. Ask me for ONE good thing about that race, I dare you). Granted, these were both 5K's, not anything close to a half or full marathon, but having just done a run with unprepared, and with no water, I am beginning to see how imporant these little things can be when you're out there.

Anyway, I worked this aid station with another runner, and a mom and her kid putting in some required volunteer hours. Our station was awesome. Could you ask for a better view? Probably not.

Plus, we were prepared.

It was a looped course, so we saw the halfers twice, and the full marathoners four times. They were all so awesome, and grateful, and kept thanking us for being there. Um. Dude, you're the one running a gazillion miles, I'm just hanging out on the beach with some water and gatorade. Thank YOU!

This dude said it was his second marathon for THE DAY.

And the tall chick here was busy tying the Guinness record for the most marathons completed in a year... This was #106.

Afterwards, we went to lunch, and the 1st place guy was seated at my table. This dude was no joke about his running... "I'm training for the Avalon 50... it's a nice, mid-distance run."

50 miles, you know, nothing big.

Anyway, Sam's 61 marathons this year are over, but check out his blog, here:
Operation Jack

If you've never volunteered at a race before, seriously, go do it.