Monday, August 16, 2010

Run for the Cure

This post is written by a younger friend of Sharon's named Lindsey who ran the Rock N' Roll Seattle Marathon in order to raise money for Leukemia research.

Lindsey writes:

June 26, 2010 was a day to remember. This is the day I would complete running a race consisting of 26.2 miles. It sounds almost impossible, but when doing it for a cure it becomes enjoyable.

The journey began in January of 2010, when I had just completed my first half marathon at the P.F. Chang’s event here in Arizona. The experience was so exhilarating I was anxious for the next event I could participate in. With that being said, I registered for the Rock’n’Roll Seattle marathon and began my training almost immediately.

While running on the weekends, I noticed this running group that always ran at the same time as I. I finally decided to stop one of them and ask what they were all about. The gentleman gladly explained that they were a part of a non-profit organization to help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma—Sharon immediately came to mind.

I ended up giving the man my information to send me details about the organization and a week or two later I was registered to not only run 26.2 miles, but also to raise $4,000 for a cure.

Both of these feats were a little overwhelming but I knew I could do it.

The next five months I began asking for donations from people I knew and began hearing several stories about how those people have been affected by this horrible sickness. This was all more motivation!

By June 1, I had raised $4,116! The first milestone was completed and only one more to go. Although June was a very hot month here in Arizona, I was determined to keep training.

Before I knew it, it was June 24th and I was boarding a plane to Seattle with my best friend (a.k.a support) and I was on my way to conquering this marathon.

June 26, 2010, 3:30 a.m.: I was up and getting ready to run this race.

I first checked the forecast for the day and, of course, it said cloudy with a high of 52 degrees and a low of 41 degrees; huge difference from Arizona! I got dressed and met my team in the lobby to get on the buses at 4:30 a.m. The bus ride was only a half-hour, but by 5:00a.m I was at the starting line ready to go.

For two hours I had to wait in anticipation because the race started at 7:00a.m. When 6:30 finally rolled around, we began lining up in our corrals to get ready to start the race! 7:00a.m., the gun goes off. There were about 30,000 people running this race, 6,000 full marathoners and 24,000 half marathoners.

There is a huge mob of people slowly moving until there is enough room to kind of spread out. The half marathoners and full marathoners stayed together until mile 9; and then there were hills. Hills so steep my hand could almost touch the ground if I reached out.

This first hill continued for about 3 more miles and the it was downhill; which at this point it almost hurt more than running uphill because your joints and muscles are so sore. When I reached mile 15, I slowed down a bit to take in how huge this uphill stretch was; it was so long I could not see where it ended. Soon to find out the stretch went uphill the whole time! I made it up and down without collapsing, which was a miracle because I was HURTING!

When I reached mile 23 I was really thinking about giving up and just walking the rest of the way because I was in so much pain.

When this thought went through my head I immediately thought of Sharon. I couldn't believe all the complaining I was doing about this pain that I have only been experiencing for the past 2 hours when Sharon goes through pain worse than this on a daily basis!

When I came to this realization I shut my mouth and powered through the race. If it weren’t for Sharon I wouldn’t have finished. Completing the marathon was the biggest accomplishment I have ever encountered, but knowing that I did it to find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma was an even bigger one.

With love,

Lindsey Scott

Official finish time: 4:06:53

Money raised that the Rock’n’Roll Seattle marathon: $2 million


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