The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team

People have been asking me what my experience has been like thus far. The answer is that words can not describe this experience. I know my previous posts have been about the struggles of training and my frustration, but all in all this experience is amazing.

Part of what makes this experience so difficult to describe is the support and excitement of my fellow teammates. Every person I meet is so amazing. Everyone has great ideas and great suggestions for fundraising and running. Everyone is there for the same purpose and it makes the process so much smoother.

At our DFMC meeting last night, I got some great ideas about fundraising from my teammates. Some ideas were things that had never crossed my mind. At first I thought, "Why hadn't I thought of these things before? These would be so great. ". I was somewhat frustrated with myself for not being more creative....and then I stopped myself. I realized that these teammates were being kind enough to share their amazing ideas. I realized that we all have different ways of fundraising and reaching out to people. I realized that although my fundraising has slowed down I have several good ideas in place to get it started again.

After the fundraising discussion, Jack got up to speak. He started talking about training, being injured, being frustrated and then asked where I was in the crowd. I was in total shock. He recapped for everyone our emails the last week, as well as my blog posting from Sunday. I do not get embarrassed easily and I was definitely blushing. I realized at that point (as my teammates were looking at me smiling and nodding) that so many people are feeling the same way I am. This is a first time experience for so many of us. I was reminded last night again that we are all in this together-whether we run 6 min/miles or 12 min/miles.

What is this experience like for me? Indescribable.