Thursday, November 1, 2012

Just over three weeks ago I DID IT!! I finished the Chicago Marathon...running...with a smile...and not last! What an amazing feeling to cross the finish line. So many emotions all at once...pride, relief, amazement that I did it, sadness that it was over (not so much the run, but the journey). I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The fact that Greg was right there as we were about to round the last turn to the finish line and my kids were cheering their heads off in the bleachers right before we crossed the finish line added to the awesomeness. 



We were so lucky to have family and friends cheering for us at SO many spots throughout the race. It was such a boost each time we saw them! 


I wanted to make sure I had closure here. So that when I go back and read this a year from now, my journey is complete. Thankfully, just a day or two after the run I emailed all my thoughts to Denise, the amazing CF running coach who was there for my questions and freak outs numerous times throughout this journey. Here's how it went down...



Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2012 20:12:25 -0700

From: cde_76@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: HOWZZZZZ MY MARATHON GIRL DOING???!!!!!!
To: deesauriol@hotmail.com


Feeling like a super star!! Everyone keeps telling me how proud they are and what an amazing thing I did. Nice to be acknowledged for all the hard work :) And I just got the official email from the marathon congratulating me on being a marathon finisher!!! The pride just keeps flowing. I feel so awesome! Not only did I finish the marathon, but I raised over $1,800 for Cystic Fibrosis which I'm am also VERY proud of.

Sunni ended up not coming down with us on Saturday and we never did find her in the corral Sunday morning. So it was just Emily and I the whole way. We've been running together for years so it was so awesome to cross the finish line with her. I can't even describe the range of emotions I was feeling as we ran up that final hill, knowing we would turn that corner and see the finish line. My hubby was there about 2/3 of the way up the hill which made it even more special. And my kids were in the bleachers right before we crossed the finish line. So, so awesome.


The people along the way were amazing. After feeling how much they keep you going I can't wait to be on that side cheering people along. My family split up so I think we had people cheering for us at about 10 places. Couldn't have done it without them :)

The run was great. There were a few bumps in the road, but I wasn't going to let them stop me. I kept thinking about Dean who is my friend's little boy with CF and my reason for doing this. I thought even more about my friend and what she wakes up with every day--the fact that her baby is sick and she can't do anything to change that. If she can get herself out of bed every morning and be an amazing mom, wife, friend, etc. with that on her heart, I was not going to let a few miles of pain stop me. The signs the said "Pain is temporary. Pride is forever" helped me keep that focus. The pain was going to be temporary!

My knee that had been hurting was fine. But about mile 14 the other knee started hurting. I'm sure I was overcompensating and not running with my regular stride. And then at around mile 20, my toe nail popped halfway off. Felt like my toe exploded. It is UGLY.

But at that point I knew I only had about 6 miles left...an easy run. If you look at my splits you can see where I struggled. We had been stopping at the aid stations, using them to get Gatorade and/or water or just take a quick break from running. At about mile 23 I realized that it hurt more to start running than it did to just keep running. And then two of my best friends (one of them was Dean's mom) were at mile 24 and ran with me for a few blocks. It was then that we really kicked it back up. So many people were walking, but I had always envisioned finishing strong. And we DID!!


Massage tomorrow--although I'm sure it will be painful. My quads are still super sore. But I scheduled a full hour, full body massage with the therapist I've been seeing throughout my training. I'm looking forward to sharing all the details of my weekend with him. And he just got back from Disney, so we'll have lots to chat about during that hour!

I figure in another few weeks I'm going to schedule a massage at a spa and really relax and enjoy it. I'm also getting a tattoo. Emily and I have been talking about it since training started. Just something small on my foot, but something that will be a reminder of this amazing accomplishment that I am so proud of. That's my big reward--one I've been thinking about for months and I am very excited about!

Thank you for all your knowledge and support! Knowing I had someone to email with questions, concerns, or when I was FREAKING OUT was great. Even better was having someone who I could email who was as excited as I was about each accomplishment as the runs got longer and longer.

Congrats to you, too! I think it's amazing that you've completed so many marathons and that you're willing to share all your expertise and knowledge with those of us who had no idea what to expect. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!

-candy


The toenail mentioned above was indeed UGLY for a week...then Greg amputated it and it was so much better! My knees are still in recovery and I can't seem to get past 3 miles before my IT band is killing me. But I'm resting more days and doing some strengthening exercises and hoping to get back on track soon. It's already hard to imagine that I actually ran 26.2 miles! But all the pain and the time was worth it. I'm proud of what I did and why I did it. It's something I'll never forget.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

One week until the marathon and I'm falling apart. I needed the marathon to have happened about two weeks ago :) 

I've developed a mysterious knee pain. It came the evening of a rest day out of nowhere. Go figure.

I'd run 10 miles the day before and it was a really good run! The next night I was in the kitchen when I got a pain in my knee. I kept thinking it would go away; that my knee needed to crack or something. Not the case. When I got up on Wednesday and it was still hurting, I called the chiro's office. There's a (for lack of a better work) "regular" doc there too. She saw me the next morning. I hadn't run since the 10 miler on Sunday. Of course when I went in nothing was really hurting. I couldn't even really tell her where it had been hurting. She felt around and said that all the ligaments and the knee cap felt fine. Ice, ibuprofen, and maybe a brace.  She said to go ahead and give running a shot in the next day or two.

So after another day of resting it, I headed out yesterday (Saturday) for just 2 miles. It did not go well. The first 1/2 mile was great. I thought I was better. Then I felt a twinge and by mile 1 I stopped to stretch to see if that would help. I turned around and the second mile was maybe a little better. I found that shortening my stride helped a lot. So I guess it wasn't completely awful, but the fact that there was pain is frustrating.

I am so happy that the second 20 miler went so much better than the first. I am trying to keep that thought in my head as I make the decision to not do any running this week. I really did put in almost all of the training miles. I missed a 6 miler today and two 4 milers during the week. I'll miss a few miles this week, but I'm going to do some walking to keep my legs as ready as they can be for Sunday.

I'm considering a cortisone shot, but have read mixed "reviews" on going that route. I think I've finally found a brace that I like (after spending $100+ on 5 or 6 different ones!) and I bought some Salonpas patches.

I know I can do this, but I was hoping the pain would come at the end--not be there from the beginning. I keep telling myself that I delivered two kids with zero pain meds, this really can't be much more painful than that...right?

http://www.cff.org/LWC/CandyJohnson

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I'm ready to be done with training. I'm starting to feel burnt out and am ready for a weekend when I don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn. Less than one month until marathon day. I'm super excited about that day. It's all these other days that are getting hard--especially the weekday runs. At least on the weekends, the long runs feel like an accomplishment. More and more often, I find myself looking at the purple bracelet I've worn since making this commitment and reminding myself why I'm doing this.

Of course my ultimate reason is to help find a cure--for everyone with CF and especially for Dean and his family. But in my heart, my biggest reason for doing this isn't for Dean, but for his mom. I'm amazed by her strength. I don't know if I could be as strong as she is if I had to wake up every morning knowing my baby had a sickness I had no control over. I want to do everything I can to help find a cure so she can maybe wake up one morning without that heaviness in her heart.

I'm proud to report that I've met my fundraising goal!! I hope to keep raising money over these next few weeks, but I have to admit that it's nice to know I reached my goal! Thank you to everyone who made a donation! I have some pretty amazing family and friends.

Another 20 miler coming up this Saturday. I'm looking forward to it and am hopeful it will go a little better than the last 20 we did! I've decided that long runs are kind of like giving birth. Right after it's over, you're exhausted and in pain and think you'll never do it again. You quickly forget how bad it was and start looking forward to the next one!

 
http://www.cff.org/LWC/CandyJohnson

Thursday, September 6, 2012

I can't believe I ran 20 miles. Over four hours of running. Who in their right mind does that?!! All I can really say about it is that it was HARD! We were visiting my parents in Wisconsin for the holiday weekend. Emily and her family joined us. So at least I didn't have to run it alone. The route was pretty much flat and probably 95% farm roads. All we saw for hours was corn and cows with an occasional car speeding past.

The first 10 miles were really good! We got to the Varley's house at just over 10 miles and I was feeling great. By 15 I was feeling shaky, but had left some peanut butter sandwich cookies with the water jug we'd dropped on a corner and they seemed to help. By 18, the sun was hot and we were jelly-legged. But we managed to finish out the last two miles by setting small goals--run to that stop sign then walk a block or so; run to the end of this street, then another walk. It really wasn't pretty, but we finished it out with a run up a small (although it seemed giant at the time) hill.

We rewarded ourselves with a soak in the hot tub and lunch at Blue Spoon Cafe! Followed by an agonizing 3+ hour drive home. Ugh!

I have to say that this 20 mile run hurt less than the 18 we'd done two weeks before. We had to stop and stretch numerous times then; my legs and back felt really tight. During 20, I didn't experience any of that. Just pure exhaustion the last couple of miles! I'm not sure how I'm going to go for another 6.2, but I'm hoping after the next 20 mile training run, I'll feel more confident. 

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Many times garage sales are a waste of time because they're so much work to get ready and there's no way to know what will sell. This thought went through my head MANY times as I worked my butt off getting ready for my fundraising garage sale held last weekend. The night before, I had major anxiety worrying that no one would show up because I had decided not to put signs out until the morning.

Turns out I didn't need to worry at all. The people came and they kept coming! On the first day, there was not one moment there wasn't at least one person shopping until around 1:30. It was a ton of work, but almost $650 later, I'd say it was well worth it. I had signs plastered on every table saying that all sales would benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. And people were very generous. During the first hour, I had a woman purchase $3 worth of items. She gave me a check for $20. My neighbors bought a desk we had for sale and gave me an extra $20. People often said "keep the change--for your fundraiser." I had the opportunity several times to share what Cystic Fibrosis was and why I was raising money.

The sale ended as uplifting as it had begun. As we were closing down and boxing things for Goodwill, a final customer came to browse. She picked up 5 $.10 items. She handed me her two quarters and then reached back into her wallet for a $5. "For your fundraiser. Good luck," she said, and went on her way.


I am truly grateful to my friends and family for helping me to pull this successful garage sale off. To those who donated items to sell, stopped by to shop, helped me set up and/or take down and loaned tables in the mad scramble we had the night before...Thank you!!!

 

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Wow! It's been a whirlwind few weeks. Between two mini vacations, getting my first grader ready for the first day of school (which is this week), planning for and executing a VERY successful fundraising garage sale and of course RUNNING, I'm exhausted. But I keep putting one foot in front of the other and know the craziness will end...some day...right??

We spent 5 days camping on Lake Michigan in Sheboygan with my family. Lots of fun. Had to get two runs in there. One 45 minute run and one 8 miler. I went into the 8 miles hoping to use an app on my phone to map my run. Not sure if the app just doesn't work or if the signal just wasn't consistent enough, but I knew I was in trouble when I'd been running for about 30 minutes and it said I was at 5+ miles. I do not run that fast. I run a pretty consistent 10 minute mile. So I decided I'd just run 90 minutes and call it good.

The next weekend, we had a trip to the Dells planned. Long run for that weekend was 16 miles. I was stressed about not only running 16 by myself, but actually getting it in at all. Decided to do it Saturday and get it over with so I could enjoy the rest of the trip eating and drinking with no worries. I searched for running paths in the Dells and came up with nothing. The best the Dells' tourism office could offer was the name of a state park that was nearby. I found a map of the park and realized it was just a couple miles from the hotel we were staying at. We got up there early enough the day before my planned run to do a drive of the route. All I can say is Holy Hills!! That night I mapped out my 16. I ran from the hotel to Mirror Lake State Park, looped the park twice, back to the hotel, then down the main street to the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory Museum and back to the hotel. Thankfully it was overcast and fairly cool. I'm not sure I would have made it in any kind of heat. The hills were brutal!! I wish I had taken some pictures so everyone could see just how crazy hilly it was! But I did it!! And I followed it up with a huge breakfast at Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty!!

This past weekend was an easy 8. Up next is 18. Wow!

I have some exciting fundraising news to blog about also, but I was up at 4:30 this morning to get my 6 miles in. So it will have to wait for another night. I'm off to bed :)
 

Monday, July 16, 2012

This past weekend, we spent Saturday at a fun, fun, fun event. The first Chillin' and Grillin' for a Cure was held at Dean's house. It was a block-party type event, complete with kids' games, live music, a rib cook-off, lots of good food and drinks, tons of cool raffle baskets and more. 

The party was fun, but even better was seeing all of Dean's friends and family out there grilling, serving, selling tickets, organizing games, donating raffle items, buying tickets for raffle items...I could go on and on. It was amazing. 
 
Dean is waving hello to everyone :)
 

I am so proud to be a part of the awesome Eat.Pray.Dean fundraising team. What a special group of people coming together for a special little guy :) Can't wait for next year!


http://www.cff.org/LWC/CandyJohnson

Sunday, July 15, 2012

It's been a couple weeks since I posted, so I guess I'll work backwards in recounting my recent runs.

Today should have been an easy run day. A step-back week--just 6 miles. However, some poor choices made it a very difficult one. Yesterday we spent the day at Dean's house for the Chillin' and Grillin' for a Cure fundraising event. So much fun. But lots of food and drinks and a late night lead to hitting snooze about 10 times this morning. I didn't step out the door until after 9 a.m. and it was already steaming hot out. In addition to getting a late start, I chose a very UN-shady route. A brutal combination. 

Last weekend was SO much better even though it was twice as long. 12 miles last Sunday--the weather broke for us just in the nick of time. The entire week, the daily highs were 100+. But a cool front came through Saturday night. Sunday morning was about 75 degrees and cloudy. Thank goodness!! I'm not sure we would have gotten 12 miles in if the heat wave had continued. It was the first opportunity that Sunni, Emily and I have had to run together. We ran on a path in Naperville that was new to Emily and I. A very nice 6 mile loop. Very little shade, but the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of the run. Awesome!

Even through the heat of the week, I managed to get all my runs in. Although I did end up at the Y on the treadmill on Friday. When it's already 80+ degrees at 5 a.m., it's just too hot to run outside.

The Sunday run two weeks ago was 10 miles. Busy schedules prevented any of us from running together. So it was 10 miles solo. I have to say that, although it was a little lonely, I enjoyed the solitude of just me and my music. And it was complete solitude. I did not see another person until I got into downtown Oswego--and I was only there for about 1.5 miles. I took the opportunity to greet fellow runners and struck up a quick conversation with one runner who I could tell was in the middle of a long run (he was sporting one of those camelback water packs). He was running 13 that morning and seemed envious that I only had 10 to do :)

So far things are progressing very well. My back is feeling great (I'm down to just one PT/chiro visit a week), shin splints are pretty much gone. And I'm excited about 14 miles this coming Sunday. Never gone that far! Praying that it isn't too hot!!

http://www.cff.org/LWC/CandyJohnson

Sunday, June 24, 2012

It's officially summer in Chicagoland. I know this not only because the calendar says so, but also because the hot humid air has set in! I feel lucky that it stayed away as long as it did. But the past two Sunday long runs have been hot and HUMID! UGH!

Emily and I ran last week's 9 miles along the Fox River starting in downtown Aurora. 

I'd never run on that section of the Fox River Trail before. We saw lots of chipmunks and squirrels, a bunny, a pair of cardinals, and even a doe! We ran under I-88 and saw some neat houses along the river. Overall a very nice run. We were just a couple miles short of hitting Batavia before we turned around for the second 4.5. How crazy to think that I ran from Aurora almost all the way to Batavia. Soon enough it will be a reality. 

Today was an easy 6 around Yorkville. So fun to say that 6 miles is easy. Any 5K or 10K races this fall after the marathon are going to be a breeze!!!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Eight miles this morning. Easy peasy :)  Well, not easy, but it was a good run!  Sunni and I headed out at 6 a.m. (UGH!) but it was still cool and it is always a good feeling to get a long run done early and have the whole day still ahead to enjoy.

I was really nervous about this run. After a bad long run last weekend and a bad run Friday, I was afraid of something hurting. But all was good!!

I had an interesting cyber encounter a couple of weeks ago. I got some very cool water bottles in the mail--as promised by this stranger, who has a CF connection.



I had been searching for a "dual" water bottle. Something I could put both water and Gatorade in. I'd never seen one, but I figured one MUST exist out there somewhere. I came across the SWIGZ dual hydration system. Exactly what I'd pictured in my head. Even found a couple reviews on a women's fitness magazine site. But when I clicked on the "order" button, it took me to an expired page. So I sent and email to the "contact us" address.

I little while later, I received a response. Unfortunately they were no longer selling the bottles. However, they had some extra stock and if I would send my address, he would be happy to send me one free of charge.

I debated whether it was a good idea to send my address. So I followed some of the links that were in this guy's signature. Chip Yates is a Guinness World Record holder for the fastest electric motorcycle. He is also the founder and CEO of Flight of the Century, which has something to do with all-electric air crafts. Pretty cool! I figured it was safe to send my address.

As you may know, the signature in my email is information about my CFF fundraising. Turns out, this guy's sister-in-law had CF, so seeing that I was fundraising for CF, he told me a little about her. Courtney Allison Yates was his brother's wife. She had a double lung transplant and then finished her degree, got married, and had a baby before she passed away at just 28 years old.

My heart breaks thinking of that little boy or girl growing up without his or her mom. It's not fair.

This is why I am running. Why I was up before 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Because I want to do everything I can to not have any more families grieving over a loved one lost to CF. Because I want to help find a cure for everyone who is living with CF--especially my "little friend Dean" (as my great-aunt put it in her sweet note that accompanied her donation :) )

Sunday, June 3, 2012

18 weeks from today I will have completed the 2012 Chicago Marathon (hopefully!).

Is it bad that just a few weeks into training I was so excited to have an extra rest day this week and so glad that today's long run was just 6 miles? It is going to be a long summer!

Thank goodness today's run was just 6 miles. It was not a good run. I'm battling shin splints on my right leg. I got stretch and strength exercises to do from the trainer during last Thursday's physical therapy session. I'm hoping that will help!  I also had spent the day gardening, so I'm sure I was dehydrated and I know my back was tired from bending over. Lesson learned--early morning runs are best not only for the cool temps (although that wasn't an issue today) but because I haven't had a chance to wear myself out with any other activities.

Last Sunday's run was a lot of fun. 7 miles with a different running buddy! I'm not typically one to chat during a run. But Sunni is my college roommate and we ALWAYS have catching up to do. So we chatted the whole 7 miles and it was fun! It was incredibly hot so it was good to have the miles go by so quickly :)

And I also have some exciting news about my fundraising...I'm over halfway there!!!  Thank you does not even begin to express how grateful I am! The generosity of my friends and family makes my heart fill with pride and love and joy and amazement! The outpouring of support not only for Dean and the CF Foundation, but also for my marathon journey is awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone!

http://www.cff.org/LWC/CandyJohnson

Saturday, May 19, 2012



We spent most of this beautiful day at the Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis. This is our second year participating. Last year we were bundled into multiple layers and/or winter coats. It was cold, windy and rainy--but still an awesome day. This year was hot and sunny--and awesome again. Seeing all the people come together to raise money for this amazing cause and getting to be a part of it is (yes, I'm going to say it again) awesome.

And I met a fellow Team CF marathoner there which was cool! This will be his first marathon, too. It was nice to hear that he has the same conflicting emotions that I do...excited yet petrified :)  He has a granddaughter with CF. As he was walking away, his final comment was something along the lines of "We're going to find a cure." Amen!

Erin (Dean's mom) thanked me multiple times for being there today. But I am thankful to her for giving me a way to help. I can't do a lot for her other than be a good friend with an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on when she needs it. But I CAN help raise money to keep the research on finding a cure for CF going strong.

So thank you to all of you who have donated to me so far! Every penny makes a difference. Check out one of Erin's latest blogs about some recent exciting research advances that have been made: http://www.itsadifferentkindofperfect.blogspot.com/2012/05/baby-stepping-to-cure.html

http://www.cff.org/LWC/CandyJohnson

Monday, May 7, 2012

Two exciting things to report this week.

First of all, the training plan we've decided to use starts tomorrow! So it has officially begun! Excited and anxious about that--excited to get started and anxious about how my body is going to hold up :)

Second, I had my first re-evaluation with my chiropractor today. It's been 6 weeks of physical therapy and adjustments, 3 times a week. Whew! But I couldn't ask for a better experience so far. The staff is amazing. And several of them are fellow runners--one is even running the Chicago Marathon! So even though it's been a huge time commitment, I do enjoy my time there. And best of all, my re-evaluation shows HUGE progress. The strength in my leg that was being affected is back and flexibility has improved (I am NOT flexible at all, so after 6 weeks of stretching twice a day, I'm glad he could see an improvement even if I don't feel it!) The doctor was very happy and impressed with the results.

So now we move on to physical therapy and adjustments 2 times a week. And the BEST part--I only have to wear the lovely belt 4 hours a day for the next 2 weeks and then I am DONE with the belt!

Thank goodness for my wonderful mother-in-law who helps out with my kiddos. She has been a life saver throughout this process so far. I'm sure I wouldn't be reporting such a positive experience if I had to lug my kids in and try to keep them occupied while I did an hour of therapy three times a week.

So tomorrow I'll be out early for a nice 40 minute run. The first of MANY. Wish me luck!

http://www.cff.org/LWC/CandyJohnson

Friday, April 20, 2012

Each run for the past few weeks has been nerve-wracking for me. Every little twinge of discomfort has me worried. Here's why.

A few weeks ago I decided that I should go see my chiropractor. I'd been having a little discomfort in my left thigh. It wasn't anything I normally would have done anything about--pop a couple extra ibuprofen and call it good. But knowing that I would be running hundreds of miles over the next 6 months, I decided to get it checked out.


After some questions and a few muscle strength tests, the doctor couldn't be sure of exactly what was wrong but suspected it was lower back related. He sent me for an MRI. A little over a week later I was back in his office where we went over the results...bulging disks at L4 and L5 which were pressing on a nerve causing the discomfort in my leg. The doctor's first comment after going over the results was, "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this marathon, am I?" We'd talked extensively about it at my prior appointment. Not just about the training but also why I was doing it. I was proud that in just one short visit, my passion for what I have committed to came across and made an impression on him!

He suggested an 18-week program that combined physical therapy and chiropractic adjustments. The first six weeks required visits 3 times each week. The second six weeks 2 visits each week and one visit each week for the last 6 weeks. My insurance would cover the majority of each visit (well, 80%), but with that many visits, there was no way I could afford to pay the difference. I asked about modifying the program with less visits. He felt strongly that this was the best course--one he'd had success with in other patients. As my brain scrambled to figure out what I should do, this doctor--who I've seen on several occasions including weekly for a couple of months while I was pregnant with Cole (because of him I was able to sleep at night again!) but has no REAL connection to me--looked at me and said, "If I can make this affordable for you, will you commit to the entire process?" I told him that I would, thinking there was no way to fit this into our budget. Well, I was wrong! I will be forever grateful that this doctor saw how much this journey meant to me and is doing everything he can to ensure I get through it without further injury.

So now my weeks are filled with office visits where I'm learning all kinds of new stretches (which I know I should have been doing all along!). If I'm not stretching there, I'm doing it at home...twice a day. I also have to wear a "belt" every day. A lovely addition to my wardrobe. The whole process is a huge commitment, but one I'm going to give 100% to. When it gets to be 10 p.m. and I haven't gotten my second set of stretches/strengthening exercises in for the day and I really just want to go to bed, I remind myself how much I love to run and how devastated I would be if I had to give it up.

I'm happy to report that I already feel a difference. The discomfort in the back of my leg that led me to make the initial appointment is pretty much gone! And while each run still makes me nervous, I ran 5.5 miles on Sunday followed by another 3.5 on Tuesday and feel great!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Had my first marathon dream the other night. I expect it is probably the first of many, especially as October draws close.

I had two days to run this marathon. The course was all over the place, and in order to run it, you had to follow various strings, tubes, curly-q thingies and they all crisscrossed over each other so from the very beginning I was having trouble staying on course. The first day, I only ran a 5K. The second day I knew I had to cover a lot of ground. So I set back out following the crazy path that wound through baseball fields and a downtown area. At one point, the path I was following went into a movie theater. So I sat down and watched for a while. Then I realized that the day was half over and I'd only finished 9 miles. It was also one of those dreams where you try your very hardest to run fast, but just can't. Usually I'm being chased by something in those types of dreams. But in this one I needed to run fast in order to finish, and I just couldn't. Crazy. That's all I remember. Don't know if I finished. Hope I'm not lured into any movies theaters on Oct. 7 :)

Saturday, April 14, 2012

I'm new to this blog thing, so you'll have to excuse any ramblings. I hope I have family and friends who are interested in following me through this journey, but mostly I'm blogging this for myself.

As a kid, I kept a diary for years. I still love to read back through those memories. I hope to capture many memories here, too.

Not only do I want to capture the running memories, but--because I also made a commitment to fundraising for Team Cystic Fibrosis--also the generosity I find along the way. I've already been touched by the many donations I have received. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far! And to anyone interested in learning more about my fundraising endeavors, you can visit http://www.cff.org/LWC/CandyJohnson.