Double Down

Okay.  I started running from scratch in September 2008, about one year after my daughter was diagnosed with juvenile dermatomyositis (JM), a rare and terrible autoimmune disease.  Since that time, I have run 10 (ten!!) half marathons and, with much help from friends, raised something like $55,000 for Cure JM.

I will run my 11th half marathon in two days, on June 3, which is the day after my birthday.

In October, I will travel to Baltimore for a wonderful weekend of educational events put on by Cure JM.  The organization always plans these events around a road race that is used as a centerpiece for fundraising, and this time it's the Baltimore Running Festival.

I figured I would do another half.  And then I read this amazing piece, written by fellow JM mom and my soul sistah, Erika.  And I got to thinking, maybe it's time to go for the full.

Over the 3+ years I've been running, I've often been asked whether I would ever run a full marathon.  Frankly, I've never really felt the urge before.  13.1 miles is an AWESOME distance - long enough to be a challenge, but not so long that it does serious damage to my body.  Running has become such an important tool to help me cope with life's challenges, and I feel very protective of it - like I don't want to jeopardize it by risking injury at the longer distances.

But after reading Erika's piece...  hmmm.  I just have this feeling.  The same kind of feeling I had 3+ years ago when Shari Hume, founder of Cure JM, originally sent me an invitation to run and started this whole thing.  This little voice saying, "Maybe.  Just maybe."

I guess I always figured that someday the urge would probably strike.  And if I WERE to try a full, what better place to do it than at a Cure JM event, where I'll surrounded by many of the children who inspired me to run in the first place, cheering me on?

So.  Long story short, I'm going for it.  And while I'm afraid, I'm not nearly as afraid as I was when I first started running.  When I go back and read those early posts, I kind of shudder because I can still remember exactly how that felt.  But look at me now.

Here we go!

This is why I run.