Day 1

Somehow I let my wife talk me into running a marathon. What was I thinking? Who wants to run 26.2 miles for the fun of it? I don't. That's when Shannon gave me the idea to run in memory of Carter Dang. Carter is the son of Hao, who was one of my best friends in high school. I cannot imagine the pain of losing one of your children; especially at a young age to cancer. So, when Shannon suggested I run in his memory, I couldn't say no to that. I don't like to run, nor am I looking forward to running 600 miles in the next 4 months. Oh, that's no typo. 600 miles in 4 months. That's when I'm hit with the reality that no parent wants to endure watching their child struggle with cancer. That's a sobering thought. So, the picture is the before and after photo of our first day of training. We got up at 5:15 and ran 6 miles this morning. Obviously, we are smiling more in the first photo...haha. Just think, only 594 more miles to go!

My husband is the best! Not only did he agree to run a marathon with me, but he agreed to run one that required us to start training during the hottest, most humid time of the year. What were we thinking?!?! Neither one of us is a morning person, but when you live in Arkansas, and you don't want to die of dehydration and heat stroke, you suck it up and get moving before the sun comes up...even though at 5:45 am, it still feels like you're breathing under water...and in case you're wondering, that's hard. I am comforted to know that all of this crazy training will be worth it. Why? Because we are running for a greater purpose than just to push ourselves physically and mentally and to mark something off my Bucket List (it was never even on Mark's Bucket List radar). We realize that God has blessed us with four (for the most part) healthy children. I know what a strain unexpected medical bills cause on our family budget. I can't imagine facing medical expenses that require cancer treatments, let alone watching my child struggle through those treatments. My good friend Hope Griffin's daughter, Katie, was a patient at St. Jude. Katie was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma when she was 6 months old. She is now a healthy, happy 8 year old. I know St. Jude was a huge blessing to Katie and her family. Not only did she receive the best care possible, but her parents were able to focus on her and getting her better. St. Jude covered all their traveling expenses and they never received a bill for her treatment. I am so excited to be running this race in Miss Katie's honor. It makes those early morning hot and humid runs totally worth it. Plus, I know that the further into our training we get and the long run mileage increases, the heat and humidity will be much less and will make our training runs more enjoyable...even if those long runs are reaching into the 20+ mile range.

Please consider donating to our cause. We have agreed to raise a specific amount of money that will go directly to St. Jude. These funds will allow St. Jude to continue providing services to families, like the Griffin's, without charging them a dime.