DFMC, Week 7

I have been feeling totally stuck when it comes to sitting and writing new posts for this blog.  My thoughts are in a bunch of different places, and the feelings or meaning that I have been hoping to get down has not really been coming through in words.  There are scribbles and notes written all over the place in notebooks and on scraps of paper, but I am still working on getting things organized to put down in writing. 

While I sort through all of that, what I can write about and what is easier for me to manage is marathon training.  I know what the plan is.  It's all written out...18 weeks, 7 days a week.  I wake up in the morning understanding what I need to do, and I know how to adapt and alter if something forces a change (like the 5 degree temperatures here this morning).  I've got a goal and the timeframe to get there, which creates some accountability, too.  I know at the end of the 18 weeks, I am going to run a marathon and I want to run it well so I follow the plan in order to get there in the best condition that I am able.  Easy enough (most days).

Similarly, I am able to approach the challenge of running for Dana-Farber in much the same way.  I have a set a personal fundraising goal ($28,000) and have a time period in which to reach that goal (April 15).  I know the steps I need to take to get there, too.  With just over 10 weeks to go, I am a little shy of halfway to my goal with $11,400 in generous gifts contributed already, which is humbling and an incredibly fantastic start.  The reason that I run is what makes training season so worthwhile and rewarding, and again, I am so grateful to all who have supported to this amazing program so far.

We have a DFMC team meeting tonight and I have the opportunity to be a part of a panel to talk to our teammates about my experiences as a member of the team, and what has helped me to reach the goals that I have set over the past 4 seasons.  In looking back at the past 4 years, the biggest factor in the the success I have had as a member of  the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team has been just how many people have supported the DFMC and of our family.  It isn't that there are 5 people that make a huge donation every year to reach the goal.  It's that there are almost 400  people who have given what they can to help fight cancer.   400 different people...some are family, many are friends, others are friends of friends, and still others are complete strangers who somehow heard of our "Be Good. Be Strong. cancer-fighting, take no prisoners village" and have shown their support by making a gift.

And that is what keeps me going.  All of these hundreds of people that have been a part of what is most certainly a team effort have their own personal reason for joining us in this fight.  Maybe that reason is that you are my friend, or that you went to college with Molly, or loved Widespread Panic like John, or rafted the rivers in Montana with Mary.  Or maybe it is because your mother or grandfather or child was diagnosed with cancer.  Or maybe it's for you.  There are too many reasons.  But together, we are being heard, and we are funding research that is making life-changing advances.  And we are doing this so there will be fewer reasons to run.

I'll be out running 16 miles this weekend, which will hopefully be an excellent opportunity to organize my thoughts and locate my writing voice.  I haven't, however, lost the voice that is asking you to support the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge, though.  Please consider a gift to support the research being conducted...and in the words of this great DFMC program, to help reach the ultimate finish line.  A world without cancer.

To donate, please visit:

www.runDFMC.org/2013/jennies

Be good. Be strong.

With gratitude,
Jennie