Cleveland Marathon Expo

Friday afternoon I headed to the expo. Upon arriving at the expo, I texted Wendy to let her know I had arrived. I was at the packet pickup and she came over to meet me. She patiently waited while I gathered all 5 packets that I needed to pick up. Fortunately, I got a really nice guy and he didn't make me wait in each event line. He just got all of the packets for me. To that wonderful guy I must say thank you! Once I had everyone's bib number in hand Wendy and I headed over to the shirt area of the expo so I could get everyone's shirts and goody bags. While walking over to collect the shirts and bags, I came across Katie Lufkin. Her daughter Stephanie passed away two years ago from complications associated with ITP (a rare blood disorder). I shared a hug with her. Afterall, Team Stephanie is the reason I started running again over a year ago. In fact, I ran on Team Stephanie last year at the Cleveland 1/2 Marathon. Katie asked who I running for this year and I told her that I was running for one of my best friends, Deb, as this weekend is the ten year anniversary of her brain tumor removal. Once I had everything picked up, Wendy and I went over to the speaker area where we got to meet Amby Burfoot (1968 Boston Marathon Champion). In fact, he took this picture of us! Yes folks, Amby Burfoot touched my camera!

There were only six of us in the speaker area so Amby sat right down and just talked to us about the race and how a very large percentage of it is mental. You don't have to have long legs or a small frame, but what you do have to have is mental toughness. It was wonderful to listen to his advice. Of course Wendy and I got our picture taken with Amby. John "the penguin" actually took the picture for us. So not one but two running greats touched my camera yesterday! Looking back, I can't believe I didn't pull something out of my bag for them to autograph. Darn it! Oh well, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

After this, Wendy and I said our goodbyes and I headed home to make some buffalo chicken dip to take to a Scentsy candle party at my neighbors. It was nice to have the party last night. I got to spend some time chatting with great friends and relaxing. I headed home shortly before 9 and started organizing the Team Curing Chordoma shirts. The shirts came out great! I couldn't be happier and will give a shout out to Madison Graphics of Lakewood, Ohio. Outstanding job Ron! Thank you so much for everything!

The last thing I did before heading to bed was organize everyone's packets! My house looks a little bit like a mini expo! Look at all those great numbers! Two marathon bibs, two half marathon bibs, and a 10K bib!

It is now Saturday morning and I am resting as much as I possibly can, while stirring the homemade pasta sauce for tonight's dinner! Tonight we will celebrate Deb while we carbo load! There is no other way I would rather spend my weekend! The icing on the cake, quite literally, is that Monday is my birthday! I couldn't ask for a better gift than the friendship of the 21 people that will be at my house tonight! To all of you wonderful, amazing people, I say thank you for the love, friendship, and support you show me every single day.

Curing Chordoma...

One mile at a time

Deb's our survivor

10 years tumor free

Keep running, you're simply the best, and you inspire me!!