Where you can find me

Hi!

I have created a new blog today. No I am not abandoning this one. I felt I needed a special place to share with you my involvement and preparation for one of the largest events of my life. I never imagined I would be in a marathon. Funny how it took being humbled and beaten down by NF2 to have my eyes opened wider. Just when I thought I understood empathy and many other perspectives of life, I have restarted life again anew.

If I had not been struck by NF2 I do not think I would be doing this. Strange how life takes us on those paths. I have thought about what I would be doing if I did not have NF2 and I am certain I would be too busy on a very different path and the thought of doing this marathon would have never entered my mind.

In the past months of making the decision, committing, fundraising for the LLS and my marathon involvement, learning more about "Team in Training", meeting the people training with me and dedicated to the society, finding out who supports me, I have gained more perspective than I could have imagined.

What started out as being able to walk at my regular pace again without a walking stick (after bouts of illness, dizziness, and at times not even being able to read or make it far out of bed), a chance to honor my grandfather battling his second cancer (a blood cancer), and an opportunity to fulfill a debt and responsibility I felt I needed to contribute for my good fortune, has turned into quite a phenomenal journey that I will carry in my heart forever.

They say that you can never fully understand a man (or woman) until you walk a mile in his (her) shoes. Well I am literally going to walk 26.2 miles and through the process I have been learning about the blood, sweat, and tears that people dedicated themselves to in order to give me a second chance.

Prior to my decision to embark on this journey I found I took something for granted that I never realized I had. I did not know what Team in Training was or the committment that people chose to make. I guess at the age of 21 and beyond I just thought the medical resources that kept me alive came from the government or perhaps I did not think about it too much. I was just glad to make it through that ordeal.

Being involved in this program has greatly enhanced my sense 0f gratitude and appreciation of life and the good will of humanity.

Please come and visit me at my Seattle Marathon Blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-zo.V4TMzd7O1jdfKa9vCJKnI2TVF.

Please also check out the links down on the bottom of the left hand side of my yahoo 360 Seattle Marathon Blog. I have included links to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Team in Training program, my LLS donation page, the Seattle marathon info page, a link to the Seattle course map, and the pages of some of my amazing teammates who are inpiring and have overcome tremendous odds.