welcome!

i am not much for exercise. let's just get that out of the way first. i have never been the type of girl who made time to go to the gym, jogged around the neighborhood, or even hustled to answer the phone. the things i like to do can all be done in bed or on the couch; reading, knitting, embroidering, drawing silly little comics. i prefer activities that can be done with a cup of coffee in one hand. running has never appealed to me, and i am terribly self-conscious doing it in public.

that being said, this year i surprised the hell out out of myself and signed up to participate in a half marathon. why would i sign up? because it's a half marathon that raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and i have a bone to pick with lymphoma. a few years ago, my pop was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma. the subsequent treatments were difficult for everyone, especially him, and about a year after he's finished being radiated and chemo-ed, he passed away in his sleep. technically, the cancer didn't get him, but it did make him weak, and definitely didn't help him live any longer. cancer went from being something on the periphery of my consciousness to being a major part of my life. i went from not knowing anything about cancers of the blood to knowing more than i wanted. going through this with my family, i realized how awful it is that anyone has to go through it; not just us. on the one-year anniversary of his death, i decided i wanted to raise some money for research in his honor. i wanted people to know how amazing my dad was, and how unfair i feel to have lost him so early. i'm doing it because i miss him, because it's upsetting that his granddaughter didn't get to spend more time with her Pop-Pop, because my fiancée and my future step-kids didn't get to know him, because when he passed away i realized how many people cared about him, and about my family. i'm lucky to have such amazing, loving people in my life, and i want to be able to pass some of that on.

i'm going to use this website to document my training as well as my fundraising status. i need to raise $2,400 by October 10th in order to participate in the Portland Marathon. if you'd like to contribute, there's a button on the sidebar that will take you to my Team in Training page.