Happy New Year

It is now January 6...6 plus 7 equals 13...our race will be over in one week. Wow! How the time has flown by but how much has been accomplished.

I am glad that I kept my early notes on my initial struggles to move my feet. I don't think I would really believe the amount of change and that I really kept to this. For a guy who has been able to drop out of almost every physical training endeavor with minimal excuses, I am thrilled to realize that this has gone on for nearly half a year.

I am a runner. I am not fast but I saw a sign the other day at a running store that said " Your easy run is probably longer than most people run in a whole week." I do believe that is true. And I can handle running and I enjoy it.

I have enjoyed my solo runs and my runs with the team and the runs with my daughters. Running has united the three of us in a way that adds a whole new dimension to our relationship. And that is so much better than sharing needles or smoking pot or doing shots to find something that we all can enjoy together. Thanks girls (Kiss Hug Kiss Hug)

This week brought winter to Tampa. Our Wednesday run was down at Bayshore again and it was cold. Hats mittens and sweatshirts on this bunch was a strange sight. We have mostly had 80+ weather and high humidity to deal with, even in our night runs. We all seemed to run faster and nobody seemed to want to hang around and chat afterward.

We did a tapering 5 miles but we did get to see each other and that was good.

Saturday was at the Upper Tampa Bay trail. Started at 7:00 AM and was nearest to home. I almost felt guilty sleeping in so late on a Saturday.

We did another 5 miles but this time the weather had softened to 40 degrees and that is race weather for us. 40 to start and 65 at the finish.

I ran behind Linda who has been a good pace runner as she is a bit faster than I. She was in good form Saturday though and I was catching up while she walked but then she started to run again and was pulling away. I decided she was out of reach so I walked for a short bit. I started my run again and I heard a voice from behind say "How am I going to catch you if you keep running like that?"

I turned and saw Janice behind me and I merely said "Don't worry, you''ll catch me soon enough." She did by mile 1 1/2 when I stopped for water. We ran together from then on. She had her pace set for walk 1 minute run 2. We had a good chat and a good workout. We were nearing the starting pavilion and knew we had to run in so we waited til we were the right distance out and got the run going. We hit the final turn and she had Rocky music on her MP3 player so we had a good pace going. Then I let the long legs loose and we busted for the finish. Finished to cheering and high fives for the last long run. Good feeling and lots of fun with the friendships I have developed along this path.

Joined the crowd (18 of us) at First Watch for breakfast and stories and laughs. A really nice way to finish.

One more Wednesday and we are off to Phoenix. WOW!

I look at the money that is being raised by TEAM DANIEL (and that includes the runners and the my major fund and moral supporter, Judy) and I feel very proud to be one of the Team. We don't often get a chance to make a difference in the lives of strangers. Fortunately for the whole Daniel bunch, we have mostly been spared the challenges that face Leukemia and Lymphoma patients daily. I am truly blessed for not having to have had to explain chemotherapy to my girls or grand daughter and tell them what they would soon have to go through to try to get better. But this does happen far too often. I know that we are providing some assistance to those patients and families with our efforts here.

Also I am so pleased with the response from friends and family and strangers who have opened their hearts and wallets to assist us in our fund-raising efforts. I can not say "Thanks" with enough enthusiasm to get my true feelings across.

Special thanks to Boss Ron, Sandy and Art and Janice for the recent donations. You guys are great and will be in my thoughts as I run next weekend.

Also Special thanks to Steve, Marai, Sandy, Bea, Aimee, Kris, Marianne, Robin, and Bill. You are all exceptionally special people and I am very happy to have met you all and your training and support have gotten me to this point in a healthy and positive way.

I guess that is all for now. May the best of results be received by the patients, may the researchers make HUGE strides this year, and TEAM and TRAINING continue with overwhelming results for the elimination of these terrible diseases.

GO TEAM