The night before an event, it is always a good idea to “lay
out your runner,” which means create a “runner” on your bed or on a chair,
laying out all of the items that will be needed for the event. In addition, it
is also a great idea to try everything on. Doing these two things ensure that you aren’t forgetting
anything. I’ve heard stories where this did not happen and one shoe couldn’t be
found the morning of the event.
After the inspiration dinner, we (Tee, Lupe, Julie and I)
headed back to the hotel room so that Tee and I could get prepared for the
morning. Julie and Lupe left to go to their hotel room and get some sleep. After we laid everything out, we headed to bed for a short 4
hour nap. The event started at
5:00 am, which meant we needed to be out the door, to catch the shuttle by
about 3:30.
We headed out the door and caught the shuttle. It didn’t
take long to get to the drop off location, even with several stops along the
way. Upon arriving at the…
I’m interrupting this blog post. I have literally tried
writing this post for MONTHS! And nothing has felt right to say about it –
until today.
I trained with Team In Training because of people like Lula
who are fighting cancer.
A couple of weeks, or maybe a week before leaving for this
trip, I sent a personal message to Lula’s mom, Kat. I asked Kat what Lula’s favorite Disney characters
were. She told me Nemo, Wall-e,
and the newest princesses; Mirada, Rapunzel, and one other, but I can’t think
of her name. I told Kat that I
would do my best during the race to get my picture taken with one of those
characters, and would then post it to Facebook for her.
All along the course, I kept my eyes peeled for one of those
characters, when suddenly, there she was.
Mirada. The line wasn’t too long, so we (Becky and Tee) waited and took
the picture of me and Mirada. I immediately posted it to Facebook, tagging
Lula, and within just a few minutes, I got a reply from Kat stating that Lula
was still sleeping but she would show her the picture as soon as Lula woke
up. The next notice I received on
Facebook was that Lula saw the picture and was all smiles. If I remember
correctly, Lula was in a hospital at the time.
Then, on part of the run, I saw someone wearing a Nemo
hat. SCORE! I didn’t post that one, but I counted
it in my heart and said another prayer for Lula.
Any more about this run sounds trivial after today. Sunday night after fighting an
incredible fight with cancer, Lula, at 10 years old, passed away. She leaves behind so many people who
loved and adored her. One of those people is her twin brother, Chaz. Chaz is
amazing, just like his sister. And we have something in common. I lost my twin sister at 16 ½ years
old. He lost his twin sister at 10 1/2 years old. Chaz told me today that cancer sucks and is a butthead that
needs to be killed. I agree, sweet Chaz. I agree. While I am happy that Lula is no longer in pain, she is
whole, she is dancing, she has met my twin, Joanna, and they are dancing on the
clouds together (Joanna couldn’t walk), I am sad and angry that death stings
while we are here.
