Tinker Bell Part 3

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.