5 Mile -- no Eminems for me, not even the peanut butter kind (June 12; from MySpace MORE blog)

Believe it or not -- and I'm speaking to myself here -- I actually jog-walked (and more jogging than walking, mind you) FIVE MILES on Sunday, to help kick off my training for October 22's Nike Women's Half-Marathon (that would be 13.1 miles) as part of Team in Training, a fundraising arm of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. (My online fundraising page will help me keep track of my fundraising progress. Gathering the necessary funds seems more daunting than the long-distance race itself! Gulp. But I am determined to go, and in the process help raise money to KICK CANCER'S BUTT.)

The best part is that today I don't ache like crazy. My right hamstring has felt better, but at least for now I am feeling much better than expected, considering that I have only run sporadically -- twice during the cruise and only once since my return. (I admit, I was a running slacker, but I gave myself until the official kickoff event to remain a non-runner ... figured I'd run kicking and screaming to the first session! heh.) My biggest hurdle now is getting up in the morning and getting the dang exercise *out of the way.* I actually got to the park on Sunday beefore the prescribed meeting time of 7:15, which is almost sacreligious to me on *any* day. But the weather was nice and sunny, and despite or maybe because of the cool breeze, it was quite comfortable running weather.

Next up is finally, once and for all, reclaiming the exercise room in the basement. There are way too many garage-sale items (or perhaps eBay stuff, should I dare to enter that realm for a change) to do my pilates or other cross-training tapes there right now, not to mention setting up the weight bench. But I at least I am on the road to permanent wellness! That is the plan! And doing so in honor of my friend and former coworker Tony, my cousin-in-law's dad -- both survivors of leukemia/lymphoma, respectively -- not to mention in memory of former coworker Witt's brother Henry, makes the motivation stick more readily that it would otherwise. Cancer of any kind sucks -- watching my mother go through her chemo and radiation treatments was heart-wrenching enough -- so anything I can do to help ease the burden on current patients, not to mention fund future reseach, as well as doing something for my own health (and perhaps cancer prevention), is not something I want to do -- it's something I HAVE to do. Like my T-shirt says, So you think running is tough ... try chemo!!

There's a 5K on Saturday that's calling my name. I think I've got the fever! heh. :-)

Now you know MORE!