Tag: research

There’s Something Good Waitin’ Down this Road…

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It has been nearly a month since I ran the Hershey Half Marathon in honor of Oliver and to raise money for galactosemia research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Thank you ALL for the tremendous outpouring of love and support. Your financial contributions are of course so appreciated, but I am also in awe of all of the emotional support everyone offered! Thanks to all of you, we were able to raise $1,750 for the hospital! I could spend my entire life trying to thank you and I would never be able to do an adequate job.IMG_3417

 

If I’m perfectly honest, I had a really tough time with this race! This is the third half marathon I have ever run and only the second since having Oliver. It isn’t that I thought it was going to be EASIER, I just thought I knew what I was getting myself into. But it just goes to show, you can be as prepared as you could possibly be and sometimes there are factors outside of your control. Some days just aren’t your days.

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The good news is that I finished AND managed to shave a few minutes off for a new PR. At this rate, by the time I am in my sixties, I should be an elite runner!

The day was beautiful, cooler in the morning but really warm by the time I crossed the finish line. I have met quite a few runners in this area who swear by this particular race and some have completed it multiple times. I have to agree that it was a fun run! Although hilly in spots, the course was scenic and the spectators were great, especially these two right here.

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It was so great having these two cheer me on! They caught me at around 7 miles and then again around 11! It was just the right motivation and pick-me-up I needed for the second half of the race!

During the toughest spots, I was reminded of how lucky I am to have our happy, funny little man to hug when I crossed that finish line and how fortunate HE is to have the love and support of so many people who are in his corner and who want to help make sure we see a day when there are therapies and a cure for galactosemia and other metabolic conditions.

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In the end, the struggles were all worth it. I finished (relatively) strong and avoided injury along the way. We are hoping to make this an annual fundraising event, but even if we decide to try some new ways to raise money for galactosemia research, I will continue rocking my galactosemia t-shirt at every race, large or small, to continue raising awareness!

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Again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Thank you for your donations. Thank you for forgiving us for blowing up your newsfeeds. Thank you for helping us spread the word. Thank you for wearing your t-shirts proudly. Thank you for everything. You are all amazing and we could not do this without you all.

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Ollie wants you all to know what he thinks of you! You’re AWESOME!

 

 

 

T-shirts for One and All

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Before last year’s race, I fell in love with the idea of a t-shirt to help promote galactosemia awareness. Unfortunately, I left it until the very last minute and ended up ordering a single printed t-shirt from an online company and let’s just say the quality left something to be desired. So this year, I decided to get an early start and plan on having several printed for friends, families, and supporters.

Thanks to a recommendation from my lovely friend Erin, I contacted Artistic Imprints in Camp Hill (who prints the shirts for her family’s nonprofit, Running for Rachel). The quality of those shirts is excellent, so it was really a no-brainer!

After working with them on the design and pricing, we have the final product (pictured below) ready to go!

Logo design: Shauna Powers T-Shirts: Artistic Imprints

Logo design: Shauna Powers
T-Shirts: Artistic Imprints

For anyone interested, the shirt alone is just $20 BUT if you are kind enough to donate $50 or more to our Team CHOP campaign for galactosemia research, we will send you a shirt for FREE! We have quite a way to go on the campaign and every little bit helps.

Please contact either John or myself through the website, email, phone, or social media with your sizes or we’ll be in touch if you make a donation through CHOP (please just make sure your name is visible to us on the back end).

Orders due by August 31, 2017. Thank you as always for your love and support!

xoxo

13 Weeks to 13.1

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Thirteen weeks might sound like quite a bit of time to train for a half marathon, but with the added challenge of simultaneously trying to raise money for galactosemia research, we figured we could use all of the extra time we can afford.

First *official* long run of training was yesterday (July 16, 2017)

First *official* long run of training was yesterday (July 16, 2017)

In an effort to raise awareness and dedicated galactosemia research funds for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, I have again signed up for a half marathon and we are asking for the support of our friends and family as part of Team CHOP. We have more than doubled our goal from 2016 and are aiming to raise $2,500 in 2017!

This year, I will be running the Hershey Half Marathon on Oct. 15. If you are able to contribute to this cause so near and dear to our hearts, we would be forever grateful. Whether you are looking for a use for the spare change in your couch cushions or you have a larger amount in mind, no donation is too small! Every little bit will help propel us over the goal line and we know we will not be able to get there without all of your love and support.

Please visit our donor page HERE or click on the “Make a Donation” on the right side of this page.

Check back here for updates on my training progress (spoiler alert: the key to my success is a lot of four-letter words) and for updates on fundraising progress. If you have any questions at all, please let us know!