THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

I just want to say thank you to everyone that has donated, for all the wonderful emails I have gotten and all of the support I have already received from my friends and family. So far (I am only five weeks into it) this has been an amazing journey. I am excited to continue to share with you my training experience and definitely my marathon experience. Big Hugs and Kisses all the way around!!

xoxoxox
Ashley

One of My Personal Honorees-- Uncle Blaine

When I was a senior in college my Uncle Blaine was diagnosed with Cancer. Within six months he lost his battle. That was the first time EVER I had known someone with Cancer and the first time I had EVER experienced death.

My whole family (mom, dad, brother and I) were very close to My Uncle Blaine's family. We did family vacations together, we went down to Texas every summer so "Us City folks could get a taste of the country" and we spent almost every Thanksgiving together at my grandparents cabin in New Mexico.

My Uncle Blaine was the most caring and loving person you could know. He had a heart of gold, a laugh as big as Texas and a sense of humor that could out wit anyone.

My memories of him are amazing. They are of him laughing and joking with me. Calling out "Oh Ashley, Oh Ashley darling" and me running to give him a hug and a kiss. To this day if I need to brighten my day or get out of a bad mood I think about my Uncle Blaine.

With every negative comes a positive. Although my Uncle's loss was devastating to my family and each and everyone of us have a piece of our heart missing I do know that it has made us stronger and more durable. It is also the reason why I have chosen Cancer Research no matter what kind of Cancer it is as my personal philanthropy. It is near and dear to my heart. The day that there is no cancer in the world and there are no more cancer fundraisers like Team In Training is the day that I am sure we are all looking forward to. Until then I will continue with my quest and helping out any way I can.

Before every team workout we have shout outs where we can shout out the people that are our personal Honorees. I always say my Uncle's name. When we have our moment of silence after the shout out I always say a quick prayer for my cousins and my aunt. When I cross the finish line in October I know that I will have done it because of the strength I get from thinking about why I am running and thinking about my Uncle.

Love and Miss you Everyday Uncle Blaine!!!


xoxoxo
Ashley

I did it!! I ran 6 miles!! Woo Hoo

I never in my life thought I could run 6 miles. But this weekend I did it. Here is a pic of me after about 3 miles. Yes that is a semi smile on my face. Go Team Epic!

I have also included some pictures of where we ran. We ran at Lake Chabot and it was gorgeous. Hilly but gorgeous. Afterwords was the honoree picnic. It was so inspiring to listen to their stories and hear how they have been living and conquering their cancer. The other thing was really amazing to learn about was that the money LLS is raising has helped everyone of them through their research. Everyone had a drug or treatment that was funded and researched by LLS. WHAT WE ARE DOING IS MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE.

xoxox
Ashley

Did You Know????

The relative five-year Leukemia survival rate has more than tripled in the past 45 years for patients with leukemia. In 1960-63, when compared to a person without leukemia, a patient had a 14% chance of living five years. By 1975-77, the five year relative survival rate had jumped to 35%, and in 1996-2003 the overall relative survival rate was nearly 50%. The relative survival rates differ by the age of the patient at diagnosis, gender, race and type of leukemia. During 1995-2003 relative survival rates overall were:

• Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL): 65.3% overall; 90.4% for children under 5 (Team Honoree Brian DuBois was diagnosed with ALL leukemia)
• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL): 74.8% overall
• Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML): 20.7% overall; 54.1% for children under 15 (Team Honoree Harry Drake was diagnosed with AML leukemia at age 6 months)
• Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML): 44.4%
• The leukemia death rate for children 0-14 years of age in the United States has declined 70% in the last three decades. Despite this decline, leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children under age 20.

An estimated 245,225 people in the United States are currently living with or are in remission from leukemia, and an estimated 44,790 new cases of leukemia will be diagnosed in 2009 alone.

xoxoxo
Ashley

I have a confession

My Mentor Anita

So last week was an INSANE WEEK!!! When I say insane I mean insane. I had a Grad Night and a Wedding within two days of each other. That meant last minute meetings, decorating, timelines, etc. I knew it was going to be crazy but I had no idea. I didn't run not once. I know I know I should have run but I was scheduled from 8am until midnight the entire week. Then on top of it I got a huge blister on the bottom of my foot from wearing bad shoes for my grad night. I figured I would start afresh this week.

I went to track workout and was SCARED. Not running for a week being tired and not the most enthusiastic didn't bode well for me. Then walks in my Mentor Anita. She was awesome during my workout. She ran with me during the running portion of our circut training and kept saying I am going to be your pace person and make sure you keep your pace up. Little does she know she was more than my pace person she was my spirit person that kept me even running. I finished the workout and felt amazing. I am back on track and ready to go. Glad last week is over and looking forward the buddy run tomorrow.

GO TEAM!!!!

xoxoxo
Ashley

Harry!

This morning as I was listening to my two beautiful children chattering to me about what they dreamed about last night, what they wanted to eat for breakfast, and what they wanted to do today I couldn't help but think about one of the honorees that our team is running for, Harry.

Harry is 2.5 years old and was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) when he was 6 months old. For the past two years Harry, his parents and his older brother have been fighting tooth and nail to save his life. I can't help but think what I would do if I were Harry's mom. Would I be strong enough to handle such a long road of doctors, hospitals, chemo, bone marrow transplants? Would I be able to handle the unknow and the sheer fear that I would have day in and day out until I knew every single cell of cancer was out of my child's body?

Children are suppose to be care free. When they wake up they should be able to talk about their dreams, what they are going to eat for breakfast, what Princesses they want to grow up to be and how Alvin and the chipmunks "rock and roll." They should not be in pain, be scared....HAVE CANCER!

Harry had a bone marrow transplant when he was 10 months old. He just celebrated his one year transplant anniversary. Doctor's said he wouldn't make it to 2 years old. They are now saying that if he makes it to his 2 year transplant (May 2011) anniversary his chances of relapsing are unlikely.

I hope during my journey that I am able to meet with Harry's parents and really be able to listen to their amazing story and pull strength from their experience. As a parent I cannot imagine what they have been through. If my running and fundraising for LLS saves one child it was an experience worth doing again and again!!

Today's training run was for you Harry. I am excited to meet you, your brother and your parents!!!

xoxoxox,
Ashley

My Journey Begins

Today is the official Day 1 of my training. The team in Training Kick off party was this weekend. It was amazing!! I was overwhelmed, excited, nervous, and inspired. We got to meet our team, coaches, mentors and honorees (I will be talking about my teams honorees throughout my training process) and most importantly we got our training schedule (OMG I am terrified!)

Today my training officially started. Couldn't have been a crazier day to start training for a marathon. Started with getting Gracie to school, Wish Upon A Wedding Event Chair conference call, and my schedule goes on and on until I finally got home around 9:30 tonight.

I got home and realized I still needed to run for 30 minutes today. So I strapped my running shoes on and off I went. It was a great run even though I was exhausted before I started. So many things running through my head. The most important thing that I couldn't get out of my head was "I am so proud of myself for actually committing to starting my training TONIGHT and not procrastinating it until TOMORROW."

After running the full thirty minutes I realized this is the start of an amazing journey for me. I don't know if I can actually run 26.2 miles but I know I am going to do everything in my power to try!

xoxoxox Ashley