Saturday - Shopping & Pasta Party!

Mom, Honey, and I enjoyed a "leisurely" morning (heading out for the shops around 11am!) We each a store or two that we wanted to hit! We kept commenting on the weather the whole day - it was BEAUTIFUL!! It was such fun seeing other marathoners throughout the city!! The big search was for this great needlepoint shop tucked high above the streets of SF. I thought mom was going to have a coronary when the elevator doors opened! It was a DARLING shop! The really know how to "finish" their products!

When we reached Macy's, we headed to the 4th floor where they had more Nike Women's Marathon merchandise! But the cool part was looking out the front window & taking pictures of the Nike Village. We couldn't get it all in 1 shot - it was that big.

PASTA PARTY - Sara & Janet joined us for this - it truly becomes emotional here!! As we walk into the Mascone Center for our 8000+ person pasta party, we are greeted by HUNDREDS of TNT staff & coaches. They're all cheering US on. It made every single individual person feel so lifted!!

The pasta party was for Team in Training participants and their guests only. There were 5300 TNT participants - add their guests, it brought our total to over 8000!! It was certainly the their largest pasta party ever!! While waiting for the program start, they played a slide show with each chapter's honorees - some survivors and some who'd lost their battle with leukemia or lymphoma. Each state would proudly cheer loudly for their honorees. I can't begin to describe the feeling of being in a room with several thousand people all fighting for the same cause...finding a cure for blood related cancers!!

When the program began, the emcee, John "the Penguin" a writer for Runner's magazine, began to share some amazing statistics. Since training began, we've each walked an estimated 600 miles and burned an estimated 60,000 calories. From it's inception 19 years ago, TNT has trained over 340,000 people who've helped raise over $800,000,000 for leukemia & lymphoma research!! For this year's race - the 5300 TNT participants have raised $18,500,000!!!! That's $700,000 per mile!! And we're a part of that!!!

The final speaker was Amy Bartlett, a recent leukemia survivor. This California native was just diagnosed in March. She carefully detailed her battle with this disease, including it's side effects...including the hair loss. For a girl, that's a tough issue, but she embraced it head on. She threw a party/fundraiser which included shaving not only her hair, but the heads of 18 male friends! And, they raised over $20,000 that night for leukemia & lymphoma research. Amy is a strong 35 year old woman who faced this journey with a strong sense of self, sense of humor, and a wonderful support system. She went into remission in May!! And, she'll be participating in the half-marathon tomorrow!!

It was a special night to share with Sara & Janet. We had our own tearful moment hugging each other. Janet thanking us for doing this in Stephen's honor and us thanking her for sharing their story with us. We truly have become new friends throughout this journey.

Next year, Sara, Janet, and Honey hope to join us for this event!!