October 28,2012 Marine Corps Marathon I realize I haven’t written a blog on over two months, but what better way to get back on track then with the Marine Corps Marathon. In route to the airport I had the Spirit of the Marathon cameras filming this. Fun! I knew this trip was going to be a great success because how cool is it that I arrive at the airport to gate 77, boarding group 7 and flying on a Boeing Triple 7? This had to be good, too bad I wasn’t in Vegas. I landed late Saturday afternoon, just in time to pick up my bib at the expo. I met Jonathan there. Jonathan contacted me on facebook. His father passed away from Pancreatic Cancer on April 9^th this year. It is so unfortunate but I was grateful and honored to run in his father’s honor. Jonathan ran his first marathon today he was on track to run sub 4 and guess what… he did it, 3:59. Woo Hoo. Go Jonathan. I know his father is so proud and may have had something to do with that sub4. The feeling I get is his father was a kind gentle man, just like his son and knew the importance of life. So whatever time he ran today he is so proud, remembering that it’s not about the time on the clock, it’s about the time spent in your heart. I know that both of our fathers were smiling down on us today and they always have the best seats in the house, our hearts. <3                     For the carbo load dinner I met my roomie there Dawn who was also running her first marathon and coach Gary who I met at the Kona Marathon and we of course we had to sit at table 52. I even saw my buddy Bart Yasso there. Love him. It was an awesome dinner. There were drill sergeants came around and whipped us into shape. Seriously they were coming around the tables yelling and shouting and telling us how we are not to give up, how we are to stay strong and finish the marathon in a timely manner. Oh and they were yelling at us to sit up straight. It was great.           With hurricane Sandy looming about we knew this was going to be an interesting marathon. The dark skies race morning were not a pretty sight to wake up to and I knew I had about two hours till hurricane Sandy caught me. I’ll tell you what was beautiful, the Military fly over and then the gun goes off soon after. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the start line. It was nice to see my friend Dawn off to her first marathon. She is a Rockstar. There was great energy in the air and we are off.              

No hurricane could stop these runners. Oorah!!

    For the first half of the marathon it was a little hilly but beautiful tree lined streets with the colors of the leaves in full fall effect. However for me, well let’s just say when you get to mile 1 and you have to walk, you know it can’t be good. Well that is what happened. I have been so grateful for my strong healthy knees and last week my left knee decided to go on strike. Not a long strike, I’m hoping that it will last less than a week and I will be good to go by next Sunday. Next week we have New York and 21 marathons to go. It’s all good I have the best sports physician in the world that will fix me right up. Seriously, it’s may be just an LCL sprain and had I listened to my Doctor last week and not ran on Friday for a photo op I would have been fine today. This was an incredible marathon. By far one of my favorites even if I had to walk half of it.             Running around the pentagon and the National Mall was priceless. I even stopped for a picture in front of the Capitol building and the National Monument. (picture coming) I saw and was told I inspired many friends along the way. There were people who recognized me from Facebook, it was really quite amazing. I made new friends and even ran into Dave Mari who just recently graced his presence on the cover of Runners World and it was his birthday. Happy Birthday Dave! More pictures coming, but here is Dave on the cover for Runners World and yes its real.                               As we ran through the National Mall they had pictures of fallen soldiers killed in action and American flags lining the street. It was so sad. I ran with my right hand over my heart pledging allegiance to the flags and giving thanks to every one of these young soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom. I was in tears. At mile 19 the Marines were handing out sports beans. I don’t know what was in those beans, but they were magic beans. Really they were. They must have had caffeine in them because I picked up my pace, I didn’t feel my knee anymore and I was on fire. Hooting and hollering yelling “We got this” about a billion times. I felt a little sorry for the crowd because my iPod broke and I was singing. Yep, I was singing the “final count down”. I feel like miles 19-26 my spirit just comes alive. It was an awesome finish and the medal is beautiful. I couldn’t wait to get it! This could be one of my most favorite marathons so far.                 Although I walked a lot and had some pain, my over all experience at the Marine Corps Marathon was incredible. We beat hurricane Sandy. We had a 90% chance of rain, but we dodged it. She never showed up during the marathon.However 90% of the flights coming out of DC were cancelled, but I was so fortunate mine was still on schedule. Sending prayers to the East Coast. xo               I made my plane and I am homebound. The plane is filled with a bunch of marathoners doing the marathon waddle down the isle. We were having a yoga class in the kitchen, ok not really but we were all in there stretching and rolling out our quads and calves. While on the plane I just finished watching the movie called “To Rome with Love”. Reminding me of where this journey began, the Rome Marathon. Well, they say all roads lead to Rome, well mine certainly began there. Now with 31 marathons under my belt, sponsors like Asics and others are coming aboard. I am very thankful that with this campaign I have been able to touch so many lives and hopefully will even be able to save lives with the money and awareness I am raising. I’ll attempt to get caught up with my blogs. I owe you about 18, at least. Tomorrow it’s back to work, then next up the New York marathon for number 32 and I will see you there. Sending love from 37,000 feet somewhere between Ohio and LA. We got this! Love, Julie To donate please go to www.marathongoddess.com. There is “Donate Now” button and all donations go directly to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Even just sharing my website and telling your friends about my journey would be awesome. You never know whom you might touch. xoxoxoo

14 marathons in 13 weeks was no easy feat. However, I have had much success and am very grateful. This was one of the hardest weeks by far. To do one marathon a week is enough but to add one mid week and start it off with Leadville, well let’s just say it was a little risky. To give you a peak into how my week was going, here is a picture of my room. Packing, unpacking and packing oh my…                   Every marathon is a life lesson. To run a marathon on three hours of sleep is not smart and that is how my day started. It was a 6am start and the bus picked us up at 4:15am to the start. This journey requires extreme discipline and I have not been behaving. Even facebook friends have told me to get off facebook and go to sleep. Well pre-marathon night I felt obligated to get my latest blog out on the last marathon before I ran the next. Guess what Julie? It would be nice, but no one really cares when you post it. So with that, I finish my blog by 11pm and the computer has me so wired that I could not fall asleep until after 12 with a 3:15 wake up. If anyone were to tell me 4 years ago that I had to be in bed by 9, cut out most alcohol, junk food, soda, white flour, processed sugar I would have told them to take a hike. But I am in it to succeed with flying colors and be stronger then I ever have before, mind and body. I have been doing better since then so that is good. Even with such little sleep, race morning was fantastic. I met so many Facebook friends in real time. I met Kino, who is my brother in Arms for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. I spotted the purple shirt from across a sea of people. I ran out to hug him. Kino is rad. He runs a billion marathons a year and is fricken fast. He get’s faster each marathon. I am sure youth has something to do with it. He is awesome. I was also honored to meet Steve, the marathon maniac president. He even knew of me, how cool is that?

Kino, Me and The Pres!

    I met Mark Kramer a fellow marathon maniac. We have been Facebook friends for years, and donated to each other’s charity back when I qualified for Boston in 2010. Last week I emailed him my schedule in hopes we would meet up soon, and low and behold we were both in Missoula. It was so awesome to see him. He made my heart sing.                       I was solo on this trip, meaning no David L so it was really nice to be surrounded with all these marathon maniacs such as myself. I felt at home.                       We started off down a long road, with mountains on both sides and the smell of hay everywhere. It was a flat road so that was good. Since I had so little sleep I was a little fearful of getting injured. So I took it slow, even the 5-hour group passed me and I thought aaaah it’s ok, I will pass them later . But I didn’t. I had fun with the awesome race voulunteers and taking pictures.   There was a giant hill at mile 13-14 but I was feeling pretty good. I stopped to get a picture with the mile 14 sign and I was happy. Then mile 15 hit and my foot began yelling at me. There were photo ops all over the place but it was hard to smile because I was scared. So I listened to my foot and decided to walk. I walked a lot and that’s ok. I just need to make it to the next marathon.

Happy at mile 14 and marathon 14

    I wasn’t in pain, but I knew if I wanted to see another marathon, I better walk. The angels are telling me to take it easy. So I listened. Thank you angels. I had many medical people asking me if I was ok. They would say: “you look really fit, why are you walking? My reply: “ because this is marathon #14 in 13 weeks and I have 38 more to go. Thank you though, I am good, I got this!” It was a little frustrating having to walk almost ¼ of the race. I knew I was going to be out there almost an extra hour so I piled on the sunscreen and settled in for the ride, the long ride. My body thanked me. Because of the lack of sleep, I was essentialy running on empty. I am glad I took it easy. Hats off to the walkers, walking 26.2 is not easy. Heck I walked about 7 miles and felt many different muscles working. I called David to complain at mile 20, but that didn’t help. I think I could have talked to anyone, and it still wouldn’t help. I stopped at a medic tent to wrap up my foot just in case. That seemed to help a lot. I may benefit from an orthotic and some new shoes. My left foot seems a little frustrated, not to mention my mind. I started run/walking again at about mile 21. Ran into my friend Dave Mari at mile 25 and we were in to finish! We did it                       It was so awesome to have so many friends out there in such a random place as Missoula. Not to mention my new friend who I met coming over on the plane. This is Mark, he is fast. He finished 4^th place overall and he runs a billion marathons a year too. Impressive! Stay tuned for the next blog at The Light at the End of the Tunnel and see what Mark does.                     Instead of having 3 days to recover I had 6. Woo hoo! All week my doctor and I were concerned about the possibility of a stress fracture on my left foot. That is the only thing that would stop me. I don’t want to become a cripple when I am out here trying to save lives. Although the previous x-ray showed no signs of a fracture it was time for a CT scan. On Friday the 13^th of all days I had the scan done and we received 100% confirmation that it’s all clear and I am good to go. Thank you God! Though this journey may be crazy I get signs all the time that I am on the right path. Like I am being divinely guided by more then just map-quest. For instance I had 38 marathons to go and our airplane just happened to be going out of Gate 38. This may be a small sign, but a sign nonetheless. I ran marathon#14 for more than the joy that is running. I ran for my friend Becky. This marathon was dedicated to her father, Gary Hasse. This was his birthday weekend! He would have been 70 this weekend. He lost his battle 11/14/2010 just 10 weeks after diagnosis and 1 week after Becky took him to Purple Stride Puget. I was honored to run for him and am remembering his beautiful spirit that day. ♥ ♥ ♥ I ask for strength, guidance and support for each race, for this race the angels gave me strength to slow down and protect myself and that I did. Thank you angels for giving me the strength to let go of my ego and the clock, to guide me safely into the finish. I was writing this on the plane to Seattle for marathon #15 with a suitcase full of gratitude for the fact that I am able to continue on my 52 for You journey to make a difference in this severely underfunded, unfair and unacceptable disease. On behalf of my angels, my family, friends and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network…….WE GOT THIS!!!! Love, xoJulie