Why 100 marathons?
I know it sounds a little crazy, but actually so many people have done way more than 100 marathons. There are some people that have even done over 100 marathons in one year. Yes it is true. Yolanda Holder, Trent Morrow, Larry Macon they are all world record holders and have run way more than 100.
So whether it’s 100 marathons, 100 years, 100 miles, 100 bottles of beer, (wait that’s 99), the number 100 is a milestone and a BIG number. I figured it would be another great way to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer. It wouldn’t be easy though, I had to cram in about 13 marathons in 6 months and give up my goal of re-qualifying for Boston, but to me this was bigger and more important.
It’s will be 100 marathons over eight years. You see, eight years ago, I was a single mom, raising two teenage kids. I was stuck, depressed and overweight. But instead of acknowledging that voice within, I filled the void with lots of comfort food and an array of extra-strength antidepressants, which I desperately needed at the time.
In April of 2007, at my lowest point, my parents treated my kids and I to a week long vacation in Kauai. When I hit the beach that first day swimming in the ocean and running on the sand something in me awoke. In that moment, for the very first time in I don’t remember how long, I began to feel alive again. It was if I was being reinvigorated by the energy of the sea, the waves and the sand. While I was on vacation, I didn’t miss a day of swimming and running. I immediately felt more positive, and confidant, so much so that I made a pact with myself to keep running with my dog when I returned home to Santa Monica. And I kept that pact and did one better, I stopped taking those supercharged antidepressants. Running became my new antidepressant. I simply did not need them anymore, however some do and I thank god that we have medication to help those who need it. But with a clearer mind and a healthier body, I felt like I could take on the world! With this feeling as my fuel, I signed up for my very first event, a triathlon.
Just five short months after I stepped foot on the beautiful sandy shores of Kauai, I completed the triathlon. As you can see exercise wasn’t just great for my spirit, it was good for my waistline too, I lost 35 pounds in about 5 months as I trained for this event. From the first Triathlon, my father became my biggest and most devoted fan. I thought, hey, if I can finish a triathlon and a ½ marathon, what’s stopping be from finishing a full 26.2 mile marathon? So in 2008, I signed up for my very first marathon. The 2008 Los Angeles Marathon.
Don’t I look happy and refreshed? No, I actually hit the wall at mile 14. Ouch! I am happy to say I did finish, but when I crossed over the finish line I thought, that was truly AWFUL! I think I’ll just stick to 10ks and ½ Marathons. But the lore of qualifying for Boston kept me coming back for more. 18 times more, I thought the more marathons you ran, the faster you would get. I was a newbie and doing all my training at race pace, but I was still having fun, sort of.
I finally hired a coach and on my 18
th attempt, I missed qualifying by 2 minutes. I was disappointed, but not nearly as disappointed as I would be when my mom called me the next day to tell me that my father had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and there was nothing the doctors could do.
Sadly, my father passed away just 35 days after diagnoses. I felt lost, shocked, devastated and hopeless. My father was my biggest fan, there was nothing like the joy he got when he saw me run and I wasn’t about to stop now. I had another race coming up in just 10 days after he passed away. Anyone would have understood if I didn’t run it, but I ran that race, and YES I qualified for Boston that day, with my hands pointed to my father in Heaven and my rapture is for us both. He was in my heart, and I knew we had done it together. I still get chills as I tell the story today!
After that day, one thing became very clear to me. If your goal doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you. This was my truth, just a few years ago, my life was off course, and I lacked purpose, a north star. Running gave me the answer. But after everything I had been through with losing my dad and learning about pancreatic cancer, I knew I needed to do something BIG. So I woke up one morning, with this crazy, half-baked idea that I could run 52 marathons in 52 weeks. I didn’t know how I would do it, but there was nothing that would stop me.
Now some would say 52 marathons in 52 weeks is crazy and enough, and for a while it was. However, cancer does not take a day off and I feel like I still need do more. It is my mission. So here I am, at 93 lifetime marathons completed. Who would have thought? If I at 37, a person who never ran in school, could complete such a feat, there is no telling what you can do. Our dreams are still possible. Maybe mine came in the form of a mid life crisis, but that’s ok. Some people go shopping, some start drinking or far worse. It was running that saved my life and now possibly the lives of others.
While reflecting on the many lessons I’ve learned on this journey, one of the most important is to “Always do what you are afraid to do”, but remember, whatever you do, means so much more, when you do it for someone else. Now with every marathon I run, I dedicate it to someone affected by cancer. It’s not about me anymore, it’s not about the marathons, it’s much bigger than that. It’s about saving lives and changing the course of history of a disease called pancreatic cancer that has gone nearly unchanged for 40 years. So live Boldly, live Big and know that you’ve got to touch your own life first, before you can touch the lives of others. We Got This xo
I’m now running with Project Purple. The nations largest pancreatic cancer running charity. They are official charity partners with The Boston Marathon, New York Marathon and Chicago. I’m currently over 300K in total donations, but let’s hit that million dollar mark by my 100th marathon, The 2016 Los Angeles marathon, so we can really make a difference. Please share and donate today if you can. Thank you xo Click here to
DONATE
Congratulations to all who ran the Los Angeles marathon presented by ASICS. I seriously feel like we ran the last marathon on the planet. For a little while anyways.
With every week for the last year being a race week, I went from full throttle to nothing. I seriously got in every race I could before the world shut down, and can I say… just in time. I never would have finished my 52 races, it’s hardly the most important thing right now, it just feels so strange to go from an epic year of racing to ZERO!! Anyways…. a look back on one of the happiest marathons of my life.
I was thrilled to hire Nadia Ruiz to start coaching me to have a PR at LA. As my 52 races went on, week after week, I started to get faster and stronger. Yet, towards the end, the weekly races, the social media, the exhaustion of working a full time job and writing a new book started to take a toll. Nadia knew it and was very mindful of that. Being on Team NEWSTRONG with ASICS for an International Women’s Day campaign was a dream. Even though I was exhausted, I stayed strong, because this wasn’t about me, this was about the people I was running for.
My favorite quote from Nadia when Carrie Tollefson asked us what does being strong mean to you? Nadia responded, “Being strong means knowing it’s ok to be weak.” It couldn’t be more true in this current situation. Nadia also called it in regards to COVID-19. She knew a shut down could happen any minute, and here we are. Anyways, we headed into race week, I started to struggle with sleep issues. When you’re almost 50, that really affects you. I used to pull all nighters at 28, take a shower, go to work and look great. NOT ANYMORE. LOL I can barely function, but I do. Nadia is able to push through adversity like I’ve never seen, which is why I hired her. She ran a 3:17!!! I can push through adversity too, just not as fast and that’s ok. I did my best and that’s all she wanted. I didn’t give in to just having a fun race, I realized that the speed wasn’t there, 2 days of expos with no sleep before a race is not the best way to taper.
I started off my race HAPPY, I slept almost 6 hours on Saturday night which is unheard of for me. The last 2 LA Marathons, I ran on zero sleep, so this was a dream. The shout out from Team Noisy at the start was epic. I lost an air pod at mile 8, went back and looked for it, couldn’t find it, (cost me about 5 min). However, in retrospect was the greatest thing ever, I could hear all my friends calling out my name. I was carrying too much stuff, with no place to put it, so the first 5 miles was tricky. Juggling Cliff bars, extra air pods, 5-hour energy, and tampons with not enough space to carry was interesting. Lack of sleep caused me to be ill prepared for that. Even with all this mishegas, I honestly was the happiest I’ve ever been in a marathon. I was running strong and feeling good. I really couldn’t have run any faster, (maybe by 5 minutes if I pushed it?) But I was good. Smiling, elbow bumping and singing my way to the finish of race 52 in 52 weeks.
Let’s talk about Mile 21 shall we? As you turned the corner off of Wilshire onto San Vicente, the Purple People Party awaited you put on by the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer. There were cheers, friends, music, balloons, not to mention 26 bikes set up by Cycle Bar as a fundraiser to cure pancreatic cancer. It was a Tour de Pier pop up. Someone even running the marathon jumped on a bike for a minute. How epic is that? When I arrived at that mile, the greeting I got was OVER THE TOP. Even KTLA was there, we did an interview and then off I went. Supercharged with the most energy I’ve ever felt at the end of a marathon, running the last 3 miles under a 10 min pace and feeling AMAZING was everything.
I ran for:
Survivor Peggy Eastham. Dedicated by his adoring friend Laurence Cohen- Strive to Survive
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For SURVIVOR Robert Sandstrom Dedicated in his honor by his beautiful wife and HTT runner Lisa Day Sandstrom.
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For Teri Hazzard Dedicated in her honor and memory by her beautiful daughter and HTT runner Erica Hazzard
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For Albert P. Ballog, Jr. dedicated in his honor and memory by his beautiful daughter and HTT runner Sarah Ballog Smith.
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For Patricia Ward dedicated in her honor and memory by her beautiful daughter and HTT runner Jeanne Sarmiento.
With all the signs leading up to the race. The number 52 kept popping up everywhere and finishing the race with a magical number, according to my experience app with a 4:44. Also, according to a random article on the internet (lol), can mean the angels are there to assist you in your life’s journey. I see that number all the time and I truly believe it. My time was later adjusted to a 4:43:59, but I am rounding up. (Nothing is perfect)
It may not have been a PR, but maybe it was. I really had no idea how the day was going to turn out. Without giving in to just having a “fun” race, I still did my best. So why do I think it was personal record? Because I truly felt the happiest I’ve ever felt while running a marathon and for that I am so grateful. Some of the weekly races got so hard that it started to steal my joy of running away and to end it on such a high note was EVERYTHING. PR’s can come in many different ways. It’s all about how you look at it.
While these race cancellations and lockdowns really suck, they will keep us healthy and safe. Like Nadia said, it’s ok to be weak and breakdown, as long as you get back up. I am personally struggling hard with not being able to see my family. Let’s do the best we can. There are a lot of things we can’t do right now and out of our control, but think of what we can. Go start that blog or vlog that you’ve always wanted to, write a book, screenplay or start cooking. As of now, you can still go out and run… by yourself, and keep 6 feet away from anyone. Stay positive, stay healthy, the glass is half full if you choose to look at life that way, so why not, it’s better than the alternative! Let’s live to see another marathon!
What will I do next? I am working on doing a weekly blog, or newsletter to keep you informed, inspired and entertained. We Got This!
I also met many friends at the Health & Fitness Fair on Saturday at the Hilton when they stopped by the 
In a rut? When the going get’s tough, the tough go shopping!
1. If you can, get a new pair of ASICS running shoes to invigorate you. If you can’t, you’re in luck, because at the end of this blog, you can enter to win your choice of available brand new ASICS on ASICS.COM Yeah! New running shoes always make me want to get out and run, especially the new GEL NIMBUS17s!
2. Call a friend and make a commitment to run, it works wonders. That’s what friends are for and return the favor if you see them in a rut.
3. Make sure you have had enough recovery time and you have not been overtraining too long, if so, you might need the rest.
4. Go outside, or get on a treadmill, start by walking and warming up. Do a little run/walk, then run. Just start.
5. Create a goal and sign up for a race. A 5K, 10K, quarter marathon, half or full. Here’s a great one I know, the Kona Marathon. Code HOLIDAY will even save you $15 🙂
5.1 Enter this giveaway to WIN a FREE pair of your choice of available ASICS shoes. Good luck and #GoRunIT
ENTER HERE —–> 
The EXPO-
This was one of the BEST expos I’ve ever been to (and I’ve been to a lot). The expo was located at the convention center at the 
Everything was so well organized, the vendors were great, including 
The 
Also, The Kona Marathon running logo apparel was so hot they sold out within a few hours. However, you can still get the Kona Marathon Towel with your name on it (if you registered before June 12), click here: 
You could feel the excitement and Aloha Spirit in the air. It was an honor to represent 
The race volunteers were there in abundance, greeting you with their warm Aloha spirit, smiles, water, GU Hydration drink and Ice. We may have poured more ice and water on our heads, than in our mouth. I ran with Mark Kramer, Brian Salm and Cheryl Baumann. They are all fellow marathon maniacs and Mark and Cheryl were both finishing their 50th state. We all ran together for a while, making the miles fly by (even if we were baking on the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway). We knew the ocean was waiting for us we could see it in the distance. Plus running on part of the World Championship Ironman bike course really made you feel like a Bad Ass 🙂
We finished hand in hand and although it wasn’t our fastest, it was definitely very meaningful, both Mark and I have lost a parent to pancreatic cancer. We were grateful to be there together on his special day. We had so much fun, helped each other when we struggled and brought it home smiling from ear to ear.
After we finished we celebrated at the Legends of Hawaii Luau at the Hilton Waikoloa Hotel, where David and I did our Honeymoon dance 🙂
I am so happy that I will be returning next year, which will make it my 5th year at the 
Registration code now available for the 2016 Kona Marathon, use code KMGODDESS and save $10 off early registration prices. Win Win!!! 
This 
