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