Could you send me your legs for a week?

I'm preparing to set another personal record next Saturday when I run my first half marathon race! 

Up until today my longest run was 10.5 miles, but next weekend I will conquer 13.1 miles in the Lake Sammamish Half.  We'll run from Sammamish State Park to Marymoor (and then hope that I can still walk afterwards).  My friend Carrie signed up to run with me and I just learned last night that my friend Darren will be running it too, along with several others from my marathon training team.  I'm looking forward to having some friends along the route to cheer me on (especially since the Madrid fans will all be speaking Spanish and I won't know if they are cheering me on or not!) and to achieving this next goal in my training.

Six months ago, I would not have believed that a half marathon sounds like no problem.  I've never been one to run regularly, preferring to have a ball in front of me to motivate me to run, but regularly training with so many supportive people has really made me feel that I can do this!  While I only ran 10 miles this week and last week, my 8-10th miles were my fastest of the day.  Who would have believed that?

Several people have told me that they could never run a marathon and I just wanted to share that I am living proof that you can.  It was never a goal of mine to run a marathon and, while I think races are fun (I'm very goal oriented and having a finish line just in front of me is awesome!) I never enjoyed races that were longer that 3 miles.  But next Saturday, I will run 13.1 miles and I am VERY excited about it!

The fundraising is going great and I just had a taco feed to raise a little bit more for the battle, thanks to a generous donation from Whole Foods Redmond.  Thanks for your support, Whole Foods!  I have raised about $4000 so far and have just a little further to go.  Thanks to the many generous friends and family members and strangers who have helped me to raise so much money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Seven weeks until race day!

Remembering

Five years ago today, I said "I do" to the most wonderful man I have ever met.  While he is no longer with us, I am thankful to have had the years that I did with him.  Today, I am going to remember the very best of Tyler and the many blessings that we had.

Do me a favor and give an extra hug to your loved ones today -- just because you can!

An Easy Week

I'm very excited for my "easy week" this week. Out long run on Saturday is only 90 minutes long, so it is a "short" one. What universe do I live in now that running for an hour and a half is a short run? It blows my mind!

But... If you compare to last week's 2 hour run (with the same anticipated for the couple weeks after this one), this Saturday will be a comparatively easy one for me. I'm looking forward to actually being able to run strong throughout the long run.

Here is a picture of us after our 2 hour run last weekend. Isn't great to have so many teammates to cheer you on each week?

TNT Auction

Just a few days left on our Team in Training auction...  If you haven't checked out the great stuff for sale yet, you can visit https://www.facebook.com/events/280572435294096/ to bid on bottles of wine, personal trainers, stamp sets, video games, gift cards, an iPod, a T-mobile cell phone, and MORE!

Whatever you bid will be a donation to the Team in Training participant that posted the item you bid on, so you get great stuff at a great price and you help us fight cancer at the same time!

Thanks so much to the supporters who have already gone out to bid -- we appreciate all of your help!

I was listening to a webinar on fundraising and the speaker was asked how much he had raised for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Hearing the question, I started to wonder how much we have raised. When I did the math, I realized that with your help, Team Firefly as a group has raised $51,960 since we founded the team in 2007! That money has been used to provide financial support to blood cancer patients, as well as funding promising research into cures. If you want to know more about how LLS uses the money we have donated, you can find out more at http://www.lls.org/#/aboutlls/financialinformation/

WOW! Thank you all so much for your help in raising funds to fight against the disease that stole Tyler from us. I could never have made this kind of impact without your help.

How to Help without Giving Money

I have been blessed by very generous people, who continue to help me in my efforts to fight cancer.  But what if money is tight right now...  What can you do to help?  I thought the video in the link below gave a great idea of something we could do to help without costing a lot of money.  The girl in the video (a local Seattle girl) was saved by having a second transplant from an unrelated donor.  I can't help but think of what might have happened if Tyler had been able to find a match in the Bone Marrow registry.  Would he still be here?  Only 3 out of 10 patients currently find a match in the registry.  The best way to improve those odds is to get everyone we know to sign up and be willing to save somebody's life!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34107503/ns/today-today_health/t/woman-meets-stranger-who-saved-her-life/#.TytUN8gzCSo

My Longest Run

I am continuing my training and am amazed by the fact that I still go out and run each week.  I don't really like running (and still haven't hit that fabled "runner's high") but I went out again for a long run today and covered 8.3 miles.  I think this might have been my longest run ever.  As a high schooler, I ran a 12K and decided that the experience was far too painful to repeat!

But, as I have discovered over the last few months, everything becomes easier when you have a powerful cause and friends to help you along the way.  Most weeks, I join other Team in Training participants that are training for either the Madrid marathon on April 22nd or the Vancouver marathon on May 6th for our long run.  About 25-30 of us meet at 8am every Saturday morning at locations all around the city and go on increasingly longer runs.  I think that is my favorite part of participating in the Team in Training program.  Every Saturday morning, I have coaches and mentors to help me get better at running and stay inspired.

I truly appreciate all of the support that I have received so far -- both personal and financial support!  With a generous donation this weekend, I just hit the 50% mark in my fundraising.  Together we are funding the kinds of research that will help eradicate cancer deaths.  In fact, I was moved by a statement made by a relative who was offering a donation to my run.  She said that one of the reasons that she was contributing was because cancer and deaths from cancer seems like something we should be able to prevent.  I completely agreed with her!  Thanks for helping me support that dream.

Putting one foot in front of the other...

Mandy
To Make a Donation:  http://bledsoebattle.com

Why I Run

When people ask why I am running away to Madrid, I have to share my story about the Bledsoe Battle and the amazing man that I shared the battle with. While I couldn't fight the cancer myself, I can certainly do something to make a difference.

--> I'm running 26.2 miles to honor my husband and the courageous battle he fought against leukemia. When it gets hard and my body hurts, I will remember watching Tyler decide to fight each and every day.

--> I'm training up to 5 days a week to inspire others to help fight cancer with me. The dollars we raise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society are used to aid patients in their battle and to fund promising new research for blood cancers. I pray that each new discovery helps keep another patient from suffering and helps somebody reach remission.

--> I'm punishing my body with 5-6 hours of running in April in hopes that new research helps some other wife to keep her husband for a long and happy life. No one should lose a loved one to cancer and a happy marriage should get to last longer than 4 years.

--> I'm pushing myself further than I ever thought I could run because I have discovered that each of us has a wellspring of strength inside us. If my strength can be a weapon to help protect my loved ones, both those lost and those that are currently fighting, I will use it in any way I can.

--> I will ask each and every person I know if they will help me in this battle. I can do the run, but I need your help to raise the money to fight against blood cancers. Will you donate? Will you share this message with everyone you know to help me remember Tyler in the best way I can?

To donate, please visit http://bledsoebattle.com
To read the story of our battle, please visit http://bledsoebattle.blogspot.com

Thank you for joining me in this battle!

In loving memory of Tyler Bledsoe...

Look who is famous now...

I accidentally tripped across this video after watching a video about caregiving. My friend Hans is the star, talking about the point when he and Cynthia really felt in control of his CML and decided they were ready to move on with life again.

http://www.patientpower.info/video/a-clinical-trial-and-a-growing-family 

A second video was just posted and shared on Facebook about Hans.  Check out the revised version if you only have time for one:

http://www.patientpower.info/player/national-cml-society/#

Hans is such an inspiration and does lots of work on behalf of e CML Society, but I don't know how much of it he shares with others. I consider myself lucky to count him among my friends.

It's good to see that all of this research into CML drugs IS making a difference!  The drug that Hans is on is the Ariad drug that Tyler took last fall.  While it didn't make the right connections for Tyler, we were both so thankful that it did get Hans on the right path.

Running for Tyler - Saturday, January 7th

I just wanted to post an open invitation to attend my next marathon practice.  The January 7th run will be dedicated to Tyler's memory, so I wanted to invite anyone in the area to come out and join me at marathon practice that day.  We will be heading out for 50 minutes that day (at 8am in the Genesee area) and you are welcome to run or walk or any combination of the two.

If anyone wants to join me that day, just let me know in advance so that I can have my mentor bring a waiver for you to sign.

Thanks!