this weekend! Just saying!!!!! I'm as ready for it as I can be.....It's been a stress couple of weeks with my Dad. He made it through surgery and it went well. But the cancer did make it out of the colon so we will be meeting with oncology doctor and deciding our next step. No family was with Mom and Dad when the doctor came in and talked to them before the release from the hospital so we are very unsure what was said and where we stand. Dad was very shaken for a few days, but now is doing research and very determined to beat this. He has insisted that I have trained for so long and I must go run my race for him. So I'm finishing packing tonight to be on a plane first thing in the morning...... Thank you for everyone's support....it has been appreciated Run strong everyone! Gayle

Your dad has every reason to be proud of you and your accomplishments. You celebrating your life is a gift to him. Run strong. Run happy. Just run.

Good luck Gayle, we want a full race report upon your return

Race Report...not good at these, but here you go. April 5, 2009 – the day all the training, the dieting, the planning was for. The same day that four girlfriends got up early, early, early and made the trip to Washington DC so we could run the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Race. With the sun barely peeking over the Smithsonian and touching the Washington Monument we turn in our drop bags, hit the all important port-a-potties and started the warm-up after a quick hug for good luck all around. Three of us were running the 10 mile race and the fourth was going to do her first 5K ever. People were EVERYWHERE….the warm-up was truly a warm-up of learning how to dodge in and around people and foreshadowing of what was to come. The six corrals for the different waves were crowded almost heel to toe. I was at the very front of wave five and my girlfriends were in wave six. I could hear the start gun go off and listen to the announcer send off the elites at 7:30 am. It was almost 10 min before my green wave was able to get to the starting line. My goal was to start off slow at around 10 min miles and try for equal or negative splits. The race seemed unreal and totally unlike any race I’ve ever run. I had to concentrate so hard on avoiding people, trying not to run over people running abreast in front me, avoiding elbows flying around my face (I’m short) from people beside me and having several people step on my heels. Part of the time I even chanced jumping up and running on the cobblestone medium to pass people. I never even saw half of the memorials that we ran past. I know…not very smart. I guessed how crowded it would be so I carried my own water so I could avoid the crowded water stations and ensuing rain of cups, water and Gatorade on slick streets. In an attempt to make sure I did not dehydrate I tried to drink early and often and that is when my Garmin was somehow turned off. I didn’t notice it for over a mile which irritated me to no end for the next few miles of not knowing where I was at on the course or what my pace was. Dang!!! I felt like at fool after crossing a split marker mat and asking everyone around me what mile it was. Mile five it was and knowing that got my head back in the game. I didn’t even feel like I had run five miles and felt like I was out for a stroll. I was worried that the excitement would wear off and I would over extend myself, but decided to push it a bit harder but not by much. By the time I hit six miles the crowd lightened up a bit and I/we started running on a golf course with the Potomac on either side of us and surrounded by wonderful blooming Cherry trees. Beautiful….. Mile eight – can see the Capital building off to the side and the Washington Monument looming in the distance in front of me. It was now time to pick it up more and start pushing. Mile nine…..feeling like I have run the distance now, but all I’m thinking about is picking them up and putting them down…..Monument is closer. 800 meter mark…..run like there is no tomorrow…..I just forgot how LONG 800 meters is. 200 meter mark…….WHERE is the DAMN finish line…it’s no where in sight! Finally turn the last corner there is the finish line….straighten the number….pick the head up, try not to look like I’m trying to find a place to upchuck. Finish line! Yeah!!!!!! And no, no guy giving out medals…no guy to kiss. It was a bit of an anti-climax with no one to greet me and just a quick walk off the course. I’m very pleased with my time. My pie in the sky time I was shooting for was 1:30 and my have to beat time was 1:40. I hit it square in the middle with 1:34:35 and feel really good about my first attempt at this distance. Woo Hoo! Of course my 20 pound loss REALLY helped with my speed and stamina.  My girlfriends in the 10 miler stuck together and barely beat the broom wagon. One of them dehydrated and had major calf cramps and could barely hobble in with the other gal trying to keep her going. The 5Ker finished her race faster then she expected, but just not sure she has been bitten by “the bug” for real. LOL As for me…I’m bitten and good! When asked after the race if I would do it all over again, I asked where the start line was so we could get going again.

Gayle-Great job on the race!!