In any case, I FEEL like I'm on my way to the race! First thing this morning, I walked two miles to the bus stop. I felt the miles counting down. Just keep going and they'll keep counting down, I thought. It's just a matter of time! We can do this; just put one foot in front of the other.
It's going to be a beautiful day tomorrow - good for running and "spectating"! Not many members of my family can come to the race, but it's so far for them to come - it's okay. I'll keep blogging - I can do it on my phone, I just figured out! - and we'll get as much as we can on camera and post it here after the race.
Just the other day I received a comment on our Steamtown marathon video. It was from a guy who has run it and also worked the finish line. He wrote that he had never seen a video like ours, and it reminded him of how he loves to watch people finish the race. Neat! I've gotten comments from fellow runners on all three race videos, and they've been viewed hundreds of times on YouTube. It's good to know - and I hope that it's more broadly true - that people enjoy our perspective.
No matter what happens tomorrow, we'll have great footage and great memories! But I really think that if we run carefully, we'll finish, with no problem. It's like the card Ray sent me this week:
Well, I'm almost to work. It's time to really get the day underway. It's all just a matter of time!
P.S. - That reminds me that I must thank my boss Bill and my colleague Amy for their support! Not only are they contributors, but they're a huge help in more ways than they realize. Amy offers the best moral support I can imagine, and Bill is very kind and supportive, too - especially by not saying anything at all when he gets a Run for Munda update in the middle of a workday, or he hears me in my office ending a phone call with, "Hey, Shauna, I love you! Talk to you later!"
But Bill offers not just passive support. He has told me - and it means so much for me to know - that my work for Run for Munda is many ways connected to our work at Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. Bill and I spend our professional lives talking about the virtues of small organizations and the bond between people helping people, and their importance for solving difficult social problems in America - for example in a speech he gave to the Ridley Park Ministerium prayer breakfast a little while back. You know, cancer might not be one of those problems that we normal, everyday people can cure, not without the help of trained medical professionals and lots of money. But there are related social problems that we everyday people must solve, because only we can - like helping the elderly remain independent, helping sick people hold on to their dignity, and helping their family members stay afloat in every way. These are not medical problems. These are everyday problems, our problems. And helping to solve them is being part of a community, and it's the best feeling. Click here to read Bill's speech.
By the way, Shauna has told me stories of the doctors who have supported her in ways both medical and otherwise - with phone calls and referrals and anything else they can think of. There are some really, really good-hearted, civic-minded, and just darn good doctors out there. And nurses are angels!
So... I'm going to get back to that, and then I've gotta run. (Okay, baaaaad pun.)
More to come!
