Christmas Weekend Update

Happy holidays, everyone!

I trust you're all enjoying your long weekend!! I love Christmas, and it was incredible this year! I really felt the love of my friends and family and was so relaxed. I spent the first half of the weekend eating everything in sight, but I followed it with a 12 mile run Saturday morning (and afternoon - when you're as slow as me, 12 mile runs extend into the afternoon if you don't start early enough).

Psychologically, after doing a 21 mile run, 12 sounds like nothing. I was really looking forward to it! However, physically, 12 miles is still really far, as it turns out. My mom, who has signed up to run a half marathon with Team in Training in March - go Mom! ran the first 5 miles with me, and it was great to have someone to talk to and keep my spirits up with the biting wind and cloudy gray skies keeping me cold. Thank goodness I got some great running outerwear for Christmas! But Mom got to finish her run and move onto Saturday morning errands, while I had (only) 7 more miles to go.

Perception is a funny thing. We were running in the neighborhood where I grew up, which is the first time I have done that since I started training, and, even though I haven't run or walked those streets in years, there was a familiarity to them that made the whole run seem (seem is the key word) really short. There is a two mile loop in the middle of River Oaks that we run often during Team in Training runs, and it always feels to me like I am on that loop for an eternity, but in Sugar Mill, plodding down the streets that are a part of my DNA, where every branch and sidewalk crack is a memory, and even the slightest changes to the facades of the houses are noticed, a five mile loop feels like a blip in time til I'm back where I started. I sure wish I had figured that out before going 7 times around the 3 mile Rice Loop last weekend! But maybe that explains why the second half of my 21 mile run on the loop seemed so much shorter than the first...by the time I'd gone around for the fourth time, I was intimate with the path. My brain was allowed to go to sleep because there was nothing new to notice and it didn't have to wake up until it was finally time to stop.

These are the things you think about while logging 29,800 steps (yes, I got a pedometer for Christmas!). Thanks for indulging me! You have all supported me in so many ways throughout this run, I feel like you deserve to hear how I'm doing!

In regards to my fundraising, I am almost there!! I am just $107.20 away from the minimum I have to raise to run, and the deadline is 5pm Monday (yes, that's tomorrow!!). Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far...you are the reason I am able to do this, and I appreciate it more than you know! More than that, you are appreciated by every single patient, survivor and family member who benefits from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

If you have considered donating but haven't yet, please think about doing it today...just $5 from 21 people would put me over the edge! I am still raising money until February 16, and my goal is $3500, so if you can't right now (believe me, I know immediately post-Christmas can be hard) but would like to, it will still be very welcome in the new year!

Here is the link to donate: Happy holidays, everyone!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/txg/houston10/aclack
I've been getting feedback that the link isn't working, and I don't know why, so if you have trouble, just go to www.teamintraining.org, click on Find a Participant, and put in Autumn Clack.


Love and thanks to all of you...I hope you are enjoying this magical time of year with the wonder and enthusiasm of a child!

21 Miles Down, 5 To Go

Yes, it's true. I went 21 miles yesterday! You'll notice I did not use the word "ran," because that would not accurately describe what I was doing most of the time, but, as my mentor Kelsey says, "Propelling myself forward with my legs through the cold for 21 miles is hard enough!"

Let me start by saying what I am thankful for this time...

The beautiful weather we had on Sunday, without which I might very well have convinced myself I didn't need to complete this run and gone home. Seriously, when the morning is cold and rainy, it just seems to get colder and colder the longer you're out there, everything on your body locks up much faster, and you get soaked to the core with wet feet that weigh about 10lbs more than normal. It's not pleasant, to say the least. So with weather just warm enough to not need a second layer, no wind, and beautiful sunshine ALL DAY, I was set up for success.

Laura, Katy and Kelly for texting me back all day (yes, I was texting while "running"). If not for those words of encouragement - "Go girl! You're already there!" "I am so proud of you, just a little more!" and (when my mp3 player ran out of battery with 2 miles to go [note: ALWAYS start a 20 plus mile run with a fully charged music player]) "Do you want me to sing to you? Cuz I will!" (Laura, you're a saint!) - I definitely would have taken myself seriously one of those times I decided to quit.

My neighbor who works at Luke's Locker and totally hooked me up with much needed new shoes, meaning that my ankles didn't feel like they were shattering until the last 6 miles, instead of the first 6.

The fact that this was our last long run!! We start our taper now, meaning only 12 miles next Saturday, and it's all downhill from there until January 17!! Woo hoo!!

Forget the rest, I'm stopping with what I'm thankful for this run. It was great. And I did it. I'm thinking of my marathon hero, the woman without whom I might not have ever signed up to run, Zoe Koplowitz. I don't know this woman, but I read about her last year and her story stuck with me, even before I was considering running a marathon. She has MS and diabetes and ran the NYC marathon on CRUTCHES!! She went on to run 22 marathons so far, and holds the world record for Slowest Marathon Runner Ever. This is the link to her website, http://zoekoplowitz.com/Home_Page.html, and if you want to hear her story told beautifully and powerfully, pick up a copy of Cynthia Kersey's Unstoppable Women next time you're in the book store. It's just a couple of pages long, and it will change you. I don't aspire to Zoe's heights of 24 plus hours, but it reminds me that what matters is sticking with it and crossing that finish line.

And we can't forget the donation reminder...I have 1 week from today to raise $107.20 to meet my minimum, so please consider donating, even just $5. It will really help LLS do what they do, helping patients, survivors and their families live and thrive. I have more and more people in my life who are being diagnosed with these terrible diseases, from Manila to my own backyard, and anything you can donate would really help their journeys. Here's the link to my page where you can donate:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/txg/houston10/aclack

I leave you with the quote we hear all the time at Team in Training.

"If you think running is hard, you should try chemo."

Thanks, everyone!

Enough Whining Already

Dear readers,
I was just looking back over my posts, and realized that they had turned into a litany of my maladies, rather like a moderately old person who gets together with her friends for tea and spends a happy two hours relating every ache, pain and twinge since last month's tea meeting. Ugh, how boring for you. I apologize. Plus, I am really sick of the word "knee." So, you can all just assume until you hear otherwise that my k*** hurts all the time, but I'm not talking about it anymore.

Instead, in the spirit of the recent holiday (Thanksgiving, in case you live in the UK or a box), I would like to mention what I am thankful for today. Many, many things come to mind, but, to name a few -
The incredible donations that have come in that are making my whole run possible.
My amazing friends for always being there to support me.
My family for being really cool and letting me be me.
Andy, my partner in crime, for, um, everything.
Andy's family, for making me feel like family.
Andy's dad kicking esophageal cancer's ass and eating more Thanksgiving dinner than me (oh, and EVERYONE at MD Anderson!!)!!
Having a Christmas tree.
Chocolate and wine and peppermint schnapps.
Having 6 jobs, when some people have none.
Dan for creating Deviations with me, and for what that might bring.
Getting in shape for the first time in my life!!!

I've got lots more, but it's time to join one of my favorite people for dinner, so I will sign off...leave me a comment on what you're thankful for this week!

Autumn
www.teamintraining.org/txg/houston10/aclack

P.S. 26 days left to the fundraising deadline....$448 left to my minimum and $1448 left to my goal - woo hoo!!!