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!