Grafton revisited: Saturday's run was out in Grafton and back to those rolling hills! I found that breathing some sharp exhales before starting uphill helps the asthma greatly. The first half felt great and the 2nd half more challenging, but overall a very good run. Next Saturday is the 20 miler out in Hopkinton. This will be exciting!

We had a visit from an honored hero, a young woman who had been diagnosed with lymphoma. She went through chemotherapy with one remission, and after a relapse a few years later underwent a stem cell transplant and is now in complete recovery. She is in the process of adopting a baby with her husband, who she said is a 'keeper' after proposing to her after seeing her bald. :)

I have really enjoyed training with the crew at Team in Training. Over time I have gotten to speak to many of my teammates and to get to know them better. Although I think I was intimidated at first, we have all gotten to know and support each other by running together. Whenever I pass a teammate during a training run, they wave and I get to wave back or give the thumbs-up sign. This week, although two runners had injury issues, they still attended in order to assist with water stops and to support our team. This made me realize- we are really a TEAM. Walter Pero, one of our honored heroes, has been so helpful in offering to talk with first time Boston runners about what to expect, and his work with LLS extends to patient advocacy for clinical trials. This is a bunch of people who really care about what they are doing, and I will never forget this, regardless of what happens on race day!