Sunshine!  It’s finally back!  Last week I mentioned how we’ve not really seen it for the past month.  This week it was finally back and it was glorious.  The nights are still cool, the humidity is dropping, the days are pleasant and sunny and are starting to get longer.  Perfect training weather!

Training this week went well.  We typically have two rest days a week.  I prefer for one of those to be Sunday just because I really enjoy resting on Sunday.  We typically spend the morning at church, grab lunch (Fresco’s anyone?), and then have a lazy afternoon.  For the first month the training schedule was very accommodating.  However, I think we’ve had our last Sunday rest day.  From here on there will generally be a long bike ride on Saturday and then a long run on Sunday.  It’s highly beneficial doing  a long run the day after a long ride as it acclimates your body to running while somewhat fatigued just like race day.  While it’s not my preference I understand why it’s scheduled this way.  As the weeks progress and the runs go from single to double digit miles it’s just hard to get that in before or after work.

More important than workouts this week came news from my buddy Denver.  He’s my NF Hero (I’ll be doing a full write up on him in the coming weeks).  He’s the reason I’m training with CTF this year.  He’s the reason your donations matter.  His mother posted a blog entry early in the week about a trip to the doctor for a routine check up.  Inevitably the doc found some items of concern; nothing over the top, but a few things that warrant a closer look.  Then came the words that tore me up:

Denver instantly started to get upset when he heard “testing”  No matter how many times we do this he is always nervous, scared and anxious. He begged and pleaded not to have to go to the hospital…

It turns my stomach when kids are not able to live a “normal” childhood.  Denver’s mom would tell you that all things considered his childhood is fairly normal.  Still, most kids don’t live with the same fear Denver does when they go to see the doctor.  Most kids haven’t had to endure the testing he has.  And that’s why this whole thing is so important.  If our entire team hits our fundraising goal we should be close to $1,000,000 to put towards finding a cure.  The smallest donation on your part gets us that much closer.

Thanks again for being part of something life changing.