Ten weeks to the Boston Marathon!

Yesterday I ran my 20th half marathon! The Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon is a gorgeous course through Golden Gate Park and along Ocean Beach. Back in February 2009, this race was my very first half marathon. I ran it in 2 hours 10 minutes back then, and yesterday my time was 2:01:23. Not my personal best Half time, but the best I've done since the Healdsburg Half Marathon in October 2015, when I ran 1:59:39, so I'm happy with it. Didn't bring my phone with me on the course, but snapped a selfie at Land's End after the race.

 
It's hard to believe that the Boston Marathon is 10 weeks from today! I spent last weekend in Boston, and had the pleasure of meeting several of my DFMC teammates, as well as running part of the course a few times. It was especially fun to run the Newton hills, and to see so many other charity teams out training together! I wish I could train on the course every weekend, like many of my teammates. Knowing a course well makes it easier to run, and I would be less likely to fall prey to the "I can't do it!" thoughts that creep in around mile 22.

One of the top highlights of my weekend in Boston was attending a fundraising party for one of my teammates, Maria (in red). I had debated going, because the train schedule was less than ideal, and am so glad I decided to take an Uber there (thanks to the suggestion of Emily, 2nd from the right in this photo!). I met some new teammates, some of whom I follow on Strava, like Maria, and got to spend more time chatting with Mike (on my left in the photo), with whom I'd run that morning. And some friends of teammate Stephanie (in white) gave me a ride back to the city after the party, for which I was very grateful.

Maria had some great ideas at her party, and if I can pull something similar together within the next month, it could make a big impact on my fundraising. So far I've reached a little over 1/3 of my $10,000 fundraising goal. It's been tougher this time around, in part because the first time I ran for DFMC, I was running in memory of 3 very special friends, and many of their friends and family members contributed in their honor. If I take Maria's lead and try to get prizes donated by local businesses, then have a raffle, that might be a fun way to get closer to that $10,000 goal. 

The Dana Farber Marathon Challenge Team goal is $5 million. Dana-Farber is a world leader in research leading to new treatments for cancer. The graphic below demonstrates their impact.

Unlike some other programs, 100% of donations to DFMC go to fund research. Runners pay all their own race entry fees and travel expenses. To help me reach my $10,000 fundraising goal, please donate here: http://www.runDFMC.org/2017/milinda.  I'd really appreciate your help!