don't be fooled.
my body may be lying in a hospital bed in ann arbor, michigan. but that's not where my heart is this week.
one of the hardest parts of having cancer and beginning this chemo/bio treatment plan was finding out i wasn't going to be able to do "the run" this year for st. jude.
ever since emma began her cancer treatment in memphis while we lived in peoria, i've teamed up with around 150 runners to do the insane... run the 485 miles from st. jude children's research hospital in memphis all the way back to the st. jude affiliate in peoria. we run relay style in teams. each team runs 6 miles every other eight hours through the stifling heat, underneath star covered skies or in pouring rain. by the end, individuals usually run between 20-30 miles over 
the course of the three and a half days. and they've raised a minimum of 3000 bucks each to be able to do it!
then we all run the last mile to the civic center in peoria where we group with hundreds of other runners who've run to peoria from their communities. st. louis... chicago... metamora... even chillicothe!
and we're all there for one reason. to raise money for the kids of st. jude. it's pretty cool.
so many memories... my eyes can't help but fill with tears as i type. from being a st. jude parent seeing the runners come into the civic center that first year... (i think i stood at the end trying to personally thank each runner for their amazing work for my daughter . i was a basket case)... to seeing my family drive by me as i ran my first year on the run, yelling and cheering me on... to the stories the runners share along the long rv trip down to memphis (and the corresponding craziness that only run people can understand)... to being neutralized by seeing 2 specks about a 1/2 mile up the road as i ran through the middle of nowhere, and realizing it was an elderly couple coming out of their farmhouse to meet us at the end of their lane and hand us a check on our way by... and on and on. the list is endless.
i wish so much to be able to be in gold 5 with tom, kim, gina, juli and karrie this morning as together they pool their energy to help the kids. as kim said to me recently... the run recenters your heart and your head on the importance of things that matter. i will miss the spiritual pilgimage.
a cool thing you should know. kim remembered that every year i've ran, emma had made me an ankle bracelet to wear. i've worn it all year long ever since. but since i can't run this year, kim offered to wear a bracelet in honor of us both. so emma ended up making several for anyone from my rv family who might want to do the same. and kim just 
emailed me that all of them will be wearing them!!! (although... she couldn't reveal where some of them may end up being worn.) ha! that's my run family i love & miss! fantastic!
so to all my friends on the gold and blue teams and those awesome cooks... you are the best!!!!! i love you... and will be thinking and praying for you with every blistering step and every muscle ache and every bite of those blt's! (disclaimer... "every" means with every moment of consciousness my chemo/bio treatment offers)
yep...
i may be taking up space on the 8th floor of the u of m...
...but right now... and all this week...
...my heart's about 6 feet to the right of the center line on every stretch of back road between tennessee and illinois.
G*D, please keep them safe. give them strength and endurance. may people be more than generous in their support of st. jude along the way and at the telethon. give big mike wisdom and may he listen to his wife for once. and just as you did for us... please encourage the kids and families and staff at st. jude as they see so many people working hard to help them continue to bring life and health to the kids.
GO RUNNERS!!!
Your Blog entry reminded me of a piece of cardboard that I use as a bookmark in the pages of the Bible that I keep in my office. I received it waaaaay back when I was in college at SAU and it has Tommy Kuntzelman's rule for running on it, which seems SO appropriate to your friends that are running for St Judes and also for the "race" that you are running... His rule is a paraphrase of Galations 6:9 which says "Let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. (New Living Trans.)" Tommy Kunztleman summed the verse up in 3 simple words: "HANGETH IN THERE!" Blessings on you all!!! You are in my prayers... Tom
Posted by: Tom McCarrell | August 01, 2007 at 12:35 PM
Heh, Randy -
Thought I would write to you for us all, straight from the middle of Gold 5. We're waiting now on the group from Segment 2 to run into 'home'. Tommy called, so you could hear - and I just sent you photos, so you can see - but I know, too, that these are only physical reminders of that which is in all of our hearts ... that you are here among us, in spirit. Keep the faith. We're saving your space here!
Posted by: Kim | August 01, 2007 at 02:51 PM