CURRENTLY PLAYING: on TV Palladia HD: Gnarls Barkley - Live at Roskilde Festival
Well, week three of training is done as of yesterday morning. The seven mile run went just as I’d planned, and surprisingly the seventh mile added on from the six miles of last week was not completely unbearable.
I’m in Greensboro, hanging out with my dad, for a few days. He has always been supportive of me no matter what but specifically with my dedication to sports and staying healthy. He emailed me last Monday to let me know he biked 13 miles that morning, needless to say I felt like I was slacking off for not doing anything so I hopped on my bike and headed to the beach and back to match his 13 miles. There was no way I was about to let a 60 year old man out exercise me!
It was no surprise that he was completely supportive of my latest venture to raise money for cancer research by running the Battleship Half Marathon in November. His father, Joe B. Fish, Sr. passed away due to cancer when I was about ten years old. I would stay with my grandparents for a week every summer. My grandfather would wake me up in the mornings, tell me to wash my face before breakfast, and then we would head to the farm in his old pick-up truck to feed the cows. We would come home in time for lunch to enjoy the Spam sandwiches my grandmother had made (yes, I realize now Spam is quite disgusting). But I’m fortunate enough to remember these memories even though I was so young. I vaguely remember his illness and his final days. I know he was a great man, based on stories told by my dad and the pictures that were hung in his office of his accomplishments, but cancer took him from his wife, his sons, and me too.
That was my first of many encounters with cancer.
I woke up a few weeks ago with the desire to make a difference and every day that goes by I feel a stronger drive to make an impact on the world around me and with cancer research. I realize times are tough, and people are pinching pennies at this point in time. But there are some things in life that money cannot buy or replace, and that is a loved one and their presence in your life.
Let’s stand up to cancer and start making a difference in the research being done. Today is the day to the find an answer to this problem. Join with me and get AMPED to make a change.
xoxo
Mary Jo
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