One Week

It's hard to believe that this time next week we'll be getting revved up, geared up, and psyched up to walk the marathon. We received the itinerary for the weekend and it looks like there will be a good amount of free time -- I kinda keep forgetting that we'll be in Las Vegas for this. There will be things to do outside of walking 13.1 miles.

Friday = arrive in the evening, free time for dinner
Saturday = free time in morning, Race Expo in afternoon (get all our race gear), Team Challenge Pasta Dinner in evening (testimonials, encouragement, and guest speakers)
Sunday = free time in morning, meet at starting line at 4pm, race at 5pm (have to be done in 4 hours), after race shenanigans
Monday = free time in morning (aka nursing sore muscles), flight home in evening 

I'm anxious. And excited, but mostly anxious. Not just about the race; about all of it. Training, prep, travel, logistics. I've always been really good at worrying.

Since the 10 mile training, neither of us have walked further. I mean we've done the shorter distances, but we missed the 12 mile trek last weekend. About two weeks ago, Mark got really sick with a virus. A compromised immune system is part of the deal with the drugs available to treat Crohn's. It took him out of the game for a full week; the week after, while no longer suffering from a raging fever, he had zero energy. Just enough to get him through the day, basically.

When he's sick like that, I play multiple roles -- mom, wife, nurse, employee. The last thing on my mind was training. Then, as luck would have it, I got a version of his virus and couldn't go five steps without hacking up a lung. This weekend is the first one in two weeks where we've both been back on our feet...and we've got one week we left before the big day.

So! This week, I'm paying particular attention to the time I have available to train -- even if it's just 3 miles Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. No matter what, I will finish this marathon. And I'm carrying over 20 names across that finish line with me. I'll post an entry with those names closer to race day.

Mark's mom, sister, and an aunt are traveling out to Vegas to support him. My mom, bless her, is traveling out here to watch Rowan. This week will include, among other things, pulling together suggestions for activities and directions for locations around town Mom's never been to on her own before. I'm anxious about all of us being away from Rowan, and about Rowan and Mom being alone for those days. I'm anxious about Mark traveling: that always results in him getting sick and/or a flare up; the gamble is just if it will happen during or after the trip itself.

And I'm anxious about the fact that there are over 44,000 people in this marathon. That's a LOT of people.

Really, when it comes down to it? The only thing I'm not anxious about is walking the marathon. Which is odd, really, because that's what I keep talking about: finishing 13.1 miles. The thing is, I know I can do it. I know I can. I might feel like I've been hit by a truck afterwards. I might hobble to the plane the next day. I may cry when it's all over (let's face it, I probably will).

But I can do this.

I can do it with my husband, for my husband, and because of my husband. I can do it because he's doing it -- after all he's been through in his life and in this last month, he's doing it.

I'm proud to be part of this event. Proud that we made this decision to raise the money we've raised and take on this challenge one step at a time. Proud that my husband has something he can say he's doing (and did) that actively helped find a cure for this awful disease.

And I can safely say this will most likely be a once in a lifetime event. At least for me. *smiles*

Mark and I will be updating our blog as we get to Vegas and go through the events of the weekend. If you stay tuned, you can be part of the action with us. Or you can just read up after the fact. We have the support of some amazing people who put us $1,000 over our goal (a goal that was incredibly daunting when we first started out) and because of them, I know we won't fail, no matter what the outcome of next Sunday is. We won't fail because we've already brought that much money to the cause.

In one week, all this training and preparation and anxiety will be a happy memory, but the funds we raised -- because of you guys -- will keep on working. Even if we come in last, I kinda feel like we already won.

-- Amanda