Ode to Endo

Before I get into my tribute to Endo, I must first thank everyone that contributed to my fundraising for Back on My Feet.  Thanks to you I raised $3175 in less than 72 hours and met my required amount of $3000 for running the NYC marathon.  Thank you everyone!  I plan to volunteer with the charity in the near future and am excited about the experience.  There is a series of trainings I need to do before I can actually go out on a run with team, but I will make a post on the blog once I do. Don't forget that although I did meet my fundraising requirement, you can still donate to this great charity on my Back on My Feet fundraising page. 

Mary, Brooke, Ruth, and I at Portland Half

Next I have to mention my first marathon training partners, I wouldn't be running my fourth marathon if they were not there to get me through my first one.  Ruth, Mary, and Brooke, you are all the best. I went from not a runner at all to running a marathon in 11 months.  We had a fun (and sometimes miserable) 18 weeks of training. After every Saturday long run we would get brunch (usually including cocktails). As part of our training we did the Savannah Rock and Roll (October 2011), my first half marathon, and it was blast. We ran the Disney Marathon a month before my 40th birthday in January of 2012.  It was not easy, and Ruth was dealing with an injury, but she stuck with it and we finished together. It was the most amazing feeling (almost enough to make you forgot the misery). I also must mention that Mary had just had a baby when we started training, and would have to meet her husband in the middle of our long runs (and the actual marathon at mile 13) to nurse the baby! Total rock star! Thank you to all of you for the experience.

Puppy Endo

Now I must pay tribute to my marathon training partner for my last two marathons, Chicago (2014) and Disney again (2018). I ran Chicago for Team Paws Chicago, an animal rescue charity, in Sierra's honor after I had to say goodbye to her at the age of 16 in February of 2014. She was my first dog that I got in veterinary school and she was the most loyal and sweetest. I will always love her, but I have to say Endo was just the best worst dog ever and I don't know if we will ever get over losing her. She had the biggest personality and was the sweetest, funniest dog. And her biggest love was food and her biggest hate was squirrels (and the neighbors cat, Buster). All fourteen years we spent with her was great, minus the chewing on all our furniture, CDs, DVDs, etc as a puppy and the constant stealing of food from the counter and pantry and breaking into the trash can her entire life until the very end. Seriously the worst dog ever in the best way. 

Endo and I on a run

When I trained for Chicago I started taking her out just to see how she would do, and she ended up running every single run with me. When I got up to my 20 mile runs, I would do 13 miles with her, 4 miles with Charlie (he was also a very good boy that we miss), and then another 3 miles with Endo. She LOVED running and would still be sprinting after squirrels at the end of the runs, which was super fun for me after running 17+ miles. She then helped me train for the Disney Marathon when I ran it in 2018. She was almost 11 years old, but still could do up to 16 miles with me. She really never knew her limitations, which was amazing and heartbreaking at the same time. The first time I had to run without her, the look on her face when I left her broke my heart. Even in her last year she would still try to run, go down steep embankments, and follow Nick when he walked across downed trees over creeks. I had to hold her back by her harness, and she would really be pulling me with her 80+ pounds (no she wasn't fat no matter what the family says).

One of the reasons I haven't signed up for a marathon was because I no longer had my training partner. I still drive by some of the places I would run with her and miss her so much. I will remember her on every run and try to sprint when I see squirrels. I love you Endo.

 

Support Back on My Feet (and me) in the NYC Marathon

I just did something I said I would never do again, I signed up to run a marathon for a charity. In 2014 I ran the Chicago Marathon for Team Paws Chicago in honor of my vet school dog Sierra. I was very passionate about raising money for an animal rescue, but I still felt weird asking people to donate money. 

Renee and I in NYC in 2018

I have wanted to run the NYC Marathon and tried for the lottery three times (this year being the third), and didn't get in.  I just figured I would keep doing the lottery until I got in.  But this year, my friend Renee got  in. Initially I didn't really want to train for a marathon. I also have to admit there is a part of me that couldn't imagine training for a marathon without my training buddy Endo (for those of you that don't know she was my shepherd/lab mix that we euthanized in 2021).  But suddenly two days ago, something in me switched and I felt this urge to do NYC. Maybe it is everything going on with the world and needing something to focus on... plus, the marathon is 2 days before Renee's 50th birthday (I turned 50 in February) so what a great way to celebrate this milestone.   Also, training for a marathon is a lot of work on the body and I am not sure I want to keep doing marathons, so this is a bucket list thing for me. 

Next up was figuring out a charity that I could run with to get entry into the marathon.  There are many charity partners, and many are already full.  I knew I wanted to run with a charity that I felt strong about and felt comfortable asking people to donate to.  There are a ton of charities and many of the ones I clicked on were already full. I started to get nervous I wouldn't be able to find one and I would have to give up my goal of running NYC (I have already figured out my training plan). This morning I went to the charity page and started to click through every single charity and then I came across Back on My Feet which was showing that they still had slots available. This charity focuses on the unhoused and promoting fitness and eventually disrupting the cycle of homelessness. The volunteers work with the unhoused to get them involved in a running program and eventually work with them to provide training and assistance with housing and finding a job.  I was not sure how I felt about this model until I listened to this podcast with the CEO of Back on My Feet. This programs initially works building trust and community between the unhoused members and volunteers through running. The running also helps to build confidence with the members. This is the beginning of the member's path of getting back on their feet with the eventual goal of find housing and a job. They are currently working in 15 cities (including Atlanta) and they have a great success rate with 70% of members employed and house, 83% of members maintain employment, and over 7,500 jobs and homes achieved. 

So now the part where I ask you to support me by donating to Back on My Feet. I am doing the same thing I did for the Chicago Marathon, sponsor me for a mile of the marathon! So as the miles increase, so does the difficulty and the cost to sponsor me! During the mile that you sponsor I will be blaming you for the pain that I am in and I may send you photos of how miserable I look.  If you would like a specific mile (and it is available), please let me know. Feel free to donate more than is required than the mile you want to sponsor! Updates on what miles are taken can be seen on the right column of this blog or on Back on my Feet fundraising page. 

I look forward to running every mile for you!

<0 Ana Lauer (Journey to the start)

1 Mike Appel (Buy a bridge: Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge)

2 Mike Appel (Buy a bridge: Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge)

Mile 8 of Chicago:
not totally miserable

3 Cari Beesley (Buy a borough: Brooklyn)

4 Vanessa Feagin

5 Kim Groebner

6 Juli Goldstein

7 Grishma Kharod

8 Mike Stoddard (Buy a building: Barclays Center)

9 Catherine Garcia (Buy a building: Brooklyn Academy of Music)

10 Mara and Janice

11 Jeannie and Jerry

Mile 18: pretty miserable

12 Hilary Gaughen

13 Jessica Bremer

14 Dianna Blau (Buy a bridge: Pulaski Bridge)

15 Morgan Brown (Buy a borough: Queens)

16 Dana Haberling (Buy a bridge: Queensboro Bridge)

17 Jono Berry

18 Rita Traxler

19 Jules Crumley

20 Suzy Kohin (Buy a borough: Bronx)

Mile 23 with my mile 23
sponsor Suzy!

21 Andrew Berry (Buy a bridge: Madison Avenue) 

22 Bob Broilo (Buy a borough: Harlem)

23 Jane and RJ (Buy a borough: Manhattan)

24 Nick and Nova (Buy a museum: Guggenheim)

25 Amy McMinn (Buy a park: Central Park)

26.2 Dad

>26.2 Renee Galloway (crawl back to hotel)