Support Me in the Race Against Cancer!

As many of you know, I have decided to run the MANY miles of the Boston Marathon to fight cancer and I hope you'll help me take BIG steps! On Monday, April 19, 2010, I'll run with my Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) teammates in the Boston Marathon, raising funds to benefit the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. With your generosity, I’ll reach my lofty goal of $10,000 before marathon weekend!

Cancer touches all of us. We all know someone—a friend, colleague, parent, sibling, family member, child--who has battled this disease. Today, thousands of people worldwide are being treated for cancer and this is our chance to do something to help them. I, personally, was motivated to participate in the DFMC this year after the death of a close family friend and community member, Chuck Harvey, who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer this spring. A couple months after Mr. Harvey passed away, my best friend, Libby lost her stepfather, Bob Schneider, to the same terminal form of cancer after just a few short weeks of learning of the diagnosis. These two devastating losses really prompted me to want to make a difference ... to raise as much money as possible to help find a cure.

Please join me in my race toward the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer. Every mile and every dollar brings us closer! I realize that, in these hard economic times around the holidays, it is hard to find the money to donate. But, just think about how your gift will impact others in the near future. A world without cancer would be an amazing thing. Thank you in advance for supporting my run for DFMC.

Happy Holidays to you and your family!

- Amanda

* If you would like to send a check instead of donating online, please enclose a check payable to “Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge” in the enclosed stamped envelope addressed to me.

Amanda Allen
45 Lowden Avenue #2
Somerville, MA 02144

* Will your company match your gift? If so, please let me know and I will send you its matching gift form with your contribution.

Holiday 5K Race Against Cancer

Sunday, December 6 at 11am, hundreds of runners lined up at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River to run a quick, COLD 5K race to benefit cancer research. I met up with a friend, Sidi and two DFMC friends, Lauren and Tyler at the race. The course was so slick from the snow/rain fall the night before, and the wind was stingingly cold, but people were troopers and showed up! I got there 2 minutes before the race started and quickly joined the cluster of racers. When the time started we moved slowly but surely along the river. It wasn't until about the 1-mile mark that the crowd started to thin out a little. Since I started at the back of the race, it was pretty difficult to pass people in the first half of the race so I lagged behind a bit. The course was fun! We stayed on the Boston side of the Charles and went up nearly to the Boston Police Station by Lechemere. The best part of the race was that since the course looped back around, you could see the race leaders (finishing in 16 minutes or so!) sprinting past you on the opposite side of the bike path and we could cheer them on. I wasn't going for speed at the beginning, but half way through I decided to push myself. So I ended up running an 8 minute first mile with a friend, and then ran 2.1 miles at 7 mins a piece. I was pretty happy with that time of 22 minutes considering my pace at the beginning! Next time I'm going to shoot for 20 minutes or less...

Here are some other pictures from the race... The one of me is NOT so stunning. I'm going to work on my "race face" for Boston!

Thursday Night's Heat Wave

Thursday night has quickly become my favorite night of the week... the "new Friday" according to fellow DFMC runners. It's the night we meet at Crossroads to endure long, hard runs with teammates, and we all struggle together. The faster we run, the quicker we can make it back to the bar - for beer. and pizza, and our favorite bartenders Linsey and JJ. But this Thursday was especially awesome. It was 70 degrees out at 6pm on December 3!!! SEVENTY! Here I was dressed for a typical late-fall blizzard in my spandex pants and long sleeved top (thank GOD I opted out of the gloves and headband), and some of my teammates were wearing tank tops and shorts! I guess I forgot to check the weather pattern. Anyways, there was a pretty big group of us that decided to all do the Charles River to the Eliot Bridge (8 mile loop), so we set of with Tyler leading the pack, a nice, slow 1st mile, and then continuously sped up with each mile. Half way through, I ended up running just with Tyler and Shawn - two amazingly fast marathoners (didn't quite know what I was getting myself into!). I was keeping pace with them at 7-minute miles for just about 7 miles, and then the last mile, I was beat. I told the guys to just "go ahead without me - I didn't want to 'hurt my shins'" (which was really code for, 'I'm dying - can't.run.anymore.'). But they insisted that I persevere through the last mile and to "finish strong"... so that's what I did (or at least TRIED to do). When we got to the Mass Ave Bridge I couldn't have been happier. Crossroads was just ahead in the distance... Shock Tops and Cheese Pizza were not not far away :)
The best part of the night is always getting back, congratulating people on their good runs, and then kicking back and talking amongst your teammates! Caitlyn - a Colby alum and DFMC first-timer, me, and Sarah talked for a long time about NESCAC and college sports - and Sarah even started a page for all of us DFMC NESCACers :) - Check it out! www.dfmcnescac.webs.com/
Andrew and I ended the night Christening Crossroads' first ever Scorpion bowl, along with Mike, Lauren and Tyler, and played BU students in a Beirut Tourney... fun fun times!

Can't wait to see many of my teammates at the Holiday 5K Race Against Cancer tomorrow morning at 11am!