Pittsburgh Marathon

It's been too long since I last posted.  I apologize for that.  I have no valid excuse except that I have been overwhelmed by our new house, especially with the explosion of springtime plants and flowers as the warm weather has arrived.  There are beautiful gardens here left by the previous owners which are now springing into life.  How beautiful!  I feel the need to take care of these and nurture them.  I  am now their caretaker and I don't want to fail them.  There is a legacy here to be preserved.  It's also a good thing, as it is keeping me busy.  It's been very dry over the last month, so I have been watering a lot.  Fortunately, we have a well for watering the lawn and plants, so I don't have to worry about the water bill.

It is beautiful here...we love it!  It's so peaceful to just sit and look at the woods.  It's very different from the "River House" that we just left.  The Merrimack River was beautiful, but it wasn't always peaceful.  The current was often strong and the wind would gust in from the water and whip up the waves.  It was exciting at times, but not always calm.  We are really enjoying the total relaxation of just looking at the beautiful quiet woods adjoining our back yard.

Over the first weekend in May, I went to Pittsburgh to watch the Pittsburgh Marathon.  Unfortunately, Gretchen couldn't come because she had some previous commitments here.  It was a great trip, as I got to visit my brother Terry and his wife Sherry for a couple of days beforehand.  The 3 of us got play 18 holes of golf on a beautiful Friday.  That didn't suck!  Then on Saturday, I had the pleasure of having dinner with the rest of my extended family.  My sister-in-law Kathy and my niece Meghan and her husband Jon were there with their 2-year old son Chase whom I met for the first time.  I also got to meet my brother Terry's step granddaughter Briarly, also for the first time.  My God, it's been much too long since I have been back to my old home town to catch up with my family.  That was so awesome!

The marathon was wonderful!  40,000 runners competed, and it was amazing.  The weather was fantastic.  My son Brian and his wife Pam both ran the half marathon.  Pam's sister Michelle (who lives in Boston) ran the full marathon (gulp), and Terry's step daughter Bree ran a relay leg in the full marathon.  What a running family!

I had the pleasure of babysitting my grandson Logan for the night before and during the marathon.  I was nervous but it worked out great.  We got up early to get into Pittsburgh in time to see Brian and Pam run. Here is a picture I got at the 3.5 mile point in their run.  Look at them.  My God, it must be great to be young!

This brings up another point.  In my last post, I chronicled the MMRF 5K walk/run fundraiser event we recently attended in Boston.  While we were in Pittsburgh, my family of runners agreed that they would like to come to Boston next April to run in the next MMRF 5K event.  That would be awesome!  I have already emailed Anne Riskin to suggest that we could all join their team of Jeff's Juggernauts to raise money in memory of her husband Jeff who died of MM several years ago.  She will be delighted to have us join her team.  This should be a great opportunity for us to combine a worthy MM fundraising event with a family reunion.  I will keep you informed when we learn the particulars of next year's event, which should be announced some time in January.  I'm really excited about this!  I'm even thinking about training to run the 5K rather than walk it, but don't hold me to that.  It's just a wild thought.

Last week there was a Frontline program featuring the newsman Tom Brokaw, who has Multiple Myeloma.  I think it is awesome that he has gone public to raise awareness of MM.  I missed the broadcast, but the MMRF has made it available to view online.  Here is the link:  http://www.themmrf.org/tom-brokaw/.  It's a very good and personal look at his journey.  If you haven't seen it, I would definitely recommend watching it.  He is a great spokesman for MM patients.  His journey was more difficult than mine, but I'm glad to hear that like me, he is in remission at this time.  He has also written a book that I may buy to get the details of his story.

Until next time...