Race Day

Team Epic for Bill Tent

The night before the big MMRF 5K run/walk race, we were a bit nervous, as we were about $450 short of our fundraising goal of $10,000.  But our son, Jason, was a savior.  He drove up from Connecticut Saturday night and dumped donations on the kitchen table that he had collected from his co-workers that day at his restaurant, Joey Garlic.  It came to $602 in cash!  I was stunned.  It was overwhelming, as I fought back the tears.  Those donations put us over the top.  We had done it!  We all went to bed that night knowing that we had reached our goal.  It was so very satisfying.

Wally, the Green Monster

Sunday was the big day.  We all converged on Carson Beach in South Boston for the race by 7:00 am (yawn).  We were thrilled that we had our own tent for Team Epic for Bill.  These tents were only made available by the MMRF for their biggest fundraisers.  There were 105 teams registered for this event, and Team Epic for Bill was the 8th largest fundraising team!  I'm very happy and grateful for all the contributions we got from our supporters.

Pam's sister, Michelle, provided Team Epic for Bill tee shirts for all of us to wear.  What a nice surprise!  Now we could stand out among the multitudes.  Thank you so much, Michelle!

There were about 2,500 runners/walkers there, which beat the previous record of 2,100 last year.  They also raised a record $520,000 for this event, surpassing last year's previous record of $475,000.  This event keeps growing every year. 

Paul Richardson & dog

My oncologist, Paul Richardson, is the honorary chairman of this event, and he gave an inspirational talk before the race about the current status of multiple myeloma research.  Two new drugs have been approved by the FDA so far in 2016, after a record number of approvals last year.

Paul comes to this event every year, and he ran this year with his dog.  I saw him on the course, and he was having a very respectable time.  I met with him afterwards and he told me that I look really good.  I found that very encouraging.

Our team then congregated at the starting line for this event.  The serious runners went to the front, while us slackers who were only walking hung back at the end.  We had several good athletes on our team, including Pam's cousin, Sam Whatley, who finished 14th out of 743 runners with a time of 20:08!  Wow!  I talked with Sam at the brunch after the event, and he told me that when the going got rough during the race, he thought about me and what I went through with my stem cell transplant, and it gave him the strength to push on.  Oh my!

Pre-walk

Many of the participants decided to walk with me, for which I was very grateful.  We started near the end of the line, after all the serious participants were on their way.  I have to say that it was a very special time for me having my family and close friends there supporting me and walking with me on that wonderful day.  There was a part of me that had wanted to run instead of walk, but my knee told me not to.  In retrospect, I'm glad, because I had a lot of my family and friends surrounding me as I walked the course.  I was elated.  Since we were near the end, my only goal was to finish before the clean-up truck came along to push me over the finish line.  I'm proud to say that I did.

 Afterwards, we hosted a brunch at the Coppersmith Restaurant in South Boston.  It was an awesome venue.  We had our own room with a great brunch menu.  Coppersmith was voted as the best place for Bloody Marys in Boston.  I had one, and I agree.  It was a great way to thank all the people who supported us in this effort.

This was one of the amazing events in my life.  I will never forget the overwhelming support from my family and friends.  Life is good!