Ready to Go!

As you probably all know, I'm running the marathon for Cancer Research UK, in memory of my Mom & godsister. It was important to me that I honor them, as well as making sure that I was identifiable as a CRUK runner. Cancer Research was sweet enough to send me a cotton t-shirt, but, if you know anything about running, you'll know that technical, wicking fabrics are the ONLY thing to run in! So, I decided that I would make my own shirt!

I was fairly certain that I wanted to find a nice light teal shirt to match the color of the t-shirt that CRUK sent me. I managed to find one that Nike did, but had to order it when my local running store was out of my size. Luckily, that turned up late last week (along with my marathon day pair of shoes).

My next mission was to have decals made. Yes, I think the word "decal" is funny and am convinced that if I added a few more, I could look like a Nascar driver. (However, I will actually be going slowly enough that they will be readable!) I did some poking around etsy and found that one woman who does great, mostly Disney-related, decals also does custom orders (and luckily, they work on polyester, which is the wicking fabric of choice). Jen at Miss Morgan was SO helpful and SO patient with me and we exchanged quite a few messages back and forth to get everything just right. It was fantastic of her! She mailed the decals out on Thursday and they arrived on Friday (she's also in the Seattle metro area). I had a 2 AM ironing session Friday night and I think my shirt looks awesome.

I've got the Cancer Research logo on the front (and will add my name), the TEB's troops logo on the sleeve (the charity started by my godsister's friends in her honor/memory), and my mom's name on the back.

I put together the entire "race day" outfit yesterday for a trial, 12 mile, run. I can confirm that everything went well and there wasn't even any chaffing!

A few random things:

• If you enjoyed my post on Kathrine Switzer, she's the interviewee this week (and next week) on Marathon Talk (my other favorite podcast). DEFINITELY worth a listen - I can't wait for next week!
• Here is a bald eagle from my trip to Tsawwassen, the day after the 30K race. My co-worker had told me that there's a HUGE concentration of them on the peninsula and where to go to watch. He was right! (And the walk was JUST what I needed to shake out my tired legs, even if I was jealous of all the runners on such a beautiful day.) This guy was REALLY close and I saw at least three more flying. Birder's paradise!