It was a party!!

Last night's "Know Before You Go" party at Lindy's house was just so much fun. It was such a change to see all of us cleaned up, wearing 'real' clothes, with hair done and make up on. We didn't look like our normal Saturday morning no make up, sweaty, ball cap-wearing selves. We are actually quite a lovely group of ladies!

Andrea gave us the low down on the weekend's events. Wowie - there was a lot of info there. I was trying not to get overwhelmed. I went back and forth between being excited and being nervous and being so emotional about it that I thought I just might cry.

Here are some of the highlights:

There will be about 30,000 running the marathon. And about 4,000 of those people will be TNT'ers! She said that every Leukemia Chapter in America has someone participating in the RNR Marathon. (I think she said there were 68 chapters.) I think that's just neat. She said there will be purple TNT jerseys EVERYWHERE! The TNT'ers are very well taken care of by the Elite Racing staff (company that puts the race together) all weekend.

All of us on the San Diego team met -- and exceeded -- our fundraising goal! YIPPEE FOR US!!! We are already winners!!!

The rough schedule for the weekend goes something like this:

Friday - Arrive San Diego. Our flight gets in about 11am. Andrea & George recommended going to the Expo that afternoon to get our packets and to visit the booths since it will be uber crowded on Saturday. This will probably be our last good night of sleep since we'll be too keyed up on Saturday night to sleep much. Should not be a problem since our flight out of Memphis is at 6am. So Friday is a long day to begin with. Sleep should come easy.

Saturday - Pasta Party at 1pm. Followed by a team meeting where we will get last minute instructions. Probably a group dinner after that and then early bedtime for an attempt at sleeping.

There are lots of things to see and do in that area. And, did you know, San Diego is only 23 miles from Tijuana!? (OK, so geography isn't my strong suit...) But it is *right* on the Mexico border. Not really sure how I will spend my free time. Maybe just laying low for a little R&R and enjoying the "away from home quietness". I definitely don't want to do a lot of walking (and risk blisters and sore legs) or do something to get sunburned (like go to the beach) or get arrested in Mexico (just kidding!) I'm always good with a book and a chair by the pool.....

Sunday - RACE DAY! Shuttles will leave the hotel about 4:00 am. The race is scheduled to begin at 6:30 am, but it is a 'wave start' which means they start the fastest runners first and go in order down the corrals. We are all in corral #19. George says it could be about 15 minutes or so before we cross the start line. The long and the short of it for Sunday morning is a lot of sitting around waiting. It will be hard to manage that with the nerves and excitement....

Weather that early could be cool and ground could be damp. George said to bring garbage bags to sit on and/or wear. It was also suggested that we wear an old, inexpensive long sleeved t-shirt to wear early that morning before and during the early part of the race. Then you can throw it along the side of the road. These are usually sent to a local shelter. Which I think is just a neato thing.

Andrea suggested when we get there to go straight for the porta-pottie line and then come out and get *back* in the line and then do that about three more times.

Sunday night there is a victory party somewhere (I missed wherever that will be and really what it is.) and then the post race concert (Pat Benatar). I guess all that post-race hoopla is just tentative for me depending on how I am feeling. Wherever I choose to be will be my own victory party!

Monday - Return to Memphis. Flight is at 8:30 am or something like that. Long day of travel since we are flying back against the clock. Get in at 6:00 pm. Maybe I'll wear my medal on the plane.....

We all got our purple race jerseys! HOORAY for us!!! We have two honored teammates that are included on the jersey. Jordi (It says "I'm doing this for Jordi") is a young girl fighting leukemia. And the Memphis Grizzlies mascot ("Friends of Grizz") is battling lymphoma. Here are some pics of Jessica (brown shirt) and George (easy to identify) and Nicole (red shirt) ironing their names on their jerseys. (If your name is on your jersey, the crowd will cheer for you by name! That will be cool.) It was getting a bit late, so I had to head on home, but I ironed my name on this morning and added Daddy's picture (that says "For My Dad" on it). Turned out pretty nice I think. Take a look.

It was really just a fun night. It was exciting to talk about what we will be doing that weekend -- what to expect and how it will all play out. We've been working towards this major goal for almost 6 months now. And here we are getting ready to do it! I still can't believe it. It was nice to be together - as a team - to visit and laugh and just have fun being together NOT RUNNING!