Boston Marathon~ UNITED We Run!

The Boston Marathon is America’s iconic race, the oldest marathon in the country, and the most important. Eighteen people ran it in 1897; this year, the 117th running of the Boston Marathon,more than 23,000 people started the race.  If you are a runner you know this course is THE COURSE!  Over 1.3 million persons spend Patriots Day cheering and clapping for the runners. I sat at the edge of my chair at home~ as it was such an exciting moment to watch the Boston Marathon aired live!  This may be something that may not engage those who are not within the running community~ but as one who feels a sense of family I watched with sheer excitement, many members of this special community of mine running today.  I admit Boston is on my bucket list. I was entrenched in my social media outlets to cheer on those I know running.  Facebook and twitter allowed those of us who were watching to gather together and experience Boston.  I cheered as the first runners crossed and i was enamored by the men and women in uniform marching and running along with the Boston runners!  I had to force myself away to move forward with my nonMarathon day. 
Hours later, as the time approached that one of my Iconic heroes of running should be crossing, I checked back in to facebook to update myself and what was intended to be a day of joy and celebration quickly became a day in which running a marathon was of little importance.  The finish line today was not just one of the athletic sweating, straining, slowing, sprinting.~ but smoke, blood and horror filled the streets.  Chaos, blood and emergency filled the finish line, not the normal Chaos of finishing a race.  I sincerely was taken back to the same feeling i felt as i waited to locate loved ones on 9-11.  The videos of people fleeing from the blasts, with the smoke curling upward and rescue workers running to help were all to similiar.  Many runners I knew were quickly being accounted for, but not Bob.  It seemed much longer than the reality of the true time that passed. As i stayed glued to my phone, i got message that he had just crossed the finish line prior to the explosions.  Tears ran down my face, relief that my friend was ok, but also tears for those who had not escaped this horror!  My tears and horror quickly turned to anger.  The last mile had been staged in commemoration of the Newtown school shooting, in which 20 young children and six educators were killed in December. The finishing mile was dedicated to the victims of Newtown, and now reports that one of the three confirmed dead was another child, an 8 year old. 
As so many were injured and it is reported over 25 have lost limbs, it has been incredible to see the running community to pull together to do the only thing we know to do~ RUN! Our nation has proven we do not surrender and its marathoners won’t surrender to terror. United We will Run For the people who are dead and injured. I think they would want us all to never give up, not stop because of fear, to keep moving forward and keep running! We are definitely upset and deeply saddened, we are shaken by this event today at our Iconic Event~ The Boston Marathon, but we will not be broken.        Join us on 4-16-2013 as United We RUN! Running for good, not in fear.

 

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/111115999087040/

Chasing the Dream...one step at a time!

I am taking the next step in my Dream...creating a blog.  I love writing ~ the best form of expression from within .  I have always had the dream (not yet a goal) to write a book some day.  For now this will be my personal journey album...thank you for joining me on the adventure!
First, please allow me to define Chasing the Dream 2013!  Chasing the Dream ~what does this look like?? Chasing~ as it applies to me~ is BEing a Human Dynamo, it is as simple and as complex as that! The Dream~ that throughout each day I LIVE with an energetic, healthy, positive, and inspiring lifestyle~ creating initiative that impacts my family, friends and many others around me (that i know are watching, but I may not even see).  Through my own life I desire to Inspire and encourage others to be the fun, powerful, courageous, sexy, outrageous, daring selves that they desire to be!  I choose to LIVE FABULOUS! Since I have been on my journey toward a healthier lifestyle, I have discovered that I have inadvertently impacted people that I did not even realize were watching me. 
    I am Chasing the Dream to live the WIDTH of my life, not just get to the end of my days and only have lived the length. Each day I LIVE as a Survivor ~ Cancer changes lives! I view my cancer as the starting line of an event I am choosing to participate in.
My greatest passion in life is my family~  My husband of almost 22 years and my now two teenage children.   My desire is to help each person realize that they have it within themselves to be the best "ME" that they can be, starts right here at home! I sometimes wish i could go back in time and begin again at the age my children are now at...but because I can't...I take steps forward!
 Chasing the Dream is a more recent passion, one that I have embraced with high energy, determination and a positive attitude.  Upon the news by my oncologist (2009) " We have not found any more cancer cells ~ What are you going to do now?"  Being January, I believe any good football fan would reply the same as I did "I am going to Disney!!" Little did I know that day what my Disney Dream would truly evolve in to!! Two year Anniversary, January 2011, I was on the starting line of the Walt Disney World Full Marathon and that was just the beginning!!

 I never understood why people run, unless of course they were being chased. Now, i know why!  I do not NEED to run to define who i am...i DESIRE to run because it helps to define who I have BECOME!   I have learned that being an athlete & living a fit lifestyle is much more than mere exercises.  An athete is first and foremost a mind set! It incorporates nutrition, hydration, attitude, motivation, realistic goal setting, support systems, and most importantly passion about the fact that EACH of us has in us the potential to be FABULOUS! My desire is not to finish first, i do not ever forsee myself being the fastest, but if there is shiny Bling for my collection at the other end I will FINISH what I start! I just completed running ANOTHER runDisney half marathon on February 24th, 2013 ~ The Princess Half Marathon~  as member of a fast paced team, Team in Training Flex ~Chasing the Dream for a Cure~ and raising funds for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society to make a difference for cancer research and to benefit patients and their families. I know first hand cancer need not be a death sentence but may be a second chance to live life fully.  
I hope you choose to join me on this adventure~ i am excited to share where I have been, my day to day, and the journey ahead as I Chase the Dream 2013 (and Beyond ...said in my best Buzz Lightyear voice!)