Never felt so alive!!!!!!

Today has been an absolutely amazing day!!! Actually, the entire weekend was great. We spent the weekend camping with a group of amazing friends and boating for two days! Although we got rained on the first night, we were able to spend plenty of time out on the water and the rain never dampened our spirits.

This morning, I woke up to see the sun rising over the water and the complete silence of a full campground. Other than myself and my husband, because I woke him up trying to get off of the air mattress we share, we were the only two people awake! Although the air was heavy with moisture, the temperature was cool and perfect for a run. We ran the entire campground a total of 7 times to make our 9 miles. I felt great during the run and could tell I was pushing myself for a better time. I wanted to stick to my 12 minute pace for a long run and with the help of my husband, I knew it would be possible. And it was! We finished up the run in 1:48:06! It was a great feeling!!

And then, as we were packing up the tent to get ready to head home, I got the phone call from my mom! The article was on the front page of the Sports page in the Post Crescent! I was so excited! I wanted to see it so bad, but when I walked up to the registration building at the campground, there were no newspapers to be found! I was going to have to wait until we got home to see it.

My husband stopped to buy a paper on our way home and as I looked at the picture on the front, I had a hard time recognizing myself! It was the picture I had emailed to the photographer, Bill, after our shoot. A picture of myself wrapped in pig skin and gauze, a feeding tube from my nose, no hair and frail skin. Oh my God! Was that picture really going to be seen by people all over the city? It has got to be one of the ugliest pictures I have ever had taken and I was plastering it all over the newspaper, and on a Sunday too!!! Ugh, what was I thinking? Of course, underneath that picture was the photo Bill had taken on that Tuesday training run. The one that looked like me and the one I could recognize. The article was awesome and it highlighted all of the signs and symptoms of SJS as well as gave websites for where to find more information. I am so happy!!!! http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20100725/APC0212/7250579/Woman-doesn-t-allow-ailment-to-outrun-her

So this weekend is the Green Bay Packer 5k. I can't wait! Part of the course is in Lambeau itself! Being a Packer fan, how can you not be excited for that! Then it's another 9 mile run on Sunday. It's starting to be a little unbelievable to me that I am able to run as far as I am. Honestly, I never knew I had it in me!!

We've sold nearly 50 shirts for the cause and I am hoping to sell more! It would be so great to see all of those blue shirts on race day! Let's just hope I can run through the emotion of that day! It is going to be another amazing one!!