Almost ShowTime!

We are in the final countdown.....the last 2 weeks before the marathon. Asia has peaked at 60 miles per week for several weeks and is now in her taper. February 25 Aaron came to the Running Fit 501 practice to run Asia's 20 miler with her. Typical of most of her Saturday long runs, it had snowed the night before and again Saturday morning. But she wore her screw shoes and she was fine. Last Wednesday was her last mid-week long run with Aaron and Michael, and she's already trying to figure out a way to keep it going....even to talking about running another marathon, if that's what it takes. This past Saturday and Sunday were her last back-to-back 10 mile runs......Saturday with her team and Sunday with Katie, Gwen, and Elizabeth.


All of this extra training would have been nearly impossible without the help of the dedicated runners who ran with her. We will make an LA Marathon collage picture when we get back, and include the pictures of her with her running buddies. We want to do something as a *thank you* but haven't decided what yet.

The other huge thank-you goes out to the family and friends who donated to Asia's fundraising campaign on Crowdrise. She was invited to run the marathon by Train 4 Autism, an organization founded and populated by people whose lives are impacted by autism.....in a family member, friend, co-worker, neighbor. Their purpose is to train endurance athletes to compete and raise money for the autism-related charity of their choice. Their newest project is to pair young runners who are on the autism spectrum with high school and college runners......thereby creating the next generation of *Asias*. Asia (and we) chose both T4A and the University of Michigan chapter of Best Buddies as the recepients of any monies raised. Our initial goal was $1,000 when I sent out the first and only email at the end of January. I am pleased to report that we had to raise the goal to $2,000, and have surpassed even that! The total, as of today, March 6, is $3,036, from 40 donors! I work for Kaiser Optical Systems, whose parent company is Rockwell Collins. Rockwell donated $1,000! We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our family and family of friends.

I have printed off the course map, as large as it would allow.....12 sheets taped together! (Even with a GPS, there's just something about a paper map!) Jim, a friend at work who used to live in LA went over the map with me after the street closure list was posted. We worked out the best way from the host hotel to the Start, and then in reverse, from the Start to the Finish. We found routes that will allow us to intersect the course and see the runners at Mile 6 and again Mile 17, before driving to the Finish Line. With luck we will see Asia and Sam (her running partner) at least once.

We are making mental packing lists......it's only 12 days now til the race.....