May 30th - Big day!

Wow, I've done a lot today and it's only 5pm.

First, we had group training at 7am at Forest Park. Let me just say that it was nasty outside...thunder, lightning, and a downpour. I didn't think there was any way that they would have us run in this mess. Boy was I wrong. I remember someone asking last time if they ever canceled group training, and they would only cancel if the lightning didn't stop but they wouldn't tell us until we were down there. So, I went ahead and headed to Forest Park with all intention of hoping it was cancel. But it wasn't. I was scheduled to go 3 miles today! It was crazy! It started out with the rain but the lightning and thunder had diminished. By the time that Gail (staff sponsor that stayed with me through my whole route today) and I had got to the half mile mark, the rain had mostly stopped and water was mainly just falling from the trees. The sun even came out around the 1.5 mile mark. Even my coach, Rick, kept up with us through most of the second half of my journey today. I have to admit that I mainly walked at a brisk pace today. Running is just so much harder outside, and that's something that I really need to work on. But it was good to accomplish that distance!

Then I had chosen to help out another teammate with a canister drive outside a Shop 'N' Save in Maplewood. The people were so generous. There for 4 of us standing around the entrance and I still managed to get $150! I was so excited to see that amount. I'm much closer to reaching my goal. (A word to those conducting canister drives themselves, people prefer to donate to a larger container than a coffee or slim jim-sized canister. Wal-mart has the perfect sized ones that I'll post a picture of soon!)

Tonight, my sister Jenny and I are heading down to the Taste of Maplewood that is in the same area so ask for donations and hand out beads if anyone wants them. I'm very sunburned from standing out in the sun for a good 6 hours today but I've loaded up on the sunscreen and hope that protects me from the sun tonight. I'm sure we will have a great time!