I finished!

Official time: 13.1 miles in 2:22:44

Checking it off the life list…

Yes, I’ll do another one. I had a great time.

I’m counting down for the Marine Corps Half Marathon in Jacksonville next Saturday (October 3rd). Now that I’m in the single digits, the pressure is definitely on. I’ve had a good past few weeks of training, including getting in my long runs of 7, 8, 9 and 10.5 miles on the weekends. I finally found road markings that are spot on (thanks Jacksonville Running Co!) and re-calibrated my Nike+ so I know for sure each mile I’m pounding out really counts as such. This weekend I’m planning on tapering the miles down to a 7 or 8 mile long run, then getting in three shorter (think 4 miles or less) runs early next week before running THIRTEEN-POINT-ONE in one go. (yikes)

There’s a way for you to be at the race with me, cheering me every step of the way. As part of my fundraising for the N. Florida Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, I’m putting the names of everyone who gives (or pledges) on my race shirt to wear in the Marine Corps half and the other races I’ll do this year. The cut off to add your name to the shirt is tomorrow, though I’ll be raising money through November. If you can’t donate, leave a comment or send me an email telling me you’re pledging to do so. To make your donation, visit my page at http://bit.ly/ltbeyer-cff.

Here are the shirt layouts I’ve narrowed it down to. Please vote for your favorite font/color/layout look via the poll at the bottom:

First one

Second-ish

Third-like

Best for last

Thanks again for all your support, both in the fundraising and cheering me on during my training for the half marathon. I’ll keep updating to let you know how I do with both!

Great news for people with CF (and those for support CFF) came through last week, which I first saw on Twitter.

September 1, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ZENPEP™ (pancrelipase), a pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy.

Pancreatic enzymes are an essential treatment of cystic fibrosis. They help people with the disease absorb nutrients.
The FDA is requiring all pancreatic enzyme replacement products on the market to be reformulated and undergo clinical testing. ZENPEP, developed by Eurand, is the second enzyme therapy to be granted approval.

The new drug will be available for both adults and children ages 1 and up through various dosage strengths. This is important because CF is a chronic disease that affects babies from birth, so being able to treat infants s well as adults is a huge step for CF treatments. There still is no cure for CF, but advancements like this are the reason why thousands of people around the world work to raise awareness and money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

You can help me support the CF Foundation by making a donation to my Single Greatest Night Jacksonville page. Go to http://bit.ly/ltbeyer-cff to give $15 (or more) and be part of MY 100 challenge!

Yes, he came home. I’ve been a little distracted ever since, but here’s the proof:

We were a little happy to see each other

<3

Update: Due to safety concerns about announcing where US Navy ships are in the world, I had to stop the countdown. But, thankfully, everyone returned home safely.

I’ve waited until this day is almost up, but figured this was too good for me to pass up the chance to do. For the 9th day left in the countdown, I present to you…Mike Modano Day.

Mike Modano is one of my favorite reasons to be a Dallas Stars fan, which I am now thanks to Garrett. I even went to two games this year (which is one more game than I saw of my own Trail Blazers!)

First Stars game - Dec 31, 2008

Stars at Tampa Bay - Jan '09

It’s getting close!

Tagged: 2009, countdown, dallas stars, klakring, mike modano, navy, turtles ]]> http://ltbeyer.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/klakring-countdown-nine/feed/ 0 L*Boogie Mike Modano Stars NYE Stars at Tampa Bay - Jan 09 http://ltbeyer.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/meet-zoe/ http://ltbeyer.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/meet-zoe/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:30:24 +0000 ltbeyer http://ltbeyer.wordpress.com/?p=219 ]]>

Single Greatest Night honorees got together for lunch yesterday (thanks Carabbas!) and we were joined by a couple of the team ambassadors, Zoe and Cammie. I should back up and tell you about how our teams are structured, and why. Each of us 40+ honorees are all divided between 4 different teams to provide help each other fundraise and provide a competitive incentive as we go through November. Each team is named after an child ambassador from Jacksonville with CF. I am a proud member of Team Zoe (and we’re the top fundraising team so far!).

Zoe is an adorable 5-year-old girl, the youngest of 8 kids. She was diagnosed with CF just before her first birthday, but you wouldn’t know it by meeting her. Zoe is a little shy, but she is very into princesses, Hello Kitty and most things pink. Zoe’s mom, Jada, is an avid blogger. She chronicles the family and Zoe’s journey with CF on the blog, Zoe for Life. (I’ve also added it to my blogroll if you want to check it out.)

It was great to sit down with other members of Team Zoe and meet Zoe, her brother Austin and their mom Jada over lunch. Zoe spent most of the lunch coloring in her Hello Kitty color book, but she did wow us with some Princess trivia (Who is the only princess to have 3 different names?) and gave us all purple bracelets that read “Cure Cystic Fibrosis.” Here are a few pictures we took with Zoe after lunch.

An almost smile from Zoe!

The CF bracelets Zoe gave us (and her own)

Zoe and her brother Austin

Meeting Zoe and her family gave me another unforgettable connection to CF. Lately my giving back efforts haven’t gone much further than running in a charity race, donating blood or giving money to a friend’s fundraising efforts…but getting involved with CFF and Single Greatest Night has been one of the best things I’ve done since I came to Jacksonville. It’s amazingly powerful to interact with kids like Zoe and be able to share their stories with all of you. Most of us take for granted the breaths we take, yet there are 30,000 children and adults in America who are fighting a disease that can make each breath a struggle. Next time you take a deep breath, I hope you think of Zoe and her fight.

To help my efforts to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, please consider donating by clicking here.

I tweeted yesterday’s countdown because I couldn’t get on the blog to post…

My favorite part of the night came later, when I got a phone call from my favorite “cute boy”.

So now the countdown is 19 (or 18 and a wake up, depending on who you ask)…and I’m getting even more excited. Today I got to peek into the homecoming of the USS Stennis (CVN-74) on Twitter and see pictures of the ship pulling in and sailors coming off, which did nothing to quell my excitment and daydreams of experiencing that myself  very soon.

Day 19 is brought to you by the game Cribbage, in which a 19-point hand is impossible to achieve, and the singer Adele, who’s album ‘19′ includes one of my favorite songs (and my own dediciation back to G), To Make You Feel My Love. (video below)

Bonus: here’s the YouTube video of the Staind song G told me to listen to (couldn’t find the mp3 to post). Isn’t he sweet?

Today’s theme: 21st Century Breakdown — a nod to Green Day and the current times we live in.  One of the single titles on GD’s new album is extremely appropriate after 23 weeks of waiting, don’t you think?

Green Day – “Restless Heart Syndrome” (click to listen)

And no, I didn’t forget to continue my countdown…I was just busy with lots of Single Greatest Night for Cystic Fibrosis stuff today. But I wasn’t too busy to keep thinking “only three weeks left” every five seconds throughout the day. Even when someone asked me, “how long until Garrett comes home?”, I answered with a big smile for the first time. What a change from a few weeks ago when I was telling myself that I could get through 8 more weeks alone. Now I’m counting the days to make sure I have enough time to get back to running, buy plane tickets for our trip home, get a haircut and a couple more girls nights in!

I’m laying down the gauntlet to all of you. Whether you’re a friend, family, online friend, part of the CF community or just stumbled on my blog looking for pics of  a Mexican fire dance or Nissan Altima (yes I can tell how you get here)…I invite you all can be part of my Cystic Fibrosis Challenge.

Here’s the deal: I’m committed to raising $1,500 for the North Florida Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, as part of being named a 2009 Single Greatest Night honoree. It sounds like a lot of money, but when I realized I only need $15 donations from 100 people that seemed easy. After all, I have 2,000 followers on Twitter, 600 friends on Facebook and a big family to reach out to.  Whether you can spare $5, $15 or $50 I’m asking for your help.

In return, I promise to keep you updated about the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, share my stories of being an honoree, and build awareness of CF through all my channels. If that’s not enough for you, I’m going to put everyone’s names who donates through me on the back of a running shirt that I’ll wear in every race for the rest of the year (including the half marathon I keep meaning to do). So to recap – be part of  MY 100 by making a donation to CFF at http://bit.ly/ltbeyer-cff and I’ll put your name on a t-shirt, share pictures & videos with you about life as an honoree AND you get to help out a very deserving (and efficient!) non-profit in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. (Do I even have to mention its a tax writeoff?!)

If you want to know more about the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Single Greatest Night Jacksonville, check out the interviews I did with Liza, our CFF Special Events Director, and Stewart, who is the chairman of the ‘09 SGN event. I’m actually headed to a CFF meeting tonight, so expect more stories to come.

Thanks for reading, watching and considering to help me reach the MY 100 goal for CFF. Feel free to comment here or email, DM, poke or FB message me or contact me in any other way if you have questions or a story to share. Cheers!

According to Wikipedia, the number 22 is significant to many in math, religion and sports (Clyde Drexler and Emmit Smith both wore #22). Today was significant as millions of people around the world watched Michael Jackson’s memorial service from LA. For me though, its just one (stormy) day closer to my guy coming home.

Today’s theme: Singing in the rain, MJ style…proof that you really can find anything on the internet.