Running Friends from RunningAHEAD.com

Much of the inspiration I had to even think about running this marathon, other than my oldest running daughter, Chelsea, friend, Dianna, fellow firefighter, Kathy, and those that can't like Cassy, has come from many fine folks who log and post on the above site. There are truly some amazing people on that site that never cease to inspire and encourage me. One of those is Sara, an awesome young woman and attorney from the St. Louis area who had already run a couple of half marathons. To tell you how special a person she is would be an understatement. Case in point, on November 11, 2007 (my birthday), Sara was scheduled to run The St. Louis Track Club & Special Olympics Half Marathon (HM). Her mom was bringing her cousin's 3 year old daughter at the time (I think she may be 4 now), Anna, who has severe spina-bifida and is paralyzed from the chest down, to the race to see Sara and do her own 1/2 Mile Youth Run as part of the race festivities that day. Sara's HM race started at 8:00 a.m. and the 1/2 Mile Youth Race, Anna's race, started at 8:45 a.m. While Sara is an awesome runner, there is no way she could finish a HM in 45 minutes to make it to Anna's race so she selflessly traded in her HM race bib for a 5K race bib, ran the 5K at 8:00 a.m., and then after running a 3.1 mile race, sprinted to the start of Anna's race to be there to "run" it with Anna. The first thing you have to realize is the countless hours of running that Sara had to do to train for the marathon. And, to set aside her goal of a more glamorous HM race that she had trained for to run a 5K so she could get to the start of Anna's race is simply the epitome of being unselfish.

Sara is now training for her first marathon, The St. Louis Marathon on April 6, 2008. True to her nature, she is not undertaking this race out of simple selfish ambition but has partnered with Team in Training and has committed herself to raising $2,500.00 through Team in Training to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and is running in honor of Ryan Brown, the son of her high school friends, who at 5 years of age, lost his battle to cancer on July 10, 2005. You can partner with Sara, as Tammy and I have, in pledging toward her race in meeting her Team in Training fundraising goal by clicking on her link here http://www.active.com/donate/tntgmo/saraholtsman. Even if you can't donate to her, I do encourage you to at least read her Team in Training site as it's an awesome story and her blog, Running Lawyer, to leave her encouraging words in her unselfish training toward her first marathon. Sara, you are an inspiration my running friend! May the Lord bless your efforts.