The New York City Marathon (Part 1 - Thank-you e-mail)

Hello! Here's the thank-you e-mail I sent to all my donors. I apologize if you already got this! I'll post a full race recap soon :)

Well, this past Sunday I crossed the finish line of the acclaimed ING NYC Marathon!

The course was no joke- FULL of up hills and down hills- but I completed all 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 7 minutes!! I joined over 40,000 other participants from around the country in completing the race (enthusiastic photo attached).

Any marathoner will tell you that all you want to do after a race is tell people all about it. Unfortunately, people who have never run a marathon don't really care much to hear every gritty detail, so I will spare you. However, there is one inspirational story that I simply MUST share.

Last week, while researching potential major gift donors for the non-profit at which I was temping, I came across an executive at a major company who had a beautiful daughter named Melissa. Melissa had down syndrome and lost a battle with Leukemia on April 7 of this year. I was touched by Melissa's story and – seeing as my job was to find out as much information as possible about this person – I found the home address of her family. On a whim, I wrote them a letter much like this one telling them what I was doing for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and telling them that I would be running the marathon in Melissa's honor as well. Well, Saturday night, just 12 hours before the start of the New York City marathon I checked my e-mail to find a $1,000 donation from Melissa's generous parents. Talk about a touching moment. Not only was this donation completely unexpected and supremely generous, it also took me WAY beyond my personal fundraising goal. That's Melissa's photo on my back in the attached photo. You wouldn't believe all the people who came up behind me during the race and said she was inspiring them to keep going. Learn more about Melissa at www.riggio.net

Of course, the search for a cure for cancer of all types still isn't over. I know so many of you have been affected by this disease. If you haven't had a chance to donate yet, please consider making even just a $5 donation to help our team reach out final goal. Your money will go directly to The Society's mission- to better the lives of cancer patients and their families and find a CURE to not only blood cancers, but ALL cancers. Please don't wait. Make a donation today. http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/nyc08/VandySanctus

If you've already donated, please know how much your money is appreciated. But don't take my word for it. Hear it from someone who has benefited directly from your generosity- my teammate, marathon finisher AND leukemia survivor Dani Frisch:

"I didn't have any choice other than to receive chemo and radiation. On the other hand, I have a choice, everyday, to run and raise more life saving funds for others battling blood cancers. I am proud to say I am striving for more everyday, and so happy you have made the choice to help others as well."

Thanks again for your support (and I promise I'm not going to do this again ;-)