From Niece Brianna: Thank you for your support!

Hello Friends and Family,

I did it!  Thank you all so much for supporting me while I trained for the Seattle Rock n' Roll marathon which I completed on June 26th.  Thanks to all of you, WE contributed almost $2000 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which is helping to accelerate finding cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma and bring increased hope to the patients and families who are on the front lines of the battle against these blood cancers.  I was amazed by all the wonderful people I met while training.  I heard some incredible stories and hardships from patients and their families who have struggled with this disease.  Our Team in Training chapter raised over $638,000!!

As for race day, I could not have been more pleased to wake up to a typical grey, cool, Seattle sky as it happens to make for ideal running weather.  I started the race off at a slow pace with my incredible running partners, Jill and Celene.  By mile 6 I was feeling warmed up and looking forward to the run ahead of us until we heard someone yell from the side lines "only 20.2 miles to go ladies!".  Not exactly what you want to hear that early in the race.  We just smiled and kept our spirits up.  I felt very fortunate to have so much support along the course from both friends and family.  My parents, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Tony were at mile 11 just after we crossed the I-90 bridge.  My dad even jumped in and ran us into the half way point.  Kevin and his parents were at mile 18 and shortly after at mile 20 I saw my girls Kristin, Mahsa and Colleen.  It was so wonderful to see all their faces and have them cheering us on.  I was able to finish the marathon with a smile and just under my goal of 4:30 hrs. 

For the future, I plan to continue running often.  I've signed up for a half marathon in Bellingham this upcoming September and although I'm not ruling out running another full marathon, I am enjoying my time off from my training schedule.  I hope to run another full marathon in 2011.  Let me know if you want to join me!

Hope you enjoy my photos from race day:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Brianna.Knox/SeattleRockNRollMarathon#

Happy running,
Brianna