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Oink! Oink! NFE will be at the Flying Pig Marathon.
COAST TO COAST
From Eugene, Ore., to Long Island, N.Y., NF Endurance will have participants in a variety of races this weekend. Chaun Steiner is leading the Flying Pig team. Krissy Diaz and Anne Shigley will bring in runners at the Long Island Marathon. And, the Lincoln National Guard team has strong leadership in Andy & Amy Schafer and Sharon Pfieffer.
Here’s the run down:
Flying Pig Marathon
Sunday, May 2, 2010 • Cincinnati, Ohio Race Web site NF Endurance Team Web site
Team Captain: Chaun Steiner
Total fundraising to date: $8,350
Eugene Marathon
Sunday, May 2, 2010 • Eugene, Ore. Race Web site
NF Endurance Member: Christa Heinz
Long Island Marathon
Sunday, May 2, 2010 • Long Island, N.Y. Race Web site NF Endurance Team Web site
Team Captain (s): Krissy Diaz and Anne Shigley
Total Fundraising to date: $4,150
REGISTER FOR NF CAMP NF Camp is a unique chance for kids who have NF to meet peers to share in what it’s like to live with NF. Held in Utah, NF Camp offers an opportunity for kids across the United States to participate in one of two sessions, July 17-23 and July 24-30. Campers can register for whichever week best fits their family schedule. Click here to download the camp application. Scholarships are available. For more information, please contact Patrice ((Enable Javascript to see the email address)). Also, if you are interested in sponsoring a child to go to NF, or being a counselor-in-training, please contact Patrice. For more information, please download a camp brochure here.
SNACK TIME
Jennifer Garner is teaming up with Frigidaire for Make Time for Snack Time, a virtual campaign to promote healthier lifestyles in children. For each time someone visits the site and “stops” the clock, which is composed of healthy food choices, Frigidaire will donate $1 to support Save the Children. After you click on an ingredient you will be directed to a healthy snack recipe. For example if you land on “raisins” you will get instructions for ants on a log and warm fruit and nut mix. For more brain food for athletes, check out these tips from Active.
THANK MOM
We have so many hardworking moms on our NF Endurance Team; Start thinking now (it’s next weekend!) about how you can say thanks for all they do to help make our lives just a little bit easier. Here are some fun e-card sites.
- Hallmark - Try taking a picture of her in an NF running singlet and making a photo card on hallmark.com ($1/hallmark.com).
- MOMA – For the artsy mom, choose your favorite print such as Louise Bourgeois’ I Love You and customize with your message. (FREE; moma.org/ecards)
- Hipster – You had to get your charming funkiness from someone; thank mom! (FREE; hipstercards.com)
MAY = NF AWARENESS MONTH
Saturday, May 1, 2010 will kick off NF Awareness Month. Here is a way to spread awareness about NF and the work of the Children’s Tumor Foundation: The Foundation’s Annual Report, which is now online. To date, the Foundation’s investment of $700,000 in the DDI has returned $3.7 million in follow-on funding. What does that mean? Every $1 donated to the DDI program became more than $5 for NF research. Kudos to everyone for your help in our shared goal to find a cure for NF. And, for additional educational information on NF, check out these PowerPoint presentations from the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s NF Clinic. Authors include Dr. Daniel Marullo, Dr. Bruce Korf, Dr. Joseph Ackerson and Dr. Kevin Boyd.
Running is more than a sport, it is a way of life. More than a destination, it is a bridge to new life. Running in our society is as much about relationships as it is about fitness. I heard someone say once that when we are not running we talk about running and when we are running we talk about everything else.
When we run, we eventually come face to face with simple truths that penetrate us at deeper levels. We learn to breathe and relax so we can run longer, we realize that speed and endurance are centered in our core strength rather than the size of our leg muscles and we experience how worry and anxiety rob us of valuable energy. The race is won at the finish line, we can dig deep to find strength in our weakness and that patience is nature’s secret are just a few of the real life lessons we come to know when we run.
People are running for reasons well beyond the health, fitness and personal accomplishment they receive. Consider the story of Lesley Oslica, who with some of her best friends, traveled to Oklahoma City last weekend to run the 10th Oklahoma City marathon. A lot was happening in this race and I’m going to see if I can capture some of it for you through Lesley’s experience within the broader context of the race.
For the last 10 years, runners have come from all over to run and remember. If you run the race, you will never forget the 168 seconds of silence in memory of the 168 victims at the beginning of the race. Music, energy and nervous activity are instantly replaced with the sound of the wind blowing through the tall downtown buildings and the songs of birds in the air. 168 seconds is a long time, long enough to deeply remember why you are there. And after you’ve asked your body to give you all it has to complete 26.2 miles you walk through the 168 chairs that signify the people who lost their lives and see the medals from other runners hung on the chairs in their memory. It’s at this point that you are ready to learn a deep lesson about the value of life and realize at a deeper level how blessed and lucky you are.
Lesley and Connie’s running began as a way to raise awareness for Neurofibromatosis (NF) and hopefully to fund the discovery of a cure for everyone who is living with NF. Their NF Hero is their daughter Katie.
They have attended many endurance events this year and this was Lesley’s fourth marathon of 2010. Of all she gives to the Children’s Tumor Foundation, the people who are touched by NF and to those she runs with, she would be the first to tell you that at the end of the day she feels like she receives more than she gives. She was the leader of and in many ways the inspiration for the NF team who ran the 2010 Little Rock Marathon and raised over $10,000 to fund research at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
While there are many reasons that we run, those of us who race fully understand the joy of a personal record (PR) for a given distance. The PR can feel like the pinnacle of our accomplishment and the source of our despair. Yes, we are running for more than a PR, but deep down most of us have a number in our head that we want to see on the clock when we finish. Lesley has had a dream to break 5 hours in a marathon someday and has come within minutes a couple of times this year. She had decided before the race that she’d completely focus on experiencing the race and give up the goal of getting under 5 hours. “I went out not even thinking about time. I had decided it was just going to be a fun day because the wind was so strong (15-25 mile gusts), and I just didn’t want to fight it all day thinking about my time. So – I never looked at my time – and made an agreement with myself not to look at it until mile 25. If I was close at that point (25 mi), I would give it all I had.”
It was at this point that so many life truths that we learn through running collided and Lesley not only got a PR but she put 15 minutes between her finish time and her five hour goal. The goal that had eluded her time and time again. The expressions in the pictures below tell the story of accomplishment, patience, friendship and joy on many levels. People often ask why we run. We run for our health, for our friends, for people we don’t know who were killed in a horrific bombing incident, to raise money to find a cure for NF and to learn many of the deeper things in life first hand. Oh yes, and also to get a PR. Way to go Lesley, you did it!!!!!!
Pete Tanguay is also a NF Endurance member. He participated in the 2010 Little Rock Marathon, raising more than $4,000 for NF research. He currently resides in Conway, AR and is the founder and president of Rock Pond Solutions.
The next time you think running in your singlet is hot, imagine running in full uniform too. Michael Junge, of Orlando, Fla., is a firefighter who spreads awareness about the Children’s Tumor Foundation and NF when he runs in full gear and neon, including his airpack. He recently participated in the Wounded Warrior 5K in Orlando, Fla. on April 10, 2010.
The gear in all, weighs about 40 pounds. “The weight isn’t such a big deal, what I really have to plan for, is the heat that I generate,” said Michael. “Our gear is a vapor barrier to keep dangerous gases and heat from getting in (Think fire), and so it works just the opposite as well, by not letting heat out.”
Michael met a group of Foundation staff, volunteers and members of the NF community at the Daytona 5K just before the Rolex 24. “They really made an impact on me, and I inquired with them about a close friend’s son, Caden, who has a tumor in his hand that keeps coming back.”
Michael has been doing 5K’s in full gear, and occasionally some longer runs for the last four years, participating in nearly 100 events. He started running in his gear to encourage others to get in shape, and show that firefighters are in good physical and cardio health. “For the last year or so I kept having people ask me, ‘Who am I running for,’ or ‘What cause am I running for,’ so when I met the CTF/NF group, it just seemed like a good fit.”
Wearing extra gear requires him to pay more attention to hydration. An hour prior to the run he “pre-hydrates” with a 16-ounce bottle of Gatorade; during the run he alternates water and Gatorade. ” I usually have no soreness or ill effects after, and I attribute that to the pre-hydration.”
Michael used to jog the entire distance, but now he usually jogs the first mile and half, and alternates with brisk walking, always crossing the finish line running. “I have somewhat of a modified jog/run, in order to absorb the added weight.”
He hopes to customize his gear with NF Endurance logos. Michael will be participating in several upcoming events including the Firefighter Challenge in Orlando, Fla. on May 29, 2010 and National Touring Firefighter Combat Challenge in Kissimmee, Fla. on May 21-22, 2010.
“I don’t really go to win any of the events I do, but just go to finish, and perform well – hopefully making a few people take notice along the way.”
NF Camp is a unique chance for kids who have NF to meet peers to share in what it’s like to live with NF. Held in Utah, NF Camp offers an opportunity for kids across the United States to participate in one of two sessions, July 17-23 and July 24-30. Campers can register for whichever week best fits their family schedule. Click here to download the camp application. Scholarships are available. For more information, please contact Patrice ((Enable Javascript to see the email address)). Also, if you are interested in sponsoring a child to go to NF, or being a counselor-in-training, please contact Patrice. For more information, please download a camp brochure here.
Lesley and Connie’s running began as a way to raise awareness for 