Running for Research Coast to Coast

by: Christine A. Scheller

I didn’t imagine when I ran my first half marathon with NF Endurance in October 2008 that I’d be running my third on the other side of the country in 2010, or that I’d register for my fourth while my calves were still tight. Yet, here I am whittling down my times and racking up donations for a great cause!

I’m a Jersey Shore native, but my family and I had been living in Southern California when my son Michael, a friend and I signed up for Long Beach in 2008. Four days after we registered, my other son and NF hero, Gabriel, died tragically and unexpectedly. Despite the rawness of our grief, we decided to honor his memory by keeping our commitment to the team. There was little thought to race times, but we did raise more than $2,600 and had a wonderful, poignant day.

My family and I then moved home to central New Jersey and I ran the New York City Half Marathon with a tiny NF Endurance team in the blistering August heat of 2009. That too was an emotional, glorious race that finished yards from the World Trade Center site, and I raised another $1,220.

I knew my next event would have to be on my sandy home turf at the Jersey Shore. I was nervous about the April 17, 2010 date though, because the April weather here is generally miserable and I’ve never been a bad weather runner. My nightmare scenario was running on the boardwalk for 13.1 miles with icy, rainy wind blowing off the Atlantic and into my face. Long before April rolled around, I was contending with blizzards and torrential downpours.

I’m tri-vocational, don’t own a treadmill and didn’t belong to a gym. I got outside whenever I could, which was no more than once a week, beginning some time in February. By early March, I was able to get out more and gradually increase my distance. Still, I never ran more than twice a week and my longest run was 9.5 miles. I was sure this event would be my worst to date.

The weather report for race day was ominous. A looming storm that boasted rain, cool temperatures and 15-25 mph winds was the talk of the pre-race pasta dinner. Steve Kendra optimistically assured us it would blow over, but offered black trash bags for protection nonetheless. I looked out the window at the rain and groaned. Then I remembered he had just run the Antarctica Marathon, and I felt pretty silly for complaining about an ordinary Nor’easter’!

What a relief it was to wake up on race day to sun peaking through the clouds and wonderfully crisp temperatures. Unlike the lonely New York City race, I ran into team members throughout this run and gave CTF bracelets to a couple inquirers along the way. I even surprised myself by cutting another five minutes off my time! Now, if I can only get myself to stop taking pictures along the way, I might get it down below 2.5 hours!

As always, my husband Jeff was there to cheer on me and the team. Afterwards we had a great time reveling with them in our collective accomplishment. It was then that Jeff decided to take charge of my fundraising efforts. He’s retired with a physical disability, but spent many years as a highly successful salesman of quality products. I need his help because I haven’t yet met my fundraising goal for this event and I won’t close out the account until I do.

Picking up on an idea proposed by NF Endurance member Joe Gunn, we’re thinking about hosting a fundraising party for which I’ll cook and we’ll ask Jeff’s musical siblings to provide entertainment. A local radio host who follows me on Twitter is considering doing a radio spot with me as well. By the time we get to the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Philadelphia on September 19th, we’ll have surpassed our Jersey Shore goal and will have our sights set on a new one: raising $10,000 for CTF and earning me one of those uber-cool NF Endurance windbreakers! See ya’ in Philly!