Mith SamLanh "Friends"

Thank you again to everyone for all of your support throughout thetraining process. I'm happy to announce that I have reached my goal andhave exceeded $1000 of donations (in both paypal and personal checks)for Mith Samlanh "Friends"! If you haven't donated already, it's not too late! I'll be making my actual donation to friends early next week after I return from Minnesota.My t-shirt has already arrived and I can't wait to wear myCambodian-designed logo this coming Sunday. I completed my last longtraining run on Saturday - 7 miles in humid, rainy gross-ness - whichis making me ever-more-grateful for the cool air of the northern UnitedStates!Other than that, I'm trying to rest myself for the upcoming race,including ignoring the scratchy throat/impending cold I've been feelingsince Saturday. EmergenC usually does wonders for me, so I'm hoping itwill continue its magic this time around!My friend (psuedo coach) Peter reminded me to actually get excitedabout the race, and I'm glad he did. All of this work over the past 6months is finally coming to a head and I'll have the chance to reallysee what 26.2 feels like - for better or for worse. I'm impressed withmyself for actually following through and making it this far, despitethe shin splints, my crazy summer traveling schedule, AND the mostrecent IT band woes I've encountered. I'm excited to know what it feelslike to cross that finish line and hear thousands of strangersscreaming my name. And I'm also going to try to remember to smile whenI see a photographer along the course so that I don't have any moreembarassing running pictures floating around the internets.I'll be posting more race-day information here in the coming days,including ways for you to receive race updates from your cell phone.

Thank you SO much to all of you who've donated so far! I sincerely appreciate your support and I know that the money raised will most definitely help the street children of Cambodia.

I've got my last long practice run on Sunday this weekend - a half-marathon race in Rockville, and then I'm planning to run back to Arlington to get the last of the full 20 miles in! I know I'll be hurting afterwards, but it will be great preparation for October 5th.

At the end of this weekend I will have run over 50 miles in just the past two weeks! I can't believe race day is so soon :o).

For my upcoming 30th birthday I've spent the past 4 months training to run the 2008 Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The marathon is on October 5th (a few weeks after my 30th birthday) and it will be my first marathon ever!I'm dedicating my race to an amazing organization I had the honor of knowing during my time living in Cambodia, Mith Samlanh Friends- "a program for street children, their families, and their community."In 2006, Friends was faced with the possibility of losing their amazingfacility in the heart of Phnom Penh, and have launched a hugefundraising campaign in order to purchase the building permanently. Tohelp support their effort, I am raising money for my marathon on behalfof Friends.You can be assured that 100% of your donation to me will go to Friends International.Friends is well known for their primary and vocational education ofpoor children living on the streets of Cambodia, as well as their abuseprevention programs, medical care, healthy meals, and familyreintegration. Most Cambodian and expatriates will be familiar with theFriends and Romdeng training restaurants - restaurant vocationalprograms with a fantastic reputation in Phnom Penh.Please help me raise $1000 for Friends so that thousands more children can be helped through their programs!