What are you doing on June 20, 2020?  I will be running my very first marathon!  I have committed to run Grandma’s Marathon on Team Superstars to support Children’s Hospitals & Clinics.  I have set a fundraising goal of $1,500 and I’m hoping that with all of your help we can exceed that!  These donations will go towards the Heart Program at Children’s.

I’ve been a patient at Children’s Minnesota since I was just a few weeks old.  I was born with a congenital heart defect – luckily, we were able to monitor my VSD while I was growing up and I didn’t experience too many complications in my younger years.  As an adult, it was determined that the defect should be repaired and that is exactly what we did in May 2018.  I was once again a patient at Children’s (yes, at the age of 27) and my experience there was about as best as you can imagine – you know, for a heart surgery and all.  I was blessed with an amazing team of nurses, doctors, and staff.  I pretty much decided immediately that I needed to find a way to give back, and it looks like I found one!  I have always enjoyed running shorter distances, but it wasn’t until 2017 when I ran my first race, which happened to be a 10 miler.  When I scheduled my open heart surgery, I asked when I could start running again.  I ended up running another 10 miler only a few months post-op and at that point I told myself that I was actually going to run a marathon someday.  I have always wanted to run a marathon but never thought it would be possible until now.  I celebrated my one year heart surgery anniversary by running my first half marathon, and all of that was just in preparation for this!

Thank you all for your support and generous donations!  Wish me luck as I take on 26.2 miles in Duluth – and hey, at least I heard the course is pretty! :)