Thanksgiving

Dear friends & family,

Thank you for becoming a part of Team Bob this fall! When I first decided to register for the Chicago Marathon I had no idea what a process and incredibly rewarding experience it would be. I set my goal high at $2,620 ($100/mile) for each of the charities. Because of your unbelievable generosity, the final amount for each foundation far exceeded my goals:

Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation $4,906 (187 %!!)

American Cancer Society total $2,965

Team Bob grand total $7,871.00

I can’t even express into words the comfort I felt before the big race after all the weeks of receiving donations, notes of support, and words of encouragement from each one of you. I am especially grateful to my family and friends that made the trip to Chicago for the weekend. The weather was unusually hot for the time of year, reaching about 80 degrees at the starting line. It was so exciting to line up with thousands of other runners that the heat did not really become a factor until later in the race. A friend suggested that I write my name on the front of my shirt so that spectators could cheer for me. The entire race I heard “Nice job Grady!”, “Looking good Grady!”… Not to mention, I had so many friends and family to look forward to seeing every few miles. My great friend Maura Hyland hopped in with me for several miles to keep me going. The first half of the race definitely felt like a big party! While the weather was hot, it was manageable when hydrated.

It wasn’t until about mile 14 that things became dangerous from the heat. From what I have read the heat rose to almost 90 degrees. Between miles 14 and 15 the water station was completely out of water and Gatorade. All the runners could do was keep going and hope water was up ahead. Many runners started becoming very dehydrated around me and some were collapsing. Once I reached mile 17 and still had not received any water I stopped at a med tent to find out what was going on. It was here that I was told the race had been cancelled due to the heat. Soon I began hearing helicopters and police announcing that the race had been cancelled for all runners’ safety. I slowly ran up to mile 19 where my brother Chris was waiting for me with a bottle of water. After seeing him I looked up ahead and saw thousands of runners in front and behind me all walking. No one was running. I later learned that many of the runners were not even allowed to continue and were diverted back to the starting line. I met up with my sister-in-law Margie and great friend Rosetta who had planned to run the last 6 miles of the race with me. Luckily, we were allowed to continue walking and I was able to run the last mile in. I finally crossed the finish line after the 6 hour adventure to find my mom waiting with Team Bob signs!

While I was at first very disappointed that the race wasn’t as I had imagined, I realize that is the lesson of it all. I set out to accomplish two things, raise funds for cancer research and complete a marathon. I did both with so much pride knowing I accomplished what I set out to do because I had each of you supporting me as incredible friends and family. Thank you all so very much. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

With love & hope,

Anne Grady