A great day for a run

First of all, congratulations to all the marathon runners.

It was a great day for a run and I felt confident and pretty comfortable throughout the course (though the last few miles were pretty hard), but I couldn't have finished the race without the help of many people.

Thank you to my family and friends for the support over the last six months. It has been fun sharing this time with them. I realized recently that I'm going to miss discussing my training - I've enjoyed and appreciated all the inquiries about how it had been going.

Thank you to anyone who gave advice during the training - coaches, other runners, etc. It all played a big part in raising my confidence and in preparing me for race day. I could easily write 1,000 words about all the tips and instruction, but I will simply offer the #1 piece of advice I received, from many people: Take it easy in the first few miles of the race.

Thank you to the Run for the Memory team - the camaraderie of the training runs, the informative monthly meetings, the training plan that prepared me well for the big day.

Thank you to my newest pair of running shoes, which are definitely the most comfortable I've had. (Good timing!)

Thank you to energy gel, Gatorade, Powerade, water, bagels, chocolate milk, ice cream, bananas, water, gummy bears, PowerBars and water - all were helpful in their own special way.

Thank you to the BAA for the number.

Thank you to anyone who read this blog.

Thank you to all the spectators, including friends and family, who lined the course yesterday. Seeing people I knew really lifted me up at key parts of the race. And people I didn't know helped as well, especially the loud crowds at the start, Wellesley College, BC, Kenmore Square and the finish line.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the Alzheimer's Association, and for that matter, all the other great charities in full display on the course yesterday.

Thank you to the Alzheimer's Association for its valuable work.

And thank you to my grandfather, in whose memory I ran. I would not have run the marathon without him.

Showtime

With the marathon hours away, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone - the Run for the Memory team members, team leaders, Alzheimer's Association staff, volunteers, family and friends - for the support over these last five or six months.

Thank you to my grandfather for his inspiration.

Thank you to everyone who will be lining the course tomorrow.

And good luck to all who are participating. It will be a great day to run.

The Dash

by Trish Reske
Trish is a member of the Run for the Memory Team and will run Boston Monday, April 19

It's been said that "the dash" between the two dates that will be on our grave marker will represent the entirety of our life - how we made use of the time that we were given on this earth.

For the 35 Alzheimer's Association Marathon team members, that dash happens to be filled with lots of other numbers: our official bib number; the number of times we've run for Alzheimer's, the number "26.2", the number of training runs we've shared, the number of people who are supporting us, the number of funds we've raised as a team, the number of port-o-johns at the start.

The number of stories we've shared of loved ones with Alzheimer's disease, as we added to our mileage each week and counted down to April 19, 2010.

Yes, we're counting. We're counting our calories; we're counting down the days. We're counting on good weather (ha!), we counting on loved ones to come out and cheer us on. We're counting on each other as a team.

But most of all, we're counting on the fact that one day, hopefully soon, a cure for Alzheimer's will be found, due in part to our dash to the finish line at Boylston Street.

It's the number one reason why we run.