I am so damn needy

So, uh, long time no blog post. I think it's time for a new blogging rule: a death in the family gives you the right to take a blogging vacation. You may return to the world of blogging at your own leisure. No one shall make you feel guilty for your lack of posting and that includes making yourself feel guilty.

Anyway. We're still in New Orleans, feeling extremely worn out and ready to go home. Not that we don't love seeing family or spending time with friends, but this trip has been more stress filled than fun filled so going home would be nice. But enough negative, let's talk about something else.

Did you know my marathon is in 6 days? (actually less because today is mostly over and then the race starts hella early on the 6th day) That's soon. Really soon. And while I feel like I'm ready, I know my training in the past month has not been ideal, and that worries me just a tiny bit. But I'm thinking positive. I can do it! 26.2 miles is nothing! That's a walk in the park!

Before I make my next couple of requests let me tell you a story. When I ran the San Francisco Half Marathon in August I had jparks as my only cheerleader and he didn't make it to the finish line in time to see me cross it. (no guilt, honey! I'm not mad about it! for reals!) But plenty of other runners had cheerleaders along the course and, this is almost too dorky to share with you, every time I ran past a group of them, I almost cried. And my nose might have gotten a bit runny and made it hard to breath for a few steps. And you would never stop making fun of me if I told you how I might have cried actual tears when a stranger would cheer for me. Or when the race security guy told me that he knew I could make it.

Would you like to see me cry? Yes? Then come out to the Nike Women's Marathon on October 19th in San Francisco and cheer for me. If you were to make a sign I can almost guarantee you'll get to see me trying to run with snot running down my face. Bring a snack for me and I might just faint from excitement.

Can't make the race? My training books suggests that I fill a baggie with words of support and at every mile marker I read one and feel a bit more energized. But the catch is: those words of encouragement need to come from friends and family (read as: YOU). So email them to jparks[at]jparks.net (I want to be surprised on race day so I'm having you send these to jparks' email account. This means prior to race day I'll have no idea if any of you actually send emails. Crap, I hate surprises) Did you just barf reading that, because I barfed a little writing it. It's cheesy but honestly, if it will help me keep moving when I think I can't go anymore, then I say let's do it. Send the words of encouragement in any form you think is best: a joke, a quote, a picture, or just "You can do it!"

To be able to read one at every mile I'll need 26 people to send me their support. So come on people, email the encouragement in! Don't be shy if we haven't met; if a random stranger can make a race easier for me imagine how great I'll feel knowing that one of my blog readers believes in me.

And now I feel like I should break out into song, maybe something uplifting and supportive. This should do the trick: