Seattle Marathon - Announcement from Anna

Hello to all my wonderful marathon mile sponsors,

If you've been following the blog this season, you know that myself and fellow teammates are scheduled to run the Seattle Marathon and Half Marathon in just 19 DAYS. As always, all of the donations raised during the training process go to support the Susan Mortensen Turley Foundation, helping young adults fighting cancer.

Unfortunately I need to make the very sad announcement that I will not be able to run the Seattle marathon this year. About a month ago I had a surprising run-in with some kidney problems, which has since turned into complication after complication of infections or flaring up other chronic health conditions. The last few weeks have been a continuous cycle of doctors, hospitalizations and medications trying to work things out, though recovery appears to be a very slow process. Words cannot describe the disappointment I feel in not going to Seattle this year, especially after all of the support you've shown. However, inspired by the 'Lemonade Maker' spirit, I'm going to do my best to put my pity party aside and focus on what I can do to support the cause.

Randy and Sarah Swann are both new runners who have worked endlessly the last few months to prepare to run their first half marathon in Seattle and raise money for Susan's Foundation. They are strong and ready to run-- though they still have a ways to go to meet their fundraising goal. I'm hoping that we can all come together to help them meet their goal before race day on June 26th. There is no minimum donation-- any amount at all would be greatly appreciated.

My plan is to hold all of my current Seattle marathon mile sponsor donations right where they are and continue to recruit the rest of my mile sponsors when I attempt to run Seattle again next summer. For both health and financial reasons, I will not be attempting another marathon until then. This means that for the next year, Randy and Sarah's half marathon this month is the only time we will be recruiting donations through this fundraiser. Since we're going to have such a long gap in between, I'm hoping you will consider stepping up to help support these runners and a very worthy cause.

Thanks to all of you for the support you've shown to myself and my teammates in the past few months! Please continue to check in with the blog over the next month to read about Randy and Sarah's preparations and race day experience. I have no doubt they will rock that half marathon finish line in 19 days and make us all very proud!!

www.anna-marathon50.blogspot.com

Thank you!!

Anna