I am running, won't you come with me?

May is Lupus Awareness Month. I will once again asking for your support.
On May 8th I will be running another half marathon to raise money for the Lupus Foundation of America.

This year I will be giving back to my supporters. For every $5 that you donate, please enter a ticket with your name on it in my drawing bag. I will be giving away $10 gift cards to Borders, Cold Stone Creamery, and Barnes & Nobles, a $25 gift card to Borders, and a Subway Peeler Card. There will be a total of 5 winners.

I am doing the Sponsor My Miles again, so write your name next to a mile that you would like to sponsor. I am reserving miles 1 & 12 for $25 donations, because those will be the most difficult miles for me.

You can donate several ways:

online at www.firstgiving.com/lupus_runners. The name on this page will be Cruz Pitre. He is the head of our group, Lupus Runners. Please note my name in your donation line.

donate cash into my purple bag that is on my board in the teacher workroom

write a check and put it in my purple bag. make it payable to me,

Thank you so much for all of your support!

Look for something new next year..........

Lupus Foundation of America's Advocacy Day

http://lfa-inc.blogspot.com/2010/03/participate-in-lfas-advocacy-day-on.html.

On the Road to a Lupus Cure
Join the Lupus Foundation of America as we continue down the road to find a cure for lupus, a devastating autoimmune disease that affects between 1.5 - 2 million Americans, and 5 million people around the world.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Participate in the LFA’s Advocacy Day on Tuesday, March 16 – from the Comfort of Your Home

As you have no doubt heard, LFA’s 12th Annual Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill is Tuesday, March 16. Hundreds of lupus advocates from around the country will come together on Capitol Hill to educate Members of Congress about lupus, and encourage them to support increased federal funding for lupus research, awareness, and health care provider education programs.

Even if you cannot physically join us on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, you can still support the LFA’s efforts on the 16th – and do it from the comfort of your home.

Here’s what you can do from home.

Send an email, call, or write your Congressman or Senator.
Raise awareness by sending an ecard.
Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, or through your blog.
Everything you need to know about doing one – or more – of those 3 options above is now available on the LFA’s Advocacy Day landing page.

Remember, we really need you to make your voices heard on Tuesday the 16th.

Spring Half Marathon

Our Spring half marathon will be the Indy Mini on May 8th. I am currently organizing details on my fund raising plan for the Lupus Runners group. Tim and I have done this race before, but I don't mind a repeat because it was so much fun! This is one of the largest races that I have ever done. There will be 35,000 participants this year, and the race is already sold out!

A few highlights from the last Indy Mini: Tim nominated me to receive the " Celebrating Life Award." It is an award recognizing athletes participating in the race who live with a chronic illness. I was not the final winner, but did get an award that says, "Your courage and determination are an inspiration to us all. Congratulations and best of luck in tomorrow's race!" What a wonderful honor to have Tim do this for me. He wrote a wonderful narrative about my life with lupus.

Race morning was exciting. You line up at the start by your estimated finish times. At the time, I was still walking most of the race, so I started back at letter X. Tim is speedy, so he got to start at C or D. It took me 26 minutes from the start of the race to finally get to the start line. Thank goodness for timing chips!

The final big point that I recall is the lap on the track of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That was really cool! This year the theme of the race is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Speedway, so I'm thinking this will be even better this year.