Two More CaringBridge Sites

Dori had a good day at clinic this morning. Anne took her, and Mom is taking her tomorrow for a biopsy and pulmonary test. On Thursday, my step-Mom Peggy will take her in for an eye exam. On Friday, we hopefully have a celebration on Day 100.

Dori has been an inspiration to so many. I'm certainly in that camp ... I've had a front-row seat to her grace and courage under terrible conditions. Well, a friend of Dori's, Candy Rucker, is getting a transplant next week. Candy has been battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma since fall 2005. She's our friend with whom we partnered on the successful bone marrow donor registry drive in late August. Dori is an inspiration to Candy and her family, as you can read here at her CaringBridge site. I'm also linking her site under my Links section.

We heard the Logans, another family that some of our friends know, have set up a CaringBridge site for their fifth grade boy, Parker, who is battling lymphoma. Please keep the Ruckers, Logans and other families facing these awful diseases in your prayers. Ask that they have peace through these storms and faith in the Lord's plan. We pray they'll return to normal, healthy lives soon. Oh, yes ... Dori saw our friend Kim Swindall at the clinic. He's doing well after his recent transplant. That is very good news.

I'll share two things I saw last weekend that made me smile. I read a caption of a photo in The Tennessean about two women who work for Thomas Nelson, a local publishing company, who are training for a half marathon. Their company is offering $100 gift cards to them and any employee who will train and complete a half. Thought that was cool ... to incentivize healthy behavior. I hope many more follow. I also saw where a gentleman has invented an extreme hybrid car that can go more than 40 miles a day on new technology batteries without a recharge. This would satisfy the daily driving needs of more than 80% of Americans. The car didn't look like a go-cart, either. Very encouraging ... I'm sure the oil companies are not happy.

Speaking of batteries, I charged mine up this weekend for two good runs. On Saturday, I ran down Belmont, cut through Clifton and came back on Lealand for a smooth 5.5-miler. The weather was perfect. On my emotional Sunday, I ran 7.2, my longest run in some time (I think since the VB Half). While I was stretching at Percy Warner Park, this guy gets out of his car and says, "When I left Franklin, it was 54 degrees, and now it's 44." "Yes," I said. "It seems like it got colder the last few minutes." As soon as I said this, it started sleeting. We laughed pretty hard. I ran the 1.6-mile inner loop in the cold, blustery park, then ran the out and back on Belle Meade Blvd. I felt great before, during and after the run, though I woke up this morning with a slightly stiff back.

So I'm at 12.7 miles three days into the week (starting Saturday). I hope to crank out another dozen miles this week; it's gonna be colder, and I'm busy with a lot of work right now. I would love to see some snow, which is in some forecasts for Thursday. The kids would enjoy that.