On Sunday, I completed my first half marathon, The St. Luke’s Half in Allentown, Penn. I was not — and am not — a runner, but I made a commitment in January to complete this race and fundraise on behalf of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I journeyed a long way from someone who wouldn’t even dream of running one mile, let alone 13! But the inspiration of the cause, and my inability to quit anything I set my mind on, helped me cross the finish line. The course itself was beautiful, which helped make the run a bit easier. Standing at the starting line was an exciting feeling, surrounded by about 1,000 other people eager to get started. Throughout the race, my LLS Team in Training coaches helped me keep pace and encouraged me to keep going. I had endless energy in the beginning of the race, hit a wall around mile six, where I just couldn’t wait to be done, then began to feel inspired and energized again around mile seven when the course took us through a beautiful park. I was running with my friend, who had suffered some leg injuries throughout our training, and eventually, I pulled ahead. I had a goal of completing the race in under three hours. This may seem like a long time to those of you runners out there, but for me, that was around an 11- to 12-minute mile, which was a huge accomplishment for me, a newbie runner. Anyway, I pulled ahead and left my friend with our coach, set on reaching the finish line in my goal time. I met up with another coach along the way who ran with me up the final hill and into the stadium. I crossed on to the track, and my coach congratulated me and turned back to find others. At this point, I thought I was finished, realizing I had come in about 15 minutes under my goal time! I stood by waiting for my friend, about 15-20 minutes. At that point, I saw my coach return with another team member. When I inquired if he knew how far back my friend was, he commented that it was nice of me to wait for her to cross the finish line — I wasn’t done! I still had to loop around the track for the .1 part of the 13.1 miles. I felt foolish, but I ran my hardest across the finish line, coming in at 3:05 on the race clock. I know, though, in my heart, I finished in under three hours. But the most important part of the event was running for LLS. I exceeded my fundraising goal, met personal goals and met a network of people I know I will stay in touch with. Overall, this was an amazing experience that I will always carry with me. I hope to stay involved with the organization in the years to come. — Kim Krol, eFlyer editor, circulation and public relations executive