It was a bit of a cruel joke, but our "reserved room" for our buffet breakfast was the second floor. If you have ever ran beyond 6 miles before in your life, you'd know that stairs are the most evil thing to traverse after running. You just don't have the leg control, and every stair hurts.
After my 2 and a half hour run, and the liberation of a handful more of gummy bears from the aid station, I hopped in my car and drove the 2 blocks to the restaurant.. and pulled my way up the stairs using the banister.
There up top we were asked to put on name tags "Hello, my name is..." and then we were allowed to get a plate of food. The food REALLY hit the spot. Assorted fruits, fried potatoes, and scrambled eggs with melted cheese. There were also assorted mini-muffins to choose from, but I'm not much of a "bread" person.
I sat at a table occupied by one lady, and shortly after I got my seat, the other 2 empty seats at our table were claimed. I ended up sitting with 3 experienced marathon runners, who had great stories about the various events they've competed in. I learned about the Disney World marathon, and the Honolulu Marathon. Really interesting.
Eventually (when I was mostly done with my plate of food) we started the proceedings, where 2 honored teammates were invited to share their stories. The first honored teammate (I'm sorry, I no longer remember his name. Perhaps he's the Nike Women's Marathon honored teammate?) got up and talked about how we, the TNT runners, were the real heroes to go through the pain and effort of training for endurance events to raise money and awareness for their cause. It was inspirational, and made me feel good about what we were doing.
When he was done, Gabriel's family went up.
Gabriel's mom Tami did all the talking, and Gabriel angelically and shyly stood by while his mom told their story.
There were a couple moments when Tami was describing the hard times, and she was on the verge of tears: when they relied on all their neighbors and friends to help them get through the days. The type of blood cancer that Gabriel has requires 4 years of treatment (including several rounds of chemo), and at this point Gabriel is about halfway through. It's been rough this far, but they aren't out of the woods yet.
And, I guess there is A LOT to know about the cancer. The hospital gives you a large binder on your way out the door after the first hospital stay with information on the condition/treatments/etc, and you have to read and know this information. Tami said this is where organizations like LLS are invaluable. LLS provides something like 87 informational classes and provide a support community for patients and their families, not to mention assisting families in need with medical costs.
Tami said that she could just about be an RN right now from amount she knows about blood cancers at the moment. She has to read Gabriel's charts and stay ontop of his various levels of everything. SHE has to know what's normal for Gabriel. It clearly has been a terrifying experience for Gabriel's entire family, and as his mom told us about it she absently clung to Gabriel, periodically petting his head. He patiently stood by and listened as we all took in his story.
It really was moving to hear Gabriel's story. His shyness in addressing the room of 50+ strangers all individually interested, and partially emotionally invested in his well-being was also really endearing. But, shy as he may have been, he indulged me in a photo of the two of us...
Yeah, alright. My headshot in that photo isn't the best but Gabriel sure looks good, so I cropped myself out. But look at the nametag, you can see it's me!
After this photo, it was time for me to go home and take a well-deserved hot shower. I went down the stairs carefully, in a procession of other unhappy runners also trying to reach the ground floor... one step at a time. It seemed hauntingly appropriate.
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