Day 10: Matthew Miller and Day 11

Day 10 - 6/25/13

We ran from Boulder, CO to Pueblo, CO. We had a very difficult time following our route. We ended up changing things around so that we would be traveling/running on roads that were safe for our runners and easier for the van to turn around on. The delays from the morning’s confusion meant it was getting pretty late when we were finishing up our run. Nicole decided that we should drive to the host and finish our last two miles together. So we finished our two miles as a group in Pueblo 106 degrees…

The church we stayed at was really nice! But they only had two showers so six of us girls when to a public pool to shower. We were excited to have four showers to use! When we got there though we realized the showers were meant for rinsing not washing. There were no curtains and you had to hold down the handle for the water to come out. You couldn’t just turn it on and leave the water running…. What an experience! After our quick showers we went back to the church for dinner and sleep.

Today was dedicated to Matthew Miller. Matthew is the cousin of my brother’s girlfriend, Ashley. Matthew died of leukemia 

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  Matthew Miller
  October 22, 1983- November 24, 2000
  

  My cousin, Matthew Keith Miller, passed away at the young age of 17 after battling Ewings Sarcoma (type of bone cancer) for three years. I was only eight when Matt passed away, even though we did not have much time together we shared our love of pokemon for those few years. One family Christmas at my grandparent’s house in Olive Hill, he got two rare cards in one pack! I remember being so jealous of how lucky he was. Whenever he would come visit my house we would swap our huge binders of Pokemon cards to trade and look at. He ended up collecting all 150 of the original Pokemon cards!
  My mom had a special bond with Matthew since they spent a lot of time together throughout his life; he was even her ring bearer at her wedding. I asked her to share her thoughts and memories of Matt.
  “Matt was outgoing, extremely intelligent, and had a great sense of humor. He loved life and especially music. He played the guitar, drums, and had a beautiful voice. Matt loved his family, friends, and church. As much as Matt loved life and was determined to beat cancer, he passed away only a month after his 17th birthday to a long three-year battle with Ewings Sarcoma. This type of bone cancer occurs most frequently in teenagers and young adults.
  Matt was very mischievous as a little boy. One of my favorite memories was when he decided to be the photographer at a family reunion. When we had the pictures developed he had purposely cut off everyone’s heads. He thought it was so funny when we were trying to identify the people in the pictures. I have so many other great memories taking him to the pool and movies, we loved spending time together and always had a special bond.”
  His favorite bible verse: For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. PHIL 1:21

  Matthew is a prime example that cancer knows no age."

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

Total Miles: 113

Day 11: I was put in the support van today. Everyone on the team has to do support van at least twice during our trip. The people in the Support Van are responsible for finding meals if we don’t have them for the day and for getting fruit/vegetable/ice/etc donations. Leya, Piper and I started the day off by driving highway 50 straight to Syracuse, Kansas. Along the way we drove past a couple slaughterhouses L the thought of them and the smell made me want to puke. I was literally gagging in the front seat of the van. As soon as I could breath again, I called the running vans and warned them. We were hoping the teams wouldn’t have to run through that smell. I’m not sure how people live there….

We drove to the host and unloaded all the duffle bags and then went to Garden City about 50 miles east to ask for donations. Piper had a flight to catch at 230. Leya and I finished our errands and went back to the host to meet up with the rest of the team.

We had community dinner. And then everyone went to sleep at like 8… I was still wide-awake. Syracuse is only a couple miles away from the time zone barrier between Central and Mountain Time.  The forecast for tomorrow is calling for 106 degrees…. I’m worried about the heat index and runners getting heat exhaustion tomorrow.  We may have to end early depending on how bad it gets.