The Running Man

When Tyler and I first met in college, I would often go on jogs after class.  One day, I had planned to run after a meeting I had to attend. The meeting was casual, so to make sure I had time for everything, I just showed up in my running clothes. Tyler happened to be at the meeting and we began to chit chat.  He told me he had noticed that I would run around campus and he love to join me sometime.  I didn't think much of it and told him he could run with me anytime.  I just didn't quite expect him to go grab his running shoes right then and join me for my run that night.  It was fun to have a running partner and like all things in life, he made the running much more fun than it would have been otherwise.

It wasn't until about our 5th date that I found out the running was all a cover!  In Tyler's own words: "my three least favorite things: spiders, dentists, and cardio exercises". Let's just say the running dates quickly faded out and I accepted the fact that they would probably never return, which is why I was surprised when Tyler agreed to run in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides 5k.

Like most of you know, this year, Tyler was given a chance to be a part of the Vertex 770/809 trial and that experience was life changing. After participating in the Vertex trial, Tyler realized that he needed to be doing absolutely everything he could to keep himself in the best condition possible- because we feel pretty confident that a cure is on it's way!  I totally respect Tyler for so many reasons, but the way he is diligent about his own care earns some big respect!  I can't imagine having to dedicate 2-3 hours a day to therapy and then willingly add on another hour to run and work-out, but he is going to do it! And I am thrilled about it since Tyler's doctors have told him that running is like doing an extra therapy in the way that it helps clear out your lungs.

So here is what we are up to...

Tyler has official begun his training! And we hope you will follow his progress!  He will debut his running abilities at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides 5k on April 21, 2012.  So y'all get ready! If you live close (or if you are up for a drive), we would love to have you join us! We are excited to have a big team to run with us this year and we promise it will be fun!  I will post more details in the coming months, but for now, just check back on the blog where I will post both mine and Tyler's running times, his progress, and hopefully we will even get some PFT reads on here too so we can see how the running helps his lungs. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has already given and is still giving to research so that we can find a cure, as of now they have planned to give $315 million towards the Vertex research and we want to do whatever we can to help them reach their goal.

Oh! and check out this article... Tyler's running story already made the paper!