THON is tomorrow!/HE IS TODAY!!!

I CANNOT believe it's today! I woke up with such a range of emotions - excitement, uncertainty (what is this all going to look like?!), nerves, and plain 'ol fear. I feel like I'm on such a roller coaster just sitting here alone even. There are moments when I think - Can I really do this? And then it's followed with - I don't have a choice. The children at Hershey Medical//all over the world don't have a choice to fight their battle any less or to give up. I originally set out to participate in Hope Express to bring hope to others. I think of all the people in my life who inspire me - ordinary people doing extraordinary things. When it comes down to it, that's what I want my life to be - filled with extraordinary things that make a difference in the lives of others. I think it has to be, or else what am I even doing here?

My inbox has been filling up over the past few days with emails of inspiration and encouragement from past runners of Hope Express. I think about the time we will spend today at Hershey Medical with the kids, the reason this crazy dream was ever even dreamed. Life deals out so many cards that are out of our control. There are so many things we have no say over, good and bad. When I think about THON and about Hope Express and about so many of these amazing families I realize that it's not that black and white. Life must be all about the stuff in the middle - the things we do have control over, the place where we can work to make the bad better, where we can celebrate the good, the place where we can help one another. I chose to do this because of those who don't have a choice, whose cards were unfairly dealt, and whose battles are daily. Penn Staters talk about THON being a celebration, and I think it really is...it's a CELEBRATION of life, striving to make the lives we have the best ones they can be...which of course also means finding a cure so these kids can live all the days of their lives.

I feel like my heart is beating out of my chest with excitement and nerves and I can't believe that after YEARS of imagining what this would be like, it's finally here! Here's something important info:

• We leave Hershey at 6pm!
• Here's the map of the run.
• I will be running the 5th leg/miles 13-15, around 8pm; leg 19/miles 55-57, around 3:30am; and leg 34/miles 100-102, around 11:30am tomorrow morning!

Donations can still be made here (www.thon.org). Click "Organizations," and then select "Hope Express - Darian Leib!"