Hope Express 2012 - Hershey/Leg 1

Hope Express serves to connect the families at Hershey Medical to the dancers at Penn State's amazing THON, a 46-hour "no sitting, no

sleeping, no KIDDING!" dance marathon that raises money to help in the fight against pediatric cancer for those being treated at Hershey Medical. Hope Express begins at the hospital, with a party on the 7th floor. We quite literally take two backpacks filled with letters from families at Hershey and our mission is to get them to THON to give to the dancers.

Being at Hershey is incredible. I participated in THON all 4 of my years at Penn State, but it wasn't until last year's Hope Express that I was able to visit the place where PSU donates millions of dollars each year. It feels so special to be there and it's a blast hanging out with the kids. It's just one extra reminder of why we're about to run.

The energy before the run was awesome. Three different news channels came out to interview and report on HE. There were cheerleaders and the Nittany Lion, not to mention dozens of moralers already spoiling us and showering us with so much love (particularly my incredible moraler, Janine, who sent me this AWESOME basket of goodies and treats!).

The run took off at 6pm and the first few handoffs are "hot spots," or places where a fundraiser or big viewing is going on. One of our runners, Bekah, is a middle school teacher, and her middle school (which I got to run past last year!) is wonderful and raised $6,000 (!!!) this year - wow! Both the Extreme and Express teams run together until mile 30, where the teams split up and take two completely different routes, not to see each other until State College. My first leg was at the split and after it had been done to our Express team last year, the Extremers decided I was to sprint off at the handoff, instead of a nice, relaxing hug and handoff with Natalie. And with that...I was off! My apologies to Steph from the Express team :O).

My first leg was from around 11pm-midnight and it went great. It was misting a little and a bit foggy, but nothing too bad (not as bad as it got later in the night). Aside from a random pick-up truck asking if I needed help ("Is that guy

following you?" - referring to the Hummer following me while I ran in the middle of the road....), it was quiet and peaceful. My shins were definitely acting up a bit, which made me nervous with all I knew I had up ahead of me, but the 6 miles went pretty quickly (especially after

such a fast start), and before I knew it, I saw the lights of the RV and heard the cheers of the moralers! Normally, the next runner is there

waiting with open arms, ready to be slammed with a hug, but Lauren was in the Hummer that had been trailing me...hence my look of "Where to?!"

After each hand off, the RV drives to the next hand-off point, 6 miles away. It's mostly a lot of hanging out on the RV, waiting, snacking (or avoiding less-than-ideal pre-running snacks), and talking. Every stop along the way, our herd of moralers were there, cranking up their music and having a dance party along the side of the road as they waited for the runner to get there. Every stop along the way, we were contemplating our bathroom options in the middle of nowhere.