Week 1: Baltimore to Chicago

Week one of 4K is complete! We started in Baltimore, MD for orientation and made it to our first rest day in Chicago, IL.

Orientation & Send-Off

I had some serious jitters leading up to orientation. It’s been a long time since I’ve stepped into something this unknown. Friends would ask questions about the logistics of this trip or how my training was going and I constantly found myself asking, “why am I doing this again?” Orientation reminded me.

After Will helped me pack everything into my big duffle bag, I flew from Houston to Baltimore. I was picked up by my family and my best friend Becca who jumped out of the back of the car at the airport and completely surprised me. Just knowing the immense amount of support that I’ve had in this journey was the first reminder of why I’m doing this. Then, I got to meet the Ulman Foundation and 4K for Cancer staff. Through orientation, they shared Ulman’s mission and gave us a tour of the Ulman house. We saw the tangible ways that the Ulman Foundation provides resources for young adults with cancer and their support systems. It reignited my “why.” What finally washed the remaining nerves away was meeting my team. There are a total of six of us (small but mighty) and we clicked immediately. We each have different personality traits that help us mesh well together, and we laugh... a lot! I don’t know how we got so lucky.

On Sunday, June 25th we were met by family, friends, and Ulman staff for our send-off. The CEO of The Ulman Foundation, Brock, shared some wisdom and said that the most common regret he hears from 4K alumni is that they wish they were more vulnerable with each other sooner. I hope to change that both within our team and with the people we meet along the way and let down our walls early. After our first dedication circle and final hugs from our family and friends. the six of us dipped our heels in the Baltimore Inner Harbor and started our journey!

The Running

Now that we're off, I’m sure a lot of you are wondering how this actually works. I was too. I hate to break it to you, but we’re not truly running step for step across the country. Because of our team size, we are crossing the country in a relay style with the goal of collectively reaching 4,000 miles at the end of the summer. We each log 10-18 miles a day and run in 2-4 mile increments with at least one other teammate. I've already logged over 100 miles so far!

Each morning when we wake up we share our goal mileage for the day and then create the shorter legs as a team. We always have some team members running, and some driving the van. So collectively we run from point A to point B for the day with the flexibility to run in national parks and on safe roads.

My legs are sore, but I can feel them growing stronger. I’m thankful to not have any major aches or pains yet and still feel pretty fresh. Shoutout to our team for stretching each evening and watching plenty of yoga with Adrienne videos!

Food & Lodging

All of our food and lodging are donated. This means we can put all of our fundraising dollars toward Ulman's mission, but it also means a lot unknown. It’s strange not knowing what I'm going to eat and where I'm going to sleep each day, but I am becoming more familiar with this new routine.

Our van was stocked up with snacks and sunscreen from the Ulman staff when we left Baltimore, but we've had to ask for donations for every other meal. We normally divide and conquer and take a teammate into a restaurant and share what we're doing this summer and ask for donations. We've had plenty of no's but I have been astounded by people's generosity. From local bakeries to subways, we have been fueled well so far on this trip. Most importantly, I have a fellow ice cream lover on the team, Jacqueline, and we've set a goal to get ice cream in every state! We've been successful so far, and it's actually looked more like having ice cream every day... which I'm not complaining about.

The generosity has extended to our hosts as well. In preparation for this summer, Ulman staff set up a host for us each night of the trip. It often looks like churches and community centers, but can also look like camping or staying in people's homes. I am thankful that I invested in a comfortable sleeping mat because we are often on the floor. My body has been so tired, that I've slept well and often feel rested each morning. Even at the 5:30 am wake-up call.

Overall, I've had to release a lot of control when it comes to food and lodging. But we’ve had more fruits, veggies, and sit-down meals than I would have expected and I’ve been blown away by everyone’s generosity and ability to take us in.

The Route

• Day 0: Baltimore, MD

• Day 1: Breezewood, PA

• Day 2: Pittsburgh, PA

• Day 3 & 4: Cleveland, OH

• Day 5: Bristol, IN

• Day 6 & 7: Chicago, IL

States Covered: Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois

National Parks Covered: Cuyahoga Valley, Indiana Dunes

As I said earlier, our schedule gives us the flexibility to run in beautiful parks and along trails. I've spent some time in this part of the country, but seeing it on foot was a completely different experience. Some highlights were running along the Potomac River in Maryland. One of our teammates, Sky swam across the river to hit Virginia. We quickly learned that our team is a big fan of water, so we've been swimming in multiple lakes and enjoyed a beach picnic afternoon on Lake Erie. As for cities, we loved running across the bridge into our host in Pittsburgh and had a blast exploring Chicago on our rest day. We saw the bean, ate deep-dish pizza, went to a Cubs game, and ended the day with Portillo's.

We were impacted by the Canadian wildfires while we were in the Midwest. We ended up staying in Cleveland for two nights instead of camping in Toledo, and ran treadmill miles in a planet fitness one day, and outside in masks the other. Thankfully, it hasn't impacted us since.

The People

The people really are what makes this for me. The first highlight was seeing my family in Akron, OH. We met them for coffee and muffins on their screened-in porch and got to catch up and dedicate our miles to my Aunt Terese, who is a breast cancer survivor. The other highlight was staying with Mary Ormond and her family outside of Chicago. Mary is a mother of three young girls who is currently fighting Inflammatory Breast Cancer. She was diagnosed as a young adult and has benefitted greatly from the resources of the Ulman Foundation and has hosted 4K teams for years. I am thankful that she not only opened her home to us but also shared her story. She reminded me a lot of Lindsey. A dear friend who I lost to cancer last year who has four young boys. Women like Terese, Mary, and Lindsey are why I'm doing this crazy thing of running across the country. They are my inspiration and have the strength that we as a team hope to emulate on some small scale this summer.

Feeling really good after week one. Next, we head to Iowa and Nebraska! Thanks for following along, I'll check back in soon.

C