Bowling for Brains

Friday night we took a cab to Tusculum Lanes for the "Bowling for Brains" event. "Bowling for Brains" is a pasta dinner/bowling event the night before the race for anyone who is interested in supporting Team McGraw. I was looking forward to the event because it would be an opportunity to meet a lot of the individuals I had communicated with via the phone and computer over the last several years.

When we got to the event, we were greeted by Genvieve Goldstein, the Events Director for the Tug McGraw Foundation. Next, we introduced ourselves to one of the National coaches for Team McGraw, Kevin Leathers. We also met the President, Jennifer Brusstar and fellow teammate Jen McDevitt. I was so excited to meet everyone and finally be able to put a face and voice to everyone.

We ate some food and bowled for a bit before a private "runners only" meeting took place in a separate room. We all had an opportunity to introduce ourselves and say what led us to Team McGraw. The next 15 minutes of introductions was very emotional. We heard from Doug and Tom, who both recently lost their wives to brain cancer, and were running in memory of them.

We also heard from Jen McDevitt, who was getting ready to run her eighth marathon event (7 of which she was on

chemo). Jen was the reason why I signed up for both the Nashville 1/2 marathon as well as the Chicago marathon so it was awesome to finally meet her.

After the meeting was over, I wanted to go out and run the race right there and then. I felt inspired, motivated, and ready to go! Overall, the entire evening was a great experience and I felt fortunate to have met some amazing people all running to improve the lives of brain tumor patients and their families!