On This Blog's Anniversary, I Say

To my sister Colleen, who was first to leave a comment and only because I said she better.

To those wonderful runners in the SDTC Rockin’ ‘n’ Runnin’ marathon training program, who indirectly inspired this blog by supporting an online diary I’d done for another web site. They left encouraging comments on the message board, many anonymously, or came up to me on the track to let me know they liked what I wrote. One fan turned out to be one of the speedy runners I’d secretly admired.

To Mark of Complete Running, who accepted me as No. 188 in the Running Blog Family network. Today, there are more than 1,800 of us.

To Jeanne, CRN’s editor, who once rejected one of my articles, and rightly so.

To those of you who went through serious surgeries and showed we can be better runners afterward.

To those of you who poured out your souls, letting the rest of us know we’re not alone in our anguish.

To those of you who lost loved ones.

To those of you still trying to hold on to someone.

To those of you who run, bike or climb stairs for charity, and one speedy turtle that annually does a polar plunge for a very good cause. Heaps of good fortune will come to you for what you’ve done for others.

To those of you I’ve had the great – and I mean great -- pleasure of meeting in person, whether it was an RBF meetup or while you were here in San Diego. Sorry I didn’t let you get much of a word in, edgewise.

To two local running bloggers -- one of whom I was 30 minutes late to pick up before a race and then made walk a mile afterward to the car. Talk about leaving a good first impression. Another helped me by calling out running numbers during a fast-moving finish line, so I could actually keep good stats. Thanks.

To Louise, one of my most avid and more vocal fans. Your comments make everyone in the house crack up. (Thanks to Rolly for his support too!)

To Tara, who will always be my training partner even if we now go on walks instead of runs.

To Mark, who will always be my running husband even if he dumped me for a younger woman.

To Cindy, whose contributions to Run DMZ and to me are countless. I hope everyone has a friend who someday draws your blog name in big chalk letters on the road as a surprise during your favorite 20k. Trust me, you’ll soar for hours afterward. Days and weeks, even.

To Jeanette, who currently is in Budapest and just a few more tests away from representing the United States judges on the world figure skating circuit, including the 2010 Olympics. You can do it, girl!

To Suzanne, who always comes up with great reasons to get together.

To those of you who accomplished great streaks and feats. And those of you for whom just getting through the day was an accomplishment in itself.

To my former coworkers who found me here. Yo!

To some guy named Dave in Texas, who swiped all of the code I created in the last iteration of this blog and even bogarted my finish times. As they say, imitation is the best form of flattery.

To FitSugar and Elastic Waist, two popular blogs who sometimes send readers my way. Thanks for the boost – you both rock!

To all of the fast runners who blog in between putting in serious mileage on a daily basis, even with demanding jobs and growing families. I could never rival that dedication or energy, so at least now I know why I’ll never join you.

To the guy that runs with a tire in busy southern Florida, thus proving running takes all kinds.

To Tracy, Sue and Sarah, because your friendships become more important to me with each passing year.

To all of you bloggers who couldn’t stay, but dropped by to say hi.

To Miss Kelly, who owes me a phone call.

To Jeff, who I owe an e-mail.

To Chris, who knows me so well.

To Annie, who always thinks of me.

To those of you who can’t fail to notice I leave comments rife with typos, and yet never say a word.

To those of you taking on new challenges and allowing us to read the good, the bad and the ugly. You’re beautiful.

To those of you who saved us the time of discovering cool tools, videos and web sites on our own.

To every one of you – well, maybe not the spammers – who took a minute to leave a few words in someone’s comment box, sometimes for me and sometimes for someone else.

To the woman who designed this blog as a birthday gift, and who got me through the most painful race of my life.

To all of you willing to give love – and in at least three cases this year, marriage -- another chance.

To the gang in the Pacific Northwest, who have to be the most down to earth people I've ever "met." You make running in rain sound like so much fun.

To all those hardy Canadians, from Vancouver to Nova Scotia, who make running sound like a walk in the park. One wrestles cattle for conditioning!

To my friend in Pennsylvania, who is finally getting some much-deserved recognition in the farming community.

To those of you who made my day when I saw I’d made your blogroll.

To those of you who tagged me.

To those whose dogs, cats, kids or race ambitions I voted for in an online contest.

To the dedicated running bloggers across the northern States and snowy Midwest, who stay fit through long winters for indoor triathlons, stair races, and crazy-ass ultras in icy parks. The same goes for you diehards in the Northeast and MidAtlantic states, who run up rocky mountains for good weekend fun.

To those in the South who must train in that oppressive summer humidity...you have my sympathies. I used to be one of you. Special props to the Arizonians who somehow manage to make running 100+-degree days seem so doable.

To my fellow Californians, who I think would agree with me that there is no better place on the planet to be a runner.

To that Italian Knight, who is both fierce and funny.

And a few Aussies who are just plain funny.

To my husband, who commented exactly once, and it was to tell me to quit whining.

To my daughters, who drop not-so-subtle hints when I’ve gone too long without mentioning them here. God bless the MySpace generation.

To you who invited me to be your friend on Facebook, even though I don’t belong to Facebook.

To all of you who kept me company when I could not sleep.

To all of you who kept me from finishing my work on time because I couldn’t concentrate.

To those who let me know you love my photography. Can you believe I bombed Visual Media in college?

To those of you who could read between the lines and reached out to see if I was okay.

Because of you, all of you, I will be.