One Month

The past month has come and gone so fast.  I will have run over 60 miles in my first month which is more than I expected to run the first 30 days.  I have also ran in my first of many 5K's to come!  Also, and most importantly, I have had more support for my journey than ever imagined.  

If you are following me closely, and I hope you are, I have added something new to my page; the upcoming events list.  I'm going to keep everyone updated on what PanCan Events are being held or I plan to attend.  Next stop, Omaha, Nebraska for their purplestride event!  The Pfannenstiel Pfighters can't wait!  

Remember to Teach. Remember to Pray. Remember to Support.

Friends, Family, and 5K

Our 5K was this past weekend in Kansas City!  We had such a blast with family and friends!  All in all, the Pfannenstiel Pfighters at a total of 9 people.  We all finished the 5K without the ambulance picking us up!  All of us even made the goals we had set!  Personally, I wanted to finish below 27 minutes; I finished in 26 min 8 secs.  In their age division, Mira finished 1st and Tecie finished 2nd.

Back L to R: Melisa, Matt, Kels, Bruce, Amanda
Front L to R: Beka, Jared, Mira, Tecie

Kansas City put on a fantastic first Purple Stride Event.  Over 1,100 people were registered for the event and over $90,000 was raised for the event.  It was very inspiring to see that many people in one place fighting for one cause.  It was even more inspiring to know that there were 10 survivors in the crowd.

Want to thanks everyone again for participating in the event with us!  We are very blessed to have the friends we do!!

The miles are still coming along.....After this last 5k, I think there will be more races in the works!
Feel free to tell your friends and family to follow my journey!  I have had so much support already.....feel very blessed.

Check below for some more pics of the PurpleStride Event!!

Tecie and Mira with their medals

Mandy and Kels

Our signs!

Awesome Students!!

Our great friends Jared and Beka!!  Love you guys!

It started sprinkling....needless to say, Mel wasn't to happy....

Kels, Matt, Brother in Law Bruce, Sister Mandy

Our race signs

 

Remember to Teach.  Remember to Pray. Remember to Support.

Mamma Mia!

Greetings!

First things first!!  Huge THANK YOU to Nancy and her support!  Nancy is a great friend and even better....she is an SEC fan!! We don't find many of those around, do we Nancy??
Thinking about supporting?? Click on the daily giving link!!

Running was great this week!  I finally got some new running shoes and got my music in order for my runs.  It took me a while to make the perfect playlist, but it was the worth the wait.  I seem to run much smoother and faster when listening to music.  Some people will think I'm crazy if I show you my playlist, so I will just give you the genre's on my playlist:

Country
Techno
Hip Hop
Easy Listening
Alternative
Rock
Gospel
Broadway

Think I'm crazy yet?

Since Kelsey and I are both working towards the 5k on April 23rd, we have also tried to work on have a healthier eating program.  Vegetables, carbs, fruit, protien.......we are trying to figure a plan of attack  So of course when I talk about food.......it got me thinking........

Remember what it feels like?  When you walk in the house, and you smell something in the kitchen?  You smell something that reminds you of home......something great.....something....that mom's cooking.

Everyone has their favorite meal from mom, right?  Mine is spaghetti.  I have to tell you............my mom's spaghetti....unbelievable....

Although she just uses traditional regular Ragu sauce, meat and noodles, there is something else in it!  There has to be!!  Growing up, it was always a treat and everyone would get excited when mom was making her spaghetti.  Alot of people have tried to match the taste, but no one can.

What is your favorite "mom" meal??  I look forward to reading some comments!!

P.S. Don't forget! Feel free to share my blog with anyone who you think might be interested in following!  There are 20 followers so far!!  Thanks to all that follow!!

Remember to Teach. Remember to Pray.  Remember to Support.

A quick pic....

Had a great weekend at home....thought I would share this picture with everyone! Jeebz usually stays at the farm with Nanna and Pappy when we go home to Ness. Looks like he had a busy weekend!!

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A Story

Wow, almost one week down!! If you have been watching my dailymile ticker, you probably have noticed that I finally hit "double digits" (pretty exciting, I know!).  It's been such a great week!!  I've had many people come up and talk to me about my blog and how much they have enjoyed reading it.  I have encouraged them to share my blog with their friends and family......Please do the same! 


I must share this story with you.  A friend of my mom's wrote me on Facebook the other day and after reading it, (and hopefully after you read it) it reminded me of how much mom meant to the education world.


"I've been reading stuff you've posted and I am so sorry about what I read about your Mom. I remember when she was in the hospital quite some time ago with health problems but not living in Ness anymore I haven't heard a whole lot since so I wasn't aware of the cancer. I loved your Mom as the girls' teacher, Amber was in first grade when we moved and then of course Jade had her. I always enjoyed talking to her wherever I saw her.
If I may share a funny story with you about your Mom and Jade.
One night when Jade was in first grade we were at the Cactus Club eating and Jade was sitting at the table kinda slumped over leaning on the table waiting for our food, we would look at the door when anyone came in and Jack said, Jade look there's Mrs. Pfannenstiel, Jade immediately sat up straight--as if sitting in the classroom and the teacher walked in--and looked over at the door. Jack and I started laughing cause we knew it was a respect thing on Jades part cause Jade liked her as a teacher, but we also knew your Mom ran a no nonsense classroom which in this case went beyond the classroom. She was an awesome teacher.
Had to tell you, we thought it was pretty funny."


How funny!! I would know how my mom teaches though.....and how although running a "no nonsense" classroom was her motto, her specialty was truly caring and educating kids.  I was fortunate enough to be taught by mom in second grade.  I'll never forget she gave me my first "F" (and even in Math, my best subject)!!


Last but not least, some quick thank you's to some of my newest supporters in dailygiving!


Shay -- Miles 54 through 106


Courtney and David -- Miles 107 through 135


Kay -- Miles 136 through 155


You guys rock!!  Thanks so much for the support!  I truly appreciate it!!




Kelsey and I are headed to Ness for the weekend to see Mom!  (This is me being pumped!)
We are looking forward to running the streets of my hometown!




As Awlays.......


Remember to Teach.  Remember to Pray.  Remember to Support. 

Angels & Running buddies.....

A Huge shout-out to The Bowmans for sponsoring my first 53 miles!!  An awesome way to start things off!! You guys are great and I truly appreciate the support!!  If you are interested in sponsoring miles, click on the "first giving" link at the top of the page.

I probably should introduce a few people that will be in support of me throughout this whole experience before I get to sore to type.....LOL!!

Definitely my better half!!  My wife Kelsey is also training for the Purple Stride Event in Kansas City on April 23rd.  We have been running together for about 6 weeks preparing for this 5k event.  My favorite part of the day is when we run together....we get a chance to talk about our day, relationship, dreams.....we really seem to communicate great when we are running.....(when we can talk and not out of breath!)  I'm truly blessed to have her in my life!

Mr. Jeebz!  Yes, Kelsey and I usually take him on our run with us!  Jeebz is our 2 year old dog that we have had for just over a year and a half.  This is personally my first pet that I've ever had....Kelsey had farm dogs and cats while growing up.  Jeebz has been a wonderful addition to our family.....although there have been a few times he tests our patience.  

This was a token my mom gave me just a few short weeks ago.  If you know mom, you know she collects angels.  Growing up, it's what most of us kids got her as gifts.  She gave each of us an Angel token for us to put in our pockets each day to remind us of her.  Naturally, I usually don't let it out of my site.  It goes with me to work, on my runs, and has a place on my nightstand by the bed.  One of the most meaningful things mom has given me.

So far this week has been good.....I'm not to sore yet and I'm 8 miles in.  I'm hoping to get to at least 15 this week and push on.......again, I think the miles will get much easier once I get over the initial hump!

Remember to Teach.  Remember to Pray.  Remember to Support.

Teaching

Mom was a teacher. Although she is retired after 26 years, she continues to teach.  Everyday....important things. Family, life, attitude, jobs, relationships......the list goes on.  She has taught our family to stick together through hard times, to praise each other on accomplishments, and to stay in touch.  Although my brother is in Colorado and my sister is in Ness, I feel that the past few years have brought us closer together.  Although she has left the classroom, mom still teaches.

Day 1 was what I thought it would be.  Long.  I'm going to follow a modified version of a marathon training schedule that a co-worker told me about.  I'm not for sure if a marathon will be in the future, although that might change.  Today I ran 2.65 miles at what I thought was a decent pace.  I know the pace will get much faster and the miles much longer as I continue.  I'm using dailymile.com to track my miles for the year and after the first run, it looks like they round up!  I will keep everyone updated on my real miles on my blog and hopefully I can find a road track that is exactly 3 miles.

I've already received so much support from people at work.......I'm truly blessed to be surrounded by such great people.  When starting this blog, I thought even if I got a few followers that it would be a success.  After a week of the first blog post, I already have 5 followers!  If you a reading this blog, feel free to pass it along to people you know......the more people that follow, the more people learn about supporting the fight for pancreatic cancer.

Many people have asked about how they sponsor.  Throught the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (www.pancan.org) I have set up a fundraising page.  You can access it by clicking on the "first giving" link on my page.  All the support is greatly appreciated.

Remember to teach.  Remember to pray.  Remember to support.

Matt