Have a chronic disease? Donate clothing for a quilt!

My friend Shelley (who also has Addison's) will be creating one of her lovely quilts to benefit National Organization for Rare Disorders. Read more about NORD with this link. Shelley will use pieces of clothing donated by those of us with Addison's Disease and other chronic illnesses. Shelley's an incredibly talented artist and quilter. If you have things that are especially associated with you and what you do or enjoy, please consider sending these to be included in Shelley's quilt.
Please Send Your Clothing Items and contact information to this address:
Shelley Lerdahl

501 N 3rd W,

Rigby, Idaho 83442
After the quilt is finished it will be auctioned and the highest donation bidder will then contribute the amount of their bid to N.O.R.D. in honor of Shelley Lerdahl. Neither Shelley, or the those participating in it's promotion, will receive, accept or manage any monies, all will go directly to N.O.R.D . Both the donor and Shelley will receive acknowledgment of the receipt of the donation.
When the quilt is completed we will post the details of the donation auction in further detail. I wish to repeat: you will be bidding to donate directly to N.O.R.D.
We look forward to watching Shelley's progress...but remember she needs your clothing to make this happen!

Shelley was thinking that it would be neat to have a list that says what the people did included with the quilt...for example:

• "Dusty, addisonian, worn while doing the 50 mile Teton race" or
• "Shelley, addisonian, pants too big lost 40 lbs"

This is the shirt I am sending to Shelley today. It's the shirt from my first marathon.

A NOTE TO MARTA: PLEASE CONTRIBUTE SOMETHING! YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION AND I WILL BE POSTING ABOUT YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS SOON!!!

Ultrarunning camp is over

“When you get exposed to people who have done such extraordinary things that pushes you, so that in some aspect of your life you will do something that is brave.”

-Joan Allen

Ultrarunning camp is over and it was awesome. Not only did I learn more about running, I had a great time and I've become more inspired to run than ever. I've met some more incredible people who have done extraordinary things. Steve, in the picture above, was amazing. He's in his 70s and just started running again last week. He did an amazing number of miles and his form and technique improved incredibly during the 4 days of camp. Fortunately for me, Steve lives a few miles from me and he's going to be running much, much more!! Steve, I'm very proud of you.

There was a breast cancer survivor who ran a marathon 6 weeks after a big surgery (you're my hero J), many who had done incredible races, a woman who went from doing a marathon to doing Leadville in a month and a half, M was accident prone as hell but fell down, laughed about it,picked herself up and started running again. Bob's 65, looks incredible, and is doing Badwater in a couple of weeks. Lora is just all around incredible. Leo came from England just to attend the camp! Everyone had a fantastic sense of humor (especially Chandler and Dave!!) and everyone was a terrific runner. I'm in awe of each and every person who attended camp. Lisa and Jay Batchen and Matt Hart you are all great coaches and so much fun. Lisa and Jay have a way of making regular people like me feel like we can accomplish anything if we want it badly enough. Thanks for letting me participate!

As far as Addison's, exercise and me is concerned, I will never be a good or great ultrarunner. However, in the last couple of weeks, I've found I can make quick friendships with like minded people, do some of what they do and be a part of the ultrarunning world in so many ways. I may or may not do the Grand Teton Races 100 miler at the end of August BUT I was able to participate in the Desert RATS stage race, the ultrarunning camp, and I may pace and crew a woman in the Leadville 100, etc. I can be part of a great community without going too far beyond my limits. I think that the last 2 weeks have been a lesson in limits and enjoying what I can do and what I am good at without going too far physically.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days.

Tetons 6 am


Judy poses with the Grand Targhee sign 5 minutes after meeting me


Lisa and Jay have all of us over for dinner. Look how clean we all are!

Coach Lisa makes Dave work for his food!

The gang gets started on this morning's run

Group photo in Rick's Basin



The running begins!

Pretty Julie, a future Leadville 100 runner, enjoys Rick's Basin and the great outdoors