I am so thankful to all of my donors - all 51 of you (technically).  Without your support, I would have had to cover the difference myself.  For those of you not equipped to handle pounds, £1,690.41 = $2,842.08.  With your support, Save the Rhino will be able to do more to help conserve wild rhinoceros.  During my trip to London, I was able to visit their headquarters, meet the dedicated staff (it is a crowded office!) and stay with the Director, Cathy Dean.  It was an unforgettable trip ne'er to be repeated.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The McWilliams Family
Mom & Dad
Judy & Gene Wunder
The Stewards
Uncle Buddy
Anonymous
Lois
KF
Diana & Jack
Buddy & Sheila
Keith & Cathy Zub
Jay & Kendall Duncan
Christy & JJ
Morgan
Kelli
Anne Cervantes
Anna
Susan Shepard
Margi
Nicole
Jason Green
Jules Mastro
Katie & Jay Stutz
Gillian
Carol Nolin
Cydney Peterson
Christine Ramsdell-Pervier
Tom & Karen Mattus
Lara Wunder
Dick & Cheryl Robillard
Katie & Amanda
Phil Hillary
Rhino Joe
Alex
Mandy Shiner
Charlene & Bill Lemoine
Laurin Paradise
Sarah Vitelli
Tad Davenport
Sharon Marszal
Tricia Webster
Rob Yordi
Liz & Gene Farrell
Thomas Berger
Katie Kurec
The Stantons
Alissa Atkinson
Dianne Leblanc
Donna & Bernie Doherty
Kiano & Ayana Black Rhinos - Blank Park Zoo
Lisa Henderson

After an uneventful drive to Orlando, and a quick "ferry" from Tiffany and Kyle's house (thank you both very much), I was at the Orlando International Airport.  I arrived pretty early (since it was an international flight) and had time for a nice dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill (pre-security).  My flight left at 8:10pm and was good - I flew Aer Lingus.  I lucked out on the row - first in the rear section of the plane, and no one sitting next to me either.  They served a tasty pasta dinner and then I was in and out of sleep for the 7.5 hour flight to Dublin.  I went through a Customs-y area in the Dublin airport where my passport was stamped and waited a few hours for my connection to London Heathrow.  No problems there either - exit row all to myself.  I landed at about 12:30pm (GMT), got my bags - no passport stamp here :-( - and headed immediately to the Underground (also known as The Tube) - London's subway system - to meet up with Cathy Dean, the director of Save the Rhino International and my London host, at her office.

The locals were out in full force as I trudged through the Borough Market area with my luggage to get to the office.  It was a Friday and I guess they start early.  It was nice to meet the staff of Save the Rhino with whom I had been exchanging marathon-related e-mails for months, and after a quick hello, getting my running rhino shirt photographed and tweeted, and instructions on how to get to ExCeL London, I was off (sans bags - Cathy graciously offered to take them to her flat where I'd be staying the next two nights).

I headed back to the Tube and ended up at the DLR platform where I spotted a celebrity.  I actually misread the timetable for the DLR and could have caught a train to the ExCeL center sooner, but I'm glad I didn't.  I was just soaking everything in - these were my first hours in London! - looking at the architecture, the people, how they dressed, listening to their accents, everything!  When...while waiting on the platform...a rather handsome blonde caught my eye, and then I did a double-take.  He looked familiar and just as we made significant eye contact, I realized who it was.  Ed Speleers!  Who to me, will always be Eragon, but to most people in America (who watch Downton Abbey), he's better known as James "Jimmy" Kent, the footman.  After freaking out inside and realizing that I'd never get a photo of him without being creepy (because of the aforementioned eye contact), I just made my way around the crowd and asked if he minded if I took a picture with him.  He kind of laugh-scoffed and said "Sure."  I said, "You're Ed, right?"  He said, "Yup," and smiled.  I introduced myself, held out my hand and he shook it.  *sigh*  I took the photo, said it was nice to meet him, and that was that.  Then the train came and he got in the same car as me!  I was still shaking as I updated my facebook status.  I didn't want to bother him, so I just kind of ignored him after that.  He got off the same stop as me, so I started thinking "Maybe he's running the marathon too."  But, after I got into ExCeL, I waited by the front doors and I didn't see him come in, so either he was avoiding me (lol) or he stopped somewhere else...because I googled him later and found out that he was running this year's marathon (which would be his third one).  In any case, it was a wild series of events that led to meeting my first celebrity in London.  I was sure to see celebrities every day!  Alas, it would be my only one.  But it was still awesome!

The Expo was amazing - it was at the ExCeL Centre, which is the largest convention center in which I've been.  I picked up my bib/packet and walked through a smoky tunnel (ooooh!) to enter the area with all the vendors and speakers and fun stuff.  I bought a London Marathon Adidas shirt and browsed a few of the vendors, but it was pretty much the same selection as I've seen at other ones.  I hit up the photo booth and posted my photo to their wall (an actual physical wall in the Centre).  I picked up my race shirt that I had mailed over to have my name printed on it.  Thankfully, it was there - and they spelled my name right!  I didn't linger long - I had more to see.

I made my way back to the DLR and the Tube and headed to the British Museum - woo hoo!  If I could see only one thing in London, this was it.  The museum houses the controversial Elgin Marbles.  I visited Greece and saw the Parthenon in April 2000 and it was certainly awe-inspiring.  However, this old dude "rescued" the sculptures from the temples of the Acropolis and they are now in London.  Whichever side of that disagreement you are on, their magnificence is not up for debate.  In fact, all of the Greco-Roman antiquities wings at the British Museum were stunning, and kept me occupied for over three hours.  This is not surprising since it is my favorite period - history and art-wise.  I made a quick trip around the rest of the museum to see the "must-see" items according to their brochure.  Eh.  A few of them were cool - the Easter Island man-stone, the samurai armor.  I found another wing of neo-classical sculptures - I was pretty much a speed-walking, picture-taking, museum marathoner.  I stopped in the Gift Shop as I was prepared to leave, looked at (and later bought some) postcards and realized that I missed a few interesting things.  Luckily, the Information Desk knew where to find the ones that were not out on loan - the coolest of which was Albrecht Durer's original Indian Rhino woodcut :-(

I wrote a letter to His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge in January and received a response late last month.  I explained what I was doing - running a marathon for Save the Rhino - and that it would be my first trip to England.  I also suggested the marathon - which involved a lot of charities - might be an ideal event for gaining press coverage of the severe poaching crisis.  It seems as though that last part may have been misinterpreted, but nevertheless, it was pretty awesome to receive a letter from a royal.  Royal mail!  See what I did there?

I'm very excited - my first marathon is only 4 weeks away!!!

Today I received my official packet for the 2014 Virgin London Marathon!  I got all my information, a rhino pin, the official shirt I will be wearing and more.  I was also challenged to start raising money.  I've been doing that for a bit now, so I have a little head start - about £287 - which is good because there is a prize for the first runner to raise £1300.  The prize is a 'Keeper for a Day' experience at one of the following four zoos: Chester, Colburn, Wolchester, or Edinburgh.  This would be amazing.  I've never been to England, which means I've never been to a zoo there either, so a chance to hang out with a zookeeper from across the pond and see how things are done there would be unimaginably valuable to me.

Besides the marathon and raising the money for rhino conservation, I'm obviously excited about seeing London and the tourist sites for the first time - Lord Elgin's marbles!  But, I also plan to visit some old friends: Laura, a fellow Big Cat Rescue intern I met back in 2006; a lovely couple, Brad and Kelli, who moved to England to work with Young Life International who I befriended in Houston after working at the Houston Zoo with Kelli ; and Cycy, a fellow rhino keeper who I met in San Diego this past year at the International Rhino Keeper Association Workshop.  As you can see, there a lot of exciting things waiting for me in London - thanks for taking an interest in my journey there.

Lots of developments lately.  The absence of an update is indicative of how busy I've been.  It's hard enough to keep the training portion updated, but here I am now.  I'm working on a few things for the International Rhino Keeper Association (IRKA) - mainly, our fundraising calendar and helping to organize the Board of Directors election - and Tampa Bay AAZK - our next fundraiser.  I have a few more things to work on in order to apply for a promotion at work, so I'm sticking with that obviously.  I heard back that I was not chosen as a finalist for the Conservation Ambassadorship to Zimbabwe for Painted Dog Conservation.  I'm okay with that...it is disappointing, but there's always next year.  I've had a few other unpleasant personal setbacks, but life goes on...and so must I.

On the plus side, I've heard back from Save the Rhino.  They accepted my application!  They sent me a finalized registration form to fill out and send back (which I did) and once they process my application payment, it will be all set!  Then I'll receive their instructions for donations and training and be well on my way to London next year.  I also recently weighed below 200 pounds for the first time in at least a decade, which is amazing - and something I owe to running.  On a related note, I traded in my work belt for a smaller one, and my size 36 work shorts for size 34 shorts.  Woo hoo!  They are a little snug...but they do flatter my rear end.  ;o)

The Disneyland Half Marathon is September 1st.  One month away!  Donald, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy are waiting for me...I'm very excited.  Training amps up a bit in two weeks --- with the longest run of the fourteen week training period (10 miles) on the docket.  I will most likely be running that in Massachusetts as I go home for five days to visit family and hang on the beach in Maine.  I'm hoping the heat does not follow me north.

I am very excited today!  I received the application from Save the Rhino for the Virgin London Marathon 2014 – woo hoo!  I am going to fill it out tonight, scan it at work tomorrow and e-mail it immediately.  I really, really, really hope I am accepted as one of their 50 “Golden Bond places.”   There are a few questions that make me glad I have experienced some  recent events.  One question asks about previous experience with marathons.  Well, I have only run one half marathon, but the director of Save the Rhino (the lovely Cathy Dean) with whom I spoke at the recent International Rhino Keeper Association (IRKA) workshop in San Diego (more to come on that!) knows that London will be my first – it is the Virgin London Marathon after all…hehe.

 “Why do you want to run for Save the Rhino?” is the easiest question on the application – to help save rhinos, of course!  They are a huge part of my life, and treating this planet as gently as I can is something I live every day.  Anything extra I  can do to help wild rhinos is an unfathomable bonus. 
(insert digression here)
I’ve recently applied for a Conservation Ambassadorship at work.  The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund allows several SEA employees the opportunity to apply to travel internationally to one of the Fund's supported projects and help out.  I completed several essays and filmed a two minute video (which ended up being a satirical political advertisement to elect me as Conservation Ambassador)  as part of the application to help Painted Dog Conservation – an organization that deals with educating children about the importance of conservation of animals and their habitat, stopping poaching in Hwange National Park including dismantling snares, and rehabilitating injured painted dogs.  Snares affect rhinos too, so that was a part of my angle.  ;)
(end of digression)

 Lastly, they ask about your previous fundraising experience.  Well…I am the Fundraising Chair of
Tampa Bay AAZK and I just finished coordinating our largest fundraiser of the  year – Bowling for Rhinos!  It raised over $6,300 – a record for our chapter – and while I didn’t do it alone, I did a good deal of work for it, so that should definitely help me out.  Cross your fingers, please...and I’ll keep y’all posted.  :)

I had first heard of the Disney races through a friend (that works at Disney) of a friend (that I worked with at the Houston Zoo).  I ran my first half marathon on February 24, 2013 - a day that holds special significance for me - and I completed it.  I had heard that races were like tattoos - you never do/get just one.  Well, I got my first tattoo on St. Patrick's Day 2010 and that's the only one so far.  I thought maybe running would produce a similar result - one and done.

Imagining the feeling I would get when finishing in no way compared to the actual feeling.

I'm a fairly emotional person.  I will cry watching a sports championship; the visit from family on Day 35 of Survivor leaves me bawling and clutching a blanket; a text-video of my friends' daughter taking her first steps got me good - you get the idea.  I was a wreck when I crossed the finish line at Disney - the video (taken by MarathonFoto) is not pleasant to watch.  :)

That being said, I'm getting emotional doing research for the London Marathon.  And I'm craving that feeling at the finish line.