It’s time to blow the dust off my running shoes and start training for the 2008 Santa Clarita Marathon! Each year I run the marathon with the help of my running support group, The Ice Cream Dream Team. They follow me through the course in the official support vehicle. They make sure that I’m still on my feet and they cheer me on as I run the race “for ice cream.” This year I’m having mixed feelings about what is usually a fun and exciting event for me. This year the Ice Cream Dream Team will be short one member because on April 28, I lost my father. He was a very important part of my running support group.
My official support group began back in 1999 with only one member, my ex-husband, Ward. I ran pushing my children, Eliot and Bettina, in a double stroller sporting Baskin Robbins in Saugus “We Are Running For Ice Cream” signs. Ward would show up along the course, make sure we were okay, and cheer us on. My son outgrew the stroller 2003 and joined his dad on the Dream Team. My father moved to Saugus in 2005 and became the third member of my support team.
Bettina outgrew the stroller in 2007 leaving me to run solo in a silly looking ice cream costume. When she joined the others in the support group I had a full crew.
Each year I have proudly run the marathon for my sponsor, Baskin Robbins in Saugus. This year I will be pulling “double duty.” I will still be running for ice cream but I will also be running in memory of my dad, Joseph “Joe Cool” Dempnock. Come out, cheer us on, and make a donation to St. Jude’s in my dad’s name. That would be “cool.”