Racing to Save Lives...

On May 22, 2010 I raced in the Black Bear Triathlon in Lehighton, PA and smashed my goal time of < 2 hours! My final race time was 1 hour and 36 minutes!

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I swam 650 meters (in 15 minutes), biked 11 miles on one of the toughest sprint triathlon courses in central PA (in 47 minutes... slow but steady!) and ran 3.1 miles (in 29 minutes). The rest of the time was spent in transition. I had a blast and am already looking forwart to my next race!!!

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THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who donated!! Many of the treatments doctors and scientists have found helpful in treating Leukemia & Lymphoma are also being used to treat other cancers. So even if you don't know anyone with Leukemia or Lymphoma, chances are you know someone who has been affected by cancer and your donation toward a cure for Leukemia & Lymphoma will be helpful to curing ALL cancers one day!!

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Team In Training (TNT) exists to help find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma.

TNT is LLS's largest fundraising program.

I have chosen an event in which I will participate and have pledged to raise at least $1500 during the months that I train for my triathlon. My personal goal (besides to finish the race, of course...) is to raise at least $2000.

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Other team mates (including my wonderful husband who is doing the Philadelphia Triathlon in June!) will be fundraising and training with me and we have coaches who are volunteering their time to help us along the way.

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LLS has raised significant funds to aid researchers in their fight to find cures for these diseases. The five-year relative survival rate has nearly quadrupled in the past 48 years for patients with leukemia. Those numbers don't lie! I know that by becoming a member of TNT and helping to raise money for LLS, I am making a difference.

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Please support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission... Please donate and tell at least one other person about what I am doing. No donation is too small and every bit helps. I am proud to be a part of this wonderful mission that has successfully helped so many people, and I'm sure you will, too!

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Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress....

Thanks for your support!

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-Samantha

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You can track my progress here:

http://www.dailymile.com/people/SamanthaG

Or go into even more detail here:

http://sammytheseeker.blogspot.com/

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APRIL 18:

I would sincerely like to thank Catamaran's Restaurant, Calypso Bay, Harbor Island Marina, and the Tiki Bar of Solomon's, MD, for so much help in our Tiki Bar Opening fundraising event on April 17 & 18. We raised a significant amount of funds and we could not have done it without you. I am also so, so very grateful to each and every person who contributed to our "GET LEI'D TO CURE CANCER!" fundraiser. I know it's tough to trust just anyone you see walking around selling goods for a good cause and we sinceraly appreciate everyone who trusted us and were so generous and giving to LLS. I was able to hand out some business cards and slips of paper with our website and if you're here checking, thank you so much for contributing. We couldn't have done it without you and it feels SO good to be able to help out such a wonderful cause and contribute a significant amount of money toward this.

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Lil' updates:

May 8

The Black Bear TNT participants went up to Lehighton, PA to check out the race course. We didn't swim but the beach and the water were beautiful! We rode the bike course twice (22 miles) and familiarized ourselves with the hills, turns, flats, etc. I'm pretty happy I didn't have to walk up the hills (even if I was going a snail's pace)! I did learn that keeping my distance behind other cyclists will be crucial on the hills since people probably *will* stop to hop off and walk, and I need to be very alert so I don't run into them... because that almost happened a couple weeks ago at a practice and could've been a disaster! We tried to do the run, too, but there are a lot of paths and it wasn't marked for the race- so a lot of us didn't really complete that accurately. But the bike portion of the race is supposed to be what makes it soooo difficult and I'm glad to say, I'M READY!!

April 17

While down in southern Maryland for a BIG (and very successful!) fundraising event, John and I participated in the Hospice Run in Leonardtown. He did the 10k, I did the 5k and really pushed myself. We were *exhausted* from fundraising ALL DAY the day before, so I did not expect to do well... but somehow I managed to beat my previous 5k time and PR'd again at this race! 28:12 was my net time, 28:28 was my gun time- the extra time came from having to make my way to the actual start line behind all the people.

April 14

Went back to Pinchot for another brick with the mindset of NOT walking at all. I succeeded... BARELY, but I did it! I was really happy to not have had to walk and hope that if I continue to practice on this course once a week, I'll be much more prepared for the mountains of Black Bear!

April 13

Went swimming and decided to try and see if I could go for 1/2 hour without stopping since my swim, in theory, should only take about 20 minutes. Surprisingly I was successful! :) I didn't calculate my distance as I thought I'd do better if I wasn't thinking about it. The day before I went 900 yards in about 25 minutes, so I imagine I went about 1000 today.

April 9

Went to Pinchot park and did a small brick workout. The bike course for their triathlon is 9 miles and you do two laps... I did one and a short run. The course is TOUGH. Dropped a chain for the first time on one of the hills, but found out it is an easy fix. Still had to walk up that one some, but felt good to have found a very difficult course nearby on which to practice!!

April 3

TNT group bike ride & run in a business park loop. 16 mile bike, 3 mile run. Nice practice but the warm weather is so tough for running- I have a lot of breathing issues over 50 degrees. :( Hopefully the more I run in the warmer weather, I'll adapt.

March 31

Nice bike ride down in MD with as many hills as I could find :)

March 21

Ran in the Vinny's Kids 5k on City Island with a goal to finish the race in under 30 minutes. My final time was 29:06. Great Success! High Five!

March 20

TNT Bike/Run in Mt. Gretna. 15 miles on a bunch of lil' hills and then a 3 mile run. Not bad at all, had a great time, but that run was tough! I was TIRED! At this point I can't imagine throwing in a long swim on top of it, but I've still got a couple of months to go!

March 19

Swam 700 continuous yards but with some recovery stroke when needed. But still, even with recovery, managed to keep myself moving in the water and swam 640 meters. At race time I should be able to cover 650 meters, even if it ain't pretty ;)

March 12

was determined to go 100 yards of continuous swimming (which isn't much, but has been too much for me as of today) and.. I did it! Yay!

March 11

after numerous attempts I've finally found what seems to be the perfect saddle and have been enjoying some bike riding. 15 miles today in just about an hour- and that included a couple quick stops at intersections, etc.

March 6

Ran 4 miles with the TNT group training. Knee hurt a little at the end but was fine the next day. Gradually getting my mileage up there!

Feb 28

John's birthday! He even went to spin today, what a non-slacker :) I swam & did a strength work out.

I'm also doing the 100-push-ups in 6 weeks plan and did week 2 day 2 today. I won't finish it in 6 weeks since I occasionally miss a day (you're supposed to do them every other day) but hopefully I'll get there. Today was 72 push-ups (with rests between sets).

Feb 27

group bike & run. Started biking in about 30 degrees with WIND and ice pelting us in the face. Somehow it was fun though :) I was even plenty warm (lots and lots of layers). Then we ran 2 miles. That was a little bit of a struggle- my feet felt like ice blocks for the first mile or so!

Feb 20

swim clinic! It went much better than I expected! We learned some drills and for the first time I felt pretty comfortable in the water- I decided to try breathing on every 5th stroke rather than every 3rd. I may end up going back to every 3rd but for now, just getting comfortable with technique in general, it helped SOOO much.

Feb 14

Spin Class (1 hour) and then a 2.2 mile run on the treadmill. Having John on a treadmill next to me was a big help- definitely a motivator to stay on there and get the 2 miles done that I had set out to do, with him there alongside me getting his miles done (going almost twice as fast!).

Feb 13

Bike clinic... felt frustrated and I have a LOT of work to do :(

Feb 11

braved the slush and ice and went 3.97 miles! Had to work to find a good place to run and after only 1 mile almost gave up- then found a block with 4 nice clear sidewalks all around. It may seem strange, but running laps around 1 block is A MILLION TIMES more enjoyable than attempting anything on a treadmill... at least for me.

We're also doing weekly spin classes now on Sundays, which will hopefully get me in shape for some mountains in Gretna.

Swimming is still a bit of a struggle, but I'm inching my way along with drills, and doing simple backstroke for recoveries rather than just totally resting in the water.

Feb 2

Went to a night group run and went... 4.7 miles!!! That is the farthest I've ever gone! Having a group to keep up with helped so much and really motivated me. The only bad part was my arthritis started acting up some after a couple miles and I had to walk about 10 minutes... devastating since (surprisingly) I wasn't feeling tired at all. But it felt good to know that as my knee strengthens, I shouldn't have trouble pushing my distance further. Was afraid I'd be intimidated to run with other people, but it was great!

Jan 22

Ran a little over a 5k (3.4 miles) in 36 minutes. Hoping to get to that < 9 minute mile by race time!

Jan 21

took my bike out for a short 9 mile ride and enjoyed breaking in the new gear :)

Jan 16

I upgraded to clipless pedals &new biking shoes. Let's hope for no injuries before the race!!!