Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to Dr. Allison Walker's Team In Training home page.

As some of you may know, I have been training for the Walt Disney Half-Marathon in January 2010. For some of you that know me, I have never been the athletic type but I have always been the type of person to challenge myself. Therefore, I have taken upon the challenge of running 13.1 miles!!!! Yes, some of you who are reading this may think I'm crazy and sometimes when I'm running in the rain or running in 90 degree weather I wonder...."Why am I doing this?" But there are several reasons why I chose to run this marathon. First, this is an opportunity to test the limits; in addition, to developing a healthy lifestyle. Second, a few months ago one of my good friends, Dr. Teri Adkins, told me her brother was diagnosed with Leukemia and at the time all I could say was, "I am so sorry." Several months later on May 11, 2009, Teri's brother (Mark Wendell Adkins...see picture of Mark above this description) lost his fight with Leukemia. However, because Teri has a huge amount of strength and determination she dealt with her brother's passing with grace and dignity.

At some point in our lives, we will experience the passing of a close loved one and when Teri went through this experience my heart was filled with emotion. As you may know, my mother passed away in 2002 after a long fight with diabetes and end stage renal disease. So, I understood the pain Teri was feeling as she stored the memories of her brother deep into her heart. Therefore, I have decided to face this challenge head on and train to run this half-marathon to raise money for cancer research and honor Mark Wendell Adkins. Although, I have never met Mark....this is my way of offering peace and solitude to Teri and her family. After all....if patients with cancer can endure painful chemotherapy sessions....I can endure training for a half-marathon!

As of today Monday November 16th, I have reached the 5 mile mark and am continuing to train during the week and every Saturday morning at 7:00 AM with my team. It definitely takes a lot of effort some mornings for me to get out of bed to run when it is cold outside or even raining but I always remind myself that I am running for a purpose! I keep people like Mark in my mind and that's what makes me get up and run because the more I dedicate my time and fight to raise money for blood cancer research the closer we will get to a cure. So, please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. So, please help advance the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) mission.

Thanks for your support!