Racing to Save Lives

At the end of this month, I will do an Ironman. I WILL DO AN IRONMAN!! That’s crazy…who does that? Who would want to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and then run 26.2 miles? Well, myself and 26 other participants of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training IronTeam, that’s who!

July 31st is the day my teammates and I will spend anywhere between 12 and 17 hours swimming, biking and running, all for the sake of saving lives and finding a cure to blood related cancers.

The past 9 months have been devoted to numerous hours training my body and mind for this task. There were several days that seemed impossible as I tested my athletic abilities and nutritional needs. Several tears have been shed in pain, frustration and just plain tears of exhaustion. But I wouldn’t change this experience for anything! The camaraderie of the IronTeam, the life lessons I’ve learned and friendships I’ve made along this journey are unrivaled! I’ve become an athlete, an inspiration to others and most importantly, a fighter for those who are fighting a different kind of battle.

YES, I’ve had days where I’ve questioned myself “why am I doing this?” The answer lies within my surroundings…. Craig – a regular customer I’ve waited on for years who is now in remission, Kyle Garlett and Gordie Lat – honored teammates and friends who, despite their own struggles of having cancer, are out there training and racing with us. For the personal stories from other participants, the cancer patients I read about in the news and the people I know who are no longer with us. I’ve been blessed to be healthy and I don’t ever want to take that for granted! So THIS is what I feel I can do to help others. Raise funds while training to complete an Ironman triathlon! And I can’t do this alone – I NEED your help! It is the funds allocated to research that has developed such procedures as Stem Cell replacement and drugs like Glevac that ARE giving cancer patients hope!

So please join me in this fight to cure cancer and make ANY amount of donation you can provide! On behalf of everyone involved at LLS TNT, I thank you for your time and donation.

Be sure to check back here for an update on my race completion! It’s not going to be easy, but I WILL get through it and earn my IRONMAN title ☺

Much love –

Lilly