Running in torrential downpour at the Rose Bowl...sadfaces. But nothing gets in the way of Saturday morning team practice!

I meant to do a second month training recap three weeks ago! Ah, well...a belated update is still an update! :)

Training has gotten seriously hardcore and sometimes I think I'm going to pass out, but there have been some major accompliments in the last month and a half. I have now done each of my distances for the triathlon separately! Yup, that means that I can swim 1500m (~1 mile), bike 40k (~26 miles) and run 10k (6.5 miles)!!!

I am definitely most proud of the biking part, which just happened last week in the hilly wilds of Pasadena, near freeways, and through busy traffic. There were tears at one point, but I survived due to my amazing coach Jen who stuck with me. We sang "We Are The Champions" as I road to the finish, and I have to say, I felt...like a champion! Two months ago I had just learned how to ride a bike, and now I can bike 26 mikes. Who am I?! Though I am nowhere near a great cyclist yet (sometimes I feel like I am fighting an unwieldy beast), I'm getting better.

I am now at 64% of my fundraising goal!! THANK YOU to everyone who has donated, asked for a training update, told me they were proud of me, and made me feel supported and loved as I put all my spare energy into training. You guys are beyond fabulous!

If you have not donated, I hope you will help me fight blood cancer by donating whatever is comfortable for you. I have 25 days left to raise $928 - with your help I can get there!

Enough words. Time for a photo montage. Please find "We Are The Champions" on Youtube and play it in the background...

My awesome teammate Evelyn, me and the oh-so-wonderful coach Marin! My first time biking at a team practice. We've come so far! Photo courtesy of Evelyn.

That run in the rain/wind was so miserable that there's another picture. All of these pics are from Evelyn's nifty iPhone.

I rode my bike right into a pole and took it down. Whoops...thanks to coach Brian for the picture (I'm terrible at taking pictures).

Garrett and I proudly sporting our TNT shirts at CicLAvia last Sunday. GO TEAM!!!

Hi there friends and family!

Thanks for checking out my Team in Training page! I hope you will consider donating to my mission to help fight blood cancers. To do that, I’m training for the the Bass Lake Triathlon (yes, me!) on June 2, 2012 as a member of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training.

Why are you doing this?

At the end of 2011, I was 25, didn't know how to ride a bike, and was generally not active. If you had told me last year that I would be training for a triathlon in 2012, I would have laughed at you for a long, long time.

But that's the thing: I'm young, I'm healthy, and I can do anything that I set my mind to.

Every four minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer. Every 10 minutes, someone dies. You and I can do something to change that.That's why I joined Team in Training, which is an amazing organization that trains regular people to become athletes in order to raise awareness and money for important causes. At the end of five months, I will have picked up a new life and transportation skill, gotten myself myself in shape, and most importantly, raised $2,600 to fight blood cancer. That's pretty awesome!

Where does my money go?

LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services. Your donation will help find cures and better treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. For more details about all the things LLS does, please click here: http://www.lls.org/waystohelp/whygive/

How can I help?

Times are tough for a lot of people, and I don't want anyone to donate what they can't afford. But whatever is comfortable for you - even $5! - would be incredibly helpful! You are all my support team, so your encouragement, joint workouts, and cheers also help!

My birthday is on March 26, and I will be turning 26 years old. Instead of buying me a present, drink, or dinner for my birthday, please donate instead - it would be the best gift that I can ask for.

THANK YOU for considering making a donation towards my effort to help cure blood cancers! At the end of the day, it's about making sure that blood cancer has a cure, that the treatment is easy and painless, and that no man, woman or child and their family suffers loss.

Join me as I embark on a 5-month journey for an amazing cause. Thanks again!

Love,

Eva

My expression in the above picture is how fierce I feel after the first four weeks of base training are over. I am proud to say that I finally know how to ride a bike! Not only do I know how to ride a bike, I just rode a bike for 7 miles on the Santa Monica roads alongside cars this past Saturday and did not fall over! I still can't believe it. My teammates and coaches are amazing, shouting encouragement, helping me out when I falter, and generally being fantastic people.

Oh, how far I have come since the first week when Garrett (my boyfriend who is also doing TNT and striking the warrior pose above) let go of the bike and I wobbled away on two wheels, ecstatic over my victory...and then a litte girl whooshed past me coolly on her tiny bike and showed me up. Over the next several weeks, I rode in parking lots and battled cones before taking to the streets, almost losing it when I slipped on a stray patch of sand (I shake my fist at you, sand!), but I got back up and kept riding. I can now officially use the phrase, "It's like riding a bike." Next step: clipless pedals and riding faster and longer distances. Also, finding that little girl again and showing her that I am no longer a loser.

Last week, I almost cried during swim practice because I was so exhausted and felt like I could not get through the laps. Somehow, I made it through. Garrett has been an incredible support, helping me every step of the way, from doing 3 mile runs together at the high school track to teaching me how to ride a bike.

Running's been great - I got some sweet new kicks at Runner's Circle and am doing 3-4 mile runs. This is a far cry from the girl who could only do 1 mile runs before, interspersed with plenty of walking and finding-a-new-workout-song-on-my-iPod breaks.

I have also been blown away by the support from friends and family this first month, who have helped me reach a whopping 34% of my fundraising goal. Thank you guys so very much! ROCKSTARS, all of you! I feel lucky to get their "how's training going?" check-ins, encouragement, hilarious fundraising ideas, joint runs, training advice, and general care and support as I train six days a week. Thank you thank you thank you!

This month's training is going to step up the intensity, which also means that my complaining will increase and also possibly tears of exhaustion, but I am still psyched and glad to be doing this. Every mission story I hear reminds me that 1) I am so lucky to have my health and family and friends untouched by the devastating hand of cancer 2) We need to do as much as we can to fight these terrible diseases.

If you haven't donated already, I hope that you will join me in this fight!! GO TEAM!