Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm training to participate in an endurance event as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All members on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress.

***June 19 NEWS*** Our San Fernando Valley team met with the team from Santa Clarita Valley to start on our uphill training. It was actually not as bad as I had expected. We pushed in several timed sets, going a little further each time. It felt great to accomplish so much. I also got my first taste of the gel bites. Wow, that's going to get some getting used to. It's kind of like a Powerade flavored jumbo sized Ju-Ju-Bee that gets stuck in your teeth.

***July 10 NEWS*** Trail-blazing through Griffith Park, was pretty intense for a bunch of newbies. But it seems to get a little easier with each hill train, (Sort of), I think I found a new muscle in my rear! Hopefully the soreness will wear off soon. Had a little bit of aches in the foot tendons, that need to be stretched out more. I did find out that "taking it easy" and trail-blazing don't mix!...It's ok though, we still did 6 miles and the recovery was pretty quick.

***July 17 NEWS***This weekend we got to change scenery a little bit. The Team was going to be doing more training on Porter Ranch hills. Meanwhile, Don, Christy, and I had an opportunity to do a 10K out in San Pedro, with an old walking club I used to be involved in with Mom, Dad and Steve; and also of which I recently thought to re-join and include my new family as well.

Since we had 1st time event paperwork to sort out, our starting time was later than usual, 12noon, but we finished at 2pm, instead of the given 3hours. Our time was still was pretty good, considering that with the later time start, it was already warming up and so we did stop several times to rest in the shade, I think Christy was getting a little overheated, so we had to make sure to get her and everyone extra hydrated. We also got to checkout the beautiful sites, old buildings, ask questions and shoo away beggers, ("Just where would I put any money?" I asked, as I waved my arms around a tank-top and walking skivies) We still had many hills to go over and made some wrong turns down several old streets. So I guess with some of the backtracking and wrong tuns, we probably really did more that then 10K...all is well, it was still a beautiful day, and we found some great places to return to.... Anyone interested in a twilight fishing tour?

***July 31 NEWS*** The 1/2 marathoners walked for 9 miles around the Balboa & Woodley parks. This was a real kicker since some of us were still recovering from the previous weeks including steep hills mixed with the increasing morning heat. We have to continue to remind ourselves to keep extra hydrated. Along with extra hydration usually comes the smarter "timing" of rest stops. Somewhere along the middle of the training route, does not a bathroom exist...Hmm...So, in thinking of which way to the nearest bathroom I wasn't sure if it could be closer to just go ahead on the route which the full trainers were taking. This would add an additional mile on to my 9. I didn't have much time for thinking, so I decided to go for it...and was very happy with the results! Thanks to my team support for keeping me company and physical motivation, I was able to make it. Whew! Well, at least it will make this weeks training easier.

***August 14 NEWS*** We walked/ran 12 miles this morning! Whew! It was very tiring but also inspiring. We had a fundraiser event in the evening. Alex Nester, a very talented young lady, belted out with her signature R&B sound, she and her band performed for us a variety of songs from her own music to Earth, Wind & Fire's Shining Star...As always, they were fantastic!! Alex was more than too happy to sing for the cause since she too is a survivor. Thanks Alex!! To see more information on her, visit her website: www.alexnester.com

We are still in need of much funds before the deadline, so please tell your friends to see it in their heart to give, of any amount. It all helps LLS to fight for the cause!

***August 28 NEWS*** This was the last practice for the team before the Disney 1/2 marathon. We have come a long way physically as well as emotionally. For those of you who know me personally, this is a major feat to even be able to say that I have come this far. It was a long, painful battle to become strong and take on this event in my life. However, I have come to the point where no matter how much I am hurting, someone else is out there and much worse off than I ever am. I am doing this for them, and for all of those families who have suffered with the questions of, "Why?". We WILL someday win this fight!! For all of those new people whom I met this week, and shared so many stories of the battles and losses of loved ones, have faith, and I am praying for you all!!

***September 05 NEWS*** What an exciting event this has been...We checked into the Disney Hotel, early Sat. afternoon; after having gone to the Expo, where we tested our toe tags to make sure that the timing device was in sync with the computers, picked up our racing packets along with a goodie bag full of samples provided by the sponsers and then had a short chance to rest up before getting ready for dinner. We had a great buffet provided by Disney, very yummy! We were given the very good news that the cloud-cover would be staying until late morning. We could not have asked for more perfect weather. I woke up very early at about 2:45am. We had a quick breakfast and got ready to go meet everyone else at 4. By the time we all were corralled in the starting areas we had to wait half an hour before they finally called on us...Needless to say some of us were already needing fuel again...(Note to self: Next time, dont eat so early if you are going to be in the last corral.) Everything was going great except my new watch didn't seem to be ringing for the increments we had set it for...Luckily, I had my teammate KC look at it, she discovered that we had set it to go off at 2 & 1 "hours" not minutes as we had wanted...After a quick fix-it, we were back up and running.

Speaking of running, this was an incredible experience for me since I have always had issues with running and my ankles. They were just built differently I guess.

It was a great feeling being able to do the 2/1s, and do them well (for me anyway). I was going, I was In my own little world...Weaving in and out between the slower pockets, I didn't want to get caught in the middle and then stuck there with no easy way out, so I was faithful to my little watch...and I was running!!...I saw a boyscout with a sign that read, "Run Forrest Run!", and I felt that moment!!....Bands were playing, cheerleaders jumping and giving high-5s; characters waving and taking pictures...Shouts and cheers all along the entire route, "You're doing great!", "Keep it up!", "What a great cause, thanks guys!!", "GO TEAM!", "You're already half way done!"...It was wonderful!!...That is...until my ankle popped!..."This was it", I told myself. This is the "old" ankle I've always known, that gave me so much grief my whole life, caused me to sit out of almost every childhood game and accept my position of permanent ridicule..."What was I doing here?; I know that I can't run."..."Well serves me right for thinking I could do this, and get beyond my ill fate"......."NO WAY!!"...I refused to go there!!!...Thank God for the Med stations along the route with a full supply of ice packs and yes, I stopped at every one of them to grab a bag of ice, Oh how wonderful that felt! Even though I had to rest up and continue with walking more and skipped a few increments of the running parts, still I wanted to keep going. If I fail at this, I will have failed only myself, and I'm not doing that. No matter what it takes, I'm crossing the finish line, medal or not! Well, God was good to me and helped me to get back to my 2/1s. Carefully, I tested the ankles, and felt better with each 1s. I continued onward, and more pains came after the next couple of miles. It was the knees this time. This was not good. The knee is a little bit different than the ankle since it takes the bulk of your impact shock. OH! Another Med station...ICE!! Come to Mama!

Oh, by-the-way, I forgot to mention that somewhere, during our months in training I soon decided to not take my blood pressure medicine on the mornings 'before' going out to train since it is a diuretic...Hmm?...Just think about that one for a minute...Yes, it was nice not having to stop at every port-o-potty, but on the flip side, my coolness didn't last long. Twice I had attendants ask if I was ok. My face must have been very red. I poured the melted ice water down my neck and back to help, it worked well. By now, my knees were throbbing.

Finally, I got to the marker for mile 12. It was here that I really questioned if I should push my knees any further, and got the visions of being wheeled off the course. "Yes, or No? Push, and face the possible long-time consequenses; or stop now with tail between legs and tell myself, 'Nice try'...Is that what you want?" I knew that it wasn't, but I also knew that my timing was going to get longer, and longer. This was it, there's no turning back at this point. I keep going, even though I was getting slower and sometimes even down to a walk/limp. Almost there, with one turn left, a Disney staff "cheerer" thought it would be funny to shout, "Good job guys, only 3 miles left!", another runner shouted back at him, "Do you want to die young?"...He did have bad timing, afterall.... I decided that the sooner I would get to the finish, the sooner I could collapse at the Med station and have all the ice I ever wanted. I tried a couple of last attempts run/jogging to get to the end..."Run Forrest, Run!"...That popped into my head again... But it was more like limp Forrest, limp! ...Almost there, I see it... closer... closer... I did it!! I crossed and I GOT that medal!! AND I headed straight to the ICE!!, That's when it really hit me...Oh the pain!...All I wanted to do at this point was to find my team and check-out so that I could get to the ice-bath, up in my room...If I didn't, I was going to go down! While looking for the team tent...FOOD, Oh glorious food! I'll take one of everything please! AHa! There you all are! And Down I went.

***September 16 NEWS*** It has taken a little longer than I had expected to recover from the event, but I'm still very glad that I did it. This has been an experience of a lifetime, and even if the future doesn't allow me to do it again, I can now say that I DID IT!!! And I helped out a great cause along the way as well. For all of those out there who have struggled to accomplish something in your life that you never dreamed was ever possible, I share my stories and my memories of this feat with you...Dare to dream!

For those of you who are, or have friends or family who are struggling with a life-threatening disease, and those who have lost loved ones to any of these horrible diseases for which we are out there fighting to find a cure, don't give up hope. You may have to struggle to get to the finish line, but YOU CAN DO IT!!

Keep rooting for us!

Thanks for your support!