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The $1 Project Dear family, friends and friends of friends….Hi! I am doing a little experiment here on the concept of social activism mixed with “The Tipping Point” and I need to run it by you. Here is the gist: Last year I joined Team In Training/TNT (a marathon group who raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society/LLS) to run in memory of my grandmother and in honor of Donna and Ricky. I crossed the San Diego Rock ‘N Roll Marathon finish line and decided to do it again in Honolulu and Arizona. Normally in these programs people will send out letters or emails to EVERYONE they know asking for as generous a donation as they can spare in order to help them reach a specific goal. That was me last season, and it worked, but it’s not quite my style. See, I joined TNT to make a point. I want to spread the word. Educate. Kick major ass. I’ve realized though, that you are only as big as the sum of all your parts. If my parts include myself and 20 other donors then kudos to us for raising it all, but it’s not big enough. Not enough people will be touched. We need major coverage here people, so I’ve come up with another idea. The $1 Project: Synergy ***this will only work if we keep it going*** I don’t want anyone to donate more than $1. Yes, I am being serious. If you feel the strong urge to give more, well:
Instead of the extra financial donation, I am hoping you will help pass the message on. Join the cause and see just how fast we can get 3,300+ people to say, “Yeah, screw you Leukemia and Lymphoma” by donating their $1. My goal is to get to $3,300 by 9/26/08... six weeks from today! So, when you get done reading this and donating, forward this along to anyone and everyone you can think of. We need to keep this momentum going! Donate your $1 by:
Don’t forget to come back to my site daily, weekly, monthly (whatever you want) and check the progress of The $1 Project. Doing something like this is a group effort and without your help… I would only be a crazy running chic $3,299.00 short of my goal. Smiles over the miles, ~Erin UPDATES: Week 18 (12.7.08): Last run before HONOLULU!!! It was a shorty 8 miles and super exciting. We did a little dance to "I love Rock N Roll" for our other marathoners that are still training. Then there is the team send off dinner and finally it's LULU time. I'll keep you posted on the happenings. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL THE SUPPORT. We reached the goal together and are helping so many people! BIG Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 17 (11.30.08): Since we had such a long run last weekend and half a week pigging out on turkey and stuffing, this week was a short 12 mile recovery run. You have to know something is a little off when you consider 12 miles a nice, short run. But hey... I never calimed to be normal! The run was probably the best one yet for me. Many people were still out of town or hungover from the long holiday that barely anyone outside of us mentors showed up. Because of that I had no group to lead and was able to run with our asst. coach the entire time. She is SPEEDY. A boston marathoner. We were just on cruise mode and zooming along the entire time. By the end of the 12 I felt AMAZING and knew, "Ok - I know I can qualify Boston. Maybe not this time, but soon... for sure!" Only 2 more weekend for the Lu! Can't wait :-). Thank you again for the donations and words of encouragement toward my goals. I really hope you had a great Thanksgiving and reflected on how wonderful life is and why we shoud keep fighting to preserve it. Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 16 (11.23.08): BIG RUN DAY. 20 miles ladies and gents. Oh man was it awesome. I loved it. It was a perfect morning. A little crisp air to take us winding our way through Santa Monica, Venice and Brentwood. THere were a couple memorable moments.. I sprained my ankle around mile 8 or 9 but it was not that big of a deal so I was able to keep going. By the end of the mileage my girls I was running with were feeling really good, excited for the actual marathon yet happy to be done. Now we start the 3 week countdown till it's HONOLULU!!!!! Thank you so much for the continued support and kind words. I hope your holidays are wonderful! Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 15 (11.16.08): Another 14 miles under our belts. Well, not mine 'cause I was waterstop girl. I was ready for the break though b/c I had just run 3 back to back events Thurs., Fri., & Sat. for my day job, Special Olympics and then w/ TNT as well. My mentees and team mates did wonderfully and finished strong. This was expecially hard since we were inhaling nasty fire smoke the entire run. SoCaal has been ablaze with horrible brush, trailer park and other random fires this week, So, thumbs up to my crew! You Rock :-) Newest pics of the season: http://picasaweb.google.com/erinshulsinger/TNTWinter08TheRunningSide# Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 14 (11.9.08): I was super excited for this run today, but apparently my body had other plans. 3 miles into my 18mile run my sugar decided to take a noise dive and left me shaky, sitting and dazed for about 30 minute. I ate like a monster to spike it back up so I could start running again. 2 miles into my next run the same thing happened. It was just one of those days that you know you have to say... ok i just need to chill, there is always tomorrow. Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 13 (11.2.08): A great 13mile run DONE! I have a lot going on this afternoon so I've gotta jet, but - I promise to be more entertaining next week! Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 12 (10.26.08): Today we completed one of the most hated/loved runs of the season! Why the love/hate? ...because the first part of it is winding through this killer hilly neighborhood. However, I LOVE IT! The houses we pass are so beautiful and reaching the peak of the hill makes you feel invincible. The rest of the run is pretty smooth. There were a few minor hills, but nothing to write home about. In fundraising news - my mentee group just had their big Halloween Party fundraiser on Friday and it went GREAT! We raised about $1,000.00 and have great pic's to top it off. I dress as Funshine Bear (care bear). Check out the rest of the gang in these pic's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sketch/sets/72157608364527264/ -AND- http://picasaweb.google.com/erinshulsinger/TNTHalloweenParty10242008#5270466341459051474 Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 11 (10.20.08): 14 miles - a walk in the park! ..riiiiight. However, it isn't so bad when you have a great group of people to catch up with. Things are falling into place now with everyone. The runs are very enjoyable and the talks on the runs are even better. It's the time when we catch up on eachothers crazy work weeks, talk about fundraisers, give/receive dating advice or just plain crack on one another. Among those many reasons is why waking up at 6am on a Sunday morning is SO WORTH IT for me. That, and because I know I really am making a difference in someone's life. Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 10 (10.13.08): Yowzers! What a booty-kickin' run we just did. Man on man, that term "looks can be deceiving" was the TRUTH today. The Palos Verdes run seemed gorgeous and not too hard, however, it was 12 miles of brutal Pacific Coast Highway hills! Don't misunderstand, I loved it...but come 8:30pm, I was OUT COLD for the night! The silver lining, spending my Sunday morning with my hilarious, wonderful teammates and coaches while running along the ocean. Doesn't get much better for me! http://picasaweb.google.com/erinshulsinger/TNTWinter08TheRunningSide# Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 9 (10.5.08): What a jam packed weekend we had! On Saturday my TNT crew ran the Manhattan Beach 10k. It's a great race for the newbies to experience and get an understanding for "the race day feel" plus it gave the rest of us an excuse to run! It was AWESOME! I clocked a new PR average mile time, so that was exciting. Afterward we had a big team brunch at our coaches house and I threw down massive amounts of food! Yummy. Sunday was business as usual with this week’s run being a short 90 minute recovery run. I was the water-stop gal, so I had it pretty easy. In other news, my mentor group’s big fundraiser is approaching. We are bringing in more donations and finalizing details for the BIG Halloween party – EXCITING! Hope you are doing well. Check back next week for the latest and greatest! Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 8 (9.28.08): This week we took a field trip to Marina Del Rey to switch up the running a bit. It was a nice, overcast, cool morning which makes running so much more pleasant. The trail we ran was awesome. It edged up to the sand and sprawled along the pacific for most of the 11 miles. However, for some reason my group was having an off day and until we hit mile 6/7 it felt like we had sandbags tied to our legs. Blahhh. All of a sudden though the light came on and I was a whole new woman! Woo-Hoo to fresh legs! This week I have a lot of fundraising parties to start planning for my group – so I’m off to come up with creative ideas. As always, thank you for the support and continued donations. Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 7 (9.22.08): The only other thing (at this point in my life) that I love more than my TNT family is my REAL FAMILY. Something super exciting happened this weekend with them that led me to ditch my running for almost a week.. crazy! One of my sister’s got married , yay! We finally have another dude in the fam. (no seriously, there are 5 daughters..) I spent most the week back east preparing for the Friday night celebration, then the rest of the weekend catching up with all my east coast ladies. What a great time! I hesitate to call it a vacation since it was a jam-packed, quick trip, but I do score it with a perfect 10 overall result. Come Sunday I was itching to head back west though. I was feeling the void of my TNTers and running shoes. Big things to come in the next couple of weeks! Hope you’ve been well! Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 6 (9.14.08): Man what an ass-kicker of a work out we did. Our team just completed an 8-mile run in the Santa Monica mountains. Normally 8 miles is an easy-breezy no brainer. However, put that on a steep mountain biking trail and it’s brutal… borderline major suckola. The morning began cold and thick fog blanketed the trail. About 1.5 miles deep, the fog was so severe you couldn’t see anything directly in front of you. Then in the matter of a few feet it completely went away. Turns out we were running through clouds! SO COOL. Once above the cloud level we could see all the other low sitting clouds, the tips of the other mountains peeking out from those clouds and the beautiful green trees in the distant valleys. It was a total Kodak moment – minus the essential, a camera. By the time we came back from the run the clouds had lifted and it turned into a beautiful day. All in all – a fabulously brutal run. I hope you are having as much fun as I am. Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 5 (9.7.08): Wow – week 5 already. Time has FLOWN BY and my donations have increased!! Wooooo-hoo. You all are awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you! So this week’s run was a quickie 7 miles along Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica. It is our typical route we take as long as we are not having a “field trip” day (like we will next week). It was a bit toasty out, but nothing compared to some of the crazy June/July runs I’ve pushed myself through. My new teammates have started to adjust to the TNT way of life: laugh, run, live it up, eat, laugh more, live it up, run… If you have never tried out that lifestyle I highly recommend it. There is nothing quite as cool as having amazing friends who are not only so fun over the course of 17 miles, but also at the bar over a beer AND they believe in helping out the greater good. If TNT were a man, I’d be a married woman. Ha. Have a fabulous week. Check back soon! Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 4 (9.1.08): This weekend I didn’t run with my regular TNT group, but instead ran with all my other TNT friends from last season at the Disneyland Half Marathon. It was such a blast. We ran the 13.1 miles throughout Disneyland, some other Disney park, Angels stadium and other random locations. I finished just as the sun began to turn angry and beat it’s heat down on us. After we all finished and showered we had a huge calorie filled victory lunch. Muuum muuum! Here is a link to some of the photos – enjoy! http://picasaweb.google.com/erinshulsinger/Disneyland12Marathon83108# Best of luck with the upcoming week! Keep on coming back. Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 3 (8.25.08): Total raised this week: $190.00 The third week has come and gone with more support and longer distances. People all across the WORLD (yes, we made it international!!!) have continued to donate a little bit here and there with fantastic enthusiasm and selflessness. Thank You! Our run this Sunday was a nice 60min stroll along the ocean. The group I led was super chatty and VERY funny. We were talking about all kinds of nonsense. All of us felt great throughout the run and couldn't believe when we hit the 60 minute mark. It was just one of those great days. Afterward we had a big team brunch that us mentors put together and threw back some delish. mimosas. I'm telling you, TNT knows how to put the fun in run. Hope you all are well!! Smiles over the miles, ~Erin Week 2 (8.17.08): Total raised this week: $358.26 Hello again! Already in week two and everyone knows the TNT Westside routine! You see we are pretty uncomplicated… For example, today we completed a successful 50 minute run and then (more importantly) ate a delicious brunch! Pretty much if there is food then we are there. My morning was a bit different than everyone else's; I worked the water stop so I couldn't partake in the running portion. All mentors have to take turns doing this though so we keep our TEAM hydrated. I jazzed the station up a bit with some "Aloha Spirit" by adding inflatable palm trees and leis! Quite the dork- yes! Fundraising wise – we are slowly but surely climbing the ranks! Thanks again for continuing the email campaign. Can't wait till we hit the $3,300 mark! Week 1 (8.11.08): Total raised this week: $264.00 Hello all! I just wrapped up my first week at TNT. It was a wonderful/sad first day. The great part: I met all my mentees that I will be mentoring for the season, and the are fabulous. I failed to mention earlier that I was chosen to mentor w/ TNT Westside LA. for this winter season, so it is going to make these next couple of months that much cooler as I watch the progress of my 5 rookies! The sad part: I came home from practice to the heartbreaking news that Donna (mentioned above in who I am running on behalf of), one of my best friend's step-mom lost her battle to cancer in the middle of the night on Saturday. Though she didn't pass from a form of blood cancer, I am a firm believer that if a cure can be found for one type of cancer, than it can be found for all. Anyway, if you all wouldn't mind taking a moment to wish Donna well in her new journey and reflect on the wonderful life we all have and how we should use it to save the next Donna we all love and cherish, I would sincerely appreciate it. All my love, ~Erin |
Erin Shulsinger
Last Edited on: 12/11/2008

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