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 of us 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. Thanks for your support!

7/19/10: I ran 8 miles on Saturday in the lovely hills of Porter Ranch. It wasn't as fun as it sounds! We started at 6:30am and by the time I finished it was 93 degrees. I am completely amazed that I finished! I certainly couldn't have completed this course back in April when I began this journey. While I am running my mind goes through all the million things I worry about (bills, laundry, a much needed haircut, etc) but by the time the run is finished I have drilled down to the fact that I have everything I need and most everything I want, I and my loved ones are healthy and happy and I am able bodied enough to run 8 miles! All the worries I started out with have disappeared and I feel like the richest woman in the world! The cause I am helping to support is so important and I am so glad I am part of this group of people making it happen!

6/12/10: I completed 7 miles today! I did intervals (running 3 minutes walking 1 minute) and it wound up mostly walking. BUT, I finished the entire course!! Every Saturday I wake up at 5:45am questioning my decision to commit to this. I arrive at the park at 7am feeling slightly scared of what I need to accomplish. Today I felt that, knowing I had 7 miles ahead of me, knowing I didn't train well this week. Then Audrey arrived. She is like a rockstar for my team. I had never met her but had heard of her. She had/has Hodgkins Lymphoma stage 4, she is in remission. Hearing her story moved me so muchand strengthened my resolve to raise the necessary funds and to train and complete the 13.1 miles I have committed to in October. Her shirt read "If you think running a marathon is hard, try chemotherapy." That will stick with you. I am participating to alleviate some of the struggle for peope like Audrey. Hoping that if, God forbid, anyone I love is diagnosed with this, there will be a team like my teammates helping to fight the fight.

5/26/10

Last Saturday I got to meet everyone in the San Fernando Valley who will be participating in this life altering event I have chosen to throw myself into! What a phenomenal group! There were people who had run 10+ marathons and people like me who only run when being chased! It was inspiring and humbling. My goal in this venture is to not only save lives with the money I raise, but to raise awareness of cancer in general, blood cancers in particular. I am running this week for Annika, a beautiful 5 year old girl who is fighting Leukemia with all that she has. Every week I will be running for someone new and I hope I inspire everyone to contribute to this fundraiser, and maybe inspire one other person to pick up this mantle and run with me.