Hello, and welcome to my Team In Training home page.

My name's Rommel S. Calderon, and I am training to run my first marathon. Completing a marathon is quite a feat, and I figured that I'd put my effort into something far greater than myself, so, I've joined Team In Training and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to raise money 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!

--UPDATE: April 4, 2009

I just got back from my midweek run. It was about 4 miles. 4 miles! Prior to the start of all of this, I'd never run more then 2 miles. At least, not on purpose. Tomorrow I'm running 13 miles. That's just a tenth of a mile short of a half marathon! And I feel great! Okay, sure, my knees ache for all of Sunday, but it's a great feeling. It's the feeling of accomplishment. In the last 8 weeks I went from a lazy and complacent dork, to, well, a dork training for a marathon, all for a great cause.

I don't think I made it abundantly clear, but I've told many people that I haven't been directly affected by blood cancers. I'm not one for getting into a cause because it affects me. I never thought it was cool that celebrities all of sudden start backing research for a certain disease because they became afflicted. Where were you and your piles of money before you got sick?! Anyway, moving on...

Since training began, I've met people who have been affected by this, and have in a big way, and I'd have to say , that yes, it has affected me. I've stood there listening to my coach or team members tell their stories, and there's no way you can't feel what they felt. This affects us all. What my teammates and I are doing is amazing. We're making great strides for ourselves, but more imporatntly, we're doing this to help those afflicted! And you can too. Help us torture ourselves and donate to our cause. Because you never know who you'll meet that has been affected by this.

And thank you! You've read this far, and I appreciate it. I'd really appreciate it if you hit the donate button over here... I'll give you a high five and hug (don't worry, I'll shower first).

==Rommel