Yesterday was our 15th week of training. That means 3 more weeks until race day. This was by far the most difficult run of our training. Peggy and I have been in Europe for the past 3 weeks and although we packed all of our running gear, weren't able to go running while abroad. We were walking about 4+ miles each day so we thought that it wouldn't be too difficult coming back and running. That wasn't the case. 11 miles is a long ways when you haven't been running consistenly. These next three weeks we'll be hitting the streets and getting our legs ready for San Diego.

This Saturday (5/21) from 11-6, Peggy and I will be having our housewarming/fundraiser in hopes of reaching our fundraising goals. Right now we're less than halfway and don't have much time left before our event. If you are free, please come by to hang out with us and support this excellent cause. If you are unable to attend you can still support us through online or mailed donations. The address is at the bottom of my page.

This past Sunday was our 7th week of training. Our mileage was pulled back to 5 miles to give our bodies a chance to recover before ramping up to higher mileage in the coming weeks.

After last week's run I checked the weather report every day looking for rain. Saturday night we could hear rain dropping on our window awning all night. Sunday morning, we woke up and diligently checked the weather report. Weather.com reported a 10% chance of rain all morning. We could still hear rain outside so I checked the weather radar and no green spots today. I reassured Peggy that there wouldn't be any rain today. Maybe patches of drizzling at most. On our car ride over... pouring rain...lots and lots of rain. So the lesson this week was that the weather report can always be wrong, even when reporting the current weather.

Fortunately, this week wasn't as cold or windy or rainy as last week. It was actually kind of a nice run. We both felt good afterwards and are looking forward to next week's 8 mile run.

This past Sunday was week 6 of training. This was our highest mileage (8 miles) run so far this season. Looking at the weather forecast, I was not looking forward to the run. I had run in the rain before and it was very unpleasant. When I woke up on Sunday morning,it was not only pouring, but I had woken up about an hour late. By the time I got out to Marina Del Rey, I started my run about 20 minutes behing everyone. Honestly this was one of the toughest runs I've had in a while and I give lots of credit to all the people who ran the LA marathon that day. It was one cold, windy, and rainy run. Here's what the weather looked like:

I ran almost all of the course by myself, but it was very encouraging to know that I wasn't the only one out there. It was inspiring to know that there were so many other TNT people training and running in the rain because they are dedicated to the mission of LLS. 6 weeks completed (45 miles), 11 weeks till the event.

THANKS FOR VISITING MY FUNDRAISING PAGE!

For those of you who don't know, my name is Chris Date. As a member of Team in Training, for the next four months, I will be dedicating myself to training and running in the Rock 'N' Roll San Diego Half-Marathon on June 5th. And, most importantly, I have also commited to raising $2,200 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

Four years ago I completed my first Team in Training event and finished my first marathon. I joined the team not because I had been directly by a blood cancer, but because my friend (and now a Coach for the Westside TNT) Javier's life had been. Four and a half years ago, his mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Today, she still continues her fight against cancer and he still continues to raise funds and awareness with TNT in pursuit of a cure. Since then, I have heard many teammembers and coaches share their stories of how blood cancer has forever changed their lives. So many friends and loved-ones' lives have been cut short because of this terrible disease.

My life has been changed by the people I have met through this organization and I continue to run with TNT in hopes that someday soon there will be a cure.

I hope you will find it in your heart to contribute to the fight against Leukemia and other blood cancers. Your donation will help improve the lives of thousands of patients and their families.

You can donate online safely and securely by using the tab on the right side of the window.

Or, if you would like to send a check, please write it out to "Leukemia & Lymphoma Society" and mail it to:

Chris Date

2346 Woods Ave.

Monterey Park, CA 91754

Thank you so much for your generosity. Please know that I as well as our honored teammates, who currently battle blood cancer, truly appreciate your support.

Thanks for your support!

If you would like me to run in honor or memory of someone you care about, please send me an email at chrisdate@gmail.com. I would be honored to carry their names with me as I run in San Diego.