Thank you to everyone who contributed to this amazing cause!! Your contributions go an extremely long way, and I thank you for supporting myself, as well as the LLS!!! GO TEAM!

Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page!!!

I am so excited to start this new goal to compete in the Nation's Triathlon this summer! It is an an Olympic distance triathlon, designed with a 1.5K swim, 40K bike, and 10K run. It will be held on September 13th in Washington DC! I'm training to participate in this 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.

For anyone who donates, I would be happy to train and race in honor of your loved ones as well! On race day, I will wear purple LLS bracelets with your loved ones names written on them! Please let me know if you would like me to compete in someone's honor!

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thank you for your support!

Love,

Jen

Last Update - Post-Race!!! 9\14\09:

The race yesterday was amazing! There were over 6,000 participants, and 550 of us were Team in training members! Together we all raised over $2 Million in the fight against blood cancers!!! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed on my page and got us to this 2 Million mark! Your thoughtfulness goes an extremely long way! I enjoyed every minute of the race! It was very physically challenging, but the inspiration I got from being a part of Team in Training, and all the "Go Team" cheers pushed me through. Special thanks to my parents, sister, Jocena, Coach Patti, Dawn, Kelli, Julie and the rest of the TNT mentors and Iron Girl participants who were all there to cheer me on!! It was great to see all of your faces during and after the event! What an awesome day and I can't wait for the next triathlon!! Thanks again everyone!!! :)

Love,

Jen

xoxoxoxo

5\22\09:

Training Update - Week #1:

I have officially started training with my Team in Training Group and it has been awesome! We had our first group swim practice, as well as our first bike\run transition practice this week. There are a lot of great people on my team and it makes it so much easier to train! Training is definitely a challenge, but after each day is over you feel great for doing it! Thanks for your support and be sure to check back for my next update!!!

xoxox,

Jen

6/23/09:

Training Update - Week #7:

Our training has picked up and we are now working on biking, getting off and immediately going into running! It is a challenge, but it seems to get easier each week. Swimming has also been a huge challenge! I started off only being able to swim 25 meters before having to rest for a few minutes! Pretty bad! Now I can go for about 400 meters until I need a small break! I'm definitely tired, but it's been a really fun process! Check back soon:) Happy 4th of July!!

xoxoxo,

Jen

6/28/09: Quick Update!

We swam 1 MILE in the open water for the first time today! WOW. It was a real eye-opener! Very challenging and tiring, and you cannot see anything in the water! My fears were confirmed: I am terrible at swimming in a straight line when I can't see! I guess I'll have to work on that!

Jen

August 1st 2009: 6 WEEKS TO GO!

I just competed in my very first triathlon today!!! It was the Brigantine Triathlon in Brigantine beach NJ, and I signed up for this event in order to get some tri experience under my belt and practice before the big event in September! It was a sprint triathlon, so we swam 1\4 mile in the bay (ew salt water), rode 11 miles, and ran 4 miles. My strength is now becoming the bike, and the swim is the most challenging! The open water is very tough! But it was an awesome experience and I'm so glad I did it! Crossing the finish line was so much fun! I have 6 weeks left until my nation's race, and I'm really going to kick it into gear not only with my training, but with my FUNDRAISING! Thank you so much to the donors who have helped me get to the 50% mark! If you would like to help me make up the other 50%, it is definitely a great cause! Every little bit helps, and goes an extremely long way! Thanks for checking on my updates, and I will be sure to post another update very soon! GO TEAM!

xoxoxo,

Jen