Welcome to my Team In Training home page!

I'm training to participate in the 2011 Twin Cities Marathon 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.

Last year I ran two marathons with TNT to celebrate the 20th anniversary of my own personal battle with leukemia. My first marathons in ten years, both the Twin Cities and Dublin marathons were tremendously challenging and rewarding. I was happy that both finishing times were within minutes of each other: 4 hours and 42 minutes at the Twin Cities Marathon, and 4 hours and 47 minutes a few weeks later in Dublin.

This year I'm running to "make a difference." One of my personal honorees last year, Siona Shah, passed away on January 1st. She was only six years old when leukemia took her life, after a fight that began in 2008. Her age makes this list of Life Lessons that she'd made – shared by her parents at her memorial service – that much more remarkable. So much wisdom and beauty and courage in the face of adversity.

Siona's Life Lessons

1. Live with a smile.

2. Never give up and always try your best.

3. Be kind and accepting of people.

4. Don't complain about things that aren't fair.

5. Be happy with the small things in life such as hot cocoa at Starbucks or going to lunch with daddy, mommy or Mr Lampy (as she called her brother sometimes).

6. Be positive and laugh out loud.

7. It's okay to fly into the sky as long as you have lived with a purpose.

8. Always be kind to spiders because they too have a mommy and daddy.

9. Always be truthful and tell it like it is.

10. Always enjoy moments big or small.

11. Be "just the way you are."

12. Make a difference in people's lives.

Siona's tragic story demonstrates how much we still don't understand about blood cancers. There is still so much to learn, but at the same time, there has also been tremendous progress. My step grandmother, Ruth O'Dell Lewis, passed away in June – just shy of her 91st birthday – from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that was originally diagnosed fifteen years ago. Advances in treatment gave her more time for travel, hiking, and family, and also enabled her to continue volunteer activities that embraced politics, social justice, and the environment – all to the benefit of her community, friends, and family. Ironically, her younger brother Randolph Houlton (another Minnesota native, and Carleton College alum) died several months earlier from a different form of lymphoma. Like Ruth, treatment gave him precious time, much of which was devoted to the needs of others. I will be running for both of them this year, too.

The need for ongoing research is great, and the results enrich all of our lives. Please consider making a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I will be making regular training and fundraising updates at www.leukemiasurvivor.com, if you want to follow my progress this summer and fall.

Help "make a difference in people's lives." Thanks for your support!

- Robert