Hi everyone,

On Sunday, September 11, I completed my duathlon. At this point, you are thinking to yourselves, "I thought it was a triathlon?" Until September 8, it was. But Washington DC received somewhere between 6-10 inches of rain the week before the event creating strong currents, pushing all sorts of strange debris into the river and causing sewage run off... enough said the race officals deemed the river too unsafe and most likely unhealthy. After some inital disappointment as I had trained hard for the swim, I refocused on the importance of the day; raising money for LLS and joining my other team mates in finishing an event for which we had all spent 18 weeks training.

The highlight of the weekend was not crossing the finish line. It was the early morning start. On the morning of September 11, we were lined up facing east as the sun rose behind an American flag that had been hung on a scaffolding. The Washington Monument was just over our left shoulder and the Pentagon across the river over our right shoulder. When the National Antham was announced, the prerace chatter dropped to complete silence, and everyone faced the flag. A woman began to sing The Star Spangled Banner in acappella. After the first verse, a few people in the crowd joined her in the next. Each verse, more and more voices joined in singing. By the time the singer reached "does that star spangled banner yet waive" almost the whole crowd of 8,000 was singing along with her.

After the Anthem, we lined up to hop on our bikes for the 40k ride that took us through Georgetown and then into Maryland. We jumped off our bikes and changed into our running shoes to run past the Washington Monument and down and back along the Potomac river on a nice fast flat course finishing next to the Lincoln Memorial. It was truly a beautiful day. Along the way, I thought alot about the last 18 weeks. I had so much support from friends and family and from the team in training staff. It helped me feel that in a small way, I can make a difference for Cancer patients. I will always miss Soo. But I hope that our team efforts to raise over $311,000 for blood cancers will prolong the lives of others.

Thank you once again for all of your support and encouragement.

Hi Everyone,

Thank you to everyone who has helped me reach my goal of $10,000. But I do not want to stop there. I would love to see how much more I can raise. So if you have not done so already, please consider donating to help fight Leukemia and Lymphoma.

I have only two weeks to go until the triathlon. The kids and I were in Snowmass Colorado at the beginning of August. The mountains provided a breathtaking venue for training - literally. At 8,000 feet, I have to stop and catch my breath constantly while swimming, biking and running. But it gives me an opportunity to enjoy the view, remember why I am training, and push myself even harder.

This much training requires constant focus; but some how everyday life still "gets in the way". Last week, our family found out that Matt was selected for Command in 29 Palms, California. While this is a great honor for Matt, This would be our third tour in the middle of the Mojave Desert. So, the kids and I have decided that the closest we will live to 29 Palms is San Clemente, California which is located on the coast between L.A. and San Diego. It will be about a three hour drive, where Matt will be living and working but at least we will be in the same time zone. This will all happen the summer of 2012.

So during my long miles of training, I have been mentally preparing myself to move again. It will be hard to say good bye to our friends in Arlington. However, we hope to return in 2014. As you all know, Soo, for whom I am training, helped us decorate our home. When we first moved back into it in 2009, I could not imagine moving again. But I realized, with Soo's personal touch in furnishings, we can take all that is special about our house and her with us, and it will make it that much better returning.

Nancy

Hi everyone,

I am about half way through my training program for the Nations' triathlon. Of course, the first half is always the easier half but so far, I am enjoying it. I have met a few interesting challenges along the way. First, I have fallen off of my bike several times. My road bike has pedals where my shoes clip to them. This helps me pull the pedal up as well as push down while riding. The disadvantage becomes trying to anticipate how quickly you need to unclip when faced traffic, pedestrians, small animals etc. Needless to say, my skinned knees are due to my inablility to unclip quickly. I feel extremely silly as a 44 year old both falling off my bike (often done with lots of people around) and then having skinned knees for weeks afterwards.

Another triathlon challenge involves the open water swims. Of course, there are waves and currents to consider, and ocean swims can often include jelly fish and the fear of sharks (never actually seen one). But I never feared a crab attack. But, while walking in from my first open water swim in the Chesepeake Bay last week, I was congratulating myself on a good swim when I stepped on a crab. He immediately retaliated by clamping on to my big toe with his claw and refused to let go. I had to shake him off and he left a nice cut on my toe.

Finally, any weather can be a challenge. As many of you know, we had a serious storm in Arlington that took out at least 25 trees in a matter of 20 minutes. My first bike ride after the storm was more an exercise in carrying the bike over fall trees and branches along the bike path than it was actually riding the bike. On Sunday, I thought it safe to finally run on the trails again, only to spend the first half of my run climbing over and in some cases through downed trees than running. I have always enjoyed outdoor workouts but now I know why some chose the safety of a gym or pool.

Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm training to participate in the Nation's Olympic Distance Triathlon 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 my friend Soo Cheng, pictured above, who lost her battle with Lymphoma in Febrary. I first got to know Soo in 2008 when Matt and I started renovating our house. Soo was recommended to us as an interior designer. Her daughter was in the same class as our son Logan; so I had met her once or twice as a "fellow parent" and was glad to have the recommendation of someone whom I loosely knew. Five minutes into our first meeting, Soo was able to pick the exterior paint colors of our house based on my rambling description of what I had in mind. I realized then that I had found a perceptive designer with a real gift for detail and color. The more we worked together, the more I realized that Soo's gift for color and harmony was woven into the fabric of her rich personal life as well as her professional life. Our "working relationship" grew into a beautiful friendship. In December 2009, Soo was diagnosed with Lymphoma. To understand the reason for my comittment to Team in Training, I need to share with you, Soo's year long struggle with Lymphoma.

It was Christmas 2009 when Soo complained of a stomach ache – too much Christmas feasting. The pains got worse quickly so her family took her to the emergency room. Within hours, they had admitted her and diagnosed her with an aggressive form of lymphoma. Within days, she started chemotherapy. Throughout the year, she bravely went through chemotherapy losing both hair and weight but keeping her smile. After each series of treatments, her tumors would return. She became too weak for a bone marrow transplant and the doctors could no longer help her. After receiving this horrific news, she put a smile on her face and focused on enjoying the time she had left with her family and friends. We spent January helping her decorate and redecorate her house, going to lunch and watching old movies. We were blessed to have this time with her. When Soo lost her battle with Lymphoma at the beginning of February, I needed to do something to honor her and help others with Lymphoma.

I am also completing this event for all those who are still struggling with blood related cancers and for those who have survived the ardous treatment process. 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!