Racing to Save Lives

I have decided to train for another endurance event with Team In Training. As you may remember, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon with them in 2006. In the process, I met lots of wonderful people, made several fantastic new friends, accomplished something that this expert couch potato never thought possible, and raised nearly $2300 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's fight against blood cancers.

This time around, my girlfriend Rachel and I are training together for the Shamrock Half-Marathon on March 22, 2009, in Virginia Beach, VA. Besides challenging ourselves to do something difficult and uncommon, the other reason we're participating is to help Team In Training raise money to help stop leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. This is a personal endeavor for us, because as a child, Rachel had lymphoma.

Rachel was diagnosed at the age of seven, underwent chemotherapy, and has been in remission for twenty years. As Rachel is a long-term survivor of the disease, it is very important to us to contribute to ensuring that research finds a cure. Each year, lymphoma and other blood cancers strike some 110,450 Americans, while claiming more than 54,000 lives in the United States alone. Leukemia is one of the leading causes of death in children between the ages of 1-15. The good news is that the survival rate has risen from 4% in 1960 to 81% in the last decade. This is in part due to the money that The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has raised to aid researchers in their fight to find cures for this disease.

My fundraising goal for this season is $2000. Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission. The support and generosity I received when training for MCM 2006 exceeded all of my expectations, and because of that I know that this goal is also easily attainable. This Team In Training fundraising page is where you can track the progress of that effort.

On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I want to thank you in advance for your love and support!

Sincerely,

Neil

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February 1, 2009 Update

I know it's been a while since I updated you on the progress of my training. It's been going very well so far. I'm running 4 days per week, and the mileage has really started to ramp up on our Saturday group runs. Yesterday morning was our first double-digit mileage day. I finished the ten-mile run in 2 hours 36 minutes. The first two miles took almost an hour because my calves kept cramping in the 20-degree weather, but once I got loosened up I was able to cruise through the remaining eight miles at a 12 mile/minute pace. I really couldn't be doing this without the support of my friends and family. If you haven't already, I hope you'll consider making a donation. Any amount is greatly appreaciated.

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WHERE WILL YOUR DONATION GO?:

• $25 could pay for the cost of a patient's chemotherapy drug prescription co-payment.
• $50 could register one person to be a bone marrow donor.
• $75 could provide bone marrow typing for a family member of a patient with leukemia.
• $150 provides 10 patients access to a web-conference to learn more about their specific blood cancer.
• $300 will train 25 peer volunteers who can provide emotional support to newly diagnosed patients.
• $500 could provide patient aid to a person with leukemia or a related cancer for a year.