We're doing it again folks! ...

Five years ago, my best friend was diagnosed with CANCER. I think the news hurt twice as bad as it should have because he was also my loving husband and the father of my children. Why him? Why us? How can this be?

As terrible as I felt, I couldn’t even imagine how he must have felt. Yet day in and day out, he was always positive. He only allowed himself to cry once, albeit it was a good cry, but it was only once. He poured himself night and day into research. My husband Shane dug and dug until he could find nothing more about the disease; possible causes, possible links, things he could do to get himself healthy and his biggest scare: would his boys’ chances of a diagnosis be increased because he had been diagnosed.

After his surgery and too many tests to count, those terrible feelings never quite went away. What was left to do? Drown ourselves in self-pity, pour over our misfortunes and smother our friends and family with stories of our woes? No, thanks!

For the last five years my husband and I have wrapped our lives around a program that we honestly couldn’t imagine ourselves not being a part of: and that outlet is Team In Training (TNT). Through TNT, we commit ourselves to training for an endurance event of our choice by volunteering for a 20 week training regimen and fundraising for much needed research dollars. Then, in return, we are coached, mentored and supported through our entire athletic regimen. We have continued to train, year after year, for various endurance events in the hopes, however far off they may be, that someday a cure for cancer can and will be found.

There is something truly invigorating about completing something that no one believes you can. I have grown to love my time with “the TEAM” and plan to continue training and continue making strides in that search for the cure. I hope you can help me!

“I run for hope, I run to feel, I run for the truth for all that is real. I run for your mother, your sister, your daughter, your wife, I run for you and me my friend, I run for life!”

06/22/10- I think I am going to give this whole blog thing a try... Here goes.

This weekend Shane and I went to Fairbury, NE and completed an adventure race. We had so much fun. My little sister was our third leg and believe it or not, Shane was the one out of the three of us to tip the canoe in the river we were in. It was hilarious and I am pretty sure my brother-in-law Randy got a lot of it on film. Hopefully we will be able to share some of the photos as I am sure ther are funny. Got out yesterday for a 25 mile ride with Shane and our cycle Coach Kelvin. Not sure what it was about the day but I felt exhausted right when I started. But Kelvin and Shane were awesome and kept circling back to keep me motivated. I have come to the realization that I definately need a new bike seat. I think I will be heading to Scheels in the next day or two. Got to be good to my hind quarters. Hoping to run yet this afternoon and then put in about 25-30 tomorrow night.

07/01/10- We have been putting in LOTS of miles lately. I am still in tri training mode so I have been running, biking and swimming and Shane and I have done LOTS of biking together. The hills are slowly becoming my friend. We did 43 miles on Saturday and one of the hills had a 23% grade to it. I used LOTS of curse words in my head- just being honest.

Three of our TEAM mates have lost a father to cancer in the last two weeks. It has been a sad couple weeks finding out this news and watching these TEAM mates mourne the loss of someone they love so dear. It brings new vigor to the training. New little reminders that keep me spinning up all the nasty hills. It makes me thankful for my blessings and for my health. I am doing this event because I have CAN! That's all there is to it. This is what I can do to stop this disease... WHAT CAN YOU DO?

07/06/10- One of my TEAMmates wrote this to us all in an email this weekend and it touched my heart so I thought I would share... "Somewhere on the course you will question yourself if you can make it, or who talked you into this "insane fun". That is when you need to draw on your team & the people you are doing this for. The ones that are diagnosed with Leukemia or Lymphoma. The ones that have to go through treatment for a three years or a year. There are bad days, days that you don't want to take another pill, days that you think the doctors are trying to kill you not cure you. Then you go to treatment & you see someone that had, just as bad of a week as you did or worse & they still have a smile on their face. And the nurses & doctors are the ones that deal with it everyday & still have the energy to go to work the next.

No, I did not go through it. I watched my son go through it, saw what he had to do & how it affected him, & still does even though he has been in remission for the past two year. He is the one that pushes me though the tough times. He is the one that helps give me the strength. If he can go through nineteen rounds of chemo, I can do one more morning of pushing the limit.

I'm not asking for any sympathy, instead I'm trying to give you that last little bit of motivation to get you through any doughts you might have. You can do it! No dought in my mind! I've seen smaller kids go through bigger challenges. Draw on their strength."

Now- it's time to pull my head into this game today and get out there and get my miles in! GO TEAM!

08/05/10- Wow- It's been a month since I updated this- SAD! But, rest assured, it's because I have been training VERY hard. I am feeling so good. Believe it or not, I am DOWN 42 POUNDS! I feel so blessed to be able to be working this hard!

On Sunday, I completed the Omaha Triathlon- IT WAS SO AWESOME! It was one of the first races that I really competed at instead of just completing. By no means was I anywhere near medaling but I was eating grown men up when I was tackling my hills. That made me very happy. I felt very strong and a couple times like I wanted to vomit- but it was AWESOME! At the top of a particulatrly nasty hill, I heard my husband's voice yelling for me- I couldn't see him, but I heard him. He really truly does give me such strength!

I really truly LOVE my time with the TEAM. Thank you to Audrey, Scott, Danielle, Stacia, Lisa S, Lisa K, Gail, Kelly, Kelvin, EJ, Karen, Chinda, Katie, Jenna and my incredible in-laws Steve and Sherri for coming out to cheer me and the team on! My day would not have been so AWESOME without all of you all! And lastly- Dad, Thanks for riding with me. It was so nice to look over and realize it was you! Love you all!!

On to some more training! 60 miles on the schedule this weekend- Can you DIG IT? GO TEAM!