Training to Save Lives - One mile at a time.

Welcome to my Team In Training home page. This page is a works in progress, much like my training.

I'm training to participate in the 100 mile El Tour de Tucson on November 22, 2008 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!

This may come as a surprise to some of you. The longest I have ridden is 25 miles and my riding last year was limited because of a broken foot. But I have committed to participing in this event because Leukemia and Lymphoma have touched my life in a number of different ways. I lost my uncle to Lymphoma and one of my childhood friends to Leukemia. One of my best friends is a Leukemia survivor, someone I would have never met if he didn't conquer Leukemia.

I dedicate my training to all of them.

When my uncle Regis Filtz lost his battle with Lymphoma, he left behind my aunt, five children and (at the time) two grandchildren. If you met him, it was difficult to forget him. He was so down to earth, shopping garage sales and lectoring at his church, that people rarely guessed that he was VP of Bell Atlantic. He was a wonderful man. He graduated from Pitt with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering and worked his way up the corporate ladder of Bell of Pennsylvania (and later Bell Atlantic). He was a friend to many and even after 15 years, his friends tell me how much they miss him.

I became an engineer partly because of him.

Richard Stofko, Jr. and I grew up together. Our parents were best friends. Our birthdates were one month apart and we were classmates at Oliver High School in Pittsburgh. He fought his battle with Leukemia for a long time, but he couldn't win the fight.

It is our turn to fight the battle.

But my story is not all sad. TJ Powell is a Leukemia survivor. On February 25, 1981, at the age of 14, TJ was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). He was initially treated at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh and received a bone marrow transplant from his sister at Johns Hopkins on May 22, 1981. He has been cancer free over twenty five years. If not for that miracle, we would have never met. TJ is a now Civil Engineer with ODOT, is married with two wonderful boys. We have volunteered together for over 15 years. He is my chief in the NEOMRC and is my friend.

I am not the only person to recognize how special TJ is. On January, 2005, President Bush presented him with the President’s Volunteer Service Award for his work with the Medical Reserve Corps. See his picture below.

It is my hope that we have more successes like TJ's. That is why I am doing this.

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 to see my progress. Thanks for your support!

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Training Updates

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07/12/08

I can't believe it's been a month since I updated this page. Life has been extremely busy. I traveled to Israel for business and I am working on my house to get it ready to move into.

This, plus being ill has affected my training time.

I have ridden three times since June 10. On the 12 of June I rode almost 16 miles on the bike trail. On June 22nd I road over 22 miles on the towpath with Dan and Sharon. The last 5 miles in a thunder storm. Then on the 24th, I rode the bike trail again for another 16 miles.

Total so far this year is 193.5 miles.

Tomorrow is another bike safety class. I hope to ride with the group, but the weather is iffy and I am still not completely well.

On the other hand, my new bike frame arrived at Hubbub. Now waiting for the rest of the parts. I should have a new bike within the next couple of weeks.

Thanks everyone of the support. I appreciate it.

06/10/08

The past week has been busy. Wedding in DC, etc.

This past Saturday the team had a group ride. First we reviewed riding skills in a church parking lot and then rode a short ride (about 8 miles). After we returned to the starting point, the weather turned bad.

Later that day, I went out to the Maple Highland Trail Rode an additional 12 miles.

Sunday, was Tour de Cure, which I supported as an EMT on my bike. My partner wasn't up to riding much, so I 'only' rode 10 miles.

I remember when 10 miles was alot.

So, total mileage this year is up to 140 miles. Hopefully I can ride one day this week (planning for Wednesday). I leave for Haifa on Friday and will be out of town for 1 week.

05/26/08

Sharon and I rode 18 miles on the towpath on Sunday. This was actually the first time this year I rode with someone else. It was nice to have the company.

Total mileage is 104.8. The most I have ridden in one year since buying my bike 3 years ago. Now I just have to get to the point that I can do that in one day instead of four weeks.

05/23/08

Well, not a training update. I had my 'official' fundraising kickoff on Thursday, May 22. I choose that date because El Tour de Tucson is exactly six months later. This date is also the anniversary of TJ's bone transplant. How cool is that!

I raised $225 online and another $101 at work and at the NEOMRC meeting. Gives me a total of $476. I am 1/10 of the way to my goal.

Thanks to TJ and Amie for putting my link on their webpages.

05/18/08

Well, I have finally surpassed my mileage for last year. I rode a little over 11 miles today, bringing my total to 86.6 miles. The weather was supposed to be rainy all day, but about 10am I looked out the window and all I saw was blue skies. By the time I got on my bike those skies were cloudy and the winds picked up to 15mph and were gusting up to 30 miles per hour. During my one hour ride, I got poured on and blown around, but I got some riding in so I declare success.

05/16/08

TJ sent me an email to remind me that he is a survivor. I had always planned to include his story, but I wanted to get his permission first.

05/13/08

I just finished a 15 mile ride after work today. That brings my total mileage this year to 75. Almost more than last year. ;-) Not much when compared to some of my 'hard-core' cyclist friends, but significant for me.

I am trying to get a head start on my training. Our team will start training together in June.

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TJ Powell with President Bush (Cleveland Hopkins Airport in front of Air Force One) January 27, 2005