The Hamptons Half Marathon is over! Thank you everyone for your generous donations! Now I'm gearing up to run the ING New York City Marathon on November 7, 2010.

You can read my Hamptons Race Report here

Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm excited to be training as a Mentor for the Hampton's Half Marathon with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training! Completing the Nike Women's Marathon in 2008 was a life changing experience. It's really great to be back with this organization. Check out the youtube video I made for my fundraising on Lady Southpaw Music and Running Performance.

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!

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!

My Story

It has been 2 years since I first participated in Team In Training by running the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco and raising over $4,000 toward cancer research and support for cancer patients and their families. Initially I got involved to improve my running and because it seemed like a nice thing to do to give back to the community. What I got back was so much more. I found out things about the people in my life that I never would have known or fully appreciated.

2008 was right on the heels of my Aunt Joanna's battle with breast cancer. She fought courageously and won that battle but it was not without hardship. The treatments were harsh and the insurance company was unsympathetic. I was far away and completely helpless; any words of encouragement I had to offer felt like empty gestures. Only a few years before my Grandmother on the same side of the family had suffered a similar experience from breast cancer. My mother was there and had to watch the two female members she'd grown up with exhausted by chemo treatments and hoping she would not be next.

These thoughts were in the back of my mind when I heard the dreaded "C" word. Still, I didn't think I had a direct connection to Leukemia, Lymphoma or other blood based cancers. My initial fundraising emails then didn't even mention my family members because I was afraid of embarrassing them.

It was not long before my Grandmother came forward to tell me that she in fact has chronic leukemia as a result of the radiation treatments for her breast cancer. It is not something she needs constant treatment for but it is something that affects her energy and she lives with everyday. We also have no idea how it might manifest itself in the future.

I was also not aware of the fact that one of my father's close colleagues, Joe Tubilewicz, was in the grip of a horrible bout with Leukemia. At that time it really looked bad for him but he was able to get some experimental treatments at Northwestern University. He is doing much better today and is living proof of the advances being made by constant research!

Just by participating with the organization I heard so many stories of families, children and TNT honored teammates some of whom lost their fight with cancer. It inspired me to write a song about running for a cause and make a video that used some of their stories:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLZZZc35xWA

I met so many wonderful people. The ultimate experience was running the marathon with my buddy Jess. We had spent an entire season bonding over long humid runs through the sweaty summer city but it was not until we were nearly 20 miles into our marathon, by far the toughest stretch, that she told me the story of how she lost her father to Hodgkins Lymphoma when she was in high school. We were exhausted and in pain after all the hills, but we were renewed in our mission. Reaching that finish-line was a euphoric and emotional triumph.

Finally, I got back the love I felt for my donors. Asking for money is a really difficult thing to do. I live far from my family members, I've changed jobs a few times and so most of the people I have contacted are people I don't see as often as I would like. The fact that so many of you came forward and responded to my request was deeply touching and very much appreciated.

This is why I volunteered again as a mentor to help new participants with their fundraising and training goals. It feels like the right thing to do. This time my goal is not as high so anything you can spare will really go a long way. Well, if you made it to the bottom of this story you must want to give!