Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training page! I'm training to participate in the ING NYC Marathon November 7, 2010 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!!

As a type 1 diabetic, I want to be able to prove that no matter what gets you down you can go after your goals and accomplish them.

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, I'll be updating it with notes about how the training is going .

Thanks for your support!!!

Update October 31, 2010

THANK YOU to all who have donated to the cause!!!!!!!!

One week out from the marathon and I am soo excited and nervous! If you are coming out to cheer please let me know exactly where you will be so that I can say hi! It's really important that you give me an exact location (like "NW corner of 4th ave and 9th st in BK) so that I can look for you. The last 5 miles will likely be the toughest milage, would so appreciate support there!

Update October 6, 2010

Reminders of why the money we raise means so much are constantly hitting us at the most unexpected moments.

The entire NYC team met up in Manhattan for Summer Streets. We were standing on the sidewalk, stretching and getting ready to go when a passer by called out to us. He yelled "thank you for saving my wife's life!"

A few weeks later my Brooklyn squad headed out to New Jersey to run along George Washington Bridge and the Palisades. When we got to the end of the bridge, a woman was there waiting for us. She jumped up and down and cheered for us. She had a bald head wrapped in a scarf.

These encounters remind me that ever dollar I am able to raise gives hope. And hope is a powerful thing.

Update June 15, 2010

Body parts for sale!!

That's right folks. I'm selling ad space for marathon day, the space being various body parts. The message is up to you! Write a message to a loved one, your twitter handle or how about a knock-knock joke?

Stake your claim and I will write your name here along with your Twitter handle, website or blog URL if you'd like.

For sale:

lower left arm: Reserved by Helen Gallagher

upper left arm: Reserved by Van Gould

lower right arm: Reserved by Sriram

right hand: $5

left hand: $5

left shin: $25

left calf: Reserved by Daniela Coray

left kneecap: Reserved by Samantha Lew

left quad:$30

left hamstring:$30

back of left knee: $10

side of right leg: Reserved by www.collegeblender.com

right shin:$25

right calf:$25

right quad:$30

right hamstring:$30

back of right knee: $10

neck: Reserved by the Bill and Renee Curtin

left cheek: $100

right cheek: Reserved by Andrea and Mike Rodway

I have to have $2000 fundraised by July 1st. Help fund cancer research and patient and family programs!!! It's soo important!!

Update: June 8, 2010

Happy dance!!! I've fundraised enough money to solidify a marathon spot! Happy dance, dancin happy! Yeah! Thanks everyone!!!

Update May 18, 2010

Just saw this in an email from the TNT organizer, thought it was a really good way to explain how fundraised dollars help patients and their families.

Why your fundraising dollars are so important:

-A donation of $25 provides patients and their loved ones with FREE booklets that contain up-to-date information on their disease and help them make informed decisions about their treatment options.

-A donation of $50 makes possible a Family Support group with a trained facilitator where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members.

-A donation of $100 helps supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures.

-A donation of $1,000 makes possible one- on-one conversations with health care specialists who provide patients with information about their disease, treatment options, and helps prepare them with questions for their health care team.

Updated May 18, 2010

Twitter update: The link reached 7,964 people!! Dispite the massive reach however... it didn't reach anyone who was willing to give a donation. So I think it's time for me to move on to other methods of fundraising. Looking for ideas!! Please email me if you have some: lookitsfitz@gmail.com!!

Update: May 6, 2010

Trying out a new tacitc on social media for getting this page out and finding support. Am challenging Twitterites to retweet the URL to this page in my goal for the link to reach 5,000 people. Will count and tweet out updates as to how far it's gotten based on the number of followers each retweeter has. I'm hoping that a few people that the message reaches will feel compelled to donate and push me forward in my goal towards running the marathon.

Here's the message to retweet: PLS RT! Goal: Reach 5,000 ppl w/ link thru RTs. #Fundraising for #LeukemiaLymphomaSociety: http://bit.ly/TNTfitz

Update 2 on May 6, 2010

Exciting stuff to report! I tweeted my message at 1am last night, as of now it has reached 2,887 people! No one has donated yet, but just by passing along my message they are being supportive and giving me hope. Here's to hope; powerful stuff in that. Never give up on it.

Thanks to all who've retweeted!

Update: April 21, 2010

Things are going slow and steady on the training-front! Just working on getting myself pounding the pavement 3 - 4 times per week, running anywhere from 4 - 6.5 miles. Just got an email saying that our training group will start June 5th, excited!

I do the Hash (www.hashnyc.com) every Sunday, so they keep me motivated. : ) If you've never Hashed before, I highly recommend checking them out! They are an international group and have runs everywhere.

Trying to plan something big for fundraising. When I get more details figured out will post about it here! I tried to Tweet Ashton Kutcher to see if he would reTweet my URL, haha. He didn't bite. It was worth a try!

On-On!