Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to Brieann's Team in Training home page.

As you may know by now, I'm training to participate in The BMO Vancouver International Marathon 2010 as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. As part of the team I am raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.

I initially joined Team In Training in the crazy hope that I would run my first marathon; something I once thought would be near impossible. I'm happy to say that I'm already hitting the pavement and increasing my mileage every week. And even though it's only been a few weeks of training so far, I've already realized this run is about much more than 26.2 miles. It's about everyone who has had their lives affected by cancer; my family being one of them.

I am running in memory of my grandmother, Cecilia O'Flaherty. She lived with leukemia for several years before passing away from the disease when I was just a little girl. While I'm saddened that I never got the chance to know her as an adult, I am proud to hear from my family that she was a strong woman who loved us very much. From raising my father and his two brothers in Ireland to starting a new life with her family in the United States she was tireless in her commitment to them. I hope to find the same strength in myself to finish this race in her memory. It's her story that will be my inspiration to run this winter when I'm tired, cold and the miles feel too far because I now know that whatever I'm going through will be nothing compared to what she endured.

But it is not just my family that has been touched by these diseases. There are countless more. Maybe even someone in your life.

How will your donation be used?

• 75 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to Leukemia Society funds.
• Patient Services funds go directly to patient care and counseling, often helping to pay costs not covered by insurance.
• Research funding has helped to develop treatments that have increased the survival rate of children suffering from Leukemia from 4% in 1960 to over 85% today.

Not sure how much to donate?

• Consider sponsoring me $1-$2 per mile.
• As an added incentive, if you donate more than $60 I will wear your name (or that of an honoree) on my race day jersey.
• Donate $100 or more and you will single handedly be responsible for funding another day of vital cancer research.

Please make a donation to support me and help advance LLS's mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Every dollar helps and is, of course, greatly appreciated.

Visit my web site often and pass it on to friends and family. I can use all the help I can get. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!

WEEKLY RUN MILEAGE (keep me honest!):

w/o 11/30 - 10.2 miles

w/o 12/7 - 10 miles

w/o 12/14 - 7 miles

w/o 12/21 - 17.5 miles

w/o 12/28 - 8.5 miles

w/o 1/4 - 16.75 miles

w/o 1/11 - 10 miles

w/o 1/18 - 13 miles

w/o 1/25 - 16 miles

w/o 2/1 - 13 miles

w/o 2/8 - 14 miles

w/o 2/15 - 14 miles

w/o 2/22 - OFF

w/o 3/1 - 3 miles

w/o 3/8 - 15.5 miles

w/o 3/15 - 16.1 miles (1st half marathon)!

w/o 3/22 - 16 miles

w/o 3/29 - 18 miles