Raising for a Cure, Running for Ryan!!! GO TEAM RHEA!

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San Francisco here we come!!!

Currently I'm training to participate in the Nikes Women's Marathon in San Francisco this October as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training.

I am blessed enough to be joined in this endeavor by two of my sisters Janda and Jennifer.

All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. We are completing this event in honor of my sisters boyfriend, Ryan Rhea, my father, and 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!

***UPDATE***May 28, 2008

So the official training commenced last weekend. 7am in the rain on a saturday. Whew! If that is not dedication I don't know what is. I have been averaging about 12-15 miles a week at this point and have to say that aside from the rain things are going rather well. I got hooked up with some new running shoes and it has been smooth sailing ever since. To prepare myself for the hills in SAN FRAN I have been running a few hills by the house and let me tell you, they are quite taxing but hey..........no pain no gain right! Anyway, thanks a ton for the support!

***UPDATE***June 6, 2008

GOOD NEWS!!!! Ryan received good news this week that he can stop his chemotherapy treatments! His Oncoligist says that there are no longer any signs of cancer in his lymphnodes. Praise God! He is still going to do radiation therapy for a few weeks as a precautionary measure, but his doctors are hopeful that he is really going to win the fight!

***UPDATE*** June 27, 2008

Training is going really well. I ran 8 miles this morning in just under 80 minutes. Whoo hoo! On Saturday morning I meet with

my TNT group and we all together. It is such an amazing motivator

and I have met some of the nicest people. One guy on our team shared with us today about how he lost his 22 month old son to

Leukemia......It breaks my heart to hear about his loss, but at the same time gives me the fuel to keep running, and keep raising so that hopefully less and less parents with have to deal with the tragedy of losing their baby. Thank you so much to those of you that are helping me with this cause. You are touching more lives than you know.

***UPDATE 7/15

Well I have officially sustained my first marathon related injury. Thankfully it is a minor one. Understandably running immence distances takes quite a toll on your feet, and inparticular you TOES. Somehow I have developed blisters underneath my toenails!!!!! OUCH......they do not feel good. According to the research I did online I can expect for a few of the nails to actually fall off. Gross yes, but luckily I should still be able to continue with the training which is up to about 25 miles per week and going strong. So for those of you that see me regularly......you will understand why I am rocking socks and tennis shoes in the summer ;)

All my love,

Autumn