Fighting blood cancer one mile at a time

Welcome to my Team In Training home page!

After completing the Race for the Roses half marathon with Team in Training on April 11, I am hooked. I have decided to sign up again - this time for a full marathon. One more thing off the "Things to do before I'm 30" list and all for an awesome cause.

I met some amazing people last season, including a man named Bob Jordan who lost his daughter, Emily, to blood cancer when she was only 5. Bob was incredibly inspiring - he has run something like 33 marathons and has done a few Ironman Triathlons. He told me that "every day is a good day, because I know what a bad day is." I think that quote will stick with me forever.

Training kicks off on May 22nd and I'll be posting frequent updates with my progress. I must admit that I am a bit nervous about doing a full 26.2, but I was also nervous about doing 13.1 and I did it! Anything is possible. I'm not trying to set any records, so as long as I finish it (hopefully under 4.5 hours), I will be happy!

Thank you so much for supporting me in this crazy endeavor and helping the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in the process!

Catherine

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7-15-2010: Lovin' it!!

Our team in training workout last night ROCKED! I remember experiencing a runner's high in high school cross country, but I forgot what it felt like. For the last 12 years, I've been an on-again-off-again runner, never quite having the motivation to stick to a schedule and run by myself. Well, all that has changed with team in training. This week just feels downright amazing. I feel like Rocky Balboa -- fist pumps and all!! I can feel all of this sweat and hard work paying off. My body is getting stronger. I'm getting faster. I'm running further. And It. Feels. Darn. Good!!

On Saturday morning I'll run a half marathon on our long training run. Isn't that crazy? A few months ago, I was trying to train for a half marathon. Now I'm running a half marathon as training. That is awesome.

6-11-2010: On the road again...

I just realized that I haven't updated this in a couple of weeks - whoops! The running side is going really well. We had a track practice on Wednesday night - 800 m warm-up, 6 x 300m sprints with 100 m jog, and then a 1600 m cool-down. Tomorrow we are up for 7 miles at 8 a.m. on what (I've been told) is a hilly track, so I guess I better eat right and get some sleep tonight! It will be good preparation for the Cascade Lakes Relay, which is now only about 6 weeks away.

The bowling fundraiser is coming together. I have 3 other ladies from TNT who are organizing it with me. Michael's Printing agreed to donate a banner, Pepsi agreed to sponsor the beverages for the evening, one of my teammates has designed a flyer, and we are all in the midst of securing raffle prizes for the event. Busy, busy! Come join us at Valley Lanes in Beaverton on August 7th from 5.30 - 8.00 p.m.!!

5-26-2010: Fundraising!

Yesterday, I spoke to the most lovely man - Terry Pierce at Valley Lanes in Beaverton - who has agreed to host a fundraising event for me on August 7th! He was FULL of amazing ideas, including doing a raffle. So, sounds like a bit work, but it will be worth it. On the "to do" list - organize prizes for the raffle, design a flyer, print a banner to hang at the bowling alley, talk to Pepsi distributor to see if they will donate the pop... and that might be it for now. I've got a few weeks to promote this thing!

On another note, we have our first track workout tonight, which should be fun. I didn't go to the track workouts last season because they were all the way in Portland and I had to fight rush hour traffic. Since I'm only going to Beaverton this time, they should be better - for my body and for my social life! Let's just hope it's relatively dry. I'm really getting tired of all this rain!

5-22-2010: First Team Training Run

We met at the Portland Running Company in Beaverton at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning for a shoe clinic and our first team run. It was just a little one - 3 1/2 miles - to get rid of the cobwebs from my 6 weeks of "rest and relaxation" following the Race for the Roses. I ran with my mentor - Tyler - who is a very nice and fun guy! In fact, everyone I met is great and I'm looking forward to this season.

Our next team run is on Wednesday night for our weekly track workout.

5-19-2010:TNT Kick-off Party

For those of you that don't know, I have signed up again for Team in Training, this time to do the Portland Marathon (yes, the full 26.2 miles - I must be insane). I am doing it for a reason bigger than myself - to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help people like our honored teammates Emily, Karin, Mark and Caleb. Caleb was diagnosed with Burkitts Lymphoma in July 2007 at age 9. Thankfully, it is in remission, but not without him having to go through chemo and all the awful things that come along with chemo. Unfortunately, 7 months after he was diagnosed, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. Nine months after that, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. What a horrible thing - I just can't imagine.

I bet you didn't know that blood cancers are the leading cause of death of children in America. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) gives $1 million a week to fund blood cancer research. In fact, they funded the research of a doctor at OHSU who created the drug Gleevac. People who were previously told they would not survive are now able to take a little orange pill. One little orange pill targets the bad cells as compared to chemo which can't tell the difference between good cells and bad cells. Chemo is like a nuclear bomb for the body. A little orange pill has no side effects. Which would you prefer? It's amazing that this happened here in Oregon.

There are 11 support groups for people with blood cancers in the Portland area, including a group for young adults and another for Spanish speakers. Funds from LLS support these groups.

LLS also has a co-pay assistance program, which means a patient can get up to $10,000 from LLS to help pay their medical bills. LLS can contributed $15 million per annum to this program.

They have a program called First Connection which pairs up cancer surviors with newly diagnosed patients for information and support.

Finally, LLS is involved in advocacy. Because of their efforts, health insurance in Oregon now has to cover your standard care if you participate in a medical trial. Previously, insurance companies wouldn't cover medical trials.

And so, for all of these reasons, I am running a marathon on 10/10/10. I would appreciate your support by tax-deducible monetary donation. My goal is $1,250 and my friend Kim has gotten the ball rolling with the first $50 donation. $1200 to go!!! Please help me help LLS.