John's Fundraising Page

Running to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

( Making a difference one mile at at time.)

Wow what a finish to a truly memorable experience. How do I began explaining one

of the most unbelievable experiences I’ve had in the last 10 years of my life. I thought this week would never get here. But it came and went in a world wind. It’s started on Friday with a fitness expo for all the runners. Over 100 vendors were here to hand out freebies and information to over 30,000 runners. At the expo I met many of my teammates from other cities and states. We took pictures and had a few Elvis citing running through the expo.

The next day things began to heat up. More teammates began to arrive and we were all invited to a pre-race or carb loading dinner. This is when I began to notice that I was really a part of something special. My teammates and I began walking towards the hotel where we were having our carb loading dinner. It was a beautiful hotel on the waterfront. We began walking towards the meeting room and began to here a loud noise like there was a New Year’s celebration going on. We were told to hurry and get up the elevator. As we arrived at the top of the elevator, to our surprise there we over 2000 coaches, staff, and teammates cheering us on. We felt like rockstars. We received hugs and high fives from everyone and jumped in line and began cheering for the next set of teammate arrivals. We had a buffet style dinner and walked into a huge ballroom with the theme song playing in the background “We are family”. We sat down to a very nice dinner with a very inspirational cancer survival story told by one of our teammates, and a very funny teammate who posed as a stand up comedian to ease the tension of waiting for our big race.

The next day I was up early 2:30am. I got dressed and met up with teammates around 4am we jump on a bus and were taken to the start line. We did final prep and received final race instructions from coaches and was ready to go. We jumped in line with the other 30,000 runners and was off. We got off to a great start. Along the course we encountered bands at every mile and there were many characters running with us. In addition to the many Elvis’s we spotted a Wonder Woman, Captain America, Robin without Batman, and Fred Flinstone. As the race warmed up probably my most inspirational moment happened around miles 6. We were running on Highway 163 and we began to hear Bruce Springsteen’s “ Born in the USA” blaring from a Winnebago. As we got closer we saw a sea of military people in uniforms manning the water station for us. It was awesome. They took time from their busy schedules to help us get through our run. This was so patriotic it gave me chills.

We continued on and as we came off the freeway at about mile 8 or 9, we came upon a large cheering crowd with cheerleaders and lots of supports from many of our Team in Training Alumni members and their families. They were out in the street cheering us on. This was very uplifting because by that time, we were started to feel the miles hitting us. We pushed on and to our surprise when many of us were starting to run out of energy around mile 11 our training coaches showed up on the course. They were there for moral support and brought many of us who were an emotional wreck by that time back under control and got us focused on the finish. As we continued on, we were getting closer but I could see my running partner was slowly began to fade. She told me to go on without her, of course I did not listen in my mind I said” You trained 4 months with me side by side there’s no way in hell I’m leaving you now.” So that’s when my coaching kicked in. I convinced here to slow down and take one step at a time and that we were very close. She got herself under control and as we turned the corner towards the finished we saw thousands of people cheering us on. We picked up our speed and finished strong. What an exhilarating race.

It took all we had to finish but the experience made us better people. Especially when you consider that not only did we achieve a personal goal of running a half-marathon but we raised hundreds of dollars for charity to fight cancer and that will ultimately make a difference in someone’s life.

I hope you enjoyed my journey to the finish line. I’ve been told that my story has inspired some to make a difference in their own live by getting involved. Let me start by saying that I’ve run races before, but I never been a part of something that is as special as this. Although my race is complete my fundraising efforts continue on. I know times are hard right now and it’s very hard to part with money, but think about it, if you can do one less trip to Starbucks or one less trip to Jack n the Box . The money you save may be the difference in helping someone who is truly in need. So think about it and give with your heart. Again I’d like to thank everyone who has donated thus far without you my race to the finish line would not have been possible. For those of you who are still planning to donate it still not too late. Just click on the donate now button.

Warmest Regards,

John

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My Running log and pics

5/29/10 Kellogg Park Run- Final Training Run and prep-

Hanging out with teammates after our last run

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My Team in Training Honorary Superstar Donors

Sheila Harris

Coldwell Banker San Diego

Sandra Bassler

Yekini Olayemi

Brenda Gates

These indiviuals were big financial supporters of my fundraising efforts. I'm still looking for more Superstar Donors to add to my list.

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Running in Memory of:

Elizan Mcleod- Grand Mother

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Runner's update:

5/22/2010-Torrey Pines- 8 mile Fun Run-

5/15/2010 Crown Point Pizza Run-Today we defined the T in-Team in Training. We got to met some of our newest members who were beginning their training for their race in October. I think we scared them when we told them how many miles we were running today, sorry. We welcomed them to our family and began our warm up. Today we ran Crown Point in Mission Beach. What a great experience, for many of us this was the longest run that we have encountered thus far. It was another unbelievable beach run along the mission beach boardwalk, for me it felt like coming home because my first race training, years ago, began here. Today we were scheduled to run 12 miles, many of dreaded this run because we all remembered how rough the last long run was. Our warm up was very quiet. Either we were all still asleep mentally or very focus on the run ahead, yeah that’s it. I told my running partners that we were going to take it slow and ease our way into the run. As a distraction, The trainers set up a scavenger hunt along the way to keep our minds off of the distance we had to cover. The run went pretty smooth and I guess we got a runners high because we decided to be over achievers and do 13 miles instead of 12. We pulled into the finish line among a groups of cheers from my teammates and a gigantic pizza party waiting for us at the finish line. As more runners came in, the true spirit of our team kicked in some came back with battle scares, bloodied and bruised , others crying because thus for they had truly accomplished a milestone in the running lives and that we are prepared to accomplish our goal to run a marathon. As we all came in, we sat down to a beautiful day at the beach and enjoyed a slice of pizza and let out a big cheer “ Go Team”

5/8/2010 The Spanish Landing Run-

( WE RUN FOR FOOD and DONATIONS )

5/1/2010 THE TRAIN RUN OCEANSIDE.

4/17/2010 Coronado Island 10 Mile Fun Run.

( My Running Buddy).

4/10/2010 Fletcher Cove Run. After a week off for R.R., yes we get that once in awhile, I was back in the saddle. We ran in the beautiful community of Solana Beach at Fletcher Cove. We ran the hills and slopes of this beautiful city by the ocean for a breathtaking nine miles. Our run finished at the beach where we had a small team picnic . With a little convincing from one of my running partners, I jumped in the 50 degree water to cool off, burr. Surprisingly, it felt like an ice massage??? GO TEAM!

3/27/10 THE ROLLING HILLS OF LA-JOLLA, Does anyone have a GPS, I could have used it today. Today we ran the streets of University City in La Jolla , CA. I forgot my road map so after a while I got separated from the pack. I was supposed to do 8-miles but got lost, again and ran 10 miles. I just kept running and running “ I think I heard someone say “Run Forrest Run” and I knew I was close to being done. What a great day. ( Thanks to all my sponsors this week, I ran this one for you, keep the contributions coming, and tell all your friend). Go Team!!

3/20/10 The San Diego Trolley Run.

3/13/10 Vacation Isle Run. Today I began a new and exciting journey. I ran my first training session with my new running club “Team in Training”. We received a pep talk before our 7am run in 50 degree weather burrr... I met a few new friends, and hit the road for what I thought would be a light 5 mile run. Wrong, after getting out there I found myself hitting a comfort zone (who am i kidding the twilight zone) with this great group of runners only to find out that I had run 8 miles instead of five. Ouch! Can somebody call me a taxi, because I can’t walk another step! Uuuummmm Go Team????

Team in Training San Diego purple team for 2010

Warmest Regards,