While this is my fifth hike season with Team in Training, each one has its own distinct memories. There was the year I first joined and discovered the wonders of Bay Area hiking, the year I trained carrying a 30 pound pack in preparation for backpacking 60 miles of the John Muir Trail the week before the event day, the year I was diagnosed with patellar tendonitis just weeks before a failed attempt to summit a 14k+ feet high Longs Peak, or the year I learned how to snowshoe.

This year is the year I discovered the wonders for physical therapy. As some of you know, I found out midway through the training season that I have a torn peroneal tendon (it's a tendon in the ankle). The injury was actually from my last backpacking trip, but only recently did I learn the diagnosis. I had been hiking the season in trail shoes instead of boots (because the boots hurt my ankle) and taking it easy some hikes because of the pain. But with the diagnosis has come physical therapy and strength training and I'm back on the trail, in my hiking boots and back to my hardcore hiking, finishing a 13.3 miler just last week. And with that turn of my health has also come a turn in the weather, giving us some beautiful sunny days and great views.

I wish similar sunny days and good health to all the people who are currently battling blood cancers. I hope my fundraising efforts makes their lives a little better and brings hope to future patients.

In honor of the season nearing a close, here are a few more snapshots from our latest hikes. If you've enjoyed vicariously hiking the Bay Area hills with me, I hope you will consider giving a tax deductible donation to support the cause. And for those who have already given, I can't thank you enough.

Stinson Beach

Del Valle Regional Park

Mt. Tam

Trillium

Fetid Adder's Tongue

For those of you who aren't on Facebook, just wanted to share a few of the snapshots from training so far. It's been my wettest winter hike season, with some really fun muddy hikes. I've been battling some ankle issues, so have had to wear trail shoes that don't tie around my ankles, making it even more fun as my shoes have nearly come off in the mud and, at the end of hikes, I'm finding my feet and socks caked with dirt. Don't you wish you were hiking with me?

But it hasn't all been bad weather as these photos show. It's all worth it for the cause. I'm thankful to all of you for your support so far and appreciate any more you can give. Together we can make a difference to blood cancer patients now and in the future.

My feet become one with the mud in the East Bay Municipal Water District

We've even seen some ice on the trails. This shot is from the Oakland hills....

Pre-hike info sharing is always fun in downpours. This was at Muir Woods.

But we've also seen some beautiful scenery, like this amazing fog-filled valley in Redwood Regional Park

And this sunny slope at Sibley Regional Park

There've been lots of wet weather plants too, like mushrooms.

Thanks again to all of you for your support. Just a couple more months to go and I promise to share more photos as the season goes on.

Thank you!

Cancer is awful. The treatments are devastating. The financial costs are unbelievable. The physical and emotional tolls are incomprehensible. And despite it all, the outcomes aren't assured.

That is why I'm back on the trail as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. As many of you recall, in 2006, I hiked in, and back out of, the Grand Canyon. Since then, I've gone back to the cause several times, attempting to summit a mean fourteener, Longs Peak in the Rocky Mountains, snowshoeing in Yosemite and summitting the 10,776 foot Mt. Rose in the Tahoe range. This year, I'm going to be a mentor for the team on their first-ever Joshua Tree hike adventure.

But this isn't about me. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. With each TNT experience, the number of people I'm hiking for grows. I first joined to honor my friend Noah who has thankfully won his battle with Hodgkin's disease. I ultimately hiked that year with 10 names on my pack: friends, friends of friends and family whose lives had been touched or taken by blood cancers. Not everyone is as lucky as Noah, and over the years I have met and heard the stories of people of all ages battling blood cancers, some whom are no longer with us today.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

Thanks for your support!