It's done! Thanks everyone who supported me - by donating and helping me reach my fundraising goal, and by supporting me in running this half marathon when I had my doubts that I could.

Also, thanks to TNT friends & coaches - you have been awesome throughout the season, and especially yesterday in supporting us through the entire race. Was great to see y'all cheering every other mile!

And special thanks to Trish and Ritu - my running partners through the race - couldn't have done it without you guys!

Proof that I ran (don't look at the time - it lies ;-) ) http://bit.ly/R6mElb

Ran 10 miles today at Sawyer Camp Trail. Beautiful trail even if it is a little croweded (On a side note, I am realising what a healthy lifestyle most folks here in California must be leading. Every trail I have been to seems to be packed. Unless they all came to see me, I have to assume it must be like this everywhere every weekend)

Half a day later I still am in pain. Good reminder that if I let up even for a week now I will be in trouble....

May be time to try some hills next weekend...

Just to prove that I really am running! :-)

Stolen from Grace...

THE POWER OF MONEY :

- $1000 supports one week's salary for a medical researcher at UCSF, Stanford, or Berkley who may discover key information to developing curative treatments for blood cancers.

- $500 provides a blood cancer patient with financial assistance for one year.

- $200 provides a Family Support Group Program for one year for a patient and their family.

- $150 allows 5 patients to make a First Connection with a trained peer volunteer.

- $100 provides 3 patients access to an information teleconference.

- $75 is the average cost of tissue typing to become a bone marrow donor.

- $50 is the cost of a CT Scan.

- $40 is the cost of sending a comprehensive packet of information for children with cancer.

- $35 pays for transportation expenses for a patient living in Northern California's most rural areas to treatment at a comprehensive cancer center.

- $25 covers a single prescription co-payment.

- $5 is the cost of sending a newly diagnosed patient information about support and their disease.

Please contribute - every bit helps!

Hi folks,

I know I have been remiss in not posting updates recently, but I am back now! Running hard and getting ready for the 14th of October! I am now entering into personal record territory - ran a 6 miler last weekend and 8 miles today! And (mostly) hitting the track and oyo runs 2 other times a week.

TNT has been amazing so far - a great bunch of people who simply will not let me slack, but more importantly I get to hear inspirational stories that help remind me that I am running for a great cause!

Join me! Either run with me or contribute to the cause and help me reach my fundraising goal!

Link to my run today in Nisene park - http://bit.ly/P2OfTm

-Amit

When I changed teams (Thanks Trish...) to the fall TNT group, the donations got grouped up into a single one and the names got lost.

So, thank you Jeanette, Sunil and the other "anonymous" donors for your support!

I am training to run the '12 Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon and I need YOUR support!

Why I am doing this?

I'll admit that I initially started this for selfish reasons - I need to get in shape, and I needed help getting there. The only other time in my life that I ran (or did any strenuous exercise really...) was back in 2005 for the Motive Bison Stampede in Austin. What drove me to run back then was the camaraderie of my team there as well as the fact that we were running for a cause - The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

So, this year when I decided that it was time for me to start running again, I figured that the best place to start would be that same place that inspired me to run for the first time. As I read about LLS and started training with the team, listening to the honorees, I started to see that this was a cause worthy of contributing to - and spreading the word about! I have also recently lost two relatives to cancer - one who I was very close to as a kid. Cancer wasn't something we Indians were affected by as much (cholesterol and diabetes took care of us), but now it seems to be spreading. Time to fight harder!

This is the first time I am fund raising, so I need your support for two reasons - to shame me into running the distance and also to help me reach my fund raising goal of $1800. So please donate - and come over to any of the training sessions and the actual 1/2 marathon to cheer (or jeer) me on!

Come back and visit this page regularly - I will update it every week!

Thank you,

Amit

A Little Background on The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) TNT

Created 23 years ago, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training (TNT), has grown to be the world’s largest and most successful endurance sports charity training program. Since its inception in 1988, when a team of 38 runners trained together for the New York City Marathon and raised $320,000, TNT has prepared more than 500,000 people to achieve their dream of completing a marathon, half marathon, triathlon, 100-mile (century) bicycle ride or hike adventure. Those participants have raised a remarkable $1 billion to support blood cancer research and patient services.

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The team page (the plan)

http://sbmarfall12.tntteam.com/perlcode/index.cgi

My Log (what I actually did):

Week of June 11 -

Skipped everything being a single parent for the week (I know, excuses...) I did run 3 miles on my own on Los Gatos Trail on Sunday (17th evening).

Pain guage: hurt that night, already better the next day!

Tuesday, June 5: Track Practice

Circuit workout - run for 3 minutes and then do stuff like pushups etc... Also had a injuries talk - quite useful.

Saturday, June 3: Almaden Park

My first coach led workout - walk/ran 4 miles (planned on running 3 but was shamed into doing 4 by my running mates - thanks a lot Arah & Rathi!

In pain the entire weekend - and Monday...

Tuesday, May 29: Track Practice

My first TNT event. Met my mentor (Erin) and a number of other folks - really inspiring!

Tag team of 200 meter runs for about 1 hr... Exhausting considering this was my first REAL bit of running in years.