I'm number 3,442! Unofficial time for El Tour de Tucson 10:42:46. Which means I finished with over 17 minutes to spare, and a bronze medal.

The Silicon Valley Team has raised over $41,000 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society so far. Nationally, Team In Training has raised more than $600,000. (And it's not too late; you can still make a difference for patients and their families.) I am very proud to have been a small part of it.

El Tour de Tucson is just 13 days away! Yesterday we rode 80 miles—the longest ride of our training. The actual event is almost 30 miles longer.

For the past three months, I’ve been wrapped up in the parallel challenges of training and fund raising. I’ve found that they go together well. When the training gets tough (and it does get tough!), I can find the inspiration by thinking of the patients that the LLS helps, and the sponsors whose dollars make it happen.

Finding the stamina for the 30 extra miles is up to me. I still have two weeks to prepare. But you can help me reach my fund raising goal of $5000. Your donation will fund research to discover new and improved treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and Hodgkin’s disease, and improve the quality of live for patients and their families. So please give what you can, and I know I can get to the finish line!

So I came back from riding two weeks ago and realized that, in addition to a sore lower back, worn out quads, an aching left elbow, something that I didn't even know I had hurting on the outside of one knee, and the usual neck pain, I couldn't feel the fingers of my right hand, and that the hand and arm were weak. I knew what this was right away--I had similar symptoms in 1999 that led to eventual surgery to remove a ruptured disc from my neck (hence the usual neck pain).

It took a week and a half to get an appointment with my doctor. For some reason or another, I didn't expect to hear what he said: "get off your bike." And I would probably need surgery again. I was devastated. Tucson is so close, and I've worked so hard, and many, many people have been exceedingly generous with their words of encouragement and, more importantly, their contributions to The LLS.

An MRI only confirmed my doctor's suspicions. He was ready to book the operating room.

But yesterday, he changed his mind. The medication he prescribed for me is working--it's working very well. The symptoms are almost completely reversed. I'm allowed to cautiously resume training, and Tucson is in sight once again.

Will you please help me make an experience like this a reality for a cancer patient? Every cancer patient wants to hear what I heard: "you are getting better." While I have no wish to ever have the surgery I once had again, I am not fighting for my life like these people are. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will use your donations to provide life saving treatments, and develop better ones.

So please give what you can, and thank you for your support.

On Monday, October 11, have dinner at Federico's Tapas & Wine Bar and mention Team In Training, and 20% of your check will be donated to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Dinner is served from 5:00 to 10:00. Federico's is at Union Landing Shopping Center, 30971 Courthouse Drive, Union City CA. 510-441-0900.

Anyone who comes will be entered in a drawing to win a 1-hour massage, courtesy of Massage Envy at Union Landing.

Racing to Save Lives

Almost five years ago, a friend of mine was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. After receiving therapy at the Stanford Cancer Center, Dalia is now in remission and has been for three years.

When she was named as a candidate for Woman of the Year of the Silicon Valley Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I was extremely proud to be able to help in her fundraising campaign. Over the course of her campaign, I learned that the LLS provides direct support to over 40 researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area, and also to patients who are fighting blood cancers. I learned that Dalia's lifesaving treatment (involving a bone marrow transplant from her own stem cells) was developed by researchers who were funded by LLS. I found out that new treatments for blood cancers almost always turn out to have applications in the treatment of all other types of cancer.

On the final day of her campaign, I also learned about Team In Training. By going on, let's say, a very long bike ride, I could launch a fund raising campaign of my own in support of this wonderful cause.

I am training for a 108-mile ride on November 20 in Tucson, Arizona. The Team In Training staff likes to use the term "endurance athlete," which I find kind of scary. But it is far less scary than what leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma patients face when they receive such a diagnosis. During the training and the event there will be aches, pains, and exhaustion, but these will only serve to remind me of the patients in whose honor I will be riding.

Please give what you can to this worthy cause. I thank you for your support.