Racing to Save Lives!

A few months ago, one of my very close friend's father was diagnosed with Leukemia. I felt so helpless because I didn't know what to say or do to help my friend or her family. A friend of mine told me about Team in Training and how the organization has raised over $1 BILLION for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). I signed up to become a participant in The Nation's Triathlon as a member of Team in Training shortly after.

On September 12, 2010, I will be participating in my first Olympic Triathlon! Me and hundreds of other Team in Training participants will be completing a 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike ride AND 6.2 mile run! All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of Mark Hardy, Luca Campana and all other individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Luca is our honorary teammate this year. Two years ago, Luca was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The photo of Luca above shows him as he receives treatment in the hospital. Please click here to find out more about Luca and the progress that he's made. It's amazing to see Luca so active at practice because just a year ago, he was receiving three blood transfusions a week! He is such an inspiration for our team.

The funds raised through LLS are critical for providing much needed relief for family and patients suffering from blood cancers around the United States. Please help by making a tax deductable donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

Facts:

• More than 913,000 people in America are currently battling blood cancers
• Every FOUR minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer
• Every TEN minutes someone loses their battle with blood cancer
• Leukemia is the #1 killer of children and young adults diagnosed with cancer under the age of 20

Where your donations go:

• A donation of $50 registers one person to be a bone marrow donor.
• A donation of $100 pays for the cost of four patients’ chemo drug prescription copays.
• A donation of $500 provides patient aid to a person with blood cancer for an entire year.
• A donation of $1000 provides one-on-one meetings with healthcare specialists to design and discuss their treatment options.

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Training News:

May 8, 2010

Today was our very first TNT practice! Each of us ran a timed mile. I finished in 7:34! I didn't expect to finish as fast as I did because of all the Houston heat and humidity. I am really excited about my time and I hope to run a sub-seven minute mile by the end of training.

June 5, 2010

We did a BRICK today...that is a bike, then run.They call it a "brick" because you pretty much stack the two workouts on top of each other. I ran one mile, biked eight miles and then ran one more mile. I didn't think I was going to make it! I taught seven spin classes and probably had a total of 10 workouts this week. My legs felt like jello! We also performed sweat tests today to figure out how much water we were losing during our workouts. In an hour, I lost one pound of fluid! Someone on our team lost NINE pounds! Now, I have to focus on staying hydrated...

June 12, 2010

We did a different kind of brick today...a swim and then a 5k run. Emmett Hines came and taught us about proper technique and breathing. I am terrible at swimming...

Here I am looking like a confused seal:

June 15, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCA! Today is Luca's 5th birthday! Here's to many more to come :o) Here he is celebrating at Bullritos after swim practice:

July 11, 2010

Today, I competed in my very first triathlon! A few friends and I went to Austin to compete in the Austin Couple's Triathlon. The hills were tough, but we finished! It was a ton of fun and I am so happy I was able to particpate.

Here we are eating delicious watermelon after the race:

August 8, 2010

I competed in the Bridgeland Triathlon! The course was much flatter than the Austin tri, so I was pretty happy about that. They set up bright orange buoys along most of the swim, so it made it really easy to sight and stay on course. I ended up finishing 9th in my age group...although my time wasn't super fast, I am still happy that i'm improving, especially in the swim.

Here we are sporting our Team Living Water jerseys in front of the Living Water tent:

Be sure to check out their website and learn how you can help others get clean water:

http://www.water.cc/

I would also like to thank my generous silent auction donors: Sabine River Cafe, Voss Creamery, Studio NiaMoves, Inner Me Studio, My Hit Fit, The Chocolate Bar, Spa Alexis, Supple Skin Boutique, Soteria Skin, Bikram Hot Yoga Houston, Weslayan Cafe, Crave Cupcakes, Executive Baskets, Martha & Lil Suzie's Sweet Boutique, Fanatsea Boat Cruises, Josephine Day Spa & Salon, and Kinetic Bodyworks.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thank you so much for your support!

:o)