$5K RAISED, 26.2 MILES RUN! (And I bought a customized finisher shirt from Nike that says just that on the back.) The feeling when I crossed that finish line after running 26.2 miles was incredible! All I could think of was "WOW! You just did that! I'm a marathoner!" My next thoughts were more along the lines of "ouch, my legs are really sore" and "I don't want to be cold and wet anymore", but I was still mentally high from what I had just accomplished. I highly recommend the experience to everyone who has the chance. To think that I started back in May with very little running experience and ramped up quickly enough to run a marathon six months later is amazing. Then, to think that Doreen, one of our honored teammates and mother of six, was able to finish the marathon even after undergoing several rounds of intense chemotherapy treatment this summer which prevented her from running during the summer months - it just boggles my mind. This whole experience has truly been incredible.

Now, for those interested in the details of the weekend:

I flew down to San Francisco on Friday morning with about 70 other people associated with the Washington/Alaska Team in Training Chapter. One of the flight attendants made an announcement about the team being on the flight and the upcoming marathon and that our chapter raised something like $300,000 together (!). After we landed at the Oakland, CA airport, two buses took everyone to the Westin Market Street hotel where we were all staying. Thank goodness we were not staying at or near the Hilton, since the Hilton workers were striking that weekend, carrying signs and chanting 24 hours a day outside the Hilton. I feel sorry for any runners who were staying there since pretty much all of the other hotels in San Francisco were booked for the weekend and all of the noise and hassle of crossing the picket line would not have been a good start to running a marathon.

I met up with my friend, Aurojit Panda, for a quick lunch before heading over to the Nike Women's Marathon Expotique in Union Square, where I had to pick up my race packet. They had set up a huge tent where you entered at one end to pick up your race bib, timing chip, starting bracelet (I selected the 10:00-11:59 minute mile bracelet), and some other information. The rest of the tent featured stations by the various sponsors of the event. It was there that I signed up for automatic Facebook updates when I crossed the 5K, 15K, 35K, and finish line. They also had bicycles powering smoothie machines, samples of Gatorade, luna bars, Pom tea. I also signed up to get a phone call (recording) from Serena Williams before the race and Mia Hamm after the race. They had free massages and pedicures and people who would measure your gait, but the lines for those were all pretty long. From there, I crossed the street to NikeTown, where they had a wall outside with the names of all 20,000+ runners. Inside, they had Nike Women's Marathon apparel and special events like an in-house DJ, phone engraving, and shirt personalization. I ended up buying a sweatshirt and a shirt that I personalized with the message "THIS ONE'S FOR YOU DAD" on the back.

Later that evening, I met up with my boyfriend Itay, my roommate Tatyana, her boyfriend Nong, and my friend Panda who had all come down to San Francisco for the weekend to cheer me on. We had a delicious dinner at Shalomar, a local Indian food restaurant in San Francisco. I decided it was probably best not to stay out too late, so I headed back to the hotel after dinner, at which point I finally met my hotel roommate, Jennifer. Jennifer's a 5th-grade teacher in Spokane, WA who had also signed up with Team in Training and was running her first marathon. She was super nice and was a great hotel roommate.

The next day, I met up with Panda and Itay for brunch at a crepe restaurant that I had been the last time I was in San Francisco. They make crepes just like the ones I had in France, so I absolutely love eating there. It was delicious! I had a savory crepe with egg and cheese followed by a dessert crepe with chocolate and lemon.

At 3:00pm sharp, we were expected to meet in one of the hotel conference rooms for a WA/AK TNT Chapter meeting. I brought the spirit monkey with me, who had travelled in my suitcase down from Seattle since I was last person awarded the spirit monkey before the Portland and Nike marathons. During the meeting, I was presented with a certificate and a new purple race day shirt that had "Rock Star" printed on the back for being one of the top 12 fundraisers within the chapter. We then heard Doreen, who I mentioned earlier was one of our honored teammates, tell her story of being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and signing up for Team in Training. She started her speech saying that "cancer can take my ponytail, but it can't take my spirit". And indeed, one of the toughest things Doreen mentioned facing was going through chemotherapy over the summer and losing her long hair. She talked about how her mind interpreted the doctor informing her that "you have a mass on T12" as "you're going to die". She said that through her internet searches Team in Training kept popping up and she finally went to one of the info sessions where she "did a crazy thing" and signed her name on the registration form at the end. She then went home and cried to her husband that on top of fighting cancer, she had just signed herself up to run a half marathon and raise thousands of dollars. But she did it, finishing both radiation therapy and the Vancouver half marathon. Then she did another crazy thing and signed up again with Team in Training for the Nike Women's Marathon. She found out the radiation therapy had not been enough and needed to go through chemotherapy. But in the end, she raised the money yet again and was ready to get out there and run the full marathon in San Francisco. She dedicated her race to her six children. Hearing her talk was very moving. At the end, Jeff, one of the TNT staff members, presented Doreen with the spirit monkey and scissors so that Doreen could cut the spirit monkey's hair.

That evening, we all headed over to a large conference center for the Team in Training Inspirational Dinner. Walking into the conference center, we were met with a huge double line of coaches and staff members wearing ridiculous green and purple (TNT colors) outfits shouting and cheering and leading everyone to the large buffet tables with piles of pasta. It was announced that the TNT participants (about 5,000 running in the marathon) had raised $13 million this year and a total of $105 million over the seven years the race has been held. It's a testament to how much everyone wants to beat cancer that people have donated so much money. And we are so much closer! Just 10 years ago, Doreen's and my Dad's diagnosis probably would have been a death sentence, but there are now several treatment options which has allowed them both to continue living strong. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will continue raising funds and sponsoring research until a cure is found. To date, the LLS has raised over one billion dollars. Just hearing those statistics is so inspiring. We can beat this! We CAN find a cure.

My alarm woke me up at 4:00am on Sunday morning. I showered, dressed, ate some cereal, applied TNT temporary tatoos to my cheeks, gathered my GU energy gels, salt pills, and handheld water bottle, and headed downstairs. Everyone was milling around in the lobby waiting for the signal to walk over to the race starting area. We took a picture of the WA/AK chapter together (see below) and then headed out.

Lots of people were already lined up in Union Square when we got there at around 6:00am. The starting time bracelets we had picked up at the expo didn't really seem to matter unless you wanted to be towards the front of the pack. It didn't matter to me, so I started out with several other teammates towards the back of the pack. We heard them announce the start of the race at 7am, but I didn't actually cross the start line until about half an hour later. I was off!

We headed downtown through the streets towards the bay. Two teammates, Diane and Ilana were running about my pace so I ran with them. Ilana had a tradition of yelling out the number of the mile as you finished each one, so we all yelled out - ONE! TWO! THREE! etc. They had entertainment spread throughout the race - a gospel choir, street performers, college cheering stations, powersong stations, drum squads, bands - as well as frequent water/aid stations.

The first six miles were pretty easy going, but then we hit the first big hill. Since we started off in the back of the pack and the street narrowed to a path, we ended up stuck behind a lot of walkers, so we slowed down to walking. That set a precedent for the rest of the race - walk up the big hills. We made it over that hill and hit the next uphill around mile 8. I was still feeling pretty good when Ilana turned off at mile 12 to finish the half marathon. Diane wanted to walk for awhile and I wanted to meet up with my friends who said they would be waiting for me around mile 13, so I ran ahead. I was really excited to see Itay, Tatyana, Nong, and Panda! Itay handed me more GU energy gels to take with me and I was off again!

This time, I caught up with another teammate Kelly and we passed Doreen together. Around mile 17 the half marathoners joined up with us again for a short time and then turned towards the finish line. At that point, I was starting to think it would be really nice if I was just done already, but I kept running. It had started raining back around mile 10, but it didn't really bother me until the three mile stretch along the Great Highway next to the beach where it started hitting my face. Kelly kept me going though until we hit another hill at mile 20 and I slowed down to walk while she ran ahead.

It was at that point that my legs really started to hurt. We were doing an out and back too, so I kept thinking of how long that 3 miles out in the open rain had felt. I was not looking forward to the last six miles. Walking hurt and running hurt. My legs at least felt a bit numb when I ran, but it took way more energy. I managed to do some combination of walking/running around that 3 mile lake loop. Jeff, one of the TNT staff members cheered me on about half way around the lake, which kept me going for awhile. Mile 22 was a "chocolate mile" sponsored by Ghiradelli. I didn't take the chocolate offered to me out of fear of throwing up. I saw another girl whose shirt declared she was running for her Dad. Near the end of the lake, I met up with Jim, one of our coaches who ran with me for the last part of the loop.

I came over the small hill for the final "back" part of the out and back along the Great Highway and met up with Chelese, one of our other coaches. Chelese ran/walked with me along those last three miles. I can't thank her enough for keeping me going. Finishing that last part was one of the hardest things I've done in my life. My body just wanted to stop. Even my mind was losing the willpower to keep me going. It was cold and rainy and everything was sore. I was still smiling though. I smiled through the entire race. Even though I was in physical pain, I wanted to enjoy the moment. I was happy to be running in the marathon. I thought of my Dad, I thought of my family and friends, I thought of our honored teammated Doreen and Paul and my teammates, and everyone who had donated money. Somehow I made it. Chelese left me at the finishers chute telling me to give it everything I had left. Any thoughts I had of sprinting to the finish line were gone at the point. I didn't get any faster but continued running to the finish line. I saw Nong and Tatyana cheering for me from the side. I raised my arms in triumph and finally crossed the line 5 hours 13 minutes and 19 seconds after I had crossed the start line.

Firefighters with blue boxes filled with a Tiffany's necklace on silver platters were in front of me. Itay and Panda were on the right. I went over to Itay and Panda and Itay handed me some flowers. I wasn't really thinking or functioning but I think I said something about meeting them after I collected my things. I picked up my little blue box, finisher's T-Shirt, a bag filled with some some free stuff, and waited while a volunteer snipped off and collected my timing chip. I knew I needed to check in at the TNT tent, so I headed there and almost fell over standing in the short line. I met up with Itay, Panda, Tatyana, and Nong. I wandered around for a bit before realizing that I really just wanted to go back to my hotel and get out of the cold rain.

My friends walked me over to the buses and I got back to my hotel room. I first took a hot shower followed by an ice bath for my sore legs. Both really helped. I then opened up my little blue box only to find that my Tiffany's necklace was broken. Opening the clasp caused a spring to pop out the other end which prevented me from taking the other end of the chain out. I was surprisingly not too upset and just planned on going to Tiffany's for a replacement the next day. I still hadn't had any lunch (assuming energy gel doesn't count) but it was getting close to dinner, so I met up with Itay for a late-afternoon large cookie. Dinner was a mexican buffet at the TNT Victory Dinner. They had cirque de soleil performers for entertainment followed by a dance party. It actually felt good to stand up and move around a bit.

The next day I got my replacement necklace from Tiffany's and bought a pink finisher shirt from NikeTown personalized with "$5K RAISED 26.2 MI RUN". We flew back to Seattle that afternoon, all of us happy for what we had accomplished but sorry that it was over.

The big question was/is: Are you going to do this again? My Dad and so many other are still battling cancer, so of course I'm going to continue to stay involved and donate money to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I do intend to take at least a short break (meaning I'll probably still try to run a couple times during the week but will forgo the long early morning Saturday runs), especially since my work at Amazon.com gets crazy during November/December. I'm thinking about training for the Seattle Rock and Roll marathon which I think is in June. I'm not sure if I'll do that with TNT again and if not, I may sign up for the NWM again. We'll see - stay tuned ;-).

I didn't mean to go this long without updating, but I've been busy training, helping friends fundraise, and spending time with my family. Big news - I've decided to go for the full marathon! That increases the distance from 13.1 to 26.2 miles. Training has been going really well, so earlier this month I decided to just go for it. Just yesterday, I ran at least 10 miles during our two-hour workout and still felt pretty good afterward. I'm pretty confident I could run a half marathon now, but I'm still a little worried about running the whole marathon. We still have over a month of training left though, so hopefully I'll be ready by October 17th.

I've also been helping my roommate Tatyana raise enough money for her endurance event, the Big Kahuna half iron-man triathlon in Santa Cruz, CA. She had to raise $4200, and I'm happy to report she's now raised $4695. Her event is only two weeks away, so wish her luck! I helped her with a car wash fundraiser in front of the local Whole Foods grocery store and we were able to raise over $300. She's also had a bake sale and a wine tasting event to help raise the money. Microsoft has helped her a lot since they match employee donations and also contribute money for volunteer time to non-profit organizations. You can check out her fundraising page here.

Speaking of Microsoft, I'm extremely happy to report that some additional funds for matching donations came through, and I've now raised a total of $4511! That's more than $1000 over my initial fundraising goal. I think I'm now the top fundraiser of the local fall marathon team. I got a Team in Training "Rock Star" pin yesterday for raising so much money. Again, I couldn't have done this without the help of everyone who has contributed. Thank you all!

My family was able to come out to Seattle to visit for a week in mid-August. My Mom, Dad, and brother Daniel came with me to one of my Saturday practices. The plan was for Daniel to run with me, my Mom to walk at her own pace, and my Dad to hang out in the park where we started, Matthew's Beach park. I didn't tell my Dad that I had secretly planned to introduce him to the team and explain how he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and was currently in remission. Also unbeknownst to my Dad, we also come together in a small circle while clapping and then shout "GO TEAM!" right before we head out for our run and sometimes we'll stick someone in the middle who has had or shared a "mission moment". Much to my Dad's surprise, he ended up in the middle of a bunch of runners yelling "GO TEAM!". I wish I had a picture, but I at least have some pictures of everyone hanging out before and then heading out to run:

Next week's long run should definitely be interesting. I'm going back to New Jersey for the long weekend, so I'll miss the team practice and I'm supposed to run for 160 minutes. Looking at the weather for Roosevelt, it's much hotter out there than here in Seattle so I'll have to be sure to take a lot of water with me and run early enough that it's still somewhat cool. I'll let you know how it goes.

The marathon's less than a week away! Several people have asked me: "Are you ready?" I certainly hope so! I'm less than $50 dollars away from my fundraising goal of $5000, so I'm definitely ready in that regard. The latest round of thanks go to Sam Cunningham, Rick Bassett, and my parents.

We've been ramping down our training since the last time I posted in order to let our bodies recovery fully before the marathon. This weekend our long run was only 80 minutes and the rain fortunately held off during the run. I unfortunately had to miss last weekend's long run since I was paged at 6am to deal with a work issue and ended up getting pulled into a lengthy conference call. I tried to get out again on Sunday, but I got paged again less than 10 minutes into my run, so I gave up for the weekend. I later found out that Jillian awarded me the Spirit Monkey that week at practice for running with her throughout the training season. The Spirit Monkey is a sock monkey doll that's given to a team member who's demonstrated team spirit. The team member is then supposed to add something to the Spirit Monkey and present the monkey to another team member at the next practice. Jillian had won the Spirit Monkey the week before when we were at Redhook. Below are some pictures of Jillian and the Spirit Monkey and Jillian and I running from that weekend.

On Wednesday we all got together for a "send-off party". The coaches and mentors went over some final advice and tips for the big event. Bad idea: buying a new energy gel dispenser the day before the marathon and squirting energy gel all over your self when you find out the dispenser doesn't work so great during your marathon. Another bad idea: forgetting your running shoes. Good idea: taking it all in and thanking as many people as you can. So to everyone that's helped me this far: thank you!!

Welcome to my Team In Training home page!

In December of 2006, my Dad, Brad Garton, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation's website has the following description of multiple myeloma:

"Multiple myeloma is an incurable cancer of the plasma cell. It is the second most common blood cancer. There are approximately 50,000 people in the United States living with multiple myeloma and an estimated 15,890 new cases of the disease are diagnosed each year. The five-year survival rate for multiple myeloma remains only 32%."

Fortunately, my Dad's still very much alive and his cancer is now in remission thanks to recent breakthroughs in cancer medicine. That said, there's always the scary but real possibility that at some point, the cancer drug he's currently taking will stop effectively keeping the cancer in check.

To help support blood cancer research, I've decided to train for the Nike Women's Marathon on October 17, 2010 in San Francisco as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I'm not much of a runner, but Team In Training is providing all of the necessary support and training, and I really believe in the cause - finding a cure!

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

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

Yesterday I completed our longest training run - three hours! I was a little worried when I first showed up to practice because I learned that my running buddy Jillian had gotten lost and it was unclear when she would get there. I really didn't want to have to run the whole time by myself, so I waited for her while the rest of the team took off. I didn't have to wait too long, we exchanged some energy gels, and then we started on our run. The run itself was actually really nice. I had mentally prepared myself for running in the pouring rain since it was raining the night before and earlier that morning, but the sun actually started coming out in the middle of the run. We ran along the Snoqualmie River Trail, which is a nice wide gravel path through mostly wooded areas.

The run ended by crossing over a wooden suspension bridge to a picnic area where we had a post-run barbeque. After crossing the bridge, Chelese's two young sons (Chelese is one of our coaches) handed out Shrinky Dink necklaces to people running in the Nike Women's Marathon and roses to people running in the Portland Marathon. I think everyone also got their picture taken. The coaches were encouraging everyone to go into the river for a makeshift ice bath. I grabbed a hot dog, rolled up my pants, and forced myself to walk into the very cold water. The water did an excellent job of numbing my sore legs. Combined with a massage I scheduled for much later that day, I think I managed to avoid a lot of soreness. My legs have actually been feeling pretty normal today.

Part of the preparation for this weekend's longest training run was running a half marathon (13.1 miles) with my brother Daniel while I was in New Jersey over Labor Day weekend. Daniel was really great about it. We stopped back at our house after running eight miles to fill up our water bottles and go to the bathroom. I thought Daniel might just stay home at that point, but he got back out with me to finish the run. He did unfortunately get a pretty bad side cramp near the end of our run, which made me appreciate the gradual buildup in running time that our coaches have always encouraged.

Finally, I want to thank my most recent donors - Andrew and Cesalie! I'm now less than $500 away from my final goal of $5000. I got the email notification of Andrew's donation just before I left for the long run yesterday, which was super encouraging. Thank you everyone for supporting me and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! The marathon is less than a month away now!

I'm amazed by how much progress I've made so far with both running and fundraising, which is good because we're already half way through training. My recommitment paperwork is due August 13th, which is the final sign-off on saying that I'll have the required money raised (which I already have) and will definitely be attending the event. I've been really fortunate to have such generous family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and acquaintances. Earlier this month, I was recognized at the Saturday team practice as one of the top donors (#3) of the fall training group! I couldn't have done any of this without your help and support, so thank you!

We've been doing hill workouts during the Tuesday team practices, which are somewhat disheartening but an excellent strength building exercise. Basically, we either run up and down a big hill or go around a short loop in a hilly area of one of local parks for about 20-30 minutes with a 10 minute warm up and cool down on a flat track before and after. When it's particularly steep, I often think that I would go faster up the hill just walking instead of running but since the goal is to build strength, I try my best to keep going even if it takes me what feels like forever to make it to the top.

I have found an excellent running partner, Jillian, who runs at my slow pace. It's definitely helpful to have someone to run with since you keep each other going and can take your mind off running for a bit by talking. I didn't think I would have someone to run with for the entirety of the long runs since many of the other people on the team have been running for awhile and are pretty fast. One guy has participated in 100 mile runs with about a 10-minute mile pace. In fact, he wasn't at practice this Saturday because he's helping pace his friend for the last 57 miles of a 100 mile run. I don't think I'm ready to run a half marathon at a 10-minute mile pace! I'm working on it though...

Donations are still coming in! Thank you Garna and Liz for the most recent donations. Also, Microsoft was added to list of donors since they match the donations of Microsoft employees. I encourage you to visit http://www.matchinggifts.com/lls to see if your company has a matching gifts program.  If your employer participates in matching contributions, please send all gifts and forms to my local LLS chapter:

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Washington/Alaska Chapter

530 Dexter Avenue North

Suite 300

Seattle, WA 98109

I also wanted to just point out that they added a feature to split up the website into individual "posts", so I broke up my updates into separate entries. However, I can't edit the timestamp on any of them, which is why they all appear to be entered today.

Training has been progressing. I unfortunately had to miss Tuesday's team practice since I was attending a dinner with Amazon's female interns. We were supposed to start hill training on Tuesday, so I tried to make up for it by running up and down a hill a few times on Wednesday in the middle of my run. Man, it's tiring! I'm a little nervous about being able to handle the San Francisco hills during the marathon. I've heard conflicting reports on whether the course is considered hilly or not.

Last Saturday I ran the longest distance yet - 8 miles! The weather was absolutely perfect for the run. The sun was out with no clouds in sight and it was still reasonably cool in the morning. I felt especially good about it because I had been running slower than usual last week when it was particularly hot. The coaches keep telling us about the importance of drinking water so we don't get dehydrated. I can't imagine not drinking water when you're running in 80+ degree heat.

Jeff, our Team in Training campaign coordinator, sent out the transcript of American college basketball coach Jim Valvano's ESPY Awards speech, given just eight weeks before he dies of cancer. I would like to share an excerpt from that speech:

"... five hundred thousand people will die this year of cancer. I also tell you that one in every four will be afflicted with this disease, and yet somehow, we seem to have put it in a little bit of the background. I want to bring it back on the front table. We need your help. I need your help. We need money for research. It may not save my life. It may save my children's lives. It may save someone you love.

And ESPN has been so kind to support me in this endeavor and allow me to announce tonight, that with ESPN's support, which means what? Their money and their dollars and they're helping me-we are starting the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. And it's motto is "Don't give up, don't ever give up." That's what I'm going to try to do every minute that I have left."

Finally, I would like to thank Laura Kinney for the most recent donation to the cause. Thanks Laura!

Happy 4th of July weekend! And what could be better than starting the weekend with an 80 minute run? We're starting to ramp up our running time and mileage during our Saturday team practices and our weekday practices are up to 50 minutes instead of 40 now. I bought myself a handheld water bottle to carry while running and tried eating a GU energy gel half way through my run this morning. I wasn't too thrilled with the Mint Chocolate flavor which had been recommended by the store salesperson, so I think next time I'll try something else.

I was particularly happy about being able to run for the full 80 minutes because I wasn't able to run at all on Thursday. I donated blood on Thursday morning without realizing that you're not supposed to exercise for a full 12 hours and it takes about three days to just recover the water that you've lost. I was definitely feeling more tired than usual on Thursday and Friday. I mentioned that I had taken a short running break due to donating blood to the coaches during practice this morning, and they highly encouraged not giving blood at least a month prior to running the marathon.

Last week I was in Kentucky visiting four of Amazon's warehouses and the Zappos warehouse for work. Fortunately I was still able to keep up the training using the hotel fitness centers. Additionally, Saturday was the Seattle Rock and Roll marathon, so the team practice was postponed until Sunday, which was good because my flight back didn't get in until midnight on Saturday night. I was able to make it to the Sunday practice and then took a nice long nap afterwards.

I'm thrilled to announce that donations are still coming in! Thank you Tom Boyle for donating recently.

Happy Father's Day to all of the fathers out there! I watched Toy Story 3 last night, and seeing the children play with the toys made me remember the great times I had when I was a kid playing with toys with my Dad - the evil witch, Pilgrim Bear and his turkey, Apple Dolly, and all of the rest.

I can't believe I've already reached my intial goal of $3200! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated. Thanks Akira for pushing me over the 100% mark. I just increased my personal goal to $5000, since any additional money will of course help to reach the ultimate goal of finding a cure. I would like to share this email that was sent to me after reaching the 100% mark:

On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), I want to congratulate you for reaching your event fundraising goal. Our records indicate that to date, you have raised $3,236.00 for your event, Nike Women's Marathon which will be held on Oct 17, 2010.

Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in blood cancer research. We fund more blood cancer research than all other voluntary health agencies.

An LLS-funded researcher developed Gleevec®, a pill for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). Now, more than 95 percent of newly diagnosed CML patients survive more than five years with a good quality of life. LLS was also instrumental in the development of Velcade®, a targeted treatment approved for patients with multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma.

While much has been achieved, there is so much more that can and needs to be done. Will you consider setting your sights even higher by establishing a personal goal, on your fundraising Web page, to raise additional funds?

Thank you again. Your support is helping blood cancer patients live longer, better lives.

Sincerely,

John Walter

President & CEO

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

I've been able to continue training for the past two weeks now that my feet are back to normal. Both this Saturday and last Saturday (the team's long run days), I was able to run six miles! It's hard to believe that when I first started, I couldn't make it three miles around Green Lake. I think we're going to start hill training during Tuesday team practices soon, which will definitely be important for preparing to run in San Francisco.

Just a quick update since I've been out of commission for the past week due to swollen foot problems. Over the weekend, my feet finally returned to normal size, so I'm planning on getting back to the training schedule starting with tomorrow evening's team practice.

I can't believe I'm already 98% to my goal of $3,200! I'm less than $100 away from raising the minimum amount required to participate in the Nike Women's Marathon with support from LLS. I want to thank the most recent donors:

Itay Neeman

Tatyana Dyshlova

Chris Griner