Thank you all who have come to my page or donated, but also, thank you to the ones who have donated anonymously. I wish I could thank you personally!

Final Training Update...

Everyone,

Well, the time has come... 3 days left. I feel like I've been writing this letter since June. In many ways I have been. There are so many people in my life that have had to deal with loss this year. It's Jen and those people that have been foremost on my mind through this whole process.

Its officially taper week - which means that I need to take more rest and ease off of the workouts. Its not agreeing with me though. I don't even know what to do with myself. I hope I'm not the only one on the team that feels that way.

This sunday will be race day. The forecast looks like it might bring some bad weather, but that isn't going to stop the race. If worst comes to worst, they would make us run twice if we couldn't swim due to lightning. Anyway, with every bit of excitement comes an equal amount of anxiety. I just want the race to go smooth and get it finished as solidly as I can. Since the day I started training there are three things that I have been thinking about constantly. Crossing that finish line, why I am doing it... and everything you all have done for me. Its been truly amazing and life changing. Its what was needed.

It's really amazing what we have done together AND I CAN NEVER THANK YOU ENOUGH. We've raised nearly 4 thousand dollars for the cause! My triathlon team at last count had raised over 135,000 dollars! Given the fact that our team is one of the smaller TNT teams, that is an excellent number!

For everyone who said they wanted to attend, please feel free, hopefully the weather holds out. If you are thinking about coming, my wave will go into the water at about 7:15 and my number will be 312. If you do come down, there will be post race activities and celebrations too! Be aware I have been told that parking can get difficult as the morning goes on. You can get instructions and race information at the following link:

http://www.westchestertriathlon.org/webforms/wp_MenuDetail.aspx?pgid=18&pgrp=4

I'll do my best to blast everyone a post race status when I get home on Sunday night, but please forgive me if it doesn't happen until monday. Regardless, I will update my facebook page though.

Its hard to write these letters without getting all misty and sentimental, but as you might expect, I have one last letter that Jen sent before she did her Arizona Marathon. I feel like in someways I have been able to feel how she felt while she was training and that has brought her memories and strength closer to me. I now completely understand the commitment she had to TNT. Its been emotional, but healing at the same time.

Thank you all.

-Dylan

Sent by Jen Dyson, January 10, 2008

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Hi All-

I'm sitting in my room packing pretty much everything I own to go to Arizona and run a marathon in 3 days, trying not to freak out. There's really nothing else I can do now. If I'm not ready at this point, there's really nothing else to do but go out there and walk 26 miles...

But I feel good, feel ready. I did the 20 mile run two weeks ago, and it went really well. My first goal is to complete the race alive, but my new secret goal is to complete the race in under 5 hours.

And now if you want to play along at home, here's the deal. The race starts at 7:40am on Sunday (Arizona time). If you want to check my progress, you can go to www.rnraz.com and click the live results button on the home page. My bib number is 10462, and you can enter that in and see where I am on the course. It records my time when I hit the big goals (10k, half, 20, and finish), so you can see that I actually am doing this and this hasn't been an elaborate ruse to annoy everyone and feel important.

Finally, I just want to thank everyone for their support, both financially and just bugging me to go to the gym. I've raised almost 4 grand for a great cause, and my team has raised over $200,000 and that's just in NYC alone. That's amazing!

So stay tuned. I'll be back at my computer on Wednesday, and I'll let everyone know my time, and sagas from the wild world of marathoning...People who run for 4 hours have a hard time keeping their crazys in, so I'm sure I'll have some nice stories :)

Thanks so much guys! I'm gonna finally finish this thing!

-Jen

Training Update 2...

Its been a while since my last official training update. I do make minor ones on my facebook page, but I certainly owe everyone some information about what's been going on in "Training World". Especially since there are only 2 weeks left. Thats right…2 weeks from now you should all be getting my post race status.

Since I last communicated, my workouts have gotten longer and harder, but I am now training the actual distances of the race for everything.

My new bike has brought me from being in the middle of the slow group at practice to being at the end of the fast group. It's a great improvement. It's just really nice to be able to keep up with everyone and maintain some speed on the flat ground, without dying.

As part of my training, I competed in my first sprint triathlon in Harriman, NY. It was shorter than an olympic triathlon, which is what the Westchester TRI is, but the Harriman TRI is also known for its intense geography. The word on the street is if you can ride in Harriman, you can ride anywhere. Lets just say, I know why now.

It was incredible - and I made a lot of mistakes. I was so nervous the night before that I barely slept a wink, then I arrived about 45 minutes before they setup the registration booths. By the time the horn sounded, I could barely keep a thought in my head. The swim was awful, but I did it. Between getting kicked and people swimming into me, it was all I could do to breast stroke most of that leg. Once I got on the bike, I was able to make up some ground, a lot of ground actually, except for the climbs, I was able to make a lot of passes on the flats. Once I got to the run, that's where it all turned. My run was horrible, I gave up 40 to 50 places easily. On the last two hundred yards of the run, I heard a voice behind me say, "You better not F%#$ing let me pass you now. Sprint it out!" It was like being slapped in the face. The voice and I sprinted as hard as we could for the last 200... and crossed the finish line.

I learned a lot from Harriman. I learned that I really needed to focus more on the swim and the run than the cycle, which is what I have been doing since then. I learned that triathlon is more than just a sport, its an attitude. All of the athletes on the course were competitive, but were always supportive of others.

Training has been intense, I've got 1 week of hard workouts left and 1 week of tapering workouts, then its race day. I can never say it enough... thank you to everyone who made this possible. I think of you all when I get tired and want to stop.

The training has paid off. I've lost 20 pounds and together we have raised over $3,600! Its a real testament to everyone who has helped me. Thank you... forever.

Some extra reading...

http://wptimes.com/city_people.php?viewspecific=1&storyid=2671

My TNT page....

http://pages.teamintraining.org/wch/wchtri09/dylanwoo

Training Update...

First off, I'm sorry I've been so late on giving an official update as far as my training progress goes, that is unless you've seen a few of my random grumps on facebook. Its certainly been challenging and exhausting, but its coming along. I've managed to cut most of the junk food out of my diet and I've eliminated diet coke as well. Crazy huh! I still can't believe it.

I can't even begin to explain how much the support and donations you've all sent means when you've been running or cycling and your body says, "I want to stop!" Its those moments where I think about everyone who now has a stake in this and I'm able to push that much harder. Thank you so much. I can't tell you how that feels.

Anyway, in case you are interested, in the month of June I swam, cycled and ran a total of 125.81 miles! In July I traveled a total of 190.11 miles. So thats some progress. Hopefully August will be even better. I've got just under 2 months left, so time is ticking - which means I've got to kick it up a notch, or two.

I got my new wheels (a Trek 2.1) last week and I am still waiting for the first group workout with it. Hopefully, that will pay off a bit. My heavy mountain bike leaves my legs with barely enough energy to make the transition to running, so hopefully I will see a difference.

Anyway, I would say overall I feel better about everything, but I really still need to make a lot of improvement. My runs and swims are slow - but I'm starting to hit the distances at least. Anyway, I figure everyone deserved to see a progress update, but additionally, I figured I would attach a letter below that my sister Jen had sent out when she was doing her TNT training.

Thanks again to everyone for your support!

- Dylan

Sent by Jen Dyson, December 9, 2007

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Hi all!

So yesterday I hita major milestone. 14 miles(which is a half marathon + 1 mile). It took me about 2 hours and35 minutes, and it actually wasn't horrible. It was a balmy 37 degrees out in the park, so I was able to feel my limbsfor the entire run, which is an improvement on some past runs.

It's been a really successful running week. At the beginning of training, we all had to time ourself on a mile. I killed myself and hit a 10 minute mile, which I thought was pretty impressive. Well, we did the same test this past wednesday. I was not expecting much, asit was SNOWING and the park was pretty slick.No one was crazy enough to run out there. Oh, except us. We're hardcore. The park was deserted. Anyways, despiteme slowing down constantly to avoid slipping and breaking my leg, I ran a mile in 8 minutes and 30 seconds. So I was able to shave a minute and a half on my time, which my coaches say has to do with confidence as opposed to speed. Now that Iknow a mile won't kill me, I can run it a lot faster.

So at this point, they say it's all mental. I see that I can run for over 2 hours without collapsing. I definately feel my joints the next day, but I'm getting used to it. I got a fortune cookie this past week that said, and I quote "Minor aches today are likely to pay off handsomely tomorrow." I'm not making this up. I'll add two miles every week until I peak at 20, and then taper down for 2 weeks before the big day on January 13th...I can't wait.

And finally, I'm at a halfway point in the fundraising! Well, 49%, which we'll call halfway for now... So to all of you who have donated, thanks so much! And for those who were waiting to see if I was actually going to stick with this whole marathon thing, I'm in it to finish it. I have until the end of December to hit my goal, so please consider donating. And if you know someone who has been talking about giving to charity this season, feel free to pass this email on to anyone who might be interested in supporting The Lymphoma and Leukemia Society.

So thanks for thehelp, support, and positive thoughts. I'll put new pics of me doing the long runs on the website soon.

Takecare and Happy holidays!

-Jen

Its time to make a difference.

First, thank you for visiting my Team In Training page. Now, back to why I said its time to make a difference...

Everyone who is reading this got an email from me because I need your support in helping The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. As you may know, my sister Jen was extremely committed to this charity. You also probably know that Jen suddenly passed away this year.

Since Jen's been gone, its been hard for me to find a place to start repairing myself and those around me, that is, until I found TNT (Team In Training).

Now for the shocker. I'm running a triathlon in September. Thats right, yes... a TriFREAKINathalon.

I look at this as if I'm picking up where she left off, which is a good feeling. But really, I am completing this event in honor of anyone who is battling blood cancers or any cancer for that matter. I'm doing this is for all the people I know that have been dealt difficult circumstances in the recent year including my family. I'm also doing this for all the people who supported us during our own difficult times as well.

We can make a difference! As a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training my goal is to raise funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. I'll be posting updates here and also on my facebook page...

http://www.facebook.com/dylanwoo

Most of all for all those who have shown me what strength is...

Cat Dyson,Louise Wood,Frank Egitto,Brian Egitto,Geoff Grant,Cayte Stipo,Brian Sek,Rick Dorgan,Mike and Tracy Glock,Chris Cleary,Sharon Demauex,Dana Wood,Su Wood,David Wood,Freida Moss,Patrick Dyson,Yetta Wood,Michele Kansky

... this ones for you!

Here is an email Jen sent me in August of 2007 before she ran with TNT...

Hi All!

I've started a new project, and you are all my test subjects. I'm planning on running a marathon in January. Yeah, you read that right. I actually run. I got hooked up with this group, Team in Training. They basically train you to run a marathon, while you help raise money for Leukemia and other cancers.

Here's where you come in. I can do all the running and the training and the sweating and...wait, why am I doing this again?? Oh right. I'm raising money for an incredible cause. So I do the training, and I ask you guys to donate what you can to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. Please click on the link below to see the donation website I set up, and consider putting what you can towards the cause.

Think of it this way. You can do this to get that great feeling you get from helping others (and every donation is 100% tax deductable), or you can do this to guarantee that I won't chicken out. That's why I'm asking family first. Once I get a donation, I can't get out of this, and it will motivate me even more to go running at the end of the day.

So please consider helping me out. And if financially doesn't work, an encouraging email or phone call will do wonders. After that first half hour of running on the treadmill, I need all the help I can get. And feel free to forward this email on to others. Once I actually get into training, I will put a funny picture of me running on the website, and who wants to miss that, huh?!?

Love you all, and thanks again for your support!

-Jen