Saturday, February 25, 2012

What a difference a day makes...

Let me just say off the bat...today I am overjoyed, utterly grateful and touched by the donations I have received just in the past 24 hours. A dear friend of Mary Anne's, my parents and someone whom I don't even know (thank you Cathy!) have come together and pledged their support for my efforts with Team In Training but more importantly to those patients and families who are battling various stages of leukemia and lymphomas as we speak. As a result, we (you/me/we) have raised $1150 just in the past 24 hours! Thank you, John, for your incredibly generous donation in memory of Mary Anne; thanks mom and dad for supporting me in this special adventure; and thank you Cathy for your blind faith in me and your important contribution to LLS/TNT and conquering cancer.

I am beaming right now and as evidence of that I wanted to post my first video. I took it this morning just prior to our 8 a.m. brick (15 mile bike/2 mile run). I have to confess, last night I went to bed stressed because I let some doubt creep in as to whether I could raise enough funds to even be a participant with Team in Training. I am terrible at asking for things (though my husband may challenge me on this one) but generally, it is true. Keep in mind, when you see $$ goals from Team In Training participants, this is the money the participant must raise in order to participate in their chosen event. The goal money pays for the participant's race entry, lodging and coaching. The rest goes to support the mission of LLS. If a participant does not raise their $ goal, they can either choose to leave the team mid-way through the training season at Re-commitment (April for me) OR pay out of their own pocket the difference between what they do raise and the goal amount. And most of us TNT participants are not fundraisers by trade so there is some understandable angst there.

Anyway, just prior to crawling into bed last night, after posting my LLS/TNT fundraising page, I happened to check my email. All of a sudden my husband heard me exclaim in the pitch dark, "Oh...my...God!" And it was a good "Oh my God" because I had just been notified via email that my friend John (and dear friend of Mary Anne's) had posted a $500 contribution! Whoa! Now instead of not being able to sleep because I was stressing over not raising money, I was so pumped with my very first donation that I couldn't sleep! Still reeling from last night, I gathered my teammates this morning and gushed with pride about my very first contribution and asked the team to send a special shout out to John. And here it is in all its early morning glory. Don't blink or you will miss it:



The TNT Tri-crew saying "Thank you John, go TEAM!"

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So here is today's workout roundup: We did our workout with the TNT Century Ride crew (that's right, they're training for a 100 mile ride in the mountains of NC!) I threw down some Greek yogurt and a delicious homemade granola bar compliments of our fearless Coach Tom. One small hitch, in my exuberance to learn how to pump my own tire, I overcompensated and snapped off the stem thingamajig on my tire which now needs to be replaced. Thankfully there was enough air in there to ride but off to REI I go tomorrow. Anyway, it was a good ride on hilly terrain. I am thrilled to report that I am flying on my PattiLew (that's the name I have now given my beloved road bike in honor of its former owner/survivor). I road most of the way with the Century riders and even had delusions that I might join them some day.

I know I am getting long-winded here and my husband (the tech guy) always tries to encourage me to keep these entries short but things must be said: so funny thing happened on the ride- I was coasting past a local high school and the police had each end of a long road blocked off for what initially seemed like a walk-a-thon or something by the high school students. A bunch of kids were just strolling down the road. So nosy me pulls alongside a group of them and yells out: "So what are you walking for?" And as teenagers tend to do, they glared at me and someone yelled back what I thought to be "CRAM!" And I gave them the thumbs up though never having heard of the organization CRAM yet proud of these kids for rocking it out on this early morning, blustery day and rode on my merry way. A little ways down the road I start seeing more kids and they're actually running like in a race. And it occurs to me that the kids who were walking were really saying "Cramps!" as in they were walking because they had cramps! I got a good chuckle out of that one. How dare I question their unwavering commitment to their Booster-thon race!

Anyway, I successfully finished the 15 mile trek and then did my 2 mile run which again went pretty well for me...whew!

Today was also LLS/TNT mission day and we had a great time bonding with each other at the event and hearing from LLS staff, survivors and family members about their triumphs and tragedies. I am in complete awe of these folk. We heard from my teammate/survivor Ed and his wife, Libba. Ed reminded us that the efforts that we are making today on behalf of LLS are helping that mother, father, sister, brother, son or daughter to be well enough to see the Grand Canyon for the very first time. In other words, the money we are raising is changing lives and, in the best of circumstances, saving lives.

And on that note, I am going to wrap it up and say simply and with sincere gratitude...GO TEAM!

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