TNT Kickoff

Today was the Official kickoff event for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training (TNT).  As you probably already know, I’ve signed up to complete a half marathon (13.1 Miles/21 K) and to raise funds to help save lives of cancer patients.  We received our training shirts, (I think mine is too snug) and met our coaches and mentors.  Our honored teammates, which are cancer survivors, shared their struggles and their successes to remind us why we are racing to save lives.  TNT has already raised over 1 Billion dollars that helped discover new cancer treatments and assist patients with medical costs.  The honored team mates stories were so heartfelt and a great reminder for me not to take my physical health for granted.  One of the guys on my team is a survivor and this will be his 10th race!  

We also got our training schedules.  I was VERY surprised to find out that we are supposed to run/walk 5 days each week. FIVE DAYS??? Oh my goodness, I just “knew” it would be 3 days or maybe even 4 days of training each week.  Where am I going to find time to do that? We have Mondays and Fridays off, and meet for group trainings sessions at least once a week.  The group sessions are at 7AM in the MORNING! Ugh… this is going to take a LOT of discipline, but I know I can do it…I just didn’t quite know what “it” really was before today.  I signed up with the walk group, because I wanted to make sure I would be able to keep up with the team.  When I met with my coach Tina, she told me that the goal is to walk at a 16 minute per mile pace.  With my short chubby legs, that’s almost a run and certainly, a really brisk walk.  But it’s doable.  At that pace; I would finish the half marathon in about 3 1/2 hours.  Wow, it seems so long when I type it out like that.  But, I’ve decided to use that as my goal.  My trainer said that anybody who trained with her that crossed the starting line, also crossed the finish line.  That made me feel confident that she will have the tools to help me achieve my goals.  So… for the next 5 months, you all will follow my journey to the finish line, and hopefully help me reach my fundraising goals along the way!  I get about 900 visitors everyday, and if each of you donate $1, (JUST ONE U.S. DOLLAR) I will have met my goal!  We can do it! Thank you in advance for your encouragement, support and your MONEY…LOL! P.S. When I get a chance, I’m going to take down my personal RunningIntoShape.com donation page until I reach my fundraising goals.  But in the meantime if you do donate, I’ll just transfer it over to the LLS Fund.