06/13/2010

WELL WE DID IT, FOLKS! THANKS TO ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND DONATIONS, I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED BOTH OF MY GOALS. WE RAISED ALMOST $3,000 FOR THE LEUKEMIA AND LYMPHOMA SOCIETY AND I COMPLETED MY VERY FIRST MARATHON! THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR SUPPORTING ME IN RAISING MONEY TO FIND A CURE FOR BLOOD CANCERS AND FOR SUPPORTING ME THROUGH MY TRAINING JOURNEY. I PLAN TO CONTINUE MY VOLUNTEER WORK WITH TEAM IN TRAINING AND CONTINUE RUNNING! YOU GUYS ARE ALL SO AWESOME!

05/20/2010

17 DAYS UNTIL THE SAN DIEGO ROCK n ROLL MARTAHON!

Once the next two wonderful donations go in we will be $489 away from the fund raising goal!!! Special thanks to:

BUCK AND DEE MCKINNEY

for their recent donation - I just realized their names did not make it to the list.

Thanks to EVERYONE for their support and donations so far! If you are in the Atlanta area and would like to hang out with some fun people, come out to Michelle and Joe's house for the Spare Change party they are hosting for the cause. This Friday at 7 - get in touch with me for more info. :)

Lastly - I have been promising you all I would complete this marathon and I plan to keep that promise! This past Saturday we had our longest run scheduled before the marathon and with the AWESOME support of the team, I completed 19.71 miles.

I can't wait to update this with a completed fund raising goal and 26.2 bumper sticker to show off!!!!

Ok, one more lastly....for a little bit of a mission moment and to see the proof that Team in Training and the Leukemia and Lymphoma society is doing GRAND things to help battle blood cancers, check out this link:

"Miracle" Cancer Drug Turns 10

05/10/2010

Just a brief update - training has been going well and fund raising has been going ok. The Big Peach 5k was a HUGE success though for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, bringing in $10,000! It was a fun race, too. :)

Last week I had to take it easy after pulling a muscle during the long run, but made up for it on our easy ten miler this past Saturday. Never thought I'd say "easy ten miler!"

After I put in the 221 dollars from the last benefit, we will be just over 600 dollars away from our goal! Let's keep it going!

Last night, a handful of people were really touched by what Team in Training is doing because their own lives have been affected by blood cancer through a family member's diagnosis. I was glad to be able to spread the word just a little further and raise just a little more money.

A coworker of a friend of mine was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and that, unfortunately so, put it in to perspective again why I am doing this. There is no age bracket for blood cancers. There is no guideline. There is just a horrible disease trying to take anyone it can. I hope her coworker finds the support she needs and that her life is somehow bettered by the experience once she gets through the bad.

04/06/2010

Thanks for all the support and donations!! We are HALF WAY THERE! Together we are doing something great and funding research that will one day get rid of the sentence "my mom/friend/dad/sister/aunt/uncle/cousin/loved one died of cancer." Two more months until the marathon and 7 more weeks of fund raising. Let's keep it up!

03/18/2010

Quick Fund Raising and Running Update!

Shout out to CORNER PIZZA on the corner of Ashford Dunwoody and Johnson Ferry here in Atlanta!! www.cornerpizza-atl.com/ They have GRACIOUSLY decided to donate 10% of proceeds from the next three Tuesday night trivia nights starting this week. PS - they have AWESOME pizza!

Tonight is the Park Tavern TNT fund raiser! $20 gets you unlimited beer and wine and donates $10 to my fund raising from those who mention my name at the door. I will also have some items in the silent auction and there will be a 50/50 raffle. Looking forward to seeing some fabulous people out!

Training is going well. From this point on, every Saturday long run I will be able to say "I can't believe I did it, I've never gone that far before!" The run/walk method is working well and I am following the schedule so things look pretty good.

Here's to more beautiful weather and getting closer to the goals!

Chattahoochee Road Race on March 6th!

Some notes on donating!

*The money that you are raising is being used for blood cancer research that is leading to many exciting advances in cancer therapy, including radiation, chemotherapy, and such recent breakthroughs as Gleevec, a molecularly targeted drug that kills cancer cells with less harm to normal tissue .

*You are part of The Society's innovative Team In Training program began in 1988 and is the original charitable endurance training program.

*Since its inception, the program has trained over 400,000 people all over the country and has raised over $1 billion.

*Last year alone, the Georgia chapter of Team in Training trained nearly 1,000 athletes and raised nearly $3 million, providing funding for patient aid, research, community service, and educational programs .

*Thanks to critical support from the Team In Training program, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is valiantly striving to make blood cancer fatalities a thing of the past.

03/01/2010

5 Miles and Even More Snow on the Horizon

Mileage is going up and so far so good; spent the weekend in Savannah and had a friend run the five scheduled miles. This weekend mileage goes up to 6 miles and the Chatahoochee Road race breaks out on Saturday. Iwill be in the race as it is the last qualifying race for the Peach Tree Road Race in July.

Snow is in the forcast again and we are all hoping it does not interfere with the very first track night tomorrow. Cross your fingers!

Stay tuned for some fund raising events hopefully soon on the schedule!

02/15/2010

Snow and Updates!

Had a small setback over the weekend in regards to training - lots of snow in Atlanta! What a surprise! Both the group training session and the ATC hearts and soles race were canceled. Caught a couple miles on the treadmill on Saturday but had to cancel my mileage Sunday because I have been fighting off a bad cold. Managed to take it easy today and complete some more mileage.

Had a great deal of financial support though! My grandmother, my boss Betty, Michelle's extended family, and my aunt, uncle, and cousins from "Team Blevins" all gave some wonderful donations! Thank you so much, guys!!

Increasing mileage this week so keep your fingers crossed - looking forward to challenge!

One more thing - grandmother only has to see the doctor every six months now instead of three!

02/04/2010

My grandmother has been cancer free for 5 years! She goes to her oncologist soon and will hopefully be taken off of her cancer medications. This is good news all around.

01/30/10

Honored Hero; Tartan Trot; Group Training; oh my!

I've chosen a hero to run for; I've decided to run for my grandmother. While not a blood cancer, my grandmother was diagnosed a couple years ago and has been cancer free for a while now. Iam very proud of her and her strength and her spirit. So I will be running for Faye Whitaker and thinking of her each rainy morning like today and realize I could be going through much worse.

I also plan to run for a second hero, my old academic advisor/professor at Georgia Southern University, Dr. Christopher. Dr. Christopher passed away in 2008 due to his liver cancer coming back. He was such a strong man - so much so that I never even knew he had cancer to begin with until I heard of his passing. Dr. Christopher was an important part of my undergraduate academic career and I want to run in his memory. I am seeking for a way to get in touch with his wife to run this by her before I make it official.

On another note, I ran the Tartan Trot 5k this morning then bolted over to the first Team in Training Group Training Session. There are so many wonderful people going to San Diego all working towards one wonderful goal. I didn't get a chance to speak with many, but the couple I did were inspirations themselves.

Looking forward to more group trainings and adding more miles and funds!!

01/28/2010

Welcome Welcome!

I plan on updating this page at least weekly with training I am doing to go along with the fund raising ticker. I hope you enjoy and will come back often and maybe pass this along to everyone else you know.

Saturday is the VERY FIRST Group Training Session (GTS) and a coach's clinic. I was previously registered however for the Tartan Trot in Dunwoody: www.tartantrot.com

So the plan is to complete this race at 8 and then try to meet up with the team for the first group workout afterwards. Let's hope I can do 6 miles on a whim; it will be a GREAT start for the training.

Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm training to participate in an endurance event 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 am completing this event in honor of all 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!

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team InTraining 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!