Ibogaine-The Way Out?

My Uncle Rick, is working a new film. This time he's working with my Uncle Justin to help him overcome his heroin addiction.  You may remember that he screened the film, Forgetting Dad, about my grandpa last year all of the world, including right here in Denver.  The new project is just in funding mode right now. I made a contribution this morning. I wish I could contribute more, but I figure every little bit helps. Hopefully they can raise enough to get it off the ground and see if Ibogaine will really help Justin. Check out the brief trailer Rick put together.

Hair4Hunger

How do you spend a warm, summery Friday afternoon in Longmont? Throwing back a few beers at our local brewery, Lefthand.  It was really busy when we pulled up which isn't unusual for a nice afternoon, but when we walked in we were in for more than we thought.  As it turns out they were hosting a Hair4Hunger fundraiser and silent auction for Our Center.  Our Center is a local organization that works to help people with disabilities and/or limited means to become self-sufficient.  They provide hot meals, clothes, child care, and more.  We're always up for supporting charitable causes so we bid on half a dozen silent auction items and went along our way. 

Once we got our beers we decided to check out the commotion on the patio.  There were three or four hair salons out there doing people's hair. Now they weren't doing nice, stylish dos, they were competing to create the biggest, prettiest and most zannie styles.  Josh volunteered my head for some wacky hair.  For a small donation of $5 I got this rocking style.  It's totally me don't you think?

Yep, I think I'm going to go out on the town like this from now on. 

Brenna arrived and she got hers done too.  Pretty pretty princess for beer drinkers.  Unfortunately we were runners up in the contest, but it was fun anyway.  As it turns out our luck was better in the silent auction.  We won two private pilates sessions, a few acupunture appointments, a haircut and deep conditioning treatment at BeauImage and a month of yoga compete with a yoga mat and t-shirt at Solar Yoga.  I'd say we made out pretty well. Not gonna lie, we were both relieved we didn't also win the DQ cake and keg of beer. 

It was an unexpected and super fun evening.  Now how do I get my hair back to normal?

On the Road Again

Thursday was busy busy. As soon as I got home from work, I packed the last of the things I had forgotten to pack Wednesday night, dropped off Lucky and waited for Josh to get home. As soon as he got home it was time to load the car and get on the road.

We had a slight change of plans with our overnight accomodations when TJ told Josh that his roommate's parents had come into town. Not to worry, I found the cheapest hotel possible for us to stay in so that we weren't sleeping on a floor.  That would just not have been pleasant. 

We arrived at our hotel or maybe it was more of a motel since you can park and walk into your room around 10ish? Anyway, we stayed at the Rodeway Inn in Glenwood Springs which yes, did advertise that they have HBO on their sign (eating my words).  It wasn't actually all that bad. I mean it could have used some updating and some new carpet, but the beds were fairly comfortable and we had cable so you know, it worked. When we got up in the morning we were so glad that we decided to head up the night before. While Denver was being hit by the snow storm, we were enjoying our free breakfast the next morning...good old waffles or pastries.

After breakfast we hit the road.  Just a few hours later we arrived in Moab and to rain and hail.  Yes the weather was lovely.  We discovered two things, Zax Pizza aka Woody's only serves breakfast until 11:30 and there is absolutely no checking in early at the Ramada Inn.  Ugh. I was so irritated.  To kill some time we hit a bike store and the hardware store for Josh to buy a new lock (we found out later he had brought his). By the time this was done we were able to get some lunch...yeay for salad bars and pizza.

After lunch I drove Josh up to a trail for him to do some biking. We had to wait out the hail for a few then he was on his way.   I hit the expo while he was riding...not impressed.  Now I know Canyonlands is a small race but I was really disappointed with the expo. There were like two sponsors there and basically just bins of clothes that some stores were trying to get rid of. I did score some new TYR goggles for $6 which was exciting.  Dayglow shirt and hat in hand, as well as my reusable gear check bag, I drove the race course.

Amazing isn't it?

Finally we were able to check in and head out to the Inspiration Dinner.  I was charged with leading all of the participants to the dinner. And lead I did...literally. It was like playing follow the leader in kindergarten. You would think that someone would walk with me, but nope, they all stayed behind me.  It was weird.  We got there and they were all cheered in!  Nice plate of pasta later we got to hear some facts about how much work we've done this season, how many calories we've burned (over a million), and how much money we've raised (just this group $73,000).  Once Ashley was done speaking one of our honored heroes spoke to us about her battle and thanked us for our hard work.  As everything concluded we took team photos and we went home.

Of course I laid everything out and was able to get a great night of sleep thanks to Advil PM. Lifesaver!

Mission Day 19

Today was Mission Day which is a day of remembrance and celebration for all Team In Training participants.  We all met in Denver to run the High Line Canal Trail. Once everyone arrived we were all handed balloons and moved into a circle.  Once in the circle the 2015 Initiative was read.  The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has set a goal of allowing patients to manage their illness and live long happy lives as well as curing forms of blood cancers so that no one else has to lose a loved one. They want to do all of this by the year 2015.  Amazing isn't it?  That's just a mere five years away.  They've done so much to advance to treatment and research that I have no doubt that they'll be able to accomplish it as long as we all keep supporting the cause.  After the reading was done we went around the circle to tell everyone our name and why we do TNT.

Deanna went first which made all of us tear up when she spoke about her brother, then Tawsha told everyone about her Nana, after Jianna I told everyone who I run for, my Grandpa Tom and my Uncle Ted.  There were a lot of tears this morning. One woman who couldn't have been much older than me, was already a widow. She lost her husband to lymphoma. Another woman about my age, just found out on February 1st that her husband was cancer free.  I cannot imagine learning that Josh had cancer or losing him. It would be awful.  Another woman spoke about losing her 10 month old daughter to leukemia and a man his wife.  Their strength amazes me.  At the end we celebrated Mighty Mason who I told you about in a previous post, who had his last treatment this past week and is officially cancer free.  Once Ashley read aloud all of the names of the friends and family members that we participate for, we released our balloons into the air.  It was an amazing and emotional morning.

Mighty Mason lead us to the trail and we started running.  I was running longer than any of the other runners thanks to my altered schedule so I knew I'd be running by myself most of the time.  Shortly after mile six I got to the final cheer station where I was warmly cheered on.  They told me I was the first person they'd seen. Here I was thinking I was in the back!  I ran out until I hit the 8 mile mark and turned back.  I headed back to the trail head. I was just finishing my final gel when I saw Deanna and a few other volunteers under an arch of balloons cheering me on.  It was great but I wasn't finished.  My goal was to run 20 today, but at mile 19 I was just burned out.  I was extremely thirsty ( my fuel belt was all out of water), hot and I felt bad because everyone was waiting on me.  So 19 miles it was. I felt pretty good the entire run. I keep a pace between 9:15-10 min/miles.  I felt strong and I'm feeling great about my chances of finished the marathon well under 5 hours...at least for now.  It was a beautiful trail!

Before getting into my car to head home I filled two trash bags with ice for my knees.  Fifty minutes later I was home, well iced. Josh was nice enough to run a cold bath for me. I made my green monster and headed up for an ice/epsom salt bath.  I was shivering even with my sweatshirt on in the bath, but I think my legs appreciated it. As of right now I am still feeling good. My legs are sore but I can bend easily. I'll probably ice at least one more time today before I roll out on my foam roller to release some of the muscle tension.

Time: 3:05:25   Distance: 19 miles  Avg. Pace: 9:45 min/mile

Now to be fair, I did stop my watch when I stopped and stretched. So that would probably add about 5-7 minutes to my overall time making my pace about 10:07 min/mile.  If I an keep that pace for the marathon I'd come in under 4.5 hours!  Which would just rock my world. 

P.S. My shoes arrived yesterday and they were amazing on my feet today!  No ankle pain!

Quick Fundraising Update

It's been a while since I've talked about fundraising. Mainly because it hasn't gone as well this season. No matter how many emails or letters I send, how many times I post it on Facebook...nothing.  I can't even get anyone to respond to Evites. If you can't go, just tell me but at least respond.

As of today there is just over $2800 in my account. Now that is nothing to sneeze at but this close to my race I should already be at my goal.  Josh and I made a hefty donation to help me out...$400. Thanks to Amgen's matching program, $800 will be arriving in my account shortly.  That is about double the amount I should have matched when I was doing my own donation matching campaign.  I know times are tough but it's so frustrating. 

A few weeks back we had an awesome wine tasting event. The event raised a little more than $10,000 I believe.  Thanks to Ryan and Claire, Rache, my dad and Liz, Josh's coworker, coworker Lisa and her husband Roland and my coworker Bob and a group of his friends, I was able to sell 15 tickets which helped me raise $450 to put towards my goal.  With the profit from the silent auction portion, I have an additional $520 to deposit in my account.  Thank goodness for this event otherwise I'd be in a total panic about raising enough to meet my minimum to attend Nashville.

I'm not trying to whine, because I know many of my friends and family supported me last year by donating, but come on, everyone has $10.  Cancer doesn't wait. I'm not asking for anyone to donate to Josh and I's personal checking account.

If you're still intersted in donation you can always visit my website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/dhmomu10/jvankirk.  This is going to be my last season with TNT for a little while so I want to make it count!  I'm doing the hard part, the training, all you have to do is donate to help those cancer patients, current and future.

Beau Jo's Fundraiser...mmmm pizza

This Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Beau Jo's is helping me raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!  Eat at the Boulder location or just order take out and they'll donate 20% to LLS.  What's the catch?  You have to print out this flyer. 

My team will be eating there on Friday night if you want to join us!

14ner, what?

This morning did not start well for me.  I couldn't sleep last night which made me grumpy.  Josh had plans to go skiing so he had to take me to my car that was parked at the mall from when I carpooled to Boulder last night.  I couldn't find my running capri's which made me all flustered. Josh finally remembered that they were in my TNT bag next to my dresser.  I got all my stuff together and headed to pick up my car. When Josh and Ryan dropped me at my car it was frozen.  Josh was nice enough to help me scrap the ice off the windows.

I thought ok, I'm in the car, just get to the run and you'll feel better. Well I go to pull out of the parking lot and my car starts making this horrible screeching sound.  It did this for about the first 5 minutes of my drive and then stopped. Maybe it was just the cold?  Regardless I think I need to take it in.

Anyway, I arrive to the run late, of course.  But luckily Aaron and Amanda was running late, so I just waited for them. I taped up my aching ankle and when they arrived we were off. They were having one of those mornings too.  Luckily it was an absolutely beautiful day outside so that helped my mood improve slightly. 

The first three miles were the hardest, they usually are for me. By mile six I was feeling good and by mile eight even better.  We headed back up to the parking lot where the rest of our team was waiting so that A&A could grab some water before we finished up. 

For the last part of the run, we had our coach Tina join us.  Once we hit 10 miles it was the longest run Aaron had ever done and he was doing so great.  At mile 12 I was still picking up my pace and feeling great when I turned around to head back to the starting point.  At mile 13.1 Amanda had officially done her longest run ever.  I could not believe how great I felt. I could have totally kept going.

Time: 2 hours 20 minutes    Distance: 14.27 miles    Avg. Pace: 9:48 min/mile

I am so proud of Aaron and Amanda. They have done so awesome! I know it was a great feeling for them run 14 miles.  I'm glad I was there to run it with them.  It's so awesome having people to run with.  We're going out for a celebratory dinner tonight when Josh gets home.

I am happy to report, now, 5 hours later, I am pain free.  My muscles are tired but I can bend and jump and walk up and down stairs.  This is actually the first double digit run I've done since getting injured last season without a patella strap or knee braces.  I was definitely nervous about doing it but I knew I had to otherwise I'd always depend on the strap. 

Approaching training differently has really made a difference in how my body is responding.  I am definitely eating better and enough which is key for my recovery. I'm cross-training and really listening to my body.  I stretch at least every 4-5 miles to make sure my knees don't get mad.  I am really looking forward to Canyonlands in March and Nashville in April.

I'd like to thank some people whose donations I received this week because they are awesome and should be recognized:

Jess Cutler-She just finished the Disney 1/2 Marathon and was totally awesome. 
Kath-Donated for a second time this season.  I really appreciate your generousity
Tossie and Marilyn-Supported me last season and again this season.
Anderson's-Lifelong family friends of the Van Kirk's.  So sweet and generous.
Aunt Jean-I haven't seen Aunt Jean in several years now, but she's been so generous by supporting me and the cause.
Kim Greenlee-My former coworker and friend.  She's the closet person to Super Woman I know.

Thank you so much!  We're getting there!  Thanks to their donations, I have $190 to match in donations.  I know you want me to match more than that.  Make a donation, any size this week. Please!

Doing Something We Can Control

Yesterday I was not really looking forward to my run. It was a taper week for me so I only needed to run 9 miles but I just was not feeling motivated.  But when I got to the trail, everyone was in high spirits which instantly put a smile on my face.  Before we start running each week we always have what we call a mission moment. Usually we read a story about a patient or survivor that was sent to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society office, but ocassionally someone is brave enough to share a very personal story.  This weekend Amanda, who is just the sweetest, cutest thing ever, opened up to the group.  Now for privacy reasons I'm not going to give any details, but she really made us all choke up.  She told us about her brother who is struggling with illness.  An illness that has struck my own family.  I can't imagine how difficult it was for her to share with the group, but one thing she said really stuck with me.

Amanda said that none of us can control getting sick, who gets cancer, who dies from cancer or any other horrible disease, but we can control what we do to try to make sure that no more families lose a loved one.  No one else loses their best friend, brother, sister, mom, dad or grandparents. 

I haven't been able to get her words out of my head.  Everyone who is doing Team in Training is doing the only thing they can to control cancer.  Each of us is dedicating our time and bodies to raise money to help find a cure.  We could just sit around and wait for someone else to help fund patient programs or research, but instead we are out there, early on Saturday mornings, in the snow, ice, wind and cold for LLS.  We are doing what we can to change the world we live in, where cancer many times is a death sentence. 

We may not be able to control anything else, but we can control this.  Please help myself and my team help others by making a donation.  Any and every donation helps!  For the next week or maybe two, I will match every single donation to my efforts for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society up to $400.  So make your donation really count!

P.S. Aaron and Amanda still have $6000 to raise in order to be able to do the Nashville Country Music Marathon...so if you want to donate to them too click here to visit their site.

First Double Digit Down

Let me just say that I believe my knees and I have come to an understanding.  I treat them to a three day a week training schedule with two day of crosstraining and two off.  My kindness results in no pain after running.  So far they are holding up their end of the bargain pretty well.  Last Saturday I did my first double digit run of the season and my first since the Denver 1/2 Marathon. 

We ran a new trail, the Boulder Bike Path, starting at Carpenter Park in Boulder.  I got to do most of my run with Amanda and Aaron.  I am just so impressed with their training and how hard they are working to raise money for the cause.  Amanda loves TNT so much that she's going to be a mentor next season.  She's going to do such a great job!  Anyway, back to the run.  Our coach Tina created a little more advanced training schedule for me since I've done the training before so I knew that I had a two hour run ahead of me when I laced up my new Mizunos.

I was understandably nervous about the run. It wasn't the distance I was worried about, it was the knees.  You see it was my first 12 mile run last season when I got injured.  I had the visions of barely being able to bend me knees , running in the pool and the pain of the marathon playing in my head the entire time.  I was determined not to let this be the run that did me in this time.

You ask what did I do differently this time.  Well I'll tell ya.  I took my time and stopped and stretched.  I stopped when I hit 30 minutes for a refreshment and quick stretch.  Every 30 minutes or so I repeated this.  By the end of the run I had covered a little over 12 miles and was on cloud 9.  I was walking upright, with no knee pain at all!  Yes my legs were a little sore but I was able to bend and go up and down stairs!  Just to be on the safe side, I came home and iced immediately.  I waited for the pain to arrive, but it never did!

I ran again today, quick 4.16 miles on the treadmill.  Still no pain.  Keep your fingers crossed that all of my training alterations will continue to keep me injury free.

Pizza for a Cause

One of my jobs as a mentor is to setup group fundraisers...so that's what Tawsha and I have done.  Now it's time for my own. Today, The California Pizza Kitchen will donate 20% of the pretax total of each customer tab to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on my behalf.  The catch, you have to print and bring in the flyer below (Click to enlarge for printing).  If you have to be in the Boulder area and are craving some pizza, stop by the 29th Street Mall location.  Some of my teammates and I will be eating there around 6:30pm.

One Run Down...

The season got off to a great start on Saturday.  The weather was beautiful, perfect for a long run...but we only did a 5k.  The team met at Bobolink Trail (who came up with that name?) in Boulder a little before 8am. A few people thought I was nuts for wearing capris and not pants, but I knew that by the time we were done it'd be about 40 degrees outside and I'd be hot in pants.  After some introductions and announcements from the coaches we were off!

I ran the first mile or so with Martha one of my mentees. She's super nice and a great runner. She has an adorable 5 year old son.  I'm really looking forward to getting to know her more.  The next few miles I ran with Aaron and Amanda.  They are just super interesting. They met in language school in California and are both in the Air Force. Aaron speaks Hebrew and Amanda speaks Farci.  I told her that I'll have to see if my uncle's family with pratice speaking with her.  Here I thought my Italian lessons on CD were tough.  They are also great runners. They are even going to go for the Double Header with me this season. I'm super excited that my mentee group all runs about the same pace.  It's so nice to have people to talk to when I run.  Plus, that gives us a lot of time to get to know eachother and me time to make sure that they are enjoying TNT. 

Just as I thought I was getting hot towards the end of the run.  I was ready to peel off my jacket but then realized once I had it off I'd probably get cold just standing and stretching.  I was really relieved that I was able to run without my IT band or hamstring hurting. I tweaked my hamstring just the tiniest bit at the gym last week.  I swear, if it's not my knees, it something else. But that is why I'm definitely focusing on cross-training this season and really taking care of myself.

After our run we headed to a local coffee shop for a little chit chat.  Everyone on our team seems to be really excited about the season.  We are going to have a great season!  Maybe after a few weeks I'll be able to talk more people into doing the Double Header.  Might be a bit of a stretch. 

I have to say one of my favorite parts of participating in TNT is meeting all these awesome people. I've talked to people and read the blogs of people that are or have participated in TNT before that only did the fundraising. Most of them didn't go to the group runs of do anything of the actual team stuff. Granted, fundraising is the most important part but I just don't think that they know how much they are missing out on. I mean really, why not have these awesome people to get to know and talk to on those long runs? Last January when I started my first season with TNT I never thought that 10 months later I'd be getting together with some of my teammates every Tuesday for dinner and The Biggest Loser. Or that I'd be working with Tawsha on her Wedding Preview Event. I'm so blessed to have gotten to know these awesome people and I can't wait to get to know the new team.

After some lunch, a quick nap (I stayed up late watching movies with Rache and got up early) and some construction in our kitchen, Josh and I headed to the gym for another quick workout.  I'm totally not a two-a-day workout kind of girl but it felt really good!  I did 25 minutes on a bike, 10 minutes or so of abs and push-ups and a few other free weight exercises.  I think it really helped keep my muscles loose.  Plus, I burned lots of calories which let me indulge at Paul and Courtney's holiday party later than night.

I hope you all had a good weekend!

P.S. Don't forget to donate.  This is the last week for the t-shirt contest.  It's between Nancy and Tom right now.

Team Website and Shoe Clinic

You get to hear about me a lot on this blog, through my emails and facebook.  I was thinking that maybe you'd like to meet the rest of my team. Tawsha aka superwoman, setup a team web site. It has information about our fundraising events, individual team members, photos, etc.  If you're ever interested go over and check it out. It is also where you can buy tickets to our events securely through PayPal.  Speaking of fundraising events, don't forget to buy your tickets for the Winter Wonderland Event by Nov. 30th!

Last night we had our shoe fit clinic. We all headed to Road Runner in Westminster to have shoes fit just for us. They start by having you stand on a heat sensor.  Apparently I have super high arches, which don't seem to fit will with my wide, Fred Flinestone feet...thanks Dad.  :-) Then they have you jump on the treadmill to have you run for them.  The man on the left is Charlie, one of our awesome participants. The good news though is that my gait overpronation has gotten a lot better. I think that my stride must really be improving.  I tried on a few pairs of shoes even though my Asaics still have 100-200 miles left on them. I think next time I might try out some Sacounys.  They were super comfortable, more so than the new Asaic 2150.  Luckily, when I buy my next pair of shoes, I have a full 60 days to try them out.  If I don't like them, I can take them back.  What a deal right?  It was really hard not to go a  little crazy buying all sorts of fun new winter gear, especially the beanie that has built in earphones.  Ah the temptation.  But being reasonable I reminded myself that I get hot and always end up taking my hat off mid-run.

I was happy to see that two of my three mentees were able to attend.  It was great talking to Aaron and Amanda again. They are such a cute couple.  They're new to Colorado and are trying to meet some new people which is good because Josh and I could use some more friends that live in the Boulder/Longmont area.  They are really excited about training with TNT this season and are already thinking about switching to the Double Header (Canyonlands and Nashville) which would be awesome. Right now I am one of the only people training for Canyonlands and the Nashville Full Marathon. It would definitely be nice to have people to run with on my long runs.

Happy Friday Everyone! Have a great weekend.

P.S. Thanks Tom for being an awesomely supportive brother and donating another $50!  You rock.  I really appreciate you donating the money you work late nights slinging wing for.  See, even broke college students can spare some money, can't you too?

The Screening and TNT Kickoff

I am happy to report that Forgetting Dad was very well received this weekend.  It was an odd feelng having strangers watch a film about your family and comment on what they think is really going on with your grandfather.  It was funny when people chuckled at my grandma and commented on my mom's 80's chic wedding hat/veil combo.  Rick did a great job during the Q&A after the film.  It cannot be easy getting up there in front of those people.

After the film we went out for a couple cocktails to catch up.  Seeing Rick twice in just 13 months was a treat.  We heading to The Samba Room on Larimer so we could actually hear eachother.  I think that may have been the first time that I got to hang out with Rick outside of famil events.  Before we knew it, it was already 1 a.m. so we headed out because I had to get up early for the official TNT kickoff. 

Bright an early Saturday morning I headed back down to Denver for the 2009 Spring TNT Kickoff.  I was super excited to see my mentees.  I had met each of them a the informational meeting we had at REI in Boulder a few weeks ago.  I think they are all going to do awesome this season and I can't wait to get to know them. 
Now that the season has officially kicked off, the fundraising is moving into high gear.  Tickets to our very first event are now on sale. The Winter Wonderland event is going to be on December 12th from 11-3pm at the Cinema Grill. 

We're going to have Santa Claus there for pictures with the kids, food and a bake sale. After getting pictures with Santa, the families will be able to go enjoy a holiday movie complete with pizza, popcorn and beverages.  It's going to be awesome.  If you're interested in purchasing tickets please click here.  If you do decide to purchase tickets, please shoot me an email to let me know.  I hope you all come, it's going to be so fun!

Oh yes, today's miles:

Time: 25 minutes         Distance: 2.6 miles

I did not have a good run. Between my super tight IT band and the extremely hot gym, no bueno.  Off to roll on my torture device aka foam roller to try to get it relaxed so I can get another run or two in before our timed 5k on Saturday.  Good thing we won't be up to more than like 5 miles for a few weeks. If I have to just x-train to keep my IT band from turning into a big problem, no biggie.

Even Celebrities Have Leukemia

Yesterday I was reading the news like I always do and read that Kareem Abdul Jabbar is battling Leukemia.  Most people know him as the NBA's all time leading scorer.  Yesterday he announced that he has a rare form of the cancer called, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia.  Just over 5000 people will be diagnosed with this particular form of cancer each year.  There are approximately 22,500 people living with it in the United States, including Jabbar who is currently in remission.  CML patients all have a chromosomal called the Philadelphia Chromosome (PH).   See the picture below for an explaination of how the chromosome develops.

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia is one of the form of leukemia that can be treated with Gleevec which was developed entirely by funding provided by The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  It is reportedly the drug he is taking in order to keep his leukemia under control.  Since it is a chronic form, he will have it for the rest of his life.  The LLS was able to raise the money for the researchers who developed Gleevec by fundraising through programs such as Team in Training.  I cannot emphasize enough how important donating to this cause is.  So far I've been able to raise $1300 with your help. Please keep the donations coming!

Another race to do and a contest!

Can you believe it’s already November? I can’t. Thanksgiving is just a mere three weeks away! This month there is a lot going on. My Uncle Rick is going to be in town next weekend for the showing of his film “Forgetting Dad” at the Starz Denver Film Festival (more on that to come) which is also the weekend of the official Team in Training season kickoff! I can’t wait to meet all of our new teammates on the 14th.

The following weekend is our first team run which is going to be a timed 5k. This will help everyone get into the correct training group and find their running partners. Nothing helps more on a long run than having someone to talk to. I’m interested to see what my conversation pace for a 5k is now these days.

Thanksgiving weekend my dad’s side of the family: Grandma and Grandpa Walker, Aunt Kath, Auth Suze, Uncle Todd and their three kiddos, are all coming for the weekend. This means good food and lots of it all weekend! This year I am going to try to be as healthy as possible though it’s tough with delicious food, wine and of course a beer or three before we go watch the Huskers trample the Buffs in Boulder.  Trying to be healthy over the holiday weekend is part of what lead me to register for the United Way’s Annual Turkey Trot last night. That and I'm ready for another short race.  The 4 mile race is Thanksgiving morning around Denver’s Wash Park. I’m excited to work up a sweat before indulging in my holiday favorites. Josh is going to do this race with me as is my stepmom Liz. I’m really looking forward to the race. The last time I did it was when I was in high school…long before the days of being a runner. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up the pace and finish in well under 40 minutes…maybe 35ish or so.

Tonight I’m going to attempt my first ever tempo run. We’ll see how it goes. It should be a great indicator of how fast I’ll be able to finish the Trot.

Now back to fundraising and the contest mentioned. For the past two weeks or so there has not been a single donation…not one which makes me sad. So in order to get those donations to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society going again I thought I’d sweeten the deal. Everyone who donates up until Thanksgiving will have the opportunity to win this awesome t-shirt which was specially created for the Rocky Mountain Team in Training group. Yep, that's right, I'm going to reward you for your tax deductible donation to LLS.  I mean who doesn't love a good t-shirt?  I will randomly draw a winner next Wednesday I only ask that you donate a minimum of $10, no maximum of course! Good luck everyone and let’s get the donations going.

Update to come on how the tempo run went later.

Why I do TNT

I read this article from a doctor in Philadelphia today.  There are a lot of reasons that I participate in Team in Training:

• It's fun. You get to meet your teammates for Saturday morning training runs and weekday track practice.  I've met some of the most amazing people through TNT and I'm so blessed to have them in my life.
• I'm doing something for others and myself at the same time.  I may get the physical benefits of running, but in the process I am raising money to help find a cure, help families that are struggling to pay their bills and help patients have a better quality of life. 
• It really does make a difference.  Many of you already know about the drug, Gleevec which was funded by LLS.  It helps patients fighting chronic myelogenous leukemia which strikes 5000 people each year, keep the cancer under control as long as they are on it.  Just today, another drug was approved for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.  Arzerra, produced by GlaxoKlineSmith, was fast tracked for approval by the FDA. 

If you needed more reasons to donate, there they are. Please help me make a difference.