Reflections on my Third TNT Event

On the occasion of my 57th birthday, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on and summarize my third TNT event, now six months in the past.

If you’d asked me, in mid-April of 2002, to tell you a little about myself, I guarantee that three things would not have been mentioned as part of my life experience: cancer, marathons (or races of any kind), and fund raising. They were not even blips on the radar screen of my consciousness, yet six very fast years later, I have:

Survived lymphoma (with the help of many others)

Done three marathons for Team in Training (with the help of many others)

Raised nearly $32,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and about $1,200 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure (with the help of many others)

I started training for the Arizona Marathon about this time last year. It was a dominant event in my life for the second half of 2007, and was very special to me because I really wanted to do something to celebrate five years in remission at the end of 2007, and to give back once again for my great fortune to survive cancer. Five years is a HUGE milestone for cancer survivors! I set my fund-raising goal really high at $15,555.55 and my marathon time goal was 5:55:55. That time would make a good runner laugh hysterically but for me as a walker it is a very tough goal to reach, especially knowing that one will waste at least 5-10 minutes just waiting in porta-potty lines.

Looking back on my third TNT experience, there are three major areas to reflect on: the physical part, the fund-raising part, and the team part.

The Physical Part: There is no denying it – training for and doing a marathon is tough physically and mentally. It is not by any means the toughest thing in the world but it is difficult and demanding. I trained for over 5 months, and I would estimate that I put in probably 500 miles during that time, going through two pairs of shoes. If I hadn’t missed 8 weeks of training because of injuries and illnesses, it would have been even more miles. I lost dozens of hours of sleep each month, and was often up by 4:15 or 4:30 (and never getting to sleep past 5) on the workdays and getting up by 5:30 or earlier on Saturdays. When I started it was summer with the heat and humidity, and when I finished it was winter and cold. I trained in heat, pouring rain, cold, and even a little snow in Michigan - and in some really beautiful weather as well. After long (15+ miles) training walks, I would soak in a tub of ice water for 15 minutes. Even though I missed my marathon goal by a little less than a minute, I was thrilled because it was still a personal best by about 17 minutes and I broke 6 hours for the first time, despite missing so much time during training – mostly from injuries.

The Fund-Raising Part: Let’s face it, doing a marathon is a great feeling of accomplishment, but without the fund-raising component, it is just a marathon. LLS is trying to help cure blood cancers – leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and myeloma – and that takes money, lots of money. The fund-raising is our main focus. The marathon is a way to hopefully inspire people to donate to a good cause. I didn’t reach my goal of $15,555.55, and for a while when it became clear that wouldn’t happen, I did feel a little bad about it. Because of the generosity of 119 people and couples, I did raise $11,550. This was my second best TNT fund-raising total, and was also seventh best for all TNT participants in the Arizona P.F. Chang’s Marathon. So it was pretty good, despite it all. By comparison, the top fundraiser for the marathon brought in something like $54,000! Wow! Any success and credit I had raising money has to go to my generous donors, 11 of whom made more than one donation. By the time I left for Arizona, about $4,000 short of my goal, I still felt pretty good about it and knew that I had done about the best I could. See my post on “Bide Your Time, for Success is Near”.

The Team Part: Several other posts talk about my fabulous teammates, but I can’t do a summary of my third event without mentioning them once more. It is the people that make TNT such a great experience. When I look back on the season, I will always remember the good times with my teammates more than I will the tough times training and trying to raise money. In particular, a number of individuals made the season great: our LLS staff persons Amber and Danielle, my coaches Sarah and Michal, my mentor Theresa, our mentor captain Heather, my walking teammates Robbi, Suzanne, and Jen, and several running teammates that I interacted with: Chuck, Rachel, Paul, JoanE, Alan, Matt, and Joel. I will always remember the great purple and green balloons that Michal got me for a little post-training celebration on my five year remission weekend in December. Also, I will always remember Chuck and Suzanne waiting to greet me when I came in from doing the marathon. They could have been back at the hotel relaxing, showering, having a cold beer, but they waited for every VA teammate to come in. That was, and always will be, appreciated. The bottom line is that you go through something like TNT, you make great additional friends in your life.

I find myself missing Team in Training, and looking forward with eager anticipation to the next time. I’ve gotten a little lazy – no 4:15AM alarms, no 8 -10 milers before work, no 15 – 20 milers on Saturdays. The fundraising is too difficult, unless you are a famous person with rich friends or you are a well-connected politician, for me to do this more than every year or so. That self-imposed one year limit is fast approaching, and so I will again plan to be out there starting maybe in October for my fourth event, changing lives one mile at a time.

My next few posts will talk about the Komen Race for the Cure this past May.