Made My Goal!

I reported yesterday that I missed my fundraising goal by race time, so my hair was not purple on Sunday.  But today, a very generous coworker stroked a check to LLS for $250, which puts me over my goal (I was $176 short).  The ironic thing was that she called my desk Friday about 5 minutes after I left work to tell me she wanted to donate and close the gap.  So I just missed by minutes running with purple hair.

But here I am - half marathon accomplished, and now, I have accomplished my fundraising mission as well!

So Close to Purple, but Gray it is!

Some months back, when I signed up to walk and run the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon for Team in Training on what would have been my friend Ed's birthday, I set my fundraising goal.  The amount I came up with was $6,511 - my sixth Team in Training event, five family members and friends who died from cancer since I did my last event in June 2010, and 11 years since having cancer myself.  And I declared that if I reached that goal, I would dye my hair purple for the race today.

Dang!  I came so close!  Counting $75 in checks I got Friday, I made it to $6,335, or 97% of my goal.  A week ago, it looked impossible to get anywhere close.  But I sent out a final fundraising note Wednesday night, and the money came in fast and furious over the next 24 hours.  I almost made it to purple hair, but not quite.  Even as late as Friday, I felt like I would reach my goal.  But things slowed down, and I didn't quite get there, so my hair remained gray for the race.  I was less than $200 away from that purple!  I am not going to second guess myself and think of the things I could have done to get an addition 200 bucks.  It is done, and my hair remained gray.  Probably, purple would be more becoming than my drab gray hair!

It was sure fun trying to get there, though, and I appreciate my many, many very generous donors who almost turned my hair purple.  I am not sure exactly how much money I have raised for these causes, but something like $68,000, counting Light the Night last year and the Komen 3-Day two years ago.  So you can see that people are really, really generous.

To all who donated, and especially to those who entrusted me with the name of a loved one to write on my shirt, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Something that Works Well Together

Wow! How quickly a few weeks can vanish, making it time once again for one of my Cancer Kickin' Campaign's updates. The Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon is less than six weeks away. Before I know it, my sixth Team in Training event will be in the past. But right now, I am continuing to train and to see if I can raise money for a cure - turning my hair temporarily purple in the process! Exactly 11 years ago from today, I was so sick from chemotherapy side effects that I ended up in the hospital for a while, feeling as awful as I ever had in my life. And yet, here I am 11 years later, getting ready to compete in my seventh marathon or half marathon as a cancer survivor, racing for a cure! I’m trying to pay it forward for my good fortune, and you can help if you choose to!

So what's the answer to "something that works well together?" (Hint - it's not Congress). I'll discuss that shortly, but before then, here are some updates. On the fund-raising side of things, I am 58% of the way to having purple hair on race day October 6. Whether or not I am prepared to travel 13.1 miles by foot on race day is almost totally within my control, barring an injury. But whether or not my hair is purple instead of gray? Well, that is up to the people getting this email! And here is how you can help turn my hair purple: (1) go to my web page at this URL:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/va/crwlncrb13/afritter

(2) Make a donation of any amount. Or if you prefer, contact me about a check payable to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My Team in Training web page is also the place to start to see my honoree list or just learn more about what I am doing, and why I am feeling so crabby about cancer. By the way, thanks to the many people who have already donated so generously. That includes a number of anonymous donors. Since I don't know who you are, I can only thank you en masse. So, thank you - very much - to all of my generous donors, anonymous or not!

On the training front, my back is back to feeling pretty good! I still have some knee pain, but it is very tolerable. I did slack off for a couple of weeks, including a trip out of state, and that really cut into my training. But I got back on track this past Saturday, walking and running nine miles. This coming Saturday, I'll go for double-digit miles for the first time since my last half-marathon. So I am confident that one way or another, I'll complete my mission of doing another half-marathon and racing for a cure once again.

Now, I know the suspense is killing you - what works well together? Well, a number of things. One would be crazy people like me, training for rigorous long distance endurance events with our legs and feet, collaborating with generous people like you supporting us with your fingers to write a check or enter a credit card donation. Another would be the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society working well with medical researchers to hunt down elusive and difficult cures. A third would be LLS working with cancer patients to support them in many ways. And your donation helps make the work LLS does in these wonderful areas happen.

I mentioned Congress earlier. Isn't it a good thing that most things work better than Congress? My goodness - can they cooperate on anything without worrying about how to make the other party look bad? What if cancer research worked that way? How many cures would there be? What if our bodies worked as poorly as the body politic does? How chaotic would that be? A year and a half ago, suffering from some knee pain during a 12 mile run, I started thinking about this. What if the various parts of our body worked as dis-functionally together as Congress does? What might that be like? To read my thinking on this subject, you can go to this post that I wrote:

http://racn4acure.blogspot.com/2012/02/body-politic.html

So let's keep working together to accomplish great things! Thanks to all of you who have already donated in support, and thanks to all who are considering a donation before I wrap up my campaign in just under six weeks.

Art

Update From Art's Cancer Kickin' Campaign: Soup!

Hey again, it is I, with one of my Cancer Kickin' Campaign's tri-weekly updates. The Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon is just two months away now, which seems unreal, and a bit scary, given that I just started adding some running to the mix but am dealing with a sore back. It is hard to walk normally right now, much less try to run.

So what's with the subject line: "Soup!"? More about that in just a bit, but first, here are some updates. On the fund-raising side of things, I am just over halfway to having purple hair on race day. Come on - help make that happen! You know you want to see me with purple hair! And here is how you can help turn my hair purple: (1) go to my web page at this URL:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/va/crwlncrb13/afritter

(2) Make a donation of any amount. Or if you prefer, contact me about a check payable to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My Team in Training web page is also the place to start to see my honoree list or just learn more about what I am doing, and why I am feeling so crabby about cancer.

On the training front, that was going pretty well until this back pain. Hopefully, that will soon be behind me. Well, actually - that is the problem, it is behind me: right in the small of my back! Anyway, I have now trained up to eight miles, which is still a long way off from a half marathon at 13.1 miles - but I am getting there.

Now, about the Soup... What's this soup? She-crab soup, perhaps, in honor of the race? The soupy, hot, steamy summer weather that we train in? Nope, neither of those. "Soup" is the nickname of a little girl I met after training Saturday. Her real name is Campbell, and she is almost eight. A year ago this month, Campbell was diagnosed with leukemia and has had a really rough year. She came out to meet our team, thank us for doing Team in Training, and give us cupcakes and homemade cards and her orange "Team Soup" wristband. It was great to meet her, although it makes me sad to see a child who must go through this. She is just a bit older than my granddaughter. Seeing Campbell reminded me of a young girl I saw in Nashville four years ago when I was there to run a half marathon for Team in Training. I still think of that girl often and hope that she is doing well. If you want to read my account of what happened, you can go to my TNT page and click the link near the top of the page about the Nashville girl:

http://racn4acure.blogspot.com/2009/04/look-theres-one-of-leukemia-society.html

I told Campbell's mom Saturday that I am an 11 year survivor. She told me how much she loves hearing from survivors because it gives her hope. And I told her how much I appreciated them coming out so that we could meet Campbell, and be inspired by her.

There is very little that I, or you, can do to help Campbell directly. But I fervantly hope that through using my feet to motivate people to donate whatever amount they feel is appropriate to this cause will ultimately mean that more Campbell's and more little Nashville girls go on to survive these awful diseases - an ordeal that no child should have to face.

So thanks to all of you who have already donated in support, and thanks to all who are considering a donation before I wrap up my campaign in two more months.

Art

And Four to Go!

One, for the money;
Two, for the show;
Three to get ready;
And four to go!

So, last night, I kicked off my sixth Team in Training Cancer Kickin' Campaign.  Here was my first note and campaign kickoff.

Hello -

When I think of my five friends and family members who have died from cancer in the last two years, I feel blue. When I think of the 11 people that I know right now who are battling cancer as we speak - some with very uncertain outcomes - I feel really crabby. But when I think how every four minutes in just the United States alone, someone gets diagnosed with a blood cancer, I'm no longer just crabby - I'm steamed! After a three year break from Team in Training (TNT), the major fundraising arm of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I'm coming out of my shell and racing for a cure once again. My race will be the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon in Hampton, Virginia on October 6. At the least, I'll speed walk the race. If my chronically sore left knee feels good enough by then, I'll run some of it. Maybe at the end, I'll be crawling, maybe I will scuttle across the finish line. Maybe I will be cantankerous, maybe I will be grumpy. Maybe I will feel crustacean elation. But one way or another, I will finish the race in support of cancer patients everywhere.

Do you want to learn more and/or make a donation? Just go to my secure TNT web page:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/va/crwlncrb13/afritter

I've set my fundraising goal to $6,511:

6 for the number of TNT events I will have done after the Crawlin' Crab Half
5 for the number of family members and friends who have died from cancer since I did my last TNT event in 2010
11 for the number of years since I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in May 2002

Your donation to this great cause will make me as happy as a crab, er, clam!

Why the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon? Well, I want to keep this note short, but I'm doing this particular race to honor the memory of an incrEDible guy, Ed Stone. If you are interested in more information about this, please go here:

http://racn4acure.blogspot.com/2013/05/why-i-picked-crawlin-crab-for-my-tnt.html

I bet almost everyone getting this email knows someone who has died from or battled cancer. If you don't, consider yourself fortunate, as I know far too many. I'll be honoring a lot of people with my race this fall - and especially three friends who have died in the last few years: Ed, Judy, and Faith. Got someone you want to honor? Make a donation, send me their name, and I will write it on my purple race shirt for October 6.

I'll be sending out updates every three weeks or so until the race. In the meantime, I thank you for your interest and for considering a donation to this cause. I'll be training real hard in very hot weather in the months to come, and trying to get that troublesome knee to heal. Then in October, I'll be joining a lot of Team in Training participants for the race as we move our crabcakes for 13.1 miles.

So come on, don't fiddle around! Join this cause with a donation towards LLS's mission of making all blood cancers curable! In the war against cancer, no one can afford to be a hermit! Join in, and let's pinch cancer the crab where it hurts!

Thank you,
Art

PS: Want to donate but don't wish to do so on-line? Just email me, and I'll give you instructions to pay by check (payable to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society).

My Web Page and Art Work

My web page for my 2013 Team in Training Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon is all set up and ready to go.  It can be viewed here.

Every now and then, I get an idea for art work that I think would  be really cool on my fundraising webpage.  You will see such an example on my TNT web page this year.  With participating in the Crawlin' Crab event, and coming up with my slogan: "I'm Feeling Crabby About Cancer," I got an idea that I thought would be great.  But despite my name, and despite having hundreds of museums around the world named after me, I have very little artistic talent.  So while I could have produced the picture I wanted, it would have looked crappy and like it was done by a drunken amateur.  While sleep walking.  With a bag over his head.  Therefore, I needed professional help.  No, not that kind of professional help!  Professional artistic help!

So I turned to someone who has more artistic talent in her little finger than I have in my entire body - my friend Lissa from my 2006 San Diego Marathon Team.  Wow - has it really been seven years, Lissa, since we ran a race together (if Lissa finishing about 3 days ahead of me constitutes being in a race together)?

I explained to Lissa what my idea was, and sent her some baseline photos.  And she came back with a great image, so hilarious I think, that now graces my web page.  Lissa has helped me in the past with two of my campaigns.  She drew the glasses on "Mini Art" that I overlaid on an image of the city of Seattle as part of my 2010 "Survivor in Seattle" campaign:

The image above became the basis for my "Purpleometer," in which I colored my hair purple in the picture as I approached my fundraising goal.

And she did my great campaign buttons for my 2008 - 2009 Country Music Campaign.  The election was going along hot and heavy when I started fundraising and so I thought that I would use an election theme myself.  And I needed campaign buttons!  What kind of campaign doesn't have campaign buttons?  Mine were better than Obama's or McCain's, that's for sure.  They were both crying when they saw how good theirs could have been if they had used Lissa!

So here is a big shout out to Lissa (who is about to become a mom) for her great help in putting my web page over the top!  Thanks, Lissa!

Three, To Get Ready ....

One, for the money;
Two, for the show;
Three, to get ready ...

It's a lot of work for me to get ready for Team in Training fundraising, and I spent part of this weekend getting this process started.  I woke up Friday morning with a cold that has gotten worse and worse, and really don't feel like doing anything, but I did get some things done.  For example:

• I went through my contacts that do Team in Training, and sent them a note asking if they want to get my updates or not.  This actually took several hours, believe it or not.  I probably had to locate and save email addresses for about 40 - 50 TNTers and get them from my old computer to the newer one.
• I started the process of going through my email addresses and correcting those that were out of date and deleting a few contacts.  I still have much to do in this area, and given a really busy week at work and personally ahead, I doubt I will finish in the next few days.  Different people fundraise in different ways, and for me, it is 90% done by email and my web page.  The last thing I have to do is go through emails from work and see what new addresses I can add to my database.
• I got my TNT fundraising page built - well, almost all of it.  I still need to put a photo out there that an artistic friend is doing for me that should be kind of cool.  Once she finishes that, I'll complete my page and publish the link here.
• I began thinking if my fundraising campaign has a natural theme, and it really does not.  The one time I used that kind of approach, it was late in 2008 and the election was going on, so I ran things as if I were running for office.  I had an initial announcement, press conference transcripts, an attack ad, and so forth.  This time around, other than picking a slogan - Feeling Crabby About Cancer - I will just plan updates that seem to make sense at the time.
• I scoped out ideas for my first email.  Given that I like to send them Monday nights, and as I will not be ready by tomorrow, it will probably be another week before I "pull the trigger" and start fundraising.

So, a lot done, and a lot left to do.  But I feel as if I made a good start this weekend, cold and all.  Lord knows I didn't really feel up to doing much of anything.  I didn't even take a walk, and I skipped stretching (so far).

Three, to get ready? I am not quite ready but will be soon - then, it will be "and four to go!" and my fundraising will start.  I am eager to see how that goes.

Honesty in Fundraising

Without fundraising, there is no point to Team in Training. For most of us, in order to be successful at it, we put almost as much work into fundraising as in to training. I've already discussed why I believe the fundraising to be efficient, and why it is not a scam. I've talked about how, even though it seems counter-intuitive, raising money to go to a "destination marathon" can bring in more money to the mission than can running a local event. I've talked about how some of our travel expenses to out of town events - a significant portion actually - are covered by the money we raise. Now, I will talk about honesty in fundraising.

A number of the posts on the running forums blasting, inaccurately in my opinion, TNT as a scam have no basis in fact and don't even attempt to use factual information. But here is one discussion I found that is critical of TNT and its honesty in fundraising that is thoughtful and analytical - not based on some personal rant. It is worth reading for anyone doing Team in Training. The main assertions are (1) that 75% of the money raised does not go directly to research and (2) participants don't disclose that they get a trip out of the deal. To summarize what the author, David Hays, says about the latter: Participants don't explain that that they are getting travel expenses paid - others are essentially paying their way to the event. While TNT does raise a lot of money for a good cause, TNT runners should fully disclose to potential donors that 25% of the funds directly benefit the runner.

Let's address the first point first. 75% of the money goes to the mission of LLS. Part of that mission is curing blood cancers. But there are other raised parts to the mission, which I have discussed here. So if you are doing Team in Training, just remember this distinction. Only about a fourth of the money raised goes to cancer research and cures. Another fourth goes to fundraising and administrative costs. The other roughly 50% goes towards patient services and to education and advocacy.

I've discussed the travel costs that are covered in the other posts referenced here at the start of this article. I don't think we participants go out of our way to talk about the travel costs. Maybe we should do that more. I personally think that as long at 75% of the money collected goes towards the mission, it should not matter whether the fund raising portion of the money collected goes to paying professional fundraisers or to rewarding a runner with a trip to a race for their hard work. The bottom line is that money is going to be spent on fundraising one way or another. But I agree we can be upfront about it. I did tell my potential donors about it, if not directly in emails then in conversations with them. I don't remember anyone having a particular issue with it, and if they did, they wouldn't donate.

Let me say this - I have never badgered anyone to donate. How many times do you get a phone call from a solicitation that just will not take no for an answer? I have, plenty of times. If people don't reply to my emails, I don't bug them. I do send frequent updates. If someone asks to come off my update list, I take them off with no argument and no abuse. If people donate to LLS on behalf of my efforts, I thank them. It is simple as that. I'll take that over being browbeaten into a donation by a phone solicitor who's company (and management) will get 15-20% of what I donated. And I will add that I have donated plenty of times to people doing TNT and similar events, and they have never badgered me, either.

When I next do TNT, I now have plenty of posts - with more to come - discussing the fundraising and where the money goes to that I can point donors to. And now, you can point your donors to these as well, should you choose. Be open and honest, and explain with some of the points I have brought up. If people don't like the idea of helping to pay for your trip to a race, so be it. I wonder how many of them would mind paying some professional fundraising company executive's 6 figure bonus instead?

I'll write about my personal experience with raising money for TNT and what percentage of my funds raised covered my travel expenses on my next post on this topic.

Are TNT Runners Curing Cancer?

As part of my continuing posts about why Team in Training is not a scam, I am going to write a couple of pieces about some good constructive criticism I saw out there about us. There were two comment in particular that were a little less caustic than some of the complaints I have seen about us Purple People. The first was this: "What does running have to do with finding a cure? The running is for yourself, it does not cure cancer - the only people helping the cause in the case of TNT are the donors."

True - running does not cure cancer. Nor does walking 60 miles in the Komen 3-Day. Would that it were that simple! In fact, when I am doing my fundraising, I actually emphasize that point to my potential donors. Without them, all I am doing is going for a long tiring run or walk. It is their donations and generosity that provides the ability for more research on cancer and potential cures, not me moving my feet. So there is a good bit of agreement on my part with that statement.

Where we differ is this: as I posted last week, there are many ways for non-profits to raise money. One of them, the one LLS uses with Team in Training and that many other organizations have imitated, is agreeing to do some kind of an endurance event and in return people will "sponsor" you by making a donation to the non-profit to support their mission. So while the running, cycling, and swimming in itself does not cure cancer, it indirectly inspires people to donate to that cause in support. We could argue whether or not they would have donated that same amount anyway even if you sat on the sofa with a TV clicker and a big bag of double-stuffed oreos instead of being up a 5:30 on a Saturday morning to run. I am guessing generally not, although I have no way to prove it. Maybe some would get a phone call or a flyer in the mail from LLS about its mission and be inspired to donate. But I rather doubt it. I get literally a dozen or more solicitations in the mail each week, and I don't even answer the phone anymore unless I recognize the number because of the barrage of calls requesting money. If I get an email solicitation from someone who I know is going to work their butt off to raise money for a good cause, I am more likely to check that out and donate.

Let's use my own case - in five TNT events and then the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure last fall, people have donated over $60,000 on behalf of my efforts. If I had never decided to go for it and see if I could do this - if as a cancer survivor I could do a marathon while asking people to donate (something that often feels uncomfortable) to a cause and being successful at it - how much of that $60,000 would have been donated anyway? How much would have been left on the table? Even if it was just half of it, that is $30,000 that got donated because I was willing to walk and run and ask. So while I acknowledge that it is the donors who are most important when it comes to helping the cause, I am not willing to say that they are "the only people helping the cause." That minimizes or negates the hard work of a lot of people, and I believe a good chunk of the money LLS receives through TNT would not arrive otherwise.

The other comment I saw that I fully agree with is along these lines: the commenter complained about people doing Team in Training telling him that "75% of your donation goes directly to cancer research." It is important for all of us doing TNT to remember that LLS has a number of different program areas. As the author of the comment wrote based on him checking LLS financial statements, the donations break down as follows:

Research - 25.2%
Patient / community Services - 27%
Public Health Education- 18.4%
Professional Education - 4.7%

Total - 75.3%

As I discussed here, the other 25% goes to the administrative and fundraising costs of LLS that any non-profit has.

Therefore, if you are doing fundraising for LLS through Team in Training, just remember that not all of the mission is funding research. 75% of donations go towards the mission, but not to research. Maybe we tend to over-emphasize the research components.

So are those of us doing Team in Training curing cancer through our running? Well, not directly, of course. But I maintain that we are a part of the solution by being the catalyst for people to donate to the cause of cancer research and patient support and advocacy. If I live long enough to see that all cancers are curable or at least manageable, I know I will feel that I played my own small part in making this happen - through my running and walking, through my fundraising efforts, and through the many direct financial donations that I have made to various organizations.

Team in Training Fundraising Does Not Scam

One of the many claims I've seen about TNT being a scam is that the fundraising scams people: that most of the money goes to the trip and LLS overhead, and that the runners don't follow-through. Here are some things I've read out on the World Wide Web. "These operations are a scam - 30 to 40% of the money raised go to the parasites running the charities." "It's a fraud if they don't do the race after raising the money - they should give it back." "Runners should solicit donations for an organization that has less than 10% overhead and do the race through a running club." "If TNT were a charity, their 'runners' would pay for their own travel."

How much of this is true or relevant? Fundraising is a big and an important enough topic that I will devote several posts to on my blog, starting with this one.

Let's start with the first statement above - that 30-40% of the money we raise goes to the organization's leaders. That is patently false - click here for the Charity Navigator Summary for LLS. Charity Navigator gives LLS a score of three stars out of four. Yes, four would be better, and if I were LLS's leadership, I'd be working to see how I could get the top mark. But three stars is good, and donors can feel assured that their money is going towards the mission in an acceptable fashion. Eight percent of LLS's revenues - not 30-40% - goes to administration. 17.6% of the revenue goes towards fundraising. For Team in Training, that would include travel expenses for runners and the tiny numbers of supporting staff that go to the event. If the event is a local race, the travel expenses are minimal. If the event is a destination event - San Diego Marathon for anyone but Southern California runners, Dublin, Chicago, New York, and so forth, then the expenses are greater. There can be airfare involved unless the participant chooses the "no airfare" option, and there is an extra night in a hotel. The amount of money raised is correspondingly greater for trips involving more travel. Typically, we might have to raise $1,500 for a local event and $3,400 - $5,000 for a far away event. And yes, some of the money raised does fund a significant part of the participants travel. All non-profits have fundraising and administrative overhead, and LLS is no exception. From what I have seen, 23.6% of revenue towards administrative and fundraising costs is not exorbitant. The comment about runners soliciting money for organizations with less than 10% overhead makes no sense - how many such organizations are there? Unless they have a huge endowment to cover these expenses, all charitable organizations will have to spend a portion of their revenues on administration and to raise more money.

I've seen comments about TNT participants getting all expense paid trips and staying in "very fancy resorts," all on the donor's dime. So what do we get on a trip? Well, it is not all expenses paid. For any event, LLS pays our entry fee. For a local event in the same city, that would be it. For an event in a nearby city - within a five to six hour drive from what I have seen - participants drive there at their expense, but they get two nights in a hotel (sharing a room or paying for half of the room if they want a private room) and two group dinners. For a far away event, we would still get the two dinners, but would recieve an extra night in the hotel in the shared room, and also airfare if we choose. Since the airfare is the largest single expense, you can opt out of reimbursement for it and then have to raise a lot less money, which some folks do. The hotels I've stayed in are usually very nice, but I've not stayed in fancy resorts. That may happen at times - but I cannot say one way or the other, because I've never seen it. I have to assume that if TNT ever stays in fancy resorts, it is the exception rather than the rule based on my five trips. Oh, triathletes and cyclists will get their bikes transported round-trip if the event is far away, but transport them themselves if it is within driving distance.

So yes, donations do cover those travel expenses - which are a part of the fundraising costs which amount to just over 17% of LLS's total revenues. So let's say you don't donate to TNT, but write a check for $100 in response to a mail or phone solicitaion for a typical charity. Well, a portion - probably about $25 - of that pays the administration of the charity and the company contracted to do the mailings or make the phone calls. With Team in Training some of donations covers the expense of the participant's running trip, but at least they had to work their butt off to get that far.

I don't agree that if the participant drops out and does not do the race, the donors should get their money back. That money was donated to a good cause, not to there person doing the race. However, I do believe that anyone soliciting donations by saying they will do a marathon should make a good faith effort to do all that they can to follow through with the race.

In my next post, I'll discuss fundraising for local versus destination events. Should runners for Team in Training and other charities only do local events to minimize the amount of donations that go to send them to the race? Or is it possible that LLS gets more money for its mission when people choose a far away and adventuresome "destination event?"

Team in Training is Not a Scam

I've been amazed about all of the comments I've read about Team in Training on various athletic message boards, including many that TNT is a scam. We've been slammed by a lot of people for all kinds of things. Some of these things undoubtedly have happened, although I am convinced they are not the norm. Other things clearly make no sense. Still others need some analysis and evaluation. So that is what I've decided to do in a series of blog posts over the next couple of weeks about these charges and issues.

Full disclosure: I've done TNT five times, all on foot - two walking marathons, one mostly walking marathon with some running, and two half-marathons where I ran about 70% of the time. I've volunteered as a TNT mentor several times. I've done other volunteer work for LLS: manning a booth at running expos, making phone calls to tell people about TNT information meetings, volunteering for First Connection, and cheering at races. I've never been paid a dime. I did get some of my travel expenses paid for the five events that I did for TNT. I'll discuss this in detail in a later post. But clearly, I believe in LLS and its mission, and in its major fundraising program, Team in Training.

After reading lots of message posts, here are the major complaints that people seem to make about Team in Training. Each of these will eventually become a separate blog post, and after I write the post, I will change the text here to a link to that post.

1. TNT drives up the costs of race entries and hotels for everyone else. I think this is totally untrue, and illogical.

2. TNT prevents more deserving runners from entering the race because they fill the races up five months early. This is another charge that makes no sense to me.

3. TNT ruins the experience for real runners and triathletes. I think this is bogus, but agree that TNT participants - and everyone else - need to be aware of race etiquette. There also seems to be a lot of resentment among "real runners" that "slow runners" participate in races.

4. TNT is a cult, and disdainful of other athletes. I previously wrote a tongue in cheek post about TNT not being a cult. To a non-runner, any group of runners may appear cultish.

5. TNT participants don't care about the mission but are just trying to get a free trip. This does not match my observations at all.

6. TNT participants are not dedicated to doing the race. In the events, they usually just coast and even cut the course or even just take a bus near the end. Sorry - not from what I have seen. Not at all.

7. The fundraising scams people - most of it goes to the trip and LLS overhead, and the runners don't follow-through. This is not true at all.

8. The fundraising would be okay if they did local races and not the destination events. Although doing local events with minimal travel is not a bad concept, I will show how LLS can get more money for its mission when people choose the destination events.

9. The fundraising is not efficient. There are many ways for charities to raise money. Many of them are very annoying to the potential donors. I think that TNT is fairly efficient, and no where near as annoying as getting unsolicited calls at dinner time.

10. The fundraising is dishonest, or at the least misleading. I read some misplaced and some thoughtful criticisms of TNT participants in this area, and will discuss these along with my own thinking. Plus, what does running have to do with curing cancer anyway?

11. TNT participants are mostly tubby people who are not serious about running, are sold a bill of goods, and have no business being out there. They cheapen the marathon experience. Definitely, I can't wait to address this one!

12. A lot of potential participants are not comfortable doing the fundraising, and when they do, they get pressure from LLS staff to keep raising money. This is one that I think needs some analysis and discussion.

Komen 3-Day Progress

I thought I'd write a short post about how things are going to date with my Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. The event is just over three months away. I'll break my report into three areas.

1. My Inspiration - I decided to do the 3-Day walk for breast cancer research for one main reason: my sister Ann. She was my inspiration for doing this. She had been beyond courageous in her battle with breast cancer for over four years, and I wanted her to know that I was doing something to honor her. I knew she would not be alive to see me do this, but she was alive to know I will be doing it. With her death on Memorial Day, I have a sadness that will be hard to chase away. She will be in my heart every step of the way. I hope that somehow during the course of the three days, she will send me a sign that she knows I followed through.

2. Fundraising - This is one area that is going very well. My goal was $100 a mile, for a total of $6,000 and I am 90% there. People are so generous. I plan on seeing if I can go beyond $6,000, although I will not increase my goal.

3. Training - Two thumbs down! The plantar fasciitis is killing me! It is such a persistent injury. I have three months to go and the longest distance I have walked in the last month is 5K, and that hurt a lot. I started with a new doctor yesterday and hope that he can help. I need to somehow get this done. I know I still have time because if my foot were not hurting, I could easily walk 10 miles or so with my leg strength. But at some point, I will run out of time if I can't get healed. So, I must find a way to get past this and start walking again. In the meantime, I am going to try some stationary bike and perhaps some elliptical workouts. People are telling me that it took them 4-8 months to recover from plantar fasciitis. No can do!

Getting Started for the 3-Day

The Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure in Washington DC is 168 days away. Time to get started! When I was in high school, if we were assigned a paper that was due in 168 days, I would start researching it in, oh, about 164 or 165 days from now. I would write like mad on a tablet of paper, and cajole my poor mother into typing it for me (usually). There were no computers or word processors in those days! If you made a mistake typing, you either wrote over it in ink or maybe used some kind of white out fluid and typed over it - if you could line it up right. Young people today would think that this was the dark ages!

But I am no longer in high school, and having learned at least a few things about deadlines and life since then, it is time to start now, so I have. I got fund raising started this past weekend with a note to family, and then one to Team in Training friends. People have very generously donated $1,400 so far - about 40% of the absolute minimum that I want to raise for this cause. I hope to start general fundraising - kicking off my formal campaign to all contacts - sometime in the coming week.

As far as training goes, well, 12 miles on my feet last Saturday - including running and walking a 10K - was a good start to show me that I am not in the terrible shape that I had feared. Right now, the Komen training schedule has about 3 mile walks that I should be doing, and I am exceeding that. For example, I walked nearly 5 miles at lunch yesterday. This weekend, I hope to do some hiking if it is not raining.

I am trying to slow down my walking pace. My normal TNT walking pace is somewhere between a 12.5 and 14 minute mile, depending on the distance and how I am feeling. But that is too fast for the 3-Day walk, where there will be thousands of people out on the roads and no real rush to get done each day. Plus, I will have to repeat the 20 mile walk three straight days, so I need to make sure my legs don't become "dead" by walking too fast. So I am trying to be very aware of keeping my walk pace under control and trying not to exceed a 15 minute mile. 16 would probably be better, although that feels like a stroll.

I do have a little competitiveness about it, I've noticed. The other night, I walked a 1.25 mile loop around a pond, trying to stick to about a 15 minute a mile pace. A guy, walking, passed me, and I did not like that! I ignored it until he got about 50 feet ahead, and then I kicked it up a notch to keep a constant distance behind him, which I did. Eventually, he left the path and I slowed down again. Silly, I know, but it is the truth!

The Color Purple

So, having met and exceeded my 2010 fundraising goal for Seattle, I will be dying my hair purple! But how? This is either going to be a lot of fun, or a disaster. But here is my plan for June 26th.

1. Get up no later than 3AM (the buses leave at 4AM and depending on when our coach wants us to meet, I may even have to get up earlier than that.) After two nights on west coast time, I think I am going to be very tired.

2. Put petroleum jelly on the skin around my hair line so that hopefully any dye that slops over on my skin will clean up easily.

3. Use "Color Fiend" deep purple dye. I can try combing it in, and I am also bringing gloves in case I decide to just rub it in. I have four little dye packets which should be plenty. Hopefully, I can avoid ruining the hotel bathroom and getting a huge bill to clean it.
4. Dry the dye with a hair dryer, if the hotel provides one (hope so).

5. Wear a purple headband during the run to hopefully soak up purple sweat before it reaches my eyes.

6. Try to remember to leave the headband on the whole race, and not wipe my brow with my hands and then rub my eyes.

Any suggestions out there?

I Will Run With Purple Hair!

Elsbeth from Arizona put me at 100% of my goal today, so it is official - I will be running with purple hair in Seattle in 11 days! To the 120+ people that donated so that I could reach this goal for LLS, many thanks. I dedicate this, and my purple hair, to you!

“I Will Run With Purple Hair!”

“Will I run with purple hair?”
I asked five months ago.
Will there be enough who care
With the economy so slow?

For I pledged to run with purple hair
If I should meet my goal
While making people more aware
Of blood cancers and their toll.

So I set my goal for purple hair
At eight thousand and a half
I tried to write updates with flair
And to sometimes get a laugh.

Just three months in that purple hair
Began to look in doubt
Fundraising was a tough affair
Was my goal, perhaps, too stout?

But in my quest for purple hair
A surge came fast and strong
As six score gave what they could spare
And proved my doubts so wrong.

And so I’ll run with purple hair
On the twenty-sixth of June
Because so many choose to share,
Helping fund new cures soon.

So think of me, with purple hair
As I run across Seattle
For cancer patients in despair,
And for hope in their hard battle.

Fundraising Progress Report

My race, the Seattle Half Marathon, is only six weeks away. Consequently, I realistically have only about five weeks left to hit my fundraising goal of $8,500. Here is where things stand right now:

Money posted to date: $6,780
Checks in hand but not posted: $150
Corporate matches waiting to happen: $525

Total of all money collected and pending collection: $7,455

Now that being said, there is no guarantee that the corporate matches will arrive in time to count, but ultimately, LLS will get those funds - which is what really counts, not fundraising credit for them. So I guess I am somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500 from my goal, depending on what happens with those matches.

Fundraising is hard this time around, for most people, it seems. This is my fifth time doing this. People are really generous, but times are tight and the economy is still struggling. Bad news makes people skittish, even if they are not affected directly - because they think "that could happen to me." So all I can do is to keep asking and try to think of new things to try.

On the plus side, I am now a Rock Star, meaning I have raised at least $1,000 more than the minimum amount I recommitted to, which was $4,700. I am now $2,000 past that minimum amount, and that feels really good because when I first did Team in Training, raising this kind of money seemed like it would be impossible, or nearly so. Thanks solely to the generosity of so many people that I know (and some that I don't), it has turned out not to be so.

I had money arriving so quickly in the past 10 days that I had to update my Purpleometer twice! On April 16, I had raised 64% of my goal, and it took until May 9 to reach 73%, mostly when the funds from my International House of Pancakes Fundraiser arrived. Then, less than a week later, people responded very generously to my latest note, and my total shot up to 80%, where it now stands. This only accounts for money actually posted by LLS.

I don't know if I will reach my goal or not, but I believe I will. I believe my hair will be purple come race day. The next five or six weeks will determine whether this is so or not, but regardless, I am very grateful for the generosity of everyone who has donated to my "Survivor in Seattle" Campaign.

A Big Thank You to My Friend Alan, and to his Friends

When I participated in the Anchorage Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon for TNT in 2005, my team assigned roommate was Alan Raflo, whom I had never met. Alan was a seasoned marathoner, and turned out to be a great guy. I really enjoyed meeting him and hanging out together. We both had a natural resources background from school, and Alan still works in that field. He also took one of my favorite photos of me at a race. In the photo, I am soaked to the skin, had put my windbreaker on to try to warm up, and am holding up my medal in one hand and my cap with my new TNT 26.2 pin in the other. And I have that big first-time marathoner’s smile.

Alan was (and still is) a lot faster than me. After he finished the Anchorage marathon, he went back to the hotel, showered, had lunch, and drank a couple of beers. Then he relaxed for a while and read the last half of “War and Peace.” He finished a course in conversational Japanese, took a scenic cruise of one of fjords, then came back to the hotel and baked a batch of from-scratch cookies. He then came back to the marathon finish area to bring a warm coat for Sarah, our LLS coordinator, who was soaked and cold. He got there in time to see me just after I finally finished my race, and snapped the photo I spoke about. And man, I am here to tell you, those fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies he brought sure hit the spot!

This past Saturday, Alan ran the Blue Ridge Marathon, which starts and ends in Roanoke, Virginia. This is a rather hilly section of the Old Dominion, and the marathon has more than 3,000 feet elevation gain along the way. Alan’s time was under 5:09, a time I could not currently attain if the marathon was all downhill and I was riding a Segway. Yes, I know that I will ultimately set a world record in the marathon, but that day is still more than a decade away.

The cool thing about this was that Alan decided to do some fundraising for me in conjunction with his race, so he put a note out on Facebook about what he was doing and asked friends to donate to my LLS efforts so that his race was about more than just running. So through my fundraising and his running, Alan turned a tough run in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains into a race for a cure. So I wanted to thank and acknowledge his contribution, and the resulting donations of his friends Janie, Suri, Sue, Anne, Helen, and Katrina. These friends of his, thanks to Alan making them aware of what I was doing, contributed $300 to my 2010 Cancer Kickin’ Campaign, and it is very much appreciated.

Fundraising Progress Report

Woo-hoo! I hit a little milestone today with my fundraising on my "Survivor in Seattle" Team in Training campaign: $4,700. Why is that a big deal? Because that is the minimum amount I have to raise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society with my recommitment. Actually, as a mentor, I could have raised just 75% of that for a minimum. But what kind of mentor tells their mentees "Go ahead! You can do it! I can't, but you can!" So I pretty much ignore the mentor discount and pretend I am raising the $4,700 as a minimum. And now I have reached that amount, my "C" fundraising goal. My "A" goal is $8,500, so I am now at 55% of that. And my Purpleometer now has a little more than half of his hair purple. When it is all purple, so will mine be for the race.

So it feels good to get this monkey off my back. I've reached the minimum, and every dollar I raise for LLS for the rest of the season exceeds their budgetted amount for me to do this event. And in the race for a cure, every dollar counts as we try to turn rain drops into raging rivers to wash cancer away!

Recommitting at The Halfway Point

My fifth race for Team in Training, the Seattle Half Marathon, is exactly three months from today, and I am viewing right now as the halfway point.

Training wise, we are only a couple of months in, so training – based on time – is not yet at the halfway point. But tomorrow, I am getting out there to run the Monument Avenue 10K, and a 10K is pretty close to a quarter of a marathon. Plus last week, I ran and walked seven miles, and that is definitely more than half of a half marathon. So training distance wise, I am about at the half way point.

Fundraising wise, I have reached 49% of my goal of $8,500. I have three more months to come up with the rest, and it is going to be very difficult. This is by far the toughest fundraising I have seen in my five events. But I am halfway to that ambitious fundraising goal, and I have to be pleased with the results and generosity of people to date. Will I get the whole thing and dye my hair in purple for the race? Only time will tell, but I surely hope so.

I recommitted yesterday, meaning I signed paper work that I was actually going to do the event and go through with my fundraising and other obligations. There was never any doubt. Once I got my first donation, I was bonded to following through with this. As it has turned out, I am very close to the minimum fundraising amount of $4,700. And actually, factoring in some checks I haven’t sent in yet, the International House of Pancakes funds, and my Silent Auction proceeds, I will be over $5,000 once those funds post. So I am in no danger of not making the fundraising minimum.

I’m looking forward to the 10K tomorrow. The one last year was fun, and I set a personal record. It will be a lot tougher for me to do that this year, because I am not anywhere near that level of conditioning as I was this time last year. So I will do my best to run well and also to have fun!

My "Purpleometer"

Will my hair be purple on race day, June 26, at the Seattle Half Marathon? My "Purpleometer" shows how close I am getting. I will dye my hair purple for the race IF I hit my fundraising goal. Want to help turn my hair purple? Make a donation to my Team in Training 2010 Cancer Kickin' Campaign:

Donate here!

"Purpleometer" as of June 17, 2010:

GOAL MET AND EXCEEDED! MY HAIR WILL INDEED BE PURPLE IN SEATTLE!

Thanks to my friend Lissa for helping me with my "Purpleometer."