One Week to Liftoff!

A Belated Happy Easter to all, and Happy Belated Passover as well! The past week and a half have been so inspiring! Thank you to everyone who has contributed and supported me and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! So a little recap-
This past Monday, I hosted a wine tasting fundraiser at Best Cellars in Clarendon(Arlington, VA). We tasted 5 different wines and had a great time- the winery donated both their time and wine to the cause, and we raised over $200 in the name of fighting cancer!

Also, thanks to your help, I jumped up from $896 two Fridays ago to $2,459! A $1563 jump! And I know there's more on the way... Thank you. But our job's not done yet. We're only half way to $5000, and I need your help! Talk to your friends, invite them to check out this blog, and send them to my fundraising page: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/anttry09/shoar.

I invite you to take a look at your life. Think about the all the times you took on something so large you didn't know if you could make it to the finish line. Think of the times where you didn't. Think of the times you did. Right now, there's a little boy or girl, or even a full grown man or woman, who has a blood cancer and doesn't know if they'll be able to make it. Even when they've decided to go through with chemotherapy and/or radiation, to fight the cancer and the spread of it. Fortunately, with the research and progress that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has made with these cancers, there is, for the most part, still very positive survival rates(from 60-80% depending on the cancer). However, it's not 100%. There are still people who will lose the battle, no matter how hard they fight, no matter how hard they try. It's for them that we fight, we train, we fundraise for.
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This week at our swim practice, we did a full mile swim without stopping(1600 yds). I however arrived a few minutes late, so I'm not sure if I swam the whole 70 laps non-stop without stopping to catch my breath. Today however, I did it! I swam a full 70 laps, 1600 yds, 1 mile, without stopping! I wanted to quit around laps 33-36. I started panicing- not knowing if I was going to make it, but I kept on. And I did it. Now I won't have the walls to push off of every 25yds, or even at all, the day of the triathlon. But, just knowing that I was able to complete it means that I will have a good shot the day of. Plus, I'll also be wearing a wetsuit which will keep me more buoyant, and in salt water which also will make me more buoyant. Of course the 1000 other people I'll be swimming with, on, over, under, and into, will certainly create some resistance, so it's definitely not pie in the sky.

Training for this triathlon has been life transforming. Just a year ago, back in March, I weighed 210 lbs. I had gone to my doctor for a checkup, and she diagnosed me 'obese'. I couldn't believe it. I didn't think I was Obese. I didn't feel Obese. I didn't feel fit either. Throughout the summer and fall I managed to lose about 14-15 lbs. When I began training for the triathlon, I was back up to 196. Last week when I weighed myself, I was down to 176. I feel great. I feel healthy. I had to alter my diet. I had to workout twice a day for weeks on end. and now, in a little more than a week, I will be completing my first triathlon. Yeah. Pretty cool huh?

If you were inspired, moved, or touched at all by anything you saw, read, or felt here, I request that you make a donation to my fundraising page to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. You can help save lives too!

Where I'm At

Hello everyone-

I just want to thank those of you who have been following my progress, updates, and those of you who have actively supported me through donations to my website, and through words of encouragement.

As many of you may have noticed on my fundraising page, I haven't been making a whole lot of progress towards my $5000 goal until recently. I'm not going to give you any excuses, but I do want to just say what's been so.

Help me reach my goal of raising $5000 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by making a donation to http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/anttry09/shoar .

See, I also have been fighting my own cancer. Cancer of the mind and psyche. At the beginning of this journey, I was inspired but scared. Scared of not meeting my goal. Keeping up with the physical training, although daunting at times, has not been the hard part. No, what has been the hard part is getting past my fear.

It strikes me, however, that cancer victims may face something of the same sort. I have been hiding, denying the fact that I was running out of time to actually do something, anything, about fundraising. I've been resisting what there is to do. And in that resisting I've been suffering. That suffering lead to denial, which led to being irresponsible. Yes, I have been irresponsible about the task that I set out on.

I set out to be a contribution for the Leukemia & Lymphoma community, to further the chances of finding a cure, to saving lives.

I'm finding it difficult to keep going. And that is because I've been harboring this all on my own shoulders. What I haven't been doing is sharing, or giving the opportunity to contribute to you. My friends, colleagues, family members... my support.

Well I'm asking now, that you take a look for a moment at your own life. Take a look and see if there were ever times when you needed support from your friends or family because you were afraid of what was to come ahead- because you didn't know what it was.

Right now, there are thousands of people who have been diagnosed with leukemia, myeloma, non-myeloma, lymphoma, or other blood cancers. Some of them are in the same shoes. Where do they go from here?

I don't want life to be like that. Life should be about spending the time you have on this planet with the ones that you most treasure, or about living your life to the fullest, giving it your best shot. Climbing your own Mt. Everest. I think cancer gets in the way of that.

That's why I chose this mission. To fight for those who couldn't see the goal line. To give them the chance to have a life that was worth living. But I can't do it all on my own. I need your help, your support. They need your support.

Thank you. I will continue my training and my fundraising efforts. For myself, but also for you and for blood cancer.

Maybe not a WHOLE practice TRI...

But it was still a challenge! We started out today in our wetsuits at Riley's Lock in Poolesville MD. Although I was one of the only people who actually thought it would be a cool challenge to swim, the cold water, wind and temperature was something that would not have made it fun. (We're talking in the 40s at 7:30am). What we did instead was practice our transitions. We started out in our wetsuits, then had to jump out of them and run our bikes to the starting line, and bike 10 miles. From the dismount of the bike, we ran two loops from the transition area to the end of Riley's Lock Rd, where it intersects with River Rd. It is supposed that distance is close to or around 3 miles. I will check on that and update after the post.

So that's what was supposed to happen. What actually happened was that I was the last one to start the bike ride. I was quick out of the wetsuit, but as it was cold and windy, I made sure I had enough clothes to keep me warm- running shirt(sleeveless), long-sleeve workout shirt, windbreaker, reflective jersey, tri-shorts, biking pants, socks, road shoes, biking gloves, helmet, and sunglasses. No wonder I was the last one off the line. But health and safety is paramount! Fortunately, down in St. Petersburg it should be quite warmer, so I'll be able to do without all the long sleeves and layers.

We started on a big hill. It wasn't fun, but I'm glad that I went to those two spinning classes. Regardless of the back injury which had me laying on the couch for a week instead of working out, I was better accustomed to the quad-killing strengths it took to keep going.

The wind was strong today too. It blew me off the road once and almost a few other times as well. I was glad I had the windbreaker though.

I regained some ranking on the ride due to those hills, and the fact that going down the hills on the other side proved very easy and would accelerate me to speeds up to 32mph! The downside to that speed was that I almost collided into a big van on the sharp turn back onto Riley's Lock Rd. I was pulling both break pedals and was skidding all over the place! About 5 feet from the van, I was able to gain control again and make the turn. Whew!!! I'm pretty sure I had the team captains at the corner wide-eyed in horror, but all's well that ends well, as they say.

The run wasn't so bad- I did pretty well I'd say. It was a slow go nonetheless, as starting into running after biking my feet were numb, and I felt like I was a a struggling pace the entire time. Nothing quite as fast as I can normally run on the treadmill. But hey, I was going and I wasn't stopping. That's what counts.

Overall, the whole thing took me about two hours or so. Pretty surprising as we didn't swim and definitely didn't do the whole 25 miles or 10K(6.5 miles) of the run. Nonetheless, still a good workout. And after packing up and socializing a little we were out by 11:30am. Not bad.

Well, the deadline for the fundraising is coming up on April 8th. I had thought it was originally April 20th, but apparently they moved it up because of Easter or something. Regardless, if you've checked my page lately, you'll notice that I'm still a long way off. I need your help! If I haven't met the minimum of $4200, they will charge my credit card the balance. The good news is if I can meet that balance within a month after the triathlon, they will credit me back the money from my credit card.

You can donate online at my page up in the right hand corner, or just click this link. Thanks for your support. Your money is going to a good cause- saving the lives of cancer patients.