I could tell you about how my Tu and Thur runs this week were so hard for me.
Or I could share with you all the details about 3 separate fundraising events that I have in the works for raising monies for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Neighborhood block party, winetasting, and a garage sale. I’m also hopefully going to pull off a treadmill stunt just like Christie O. That’s in the works. I am bound and determined to meet my fundraising goal of $2900 – I am a little less than halfway there. Failure is not an option. I will work, work, work until I get there.
Or, I could tell you about the run I had today, my longest run E-V-A-H. 6.40 miles, with another 0.75 miles in warm-up and cool down. THAT’S A LOT OF MILEAGE- wahoo!
I could go into great detail about anyone of these things, BUT I would rather share with you what happened while I was at Costco today. After my 6.40 mile run. While I was still wearing my Team in Training shirt.
As I was checking out, the guy at the end of my check-out lane, the bagger dude but not really a bagger dude since he doesn’t bag any of the groceries, maybe I should call him the “boxer” dude…..whatever. That guy, he looks at me and says “Go Team!”. This is what we and anyone that knows anything about Team in Training shouts as a sign of support and encouragement.
My head pops up and I ask him- Do you know what Team in Training is?
Bagger/Boxer dude: Yes. I was an honored teammate. I am 4 years out (I think he meant that his cancer has been in remission for four years).
note: Each team for Team in Training has an honored teammate, someone picked by Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, that we run for. We also run for those we personally know that have been affected by cancer.
We were so excited to connect, really connect. We chatted it up, exchanging as much information as we could in a short period of time. He let me know that there was an Austin team for TnT (Team in Training) and that they were meeting tomorrow for a run and did I want to meet up with them. I told him that I was part of a virtual team and that we were running the San Diego 1/2 marathon. He will be there as well, meeting his bone marrow donor for the first time. How effing cool is that?!!!!!
At times, I have found that training with a virtual team isolates me from the “people” aspect of who we are doing all this hard work for. Now, I KNOW who I am doing it for. His name is Mike and he is a boxer/bagger dude at Costco and he had cancer and now, he is competing in a 1/2 ironman triathlon.
He is but one face of cancer and he is the picture of health and I love it and it gives me hope that one day, this disease will be eradicated.
GO TEAM.
