The Gold Run (Run 50)

Saturday was another team run--this time at Mirabeau in the Valley (to hop on the Centennial Trail)--so it was much, much more flat than last week's team run.* I ran with Heather Butner again, and I must say that although I am certainly stepping up to keep pace with her (she is probably around 8 inches taller than I am), it's really nice to go out for a long run and have someone to talk to and work through the miles. A 60-minute training run* is considerably faster (in terms of the feeling of time passing) when you are having a conversation. Granted, I find myself out of breath and asking Heather very open-ended question so that she has to do more of the talking, but I am contributing.

It's really encouraging to be out at the team runs, particularly when Curtis and Kendra Edlin are out practicing with us. Curtis is in a 5-year remission from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (after five months of chemo), and he is currently being treated for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Curtis and is wife Kendra are out training with us with Team in Training--and fundraising--even though Curtis is currently being treated for Leukemia. It's pretty amazing to see someone faced with such a serious battle who is out training and fundraising to help himself and others. It certainly makes your feet keep moving once you hit that 6th or 7th mile.

Tough Ladies

It's not a secret that I am running, in part, for Jan Giesa. Jan is currently in remission after an aggressive course of chemo to treat non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Since TNT works to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (which works to eradicate blood cancers), it made sense to run for someone who had successfully battled a blood cancer. Her treatments were the result of years of advancement and research, funded in large part by the efforts of TNT participants like me, who have raised $850 million in 20 years.

The treatments, medicines, and therapies LLS has created through the years have helped significantly in the battle against other cancers as well. So, I am also running for my Aunt Alice Haave, who successfully battled breast cancer a few years ago; and for Kitty Janssen, a sassy lady who also beat breast cancer in the last few years; and for my sisters Jennifer and Wendy who have taken on and beaten cervical cancer. I am also running for my late grandmother Mary Lesniewski, who passed away after a battle with breast and brain cancer and for my Aunt Shirley Lesniewski, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer.

I don't know anyone who hasn't been touched by some kind of cancer. When you donate towards my $4,000 goal, I'll gladly run for your family, friends, and loved ones as well.