Dear Family and Friends,

Well, the last few months have been crazy. Alot of changes have taken place in my life and all have been very positive. Now that things are settling down I have been doing some thinking about what I can do in my spare time. Well, I started working out and running. Running has been very rewarding for me. I had even considered running a 5K or a 10K and maybe even a half-marathon. But a half marathon just sounded crazy. Then one day I was talking with a friend who mentioned that she was going to run a full marathon. Honestly at the time I thought she was nuts, then she explained to me what and why she was doing it. She told me about the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. The program provides training to run or walk a whole or half marathon or participate in a triathlon or century (100-mile) bike ride. In return for this training, you raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma soceity. Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are cancers that originate in the bone marrow (in the case of leukemia and myeloma) or in lymphatic tissues (in the case of lymphoma). She tried to convince me to do it with her, but let's be honest, 26.2 miles of just running???? The more I thought about it though, the more I wanted to do it. It's a great cause first of all. I get to meet some very wonderful people, especially Michael and Steven, my honored teammates. Finally, I get training for 4 months to run the Chicago Marathon on October 10th. Could you ask for anything more?? I may be crazy, but I am looking forward to the challenge of running 26.2 miles and raising money for my honored teammates and others who suffer from blood related cancers.

Please join me in supporting this great cause by helping to sponsor my efforts through a financial donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. I have personally committed to raising $3300 to benefit the society. Your donations of any amount makes a great difference. The money that I raise will help support on-going research toward a cure for the many types of this disease as well as help families defray medical cost.

Please feel free to drop me a line, sign my guestbook and give any words of encouragment. I will probably need those considering weekend training runs start at 6:30 in the morning. And most of you know, I am not in any way a morning person. However, getting up early and running on the weekends is much easier than battling cancer. I know I can do it!

Thank you for your support and for visiting my Team in Training website. I will be updating it throughout the next four months so please continue to check out my progress.

Thanks for your support,
Dana

For more information on the Leukemia and Lymphoma society and Team in Training, check out the links section on the left.