it's official

I've gotten the confirmation that I will be a TNT Team Captain (aka Mentor) for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. Training starts in June.

Given how stinking hot it has been here over the last week, I'm wondering how I am going to manage training here in June.. or July/August/September for that matter.

I'm a wilting flower these days. Oh well, perhaps we'll be doing our training runs at 6am to avoid the heat.... or perhaps just I will be!

teaming up...

so, last weekend i had the privilege of meeting up with a long time online friend for the first time ever... i mention this now as he was part of my inspiration to join Team In Training. he's a walk coach on the west coast, and has had nothing but good things to say about his TNT experiences.

we spent a lovely rainy afternoon wandering about museums, and then met up with a couple friends of his to watch some fireworks (Cherry Blossom Festival). one of those friends is also involved in TNT... but her connection is with Virtual TNT... because she lives in Denmark. so she is training on her own, with the support of online coaches.

kinda cool... but tough going, i'm thinking, when the miles get long.

anyway, it is a sun-shiny day here, and though my friend is no longer in town, she's here for a while longer.. so we're meeting up this afternoon for a training session. and i'm excited about that :-)

THANK YOU!!!

Hello my friends and family,

Just wanted to send a quick note to say thank you all for your support (moral and financial) in my first ever Team In Training experience. Thanks to you I continued to feel motivated with the training and fundraising, even when the going got tough... Thanks to you, I reached my fundraising goals. Thanks to you, I made it to Virginia Beach for the race... Thanks to your phone calls, text messages, e-mails, waving and cheering, I finished my first marathon with a smile on my face. And most importantly, thanks to your generosity, we're that much closer to finding cure for cancer.

I have not heard any jubilant celebration from any of the people that purchased Mercedes-Benz raffle tickets from me. I'm very sorry you did not win. If it is any consolation, neither did my husband and I...

In spite of not winning a new car, I think (hope) we all benefited from this experience. We all got to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, something literally life-saving... and I'm glad you were with me on this journey.

If you feel like joining me on this path again, I will be training for and running the Marine Corps Marathon with Team In Training in October.

Thanks again,
Megan

i spent about 6 hours of my birthday manning the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society booth at a recent "Women's Expo"... trying to entice other women to join us in supporting the work of the LLS, either by getting involved with Team In Training, or some other LLS activities.

it was a slightly surreal adventure.

beside our booth there was a man and his son selling bamboo towels, across from us a man demonstrating his Korean-style indoor grills, and another trying to attract customers for his home security company. kitty-corner to us was a little gardening store and across from them the Posturpedic bed display...

the really girlie section of the expo had laser teeth whitening, bright green lipsticks that changed to shocking shades of pink upon application, scarves, skirts, pedicure, wigs, lotions, potions, tarot readings, hypnosis, a cat-walk (which had a doggie fashion show going on when i went by to the use the washrooms)...

lots of women touched and oohed and aahed over the bamboo towels. lots of women taste-tested and debated over the Korean grills. lots of women looked over and then looked away as they walked by us.

personally, i found the larger than life cardboard cut-outs of handsome men in wetsuits visually engaging... but it seemed if we weren't selling something or giving away hand-outs, not too many of the expo-attendees were that interested in what we had to say.

a couple women made the day worthwhile though... women who had lost family members, women who had family member who were struggling through, women who had family members that had survived and gone on to have families of their own. not matter how close or far those experiences were to the present day... the grief, the fear, the relief, the joy were all very present at the Expo.

i hope some of the women who took TNT info brochures do sign up. i hope to run with them some day...

***

this afternoon i am scheduled to go spend some time in the local children's cancer ward.

i'm expecting a few tears.

mine, of course.

surprise, surprise

turns out i'm hooked...

for about a week after the Shamrock Marathon, i was feeling blue. missing having the weekly run with friends to look forward to, missing having the goal of the marathon to work toward, missing that feeling of being involved...

so last night i went to an info meeting on becoming a "mentor" (aka Team Captain) for another race with Team in Training. i signed up to be a mentor for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. they have loads of people volunteering to be mentors, for a variety of races... so i am not guaranteed the position, but i have it on good authority (wink wink) that my chances are good.

registration for the Marine Corps Marathon opened yesterday, and it always sells out quickly.

my husband and i had been discussing my post run blues, and ideas for birthday gifts... and he decided he would pay for my next race as my birthday gift :-) i think this is a wonderful idea, because goodness knows i don't want or need any knickknacks to sit on the piano collecting dust.

so last night, he registered me for the Marine Corps Marathon.

joke's on him now though, because i registered him to run it with me this morning....


i doubt that he'll join TNT, as the fundraising is a time commitment that he just does not have the time for at present... but we'll be able to train together, commiserate over aches and pains and bruised toenails together... our grocery bill will go through the roof... and come race day morning we'll at least start together. his legs are considerably longer than mine, so no guarantees that we'll finish anywhere near each other. but we'll hobble home together, brandishing our medals and feeling enormously proud.

i'm excited.

no more blues.