My honored teammate this season is Erica Barth.
I met Erica early in November when I was at the Silver Spring, MD American Cancer Society office one day for a meeting. I had forgotten my lunch at home and was standing at the front desk consulting the Chinese food menu to find something to eat when a young, beautiful blond haired girl walked into the office with her boyfriend. As I stood looking at the menu, I heard this young girl as our Admin. person, Gissella, if we had any wigs available in the office. We do have a wig room in each one of our offices so women can come in and receive free, brand new wigs; however, Gissella had to let this young woman know that the wig room was becoming very low in its stock. Before the girl could leave, I introduced myself to the girl and asked her what kind of wig she was looking for. She told me her name was Erica, and as I had expected, she was looking for a long blond hair wig, just like the hair I saw her with. I reiterated to her what Gissella said about the wig room, but told her that we had just had an event with the Washington Redskins and I thought there was one long hair blond wig leftover in the Vienna, VA office and I could check to see and let her know. Erica was excited and told me that would be wonderful. I then got to talking to her, asking her what kind of cancer she was being treated for and asked her if she needed any other resources. She told me she was just diagnosed in September with Hodgkins-Lymphoma and would be beginning chemotherapy in the next coming weeks. In addition to a wig, her biggest concern was that she lacks health insurance. I was able to give her a bunch of different resources--including financial assistance information from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. By the end of our talk, she thanked me over and over for being so kind and letting her know about more information in the 5 minute conversation than anything she has been told in the past 2 months. A hug later and she was gone.
After verifying that the blond wig I had in mind was still in the Vienna office, I made arrangements with Erica to send her the wig in the mail, as she lived an hour away from the closest office to her. A week later, Erica left me the best voicemail I think I have ever received to date. On the voicemail, Erica, in her so cheery voice, said 'Hello Sarah, this is Erica! I am just calling to let you know my boyfriend was waiting for me yesterday at my house with the package you sent me and I put on the wig and it is just so perfect and beautiful! It is so perfect that I started crying and I know it sounds silly because you think it is just a wig, but it's not just a wig. It's perfect timing because I just started to lose my hair and now I don't have to be embarrassed when I leave the house. I can't thank you enough, you are an angel and the nicest person I have ever met. I would love to take you out to lunch or for a drink or something, I can't tell you how happy this has made me. I can't wait to hear back from you, or I will call you later in the week.'
I can't tell you how much this made my heart literally smile. I immediately called her back and thanked her for her kind words and she refuted the thank you saying, no, THANK YOU. She then reiterated pretty much everything she said before, but also added when I said, you really like the wig?, she says, are you kidding?! I feel SEXY in it! Again, my heart smiled! Do you know how HUGE it is for a woman undergoing chemo to say they feel sexy?!
I then asked, in lieu of a lunch or drink, told Erica about my en devours with TNT and asked her to be my honored teammate. She said she would absolutely love to be.
It might seem odd that I have taken a random stranger as an honored teammate. Erica really touched me and I just feel so motivated by her spirit. I also feel a connection to her, she is turning 26 years old in January and never thought something like this could happen to her. It made everything a little more real to me--ironic because I am around cancer patients all the time. Here she was, almost a mirror image of me, facing chemotherapy, losing her hair, and battling to cancer.
Erica will be joining me and my team at our honored teammate picnic on January 10th with the entire Team In Training Spring Season. I think it will be a great way for her to see how much she is not alone in her cancer fight and to see how many people are out there fighting for her as much as they can.
Please help Erica's fight and consider donating to my efforts. Your donation, no matter how large or small, could help Erica's financial burdens through the Leukemia and Lymphoma's financial support system which you can read about here: http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page.adp?item_id=4599
Please stop by my donation page and spread the word: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/cmc09/sness
Happy running!
Don't forget to smile :)
GO TEAM!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Why donate?
One of the many lessons I have learned through my job at the American Cancer Society and through Team In Training is that unless people are directly connected to the cause, they tend not to give. Obviously, this is not always true, but definitely tends to be the trend. So, as someone who works for an organization that asks for money and is now a second year participant required to raise money, I have to ask myself, how do I explain to my friends, family and strangers why it is so important to donate even the tiniest amount to my efforts for another 26.2 miles, especially given the current economic state we are all lucky to be a part of.
To begin, I always say, any amount that one can give is greatly appreciated and helps in the fight. I like to tell my friends that instead of that one or two beers at the bar, you could donate that money to my efforts. It’s incredible to think that a simple 10 dollars from merely 10 people raises 100 dollars, which incidently is just about enough to cover the cost of a wig for a woman undergoing chemotherapy. This tactic generally does not work. So, I will go for the more tangible.
Two weeks ago I held a Christmas party at the Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC through my job at the American Cancer Society. I had been wanting to get my volunteers involved with children’s oncology floors for some time, but with all the projects on my plate, it had taken a while to get this one underway. Finally, in the beginning of November, I began to put together a holiday party in December at Children’s Hospital. I had been in collaboration with some other colleagues and members of another organization and quite frankly, it became more stressful than anything. To put it into perspective, I had a perpetual stress headache for the entire week leading up to the event. There was chaos and miscommunication and it had gone from an event that I was so excited to do to being one that I absolutely dreaded. After the week of stress, I finally decided on Friday to put everything aside, know that my volunteers would be great and that we were going to put on a great day for the kids.
Sunday of the party came and I headed off to Children’s Hospital with 75 tiny milk cartons glued to paper plates, boxes and boxes of graham crackers, dozen cans of frosting, many bags of candy, tissue paper, the Polar Express book, a Karaoke CD and about a hundred teddy bears all in preparation for the activities we had planned for the kids. If you couldn’t tell, the milk cartons, icing, graham crackers and candy were all the materials needed to make gingerbread houses. We were there from 2-5pm that day and saw anywhere between 5 and 20 kids at any given time. We began the party with each of my volunteers sitting at one of the tables in the craft room making their gingerbread houses. The first boy came in with his sister and sat next to me, his name was Miguel and he looked about 8 years old-turns out he was 15. The boy was the cancer patient and his sister, who was about 10 was there to support him. He had a hearing aid and several other issues going on. I talked him through how to put together the house and piece by piece we put it together. As Miguel worked on his house, another young girl by the name of Jennifer came in. Jennifer must not have even been ten years old yet and was hooked up to a machine, which she maneuvered round like a seasoned pro. She had no hair, but wore a pretty pink bandana, matching her pink fingernails and pink shoes. In addition, Jennifer wore a hospital gown and a mask, as she was one of the inpatients. Between Jennifer and Miguel, I thought to myself for a moment that I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get through the afternoon. My eyes were beginning to well up, but I fought it and pulled myself together. From there, we had about 15 kids join the room working with all my fantastic volunteers building the most creative gingerbread houses. Some of the kids tended to enjoy eating their houses more than they liked to build them. In fact, one of the young boys sitting at a table across the room from me asked my volunteer, ‘Who made this frosting?,’ ‘Betty Crocker did,’ my volunteer told him, and the boy answered ‘Where does this Betty Crocker live, I want to go to her house!?’. We had quite the laugh.
Many of the nurses came in and saw what a wonderful time we were all having. At one point, I went up to one of the inpatient rooms to see a young girl who just had brain surgery, she was 8 years old. She was upset she couldn’t come to the party, so I brought up the materials to make her gingerbread house. Many of the other inpatient nurses came down to get supplies for their patients who also were not allowed out of their rooms. They were all so happy to see the kids having a great time.
After the gingerbread houses, we did a little holiday karaoke and then we had the children break off into two different groups and using white, green, gold and red tissue paper, dress up two of my volunteers as frosty. After an initial hesitation, the kids really got into it. By the end, all of us were in the room laughing at the two volunteers dressed head to toe in tissue paper as Frosty. By the end of the day, all the stress of the event was forgotten and I realized that it turned out to be more than I could have imagined. What a great day of work.
Okay okay, so what is the point of my story? The day at Children’s hospital was absolutely incredible. It’s incredible to see these kids, barely even 10 years old, living a life that I can’t even imagine. Later that evening, I had gotten to thinking of Jennifer and how it didn’t hit me at the time of seeing her that she had no hair. Because I work for the Cancer Society, I am used to women who have lost their hair; however, that night when I thought of Jennifer, it made me even more amazed at the spirit she has. I said to my roommate Erin, who came with me that day, I remember how cruel kids were at her age for the silliest reasons, can you imagine being her age and not having any hair? There was another girl there by the name of Sandra who was just one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. The nurse told me at the end of the event how excited she was to see Sandra so happy because it was the first time in a month that she was able to leave her room. And she did leave her room, but dressed in head to toe in hospital gowns with gloves and mask on. But you could see the smile in her eyes.
The point of my story is this. I am not touched personally by cancer. I am not touched personally by blood cancer, but I also know I do not want anyone in my life to ever go through the things that I get to see on a daily basis. Your donation has the power to prevent a child like Sandra to ever have to be in a hospital. Your donation has the power to help those there get better.
Perhaps I am lucky in that everyday between my job and my involvement with Team In Training that I get to meet incredible individuals like Sandra and Jennifer and Miguel to remind me that what I do is so important. I chose my career and my participation as a charity runner because the things in my life have made me want people going through whatever they are to know they are never alone. Without fail, you get this sense from those honored teammates of ours that know about Team In Training. Specifically, the honored teammate that spoke at our breakfast 3 weeks ago told us that when her treatments got too tough, or things were just seeming too big, she thought of the wave of people dressed in purple crossing the finish line of their events, and she knew she was not alone. Many of you reading this do not get the chance to listen to the beneficiaries of the donations that come in through these wonderful events. You don’t get to hear someone with leukemia tell you that the thought of what you do makes them feel stronger and not alone. But I’m here to tell you that the dollars you donate to me, the dollars that I represent with every step I take, are helping so many people you can’t even begin to imagine feel stronger. You are giving someone you don’t even know one of the greatest gifts, and that is that they feel they are not alone.
So, that is my little rant for the day… Don’t forget to smile!
GO TEAM!
To begin, I always say, any amount that one can give is greatly appreciated and helps in the fight. I like to tell my friends that instead of that one or two beers at the bar, you could donate that money to my efforts. It’s incredible to think that a simple 10 dollars from merely 10 people raises 100 dollars, which incidently is just about enough to cover the cost of a wig for a woman undergoing chemotherapy. This tactic generally does not work. So, I will go for the more tangible.
Two weeks ago I held a Christmas party at the Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC through my job at the American Cancer Society. I had been wanting to get my volunteers involved with children’s oncology floors for some time, but with all the projects on my plate, it had taken a while to get this one underway. Finally, in the beginning of November, I began to put together a holiday party in December at Children’s Hospital. I had been in collaboration with some other colleagues and members of another organization and quite frankly, it became more stressful than anything. To put it into perspective, I had a perpetual stress headache for the entire week leading up to the event. There was chaos and miscommunication and it had gone from an event that I was so excited to do to being one that I absolutely dreaded. After the week of stress, I finally decided on Friday to put everything aside, know that my volunteers would be great and that we were going to put on a great day for the kids.
Sunday of the party came and I headed off to Children’s Hospital with 75 tiny milk cartons glued to paper plates, boxes and boxes of graham crackers, dozen cans of frosting, many bags of candy, tissue paper, the Polar Express book, a Karaoke CD and about a hundred teddy bears all in preparation for the activities we had planned for the kids. If you couldn’t tell, the milk cartons, icing, graham crackers and candy were all the materials needed to make gingerbread houses. We were there from 2-5pm that day and saw anywhere between 5 and 20 kids at any given time. We began the party with each of my volunteers sitting at one of the tables in the craft room making their gingerbread houses. The first boy came in with his sister and sat next to me, his name was Miguel and he looked about 8 years old-turns out he was 15. The boy was the cancer patient and his sister, who was about 10 was there to support him. He had a hearing aid and several other issues going on. I talked him through how to put together the house and piece by piece we put it together. As Miguel worked on his house, another young girl by the name of Jennifer came in. Jennifer must not have even been ten years old yet and was hooked up to a machine, which she maneuvered round like a seasoned pro. She had no hair, but wore a pretty pink bandana, matching her pink fingernails and pink shoes. In addition, Jennifer wore a hospital gown and a mask, as she was one of the inpatients. Between Jennifer and Miguel, I thought to myself for a moment that I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get through the afternoon. My eyes were beginning to well up, but I fought it and pulled myself together. From there, we had about 15 kids join the room working with all my fantastic volunteers building the most creative gingerbread houses. Some of the kids tended to enjoy eating their houses more than they liked to build them. In fact, one of the young boys sitting at a table across the room from me asked my volunteer, ‘Who made this frosting?,’ ‘Betty Crocker did,’ my volunteer told him, and the boy answered ‘Where does this Betty Crocker live, I want to go to her house!?’. We had quite the laugh.
Many of the nurses came in and saw what a wonderful time we were all having. At one point, I went up to one of the inpatient rooms to see a young girl who just had brain surgery, she was 8 years old. She was upset she couldn’t come to the party, so I brought up the materials to make her gingerbread house. Many of the other inpatient nurses came down to get supplies for their patients who also were not allowed out of their rooms. They were all so happy to see the kids having a great time.
After the gingerbread houses, we did a little holiday karaoke and then we had the children break off into two different groups and using white, green, gold and red tissue paper, dress up two of my volunteers as frosty. After an initial hesitation, the kids really got into it. By the end, all of us were in the room laughing at the two volunteers dressed head to toe in tissue paper as Frosty. By the end of the day, all the stress of the event was forgotten and I realized that it turned out to be more than I could have imagined. What a great day of work.
Okay okay, so what is the point of my story? The day at Children’s hospital was absolutely incredible. It’s incredible to see these kids, barely even 10 years old, living a life that I can’t even imagine. Later that evening, I had gotten to thinking of Jennifer and how it didn’t hit me at the time of seeing her that she had no hair. Because I work for the Cancer Society, I am used to women who have lost their hair; however, that night when I thought of Jennifer, it made me even more amazed at the spirit she has. I said to my roommate Erin, who came with me that day, I remember how cruel kids were at her age for the silliest reasons, can you imagine being her age and not having any hair? There was another girl there by the name of Sandra who was just one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. The nurse told me at the end of the event how excited she was to see Sandra so happy because it was the first time in a month that she was able to leave her room. And she did leave her room, but dressed in head to toe in hospital gowns with gloves and mask on. But you could see the smile in her eyes.
The point of my story is this. I am not touched personally by cancer. I am not touched personally by blood cancer, but I also know I do not want anyone in my life to ever go through the things that I get to see on a daily basis. Your donation has the power to prevent a child like Sandra to ever have to be in a hospital. Your donation has the power to help those there get better.
Perhaps I am lucky in that everyday between my job and my involvement with Team In Training that I get to meet incredible individuals like Sandra and Jennifer and Miguel to remind me that what I do is so important. I chose my career and my participation as a charity runner because the things in my life have made me want people going through whatever they are to know they are never alone. Without fail, you get this sense from those honored teammates of ours that know about Team In Training. Specifically, the honored teammate that spoke at our breakfast 3 weeks ago told us that when her treatments got too tough, or things were just seeming too big, she thought of the wave of people dressed in purple crossing the finish line of their events, and she knew she was not alone. Many of you reading this do not get the chance to listen to the beneficiaries of the donations that come in through these wonderful events. You don’t get to hear someone with leukemia tell you that the thought of what you do makes them feel stronger and not alone. But I’m here to tell you that the dollars you donate to me, the dollars that I represent with every step I take, are helping so many people you can’t even begin to imagine feel stronger. You are giving someone you don’t even know one of the greatest gifts, and that is that they feel they are not alone.
So, that is my little rant for the day… Don’t forget to smile!
GO TEAM!
Why Another 26.2.....
Well it’s a little less than a year later, and I am back with Team In Training to do another 26.2 miles while also raising money to find a cure for blood cancers! This marathon takes me to Nashville to run on April 25th—5 days after my 25th birthday! Many of you may have known that I had attempted to run the Marine Corps Marathon in October this past year following the first marathon in June, but I think my body was just burnt out and needed a break, so I deferred my race number until next year.
While I am not one hundred percent confident that my body is ready for another race (mostly due to stress), I decided that I wanted to join up with TNT for my second round after going to watch the Marine Corps Marathon in October. After a bit of hesitation (I didn’t want to feel like a quitter watching a marathon I had signed up to do), I decided to go and cheer on some friends, and one of my former Coaches for my San Diego season, run with a few of my old Team In Training teammates. Now, for everyone that has read my blog in the past, or has talked to me since my experience in San Diego, you know the enthusiasm I have for the marathon. However, I have to say, watching the marathon was just about as inspiring for me, if not more, than running it was. Perhaps it was because I went as someone who has already completed one, but watching thousands of people of all ages, races and abilities pass before me to get to the finish line was just so incredible. My friends and I stood at mile 18, the time when things get to be really tough, and clapped and screamed for literally 4 hours straight. We were there for the first man and woman to pass and stayed until the very last person went by, with the cop car following them and all. So, you may ask, why is it so inspiring to watch crazy people run so many miles?
I think the marathon and any endurance race is such a testament and tangible piece of evidence of the human spirit. To begin, watching the leaders, both the men and women, who pass by with such apparent ease and grace, looking as if they have barely broken a sweat, is almost an unreal sight on its own. Then, behind them are thousands of everyday people. The elite runners barely make up 5% of the race, leaving 95% or more racing towards the finish. Us non-elite runners have NO chance of coming in first, of gaining any fame or taking home any money. So, why do we do it? We do it because we are all trying to prove something. I’m not even sure if we all know what it is what we want to prove, but you can see it in the faces of each runner as they pass you on the sidelines. I think it definitely helped to have gone through one to really appreciate what was happening in front of me. As someone who has been there before and was standing at mile 18, it was easy for me to understand what most of them were feeling. Mile 18 is when what you are doing really starts to set in. The, pardon my language, ‘oh fuck what the hell was I thinking signing up for this?!’ Before that, thanks to the adrenaline, you are enjoying the ride. But at around mile 18, you start to notice pains and realize, oh shit I have another 8.2 miles to go. Many many people, Lance Armstrong included, have been quoted as saying, 13.1 miles is NOT halfway through the marathon, but rather it’s when you hit mile 20 that you are at your halfway point. Mile 18 is just about there. So, for all intense purposes, I think that miles 18-26.2 is when that human spirit that I was talking about really shines through. You see it in every one of the faces that passes by you. I have seen many movies/interviews with even the elite runners that talk about the absolute struggles of the marathon. Yes, even those individuals who at mile 18 look un-phased by 18 miles, are hurting and are battling through, and even though you may not SEE it, you know they are because that is the marathon. You see it in those who hear your cheers of encouragement and although they are appreciative, are at the point in their run that they would really rather tell you to just shut up, as they struggle to tell themselves to keep going. You see it in the face of the charity runners, who proudly wear their causes on their racing shirts and as you scream out, “GO TEAM,” burst out into a smile. You see it in the face of the stranger who is struggling and you call out the name on their shirt and even if it is just for a few steps, they speed up, just a bit. You see it in the man who has no legs and is peddling his way with his arms on a skateboard. You see it in the last man in the race, being hurried along by the cut-off car. Maybe I am nieve in thinking that anyone, runner or not, who watches a marathon would be moved, but I think it’s impossible not to be. I think it’s impossible because how is it not inspiring to watch so many people at the same time conquer things they might have thought unimaginable? As I said, it’s the closest thing to a tangible understanding of what life is all about-every day people conquering things they thought unimaginable.
Clearly, I didn’t leave my spectator experience of the marathon upset that I did not participate. Rather, I left inspired to sign up for my next one. It was as if I remembered why I love running again. So, here I am, about 5 months out and back with TNT again. This season, I am not only running as a member of TNT, but I have gotten a bit more involved and I am a Team Captain. As a Team captain, I am a mentor to the members on my team, helping them with fundraising tips, team building and tips on what to expect. Because of the holidays, I have only seen my team twice, once at the Kick-off breakfast and then at our first run. At the Kick-off breakfast, I decorated my table with different colored garland, mardi gras beads, purple pom-poms and then made goodie bags for each of my team members that consisted of Gu (the energy gel), silly star sunglasses, ridiculous little wristbands, candy and Accelerade. After the first run, a few of us went out to breakfast together and got to know one another a bit more. Between my teammates, the rest of the teams, and my fellow Team Captains, I think this season is going to be a blast all around! We have already made plans for game nights/pasta Fridays before Saturday runs, and I can tell that this group definitely likes to have as much fun as they do sweat it out in the many miles!
My goal this season is to get my teammates across that 26.2 mark in April and to fall in love with running. I truly want to go out to Nashville in April and have fun with the Country music and have as much of a great experience as I did in San Diego. Along the way, I definitely would like to raise a good chunk of money to go towards finding a cure for blood cancer—which I will talk about in my next blog.
Until then, I’ll see you out on the trails. Don’t forget to smile!
GO TEAM!
While I am not one hundred percent confident that my body is ready for another race (mostly due to stress), I decided that I wanted to join up with TNT for my second round after going to watch the Marine Corps Marathon in October. After a bit of hesitation (I didn’t want to feel like a quitter watching a marathon I had signed up to do), I decided to go and cheer on some friends, and one of my former Coaches for my San Diego season, run with a few of my old Team In Training teammates. Now, for everyone that has read my blog in the past, or has talked to me since my experience in San Diego, you know the enthusiasm I have for the marathon. However, I have to say, watching the marathon was just about as inspiring for me, if not more, than running it was. Perhaps it was because I went as someone who has already completed one, but watching thousands of people of all ages, races and abilities pass before me to get to the finish line was just so incredible. My friends and I stood at mile 18, the time when things get to be really tough, and clapped and screamed for literally 4 hours straight. We were there for the first man and woman to pass and stayed until the very last person went by, with the cop car following them and all. So, you may ask, why is it so inspiring to watch crazy people run so many miles?
I think the marathon and any endurance race is such a testament and tangible piece of evidence of the human spirit. To begin, watching the leaders, both the men and women, who pass by with such apparent ease and grace, looking as if they have barely broken a sweat, is almost an unreal sight on its own. Then, behind them are thousands of everyday people. The elite runners barely make up 5% of the race, leaving 95% or more racing towards the finish. Us non-elite runners have NO chance of coming in first, of gaining any fame or taking home any money. So, why do we do it? We do it because we are all trying to prove something. I’m not even sure if we all know what it is what we want to prove, but you can see it in the faces of each runner as they pass you on the sidelines. I think it definitely helped to have gone through one to really appreciate what was happening in front of me. As someone who has been there before and was standing at mile 18, it was easy for me to understand what most of them were feeling. Mile 18 is when what you are doing really starts to set in. The, pardon my language, ‘oh fuck what the hell was I thinking signing up for this?!’ Before that, thanks to the adrenaline, you are enjoying the ride. But at around mile 18, you start to notice pains and realize, oh shit I have another 8.2 miles to go. Many many people, Lance Armstrong included, have been quoted as saying, 13.1 miles is NOT halfway through the marathon, but rather it’s when you hit mile 20 that you are at your halfway point. Mile 18 is just about there. So, for all intense purposes, I think that miles 18-26.2 is when that human spirit that I was talking about really shines through. You see it in every one of the faces that passes by you. I have seen many movies/interviews with even the elite runners that talk about the absolute struggles of the marathon. Yes, even those individuals who at mile 18 look un-phased by 18 miles, are hurting and are battling through, and even though you may not SEE it, you know they are because that is the marathon. You see it in those who hear your cheers of encouragement and although they are appreciative, are at the point in their run that they would really rather tell you to just shut up, as they struggle to tell themselves to keep going. You see it in the face of the charity runners, who proudly wear their causes on their racing shirts and as you scream out, “GO TEAM,” burst out into a smile. You see it in the face of the stranger who is struggling and you call out the name on their shirt and even if it is just for a few steps, they speed up, just a bit. You see it in the man who has no legs and is peddling his way with his arms on a skateboard. You see it in the last man in the race, being hurried along by the cut-off car. Maybe I am nieve in thinking that anyone, runner or not, who watches a marathon would be moved, but I think it’s impossible not to be. I think it’s impossible because how is it not inspiring to watch so many people at the same time conquer things they might have thought unimaginable? As I said, it’s the closest thing to a tangible understanding of what life is all about-every day people conquering things they thought unimaginable.
Clearly, I didn’t leave my spectator experience of the marathon upset that I did not participate. Rather, I left inspired to sign up for my next one. It was as if I remembered why I love running again. So, here I am, about 5 months out and back with TNT again. This season, I am not only running as a member of TNT, but I have gotten a bit more involved and I am a Team Captain. As a Team captain, I am a mentor to the members on my team, helping them with fundraising tips, team building and tips on what to expect. Because of the holidays, I have only seen my team twice, once at the Kick-off breakfast and then at our first run. At the Kick-off breakfast, I decorated my table with different colored garland, mardi gras beads, purple pom-poms and then made goodie bags for each of my team members that consisted of Gu (the energy gel), silly star sunglasses, ridiculous little wristbands, candy and Accelerade. After the first run, a few of us went out to breakfast together and got to know one another a bit more. Between my teammates, the rest of the teams, and my fellow Team Captains, I think this season is going to be a blast all around! We have already made plans for game nights/pasta Fridays before Saturday runs, and I can tell that this group definitely likes to have as much fun as they do sweat it out in the many miles!
My goal this season is to get my teammates across that 26.2 mark in April and to fall in love with running. I truly want to go out to Nashville in April and have fun with the Country music and have as much of a great experience as I did in San Diego. Along the way, I definitely would like to raise a good chunk of money to go towards finding a cure for blood cancer—which I will talk about in my next blog.
Until then, I’ll see you out on the trails. Don’t forget to smile!
GO TEAM!
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