Thanks to everyone who supported my fundraising work. Together we collected $2,600. The entire Team in Training program collected over $300,000 at the Santa Barbara Half-Marathon, so we contributed only slightly less than 1%, which is none too shabby for my first fundraising effort.
So what did we do collectively with our $2600? We donated enough money to buy 5 weeks worth of Gleevec, which is a drug used to treat Chronic Myelogenous Luekemia (CML). So basically, we have helped one person stay alive for another 5 weeks. That’s something about which to be proud.
Once again, thank you for all of your support.
Alejandro
The deed is done. Last Saturday I awoke with at an ungodly hour and went for a 13 mile run along the beach in Santa Barbara. And that sentence makes it seem orders of magnitude easier than it was. The bum foot was on good behaviour, i.e. it didn’t hurt at all, but blisters and general fatigue wore me down. But hey, I finished, which was my goal all along.
And I can not be that damaged, because I am already planning my next half-marathon — just not this year.
Well, I run the Santa Barbara Half-Marathon tomorrow. For the last month I have had an injured foot so I have not actually run for quite a while. October has been filled with cross-training and cross-fingers as I hope the foot doesn’t hurt tomorrow. The biggest challenge? The longest I have yet run is 8 miles, so let’s see how the leap to 13 miles goes.
It’s not too late to donate! The race really is just a conceit to drive some charity, namely fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. So if you have not donated yet, please do. Thanks to all who already have!
Have a great weekend. If your bored, you can find me limping around Santa Barbara tomorrow night, mumbling “What was I thinking?”
So far I have raised $950 in six weeks, and I have only recently begun to push the fundraising. Thanks to all of you who have donated already! Fourteen of you have helped me make a good start. I should be able to make $3000 by November 3rd.
What does $950 get us? A 15 day supply of Gleevec, a life saving drug for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Somewhere out there a CML victim will live for 15 days longer because of our contributions. (I’ll write more about CML and Gleevec in the future.)
Here’s who have contributed:
- Anderson, Jennifer
- Belden, David
- Bloom, Rebecca
- Braman, Julia
- Kierce, Steiner and Diane
- Lambert, John
- Marinova, Margarita
- Mindock, Jennifer
- Mineiro, Nicholle
- Pascual Lopez, Angela y Pau
- Ramos, Mayrim
- Santiago, Nilda A.
- Soto, Alejandro
- Vazquez, Victoria
Thanks to all of you for your donations.
Published at September 8, 2007
in Training.
This week was a “Step Back Week”. After working our way up to a 6 mile run, we dropped back. The runs during the week were shorter and today’s long run was only 4 mile. It’s crazy to think that I now found the 4 miles to be okay. Sure, I am running really slow with strategically placed walks throughout, but still I went out for an hour and felt ok afterwards. A couple of months ago, just twenty minutes would have finished me.
Because of the UCLA home game, we ran at Hahamongna Park just north of the Rose Bowl. Hahamongna, once known as Devil’s Gate, is just south of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where I used to work. The park encompasses part of the Arroyo Seco wash and creek where Von Karmon and his graduates launched some of the earliest rockets in the United States. We essentially ran right through the launch area. Half of the launch area is now just the park, the other half is part of the JPL parking lot (which we also ran through). Most people who come to Devils’ Gate have no idea that they are walking through part of the early history of rocketry.
Here’s the route we took for the 4 mile run. JPL is the group of roads just northwest of Devil’s Gate Reservoir.
Finally, don’t forget to donate!
Published at August 25, 2007
in Training.
I thought I would show some of the routes we have been running. Almost all of my running is done at the Rose Bowl park in Pasadena, CA. Because of its marked running and bike lanes and its residential setting, the Rose Bowl is a great place for running and biking. Some of the other posts have photos showing this.
The most common route I run is the 3mi/5k loop around the main part of the Rose Bowl park.
For today’s run, we used an out and back 5 mile course.
Published at August 25, 2007
in Training.
Well, somehow I managed to run today’s five mile in 1 hour and 6 minutes (1:06:00), which is an average of 13:20 per mile, well over my original 16:00 per mile pace. Crazy. I knew I was running fast at the beginning, but that average 30 seconds faster than my first minute. I picked up speed as I went.
Of course, for many of you reading this, these are slow paces. But I couldn’t run a mile a month ago, so I’ll take these small victories.
Finally, don’t forget to donate!
Published at August 11, 2007
in Training.
So I am back from today’s team training session. Today we were place in our pace groups and then went for a 4 mile run around the Rose Bowl, including a little side diversion on a dirt trail in order to get the extra mile. My pace group averaged 14:13 min/mile. I know, that’s really slow. But considering that a few months ago I couldn’t run for more than a few minutes, I am pretty happy. I handled the run just fine. I even began to think that the pace may be too slow, but the rational part of my brain put a stop to that. I am going to see how the 6 mile run in two weeks goes before I adjust the pace.
For those who haven’t run a marathon, here’s a surprising detail: we are encouraged to include walking in the runs. One of the coaches, who just competed in an Iron Man last week and finished third in her age group, emphasized that in the full half-marathon or marathon the best strategy was to cycle between running and walking (for example, run 5 minutes and then walk a minute). This helps extend the muscle endurance. For someone like me starting from scratch, this is great, both for physical as well as psychological reasons.
Well, I’ll keep up the running. You just don’t forget to donate!
Published at August 4, 2007
in Training.
This is how the Team in Training works: volunteers meet on Saturday at 7am for a training session. Each session includes time with the coaches to cover running strategies and injury prevention, a distance run with your pace group, and a team meeting to discuss fundraising strategies. For the first training session, held today, we ran a timed 5k route in order to determine our pace group. Over the next few days the coaches will then group us by similar pace times, so that we can train with people of similar running capability. This is great for me, because I get bored running alone. I quickly start asking myself why I am running alone and the answers never lead to anything good.
Of course, during the week I have to run alone. We have a schedule of running and cross-training that we need to keep during the week to be ready for the long runs on Saturday. So I’ll have to build some running self-discipline (although if any of you in Pasadena are looking for a slow running partner to boost your ego, I am available. 
).
Here’s a photo of our Saturday training location: the Rose Bowl. The loop around the Rose Bowl is a perfect 5k so it makes a great location for running (and also cycling, rollerblading, etc. . . . it’s always a busy place).
Well, I have decided to join Team in Training, a fundraising and race training program run by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In this program, people sign up for a race (running, cycling, triathalon, etc.). In return for organized training by coaches and mentors, the volunteers agree to fundraise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This is a great cause that helps cancer victims as well as the volunteers in the races, since the volunteers who are raising money are often looking to get in shape and improve their own health.
Getting in shape and raising money for cancer victims — that’s the two primary goals of a Team in Training volunteer. Those are also the two goals that I personally want to pursue. My mother was a victim of multiple myeloma, which is a blood/bone marrow cancer. Much of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s work focuses on the development of treatments and cures for multiple myeloma. So fundraising with Team in Training will help other mothers who are facing this fatal disease. At the same time, I need to get in shape and improve my health. This is a win-win for me.
Hopefully, this is a win-win for you. Donate to the Team in Training cause and you will help fight a multitude of blood and bone marrow cancers. That alone is a win-win.
I will use the blog to track my training, to track my fundraising, and to educate everyone on the various diseases that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fight. So, bookmark this site or add the feed to your newsreader so you can keep up with the events and news. And don’t forget to donate!
