Corporate Sponsors, anyone?

My race jersey for San Diego — and the jerseys of 199 other TNT marathoners — contained the links and logo for my two Corporate Sponsors last season:  ABSiCorp.com and USHealthyPet.net.  Deadline for this season is July 17 so let me tell you what benefits you get as a Corporate Sponsor.

1.  For donations of $1,000 or more, you get your link or logo on 200 of our race jerseys for this season.  Since this season includes the national NIKE Women’s Marathon in San Diego and the 10,000 runner Denver Marathon, that’s great exposure.  And TNT will send you one of those jerseys to display in your office, or wear, if you like!

2.  For donations of $2,500 or more, in addition to #1 above, you get to have your information in our season handbooks and you get to attend our local TNT events, set up a booth, and/or distribute your logo materials.

3.  For donations of $5,000 or more, in addition to #1 and #2 above, you get to have your link on the Rocky Mountain TNT website.

Here’s the cool part.  Your donations can be “in total”, meaning, the Company doesn’t have to make the full donation.  If, for example, 10 employees donate $100 each, that would count at the $1,000 donation as long as they donated through the same TNT participant and that participant fills out the appropriate Sponsorship forms.  Or, you might have a company officer donate $500 and the company match it $500.  That would count, just be sure your TNT participant gets the forms in on time.

Remember, the deadline for the TNT Fall 09 Season is July 17, which is coming up fast.  But if we miss that deadline, I’m sure we can submit the paperwork to get your name or logo on the Winter Season’s race jerseys!

My Skins Compression Tights ROCK

Everybody has been asking me about the black and turquoise tights that I wore at the San Diego Marathon.  I wear them at our Saturday team trainings, too.

Teresa in her Skins crossing the finish line!

They’re called “Skins”. 
http://www.skins.net/gb/en/HowSkinsWork

I bought mine at Runners Roost here in Denver.

Guys, these Skins really rock!  I’ve done several half marathons and in our Saturday trainings have done up to 20 miles with my team.  Lots of runners, including myself, get a little fluid retention and our hands swell.  My hands by Mile 8 used to look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy.  Not any more, not with skins.  The compression really helps with circulation and I don’t accumulate fluids any more.  So cool!

That was the main reason I bought Skins but then I found out they really regulate body temperature.  Since a lot of our summer training is on 90-100 degree days, I thought I’d try them out.  I can tell you, I’ve worn them on 80-90 degree days and my face doesn’t even get red!  They really do keep my body cool when it’s hot and warm when it’s cold and rainy.

And last, they are SPF50.  Since I’ve had a couple of pre-cancer moles removed, this is VERY important.  I only have to put sunscreen on my face and neck and hands, everything else is SPF50 throughout the whole event! 

In past events, I have done a lot of kinesiotaping.  I haven’t needed it at all with my skins, my knees and legs are well-supported by the way their stitching comes together over the muscles.

Oh, and hey, how is this for a bonus?  They have some kind of bio odor guard to keep them from getting stinky, so after those long, hot runs… let’s just say I’m a bit less fragrant than my teammates

You want to be careful with your Skins.  I wash mine in a special athletic laundry detergent that I get at the running store.  Use NO fabric softener and line dry, do not put in the dryer.  They cost about $200 for the top and bottom so you want to protect your investment.

I totally love my skins, they are part of the reason I am doing better on my marathon runs.

Migraine Cures

As you may recall, last year, about seven weeks before the Denver Marathon, my migraines ramped up to fever pitch and they’ve been way out of control for the last nine months.  I actually went to the ER a few days before the Denver Marathon and had to scale back to a half marathon.

I have meds but I gotta tell you, these headaches knock the socks off of me.  They’re a whole-body thing, I can’t even do a situp on a migraine day.  I continued to train on Saturdays and to work out with my trainer at the gym twice a week but I didn’t have near the energy that I do when I’ve been migraine-free for several weeks in a row.  I don’t stop working out or training with my team, although I will go home to bed rather than doing yardwork.  If I stayed in bed to get through three or four days of migraine, I’d have no life, so I just carry on. 

I won’t tell you HOW we found all these answers, I’ll just give you the answers.  Migraines are very individual, this is what we found is working for me.  It’s a “package” solution.  If I let up on any one thing, I’ll get a migraine. 

But it’s been such an amazing difference to have gone two months with only a couple of small headaches and maybe one big one, vs. four big ones every week for months on end.  Such a difference!

What did I do?

1.  Prayer – I did a major “prayer experiment” where I set a timer and prayed for at least 20 minutes, oftentimes longer, uninterrupted.  I read my scriptures and kept a journal in conjunction with this.  This prayer effort wasn’t about me, by the way, although I did tell Heavenly Father I wasn’t going to quit until we fixed my headache problem.  I had a prayer list of about 60 people and I went through each person, by name, to petition the Lord on their behalf and to ask Him to show me if there was anything He wanted me to do for them.   I started receiving lots of special insights into what would work for my headaches, and the medical people in my life (my doctor, my chiropractor) also seemed to get cool flashes of inspiration.  So I first want to give God all the glory for what has happened.

2.  My doctor had me try a couple of nighttime anti-seizure meds on the theory that migraines are a sort of brain seizure.  We went through a couple of meds before we found one that made a tangible difference.  Neurontin.  I take it at night.  If I feel a headache coming on, I can take from two to six of these little pills.  They don’t get rid of the headache but they prevent it from ramping up to a really big one.

3.  Thyroid - Got some thyroid stuff going on, completely expected at my age.  I will be seeing an endocrinologist this week.  I do have the sense that this is a major factor.  If we can take care of this thing, I won’t have to do so much prophylactic (preventative) stuff.

4.  Blood pressure – Way high even on meds, could be thyroid-related.  Trying to get this one under control, too.  It shouldn’t be so out of control given that I exercise and I eat lots of fruit (potassium).

5.  Chiropractic  neurology – My chiropractor had me see a specialist and they felt like they saw some things out of balance.  I can’t explain it all but they made a lot of sense. 

6.  As a result of that visit, I started on a morning liquid mineral supplement.  Apparently, magnesium, calcium, zinc, copper have something to do with migraines.  I’m a vegetarian so I could believe I am low on certain minerals, and these headaches came on just after I went vegetarian six years ago.  (They were under control, almost non-existent, for three years, and that was definitely due to a nutritional supplement that I was taking).  If I skip these supplements for a few days in a row, I’ll get a big headache again.  So this is the nutritional angle.

7. Massage - Enough said.

8.  Menses and menopause – Well, I’m at that age.  Hormones are definitely a factor.  I won’t bore you with the details!

9.  Medical hypnosis – My doctor has suggested this for six years and I’ve never believed in it so I put him off.  In desperation, I finally did it.  I have to say, this is definitely part of the solution.  It’s not what you see on TV or in those group entertainment things.  I am completely awake, it’s not the goofy “you’re getting very sleepy” thing.  My MD is certified, I’d look for MDs who do it.  They teach it in medical school but it’s optional so a lot of doctors don’t believe in it or practice it.  My doctor teaches me to do it myself.  There’s a sequence to learning it, beginning with relaxation steps.  There’s a lot of imagery, visualizing, that’s how you reach your subconscious mind.  He asks me to describe my headaches and then he uses those terms to plant suggestions to “fix” them.  Like, if it feels like a vise, he has me imagine unwinding the vise.  If it feels like my brain is on fire, he has me imagine standing under a cool waterfall in a beautiful grotto (my safe place).   He doesn’t want the headache entirely gone because it could be telling me something.  So he planted the suggestion that I would get a very itchy nose instead of the pain.  And I’ll be darned, the very first time I was sitting in my hotel room, the day before the San Diego Marathon, I itched my nose for about 10 minutes and then it dawned on me — I’ll bet that was a headache!  So I laid down for an hour or so and took an Imitrex to give it a chance to go away.

In the last two months, I’ve definitely had times where I forget to fill a prescription or to take a morning supplement and then I pay for it with a huge headache.  So it’s clear that the underlying CAUSE of the headaches is still there.  But we’ve found the right combination of things to help keep them at bay while we tackle the underlying causes.

If you’re reading this and you’re subject to migraines, what I would tell you is, don’t look for any ONE cure.  You may need a combination and that could include nutrition, exercise, body work, and relaxation as well as medicine.

And anyone with chronic pain of any kind should try medical hypnosis.  Like my doctor said, if it cuts you back from four headaches a week to four headaches a month, that’s an improvement, right? 

So, I’m feeling better than I felt in months.  I ran a little 5k a few weeks ago and won the best in my class!  It makes such a huge difference to be well-rested and headache free weeks on end!  I’m SO GRATEFUL!!

Yes indeed, I finished my first full marathon!

Hello from Teresa the Marathon Runner in Colorado!
 
These are my pictures, video, and story about how I got through my first full marathon — all 26.2 miles!  It was just this last weekend in San Diego.   And remember, you can sponsor my next run at http://www.IRunToFightCancer.com.  

Teresa at Mile 19

 
San Diego was the end of my 2nd season and I’m now in my 3rd season with Team in Training.  I’ll be training for the full Denver Marathon in October.  I’ve done three official half marathons with Team in Training and San Diego was my first full.  It was so much fun, I just can’t quit!
 
I always have a motivational story that keeps me going.  This season, I am a mentor and have 15 people to shepherd along.   One is a lovely 31-year-old girl named Kelli, getting married this September, who just found out she has an incurable “follicular lymphoma”.  She only has about 10 years to live unless we come up with better treatment or cure.  Her friends, also on my team, asked if they could run for her.  She said, Hey, I feel great, I’m going to run WITH you!  And she’s not running for herself, she has a friend with leukemia and she is running for HER.  She totally lights up our group when we train on Saturdays.  Is it any wonder why I love this group and want to run marathons until we have a cure?!
 
Here’s something fun for you!  Both a Flickr online slideshow and a video of me crossing the finish line!
 
Flickr photos:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/healthypets/sets/72157619207477638/
 
Movie:  http://elite.competitor.com/webcast/sd/archive.html  Plug in my bib number,  22382.
 
Here are the details, if you want to read all about it
 
I ran-walked in the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon on Sunday, May 31.  Took me 7 hours 18 minutes to finish cause I got tired and just walked after mile 16.  Ran the whole last mile just on pure excitement.  Don’t know what I was ever nervous and twitterpated about because it was the experience of a lifetime.
 
I was tired and sore but so ELATED to be wearing that medal.   I want to do a full marathon every weekend!    The runners on our team generally did it in five to six hours and one super fast guy did it in about four and a half hours.  We ALL loved it
 
San Diego with Team in Training was an absolute BLAST!  I’m thinking NIKE and San Diego are going to be the two events I will always want to do.  The national events are out of state, with nice hotels and huge dinners.  SOOO well organized, you can’t believe it but they really did get 6,000 through the pasta dinner with almost no waiting.  (They did it with about 20 serve yourself long buffet tables with lines on each side).  Incredible. 

Inspiration Dinner and Pasta Party

 
They had an awards ceremony at the pasta dinner and I was surprised to learn how many people raised $10,000 or more this season.  In fact, the top fundraiser for this season, for San Diego, raised $102,000!! 
 
There were two chapters getting on the plane in Denver — one was a team from Florida who were connecting on our flight.  Most of us wore our white training shirts or something with TNT on it.  One sweet young middle-school girl wore a deep purple shirt that said, “Somebody’s running for me” so you KNOW that means she has cancer.  The flight attendant announced who we were and what we were doing and the whole plane chapped and cheered for us!
 
Same thing happened on the way home, only we were wearing our medals.  They announced who we were as we were boarding and gave us little flight pins and shwag as we got onto the plane.  Lots of clapping and cheering.
 
There were 22,000 registered participants, only 13,000 crossed the finish line, and 2200 of the participants were Team in Training!!  1/3 of TNT did the full, the rest did the half, so that let’s you know how popular the halfs are.  There were TNT chapters from all over US and Canada and it was just so cool to be in that sea of purple out there!  You’d meet up with people who were going at your pace and just get to be best buddies.  There isn’t room for me to tell you about all the great people I ran or walked with but let’s just say, one was an 85-year-old WWII POW survivor who was on his 50th marathon.  Oh, man, if HE can do it….
 
There were hundreds of TNT staffers there dressed in purple.  There was a funny cheerleading group of about 20 TNT men wearing purple who were dressed as women, lots of fake you know whats and blond wigs, and they clapped and cheered louder than anyone!  Apparently, there were prizes for the groups that were cheering so I have to believe this group won SOMETHING!  We saw them around Mile 2 and then they got rounded up and showed up again in a later mile.  I was brain-dead by then so I don’t remember which mile but they were as funny as all get out!
 

Team in Training Rocky Mountain Chapter

We had a Mission Mile from mile 4 to 5.  Blood cancer patients lined that whole mile and held up posters that said, “THANK YOU!” and “12-year survivor, thanks!” and “We LOVE you!”  They called out to us by name (cause it was on our shirts) and they cheered and rang cowbells.  It was SO COOL.  You saw little bald-headed kids who were obviously in the middle of chemo or radiation and they were smiling and blowing kisses.
 
There were coaches EVERYWHERE, watching us and running with us and calling out things like “relax your shoulders” and “unclench your hands” and “swing your arms”.  Coach John Ratcliff ran with me around mile 10, I think, and then he and Coach Andy ran with me from about Mile 25 until the finish line.  They ran everybody in, that was so neat.  And then they’d run back out a few miles and catch up with the next person in our Denver Central group and run them in.  They’d tell you where the water stops were and how we were about to the finish line, just around here and over there and raise up your arms and there you are!

I don’t know how anyone — at least, anyone who is not an athlete — finishes a marathon without all of the Team in Training support.  Every step of the way, there was someone I could count on to encourage me and pull me through.

If I’d known it was this easy, I’d have done this a long time ago!

Crossing the finish line!

Last track workout before San Diego Marathon

I met up with about eight of my teammates at Wash Park for our last track workout before our San Diego and Steamboat Springs events. 

I, personally, wasn’t feeling well so I didn’t even change out of my work clothes, just changed into my running shoes so I could walk while everyone was running.

Coach Greg really, really knows his stuff.  The workout was to run a timed mile, and we were all asking each other, What’s with that?!  And, you know, he had us start slow, then get faster, then get faster, then get faster, just like in a marathon, where they don’t want you to start out too fast.

But HERE was what he was really after.  When we came in from our one mile, he had us do ANOTHER mile, only THIS time, do it FASTER than the one we just did.  Go!

His point was that we will all come to a point during the race when we are DONE.  We want to just lay down and die.  No more running left in us.  He wanted us to see that we have enough left in us to go one more mile, even when we’re tired.

I just dragged around for that second mile and I’m pretty sure this is how I’m going to do it in the marathon!  When I feel like I’m dead, I’ll just enjoy the scenery   I  walked, stopped to look at a bunch of cute little goslings that were following their moms around the lake, took some pictures, stopped at the bathroom, wandered back to the finish line long after everyone had run in!

Ah, well, San Diego in just 16 days.

Chiropractic Neurologist and Migraine

I just got back from a very interesting 90 minute visit with my regular chiropractor, Dr. Justin Dukes (Activa Chiropractic) and a chiropractic neurologist who consults out of his clinic, Dr. Michael Pierce of Colorado Springs.  I’m working with my MD doctor, whom I also love and admire, and I’m hoping that all three of these really smart and compassionate men can work together so that I can never have another migraine ever again! 

My chiropractor is also my personal trainer.  God really looks after me, He sent me to my wonderful MD doctor and I believe He also sent me to probably the best trainer at 24 Hour Fitness…  

Anyway, Justin has trained me two or three times a week for the last year.  He SEES my headaches.  Since September, I’ve had them once a week and they last at least three days.  When I have a headache, I go to the gym, anyway.  There are pills that take away the pain but what Justin sees is that I’m totally wiped out a day before and a few days after one of these headaches. 

He really thought Dr. Pierce could help me.  I resisted and resisted because … I don’t know, maybe I didn’t have any hope that anything anybody did would help.  I already saw my MD for a big physical and bloodwork and he’s totally focused on trying to solve my headaches.  But after five days of bad bad bad M’s in the last seven, I was in a mode of taking whatever was offered.  PLEASE, I said.  Set it up.

He asked a ton of questions and did a whole battery of neurologic tests very much like what my various neurologists have done BUT he did them a little bit more.   I so wish my MD could have seen it, he would have really liked what he saw.  Dr. Pierce seriously knows his stuff.  He was describing it to Justin like as if Justin was a medical student so I got in on all the explanations.

I won’t try to tell you their theories or what tests they’d like to see.  It’s enough to say that Dr. Pierce gave me hope.  He told Justin what kinds of things need to be done and we’ll start on Monday.

My sort of “rule” with them is that any kind of blood or saliva or whatever testing they will coordinate with my MD, as does any kind of therapeutic supplement. 

So I’m really really hopeful and I’m discussing this with my MD tomorrow.  I’ve given up probably 30-40% of the last eight months to bad headaches and they are seriously interfering with my goal of completing a full marathon.

Update on my friend Julie with lymphoma

Just as we started my second season with Team in Training, one of my friends was diagnosed with lymphoma.  Julie is a single mom, mother of two boys and one girl, all teens.  She works as a dental hygienist.

She had gone to give blood and they called her after the fact to tell her that there was something wrong with the labs and recommended strongly that she contact her doctor.  That’s how she found out.  Lucky thing, because they caught it at a Stage II, before it had spread too far.

Initially, they told her they would just do four chemotherapies and that would be it, so she was very upbeat.  But after the chemos were done they did some tests and still found lymphoma so they had her do several rounds of radiation.  That discouraged her a bit.

The radiation is done, she didn’t lose all her hair, and how nice was this, her  boss paid for her to get hair extensions.  Her boss has been wonderful, she has actually been working through all of these treatments but has needed to go in the back room to lay down, and the boss has paid her for her days at work.

I saw Julie Monday night when I took over some cat food.  (I’ve been keeping her in dog and cat food since I don’t cook!)  She felt pretty good and was very positive and cheery.  She has a new little rescue Pekinese puppy only 12 weeks old.  It’s so cute! 

Anyway, sometimes you start out with Team in Training just for the exercise and the marathon goal and you learn that people you love have a blood cancer, and it becomes more personal, and that’s what’s happened to me.

Every step I run in training or on my own or at an event is a prayer and a positive action that Julie and all the others will recover and that we will find a cure.

Eighteen days to the marathon … shheeeyikes!

I am seriously getting the jitters!  My body is not at all ready.  I’ve totally lost my good heart rate training and I’ve missed two of the last four long training days.   This is the end of my second season.  I’m a mentor for my third season and will be training for the Denver Marathon.  But sheesh – I am so not ready for San Diego Rock n Roll in just 18 days :(

The problem is that some of my own health issues (horrible migraines) popped up just before the Denver Marathon — I actually spent a night in the Emergency Room the week of the event — and we just have never really gotten them under control.  I’ve been working with both my doctor and my chiropractor…  haven’t really found any answers.

This affects my running in that even with the meds that control the pain, my body is completely whooped for a day before and a few days after each headache.  Since I get about four or five headaches per month, it’s seriously cutting into my cardio time. 

On the good side, I haven’t let it cut into my strength training time with my trainer/chiropractor, Justin.  Even when I’m whooped, we go through the lunge and squat matrices with weights, and that’s twice a week and sometimes on Saturdays.  I might do them slowly so we can’t fit in more leg exercises or upper body, but those basic exercises at least help keep up the flexibility and strength in my legs and hips.  And Justin always does the special stretches with me. 

I did a four-mile walk in my neighborhood this morning and found a little greenbelt area that was very peaceful.  My goal will be to hit that area every day, morning or evening, except on rest days or days when I’m at the gym or with the team.  Hmmm… I guess that means I’ll hit the greenbelt just two days a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays!

Oh, well.  If those Biggest Loser people could do marathons, I ought to be able to do one.  Worst that will happen is I’ll walk most of it.  San Diego is at sea level.  That should make all the difference.  Right???

TNT Mentor Moment – An AWESOME group at Kickoff this morning!

Wow! Can I just say what an awesome new mentor group we have this season?  This is the Denver Central Marathon Team, Fall 09 Season, training for either NIKE or the Denver Marathon taking place in October.

 I can’t believe how lucky I am.  My new mentor group ROCKS!   They are the neatest people, every one of them.

You know, it takes a lot of time to be a mentor.  You go to people’s fundraising events and your own training comes last.  I often go to the gym later on Saturdays to finish my miles.  But it’s just so cool to be with people like this.  They are AMAZING.  They don’t even know it!  Only one-tenth of one percent of all runners ever finish marathons and most of my mentor group aren’t even athletes to begin with.  They’re just ordinary people who did this because they had a special reason.  So that makes them VERY special.  Who doesn’t want to hang out with them?!

And, you know, I believe in a Father in Heaven, it seems like this is a door that He is opening for me. 

Scotty Stevens

There are people around me who need the encouragement of knowing that someone is going to all this time and effort for them. 

My first season, it was the Stevens family.  They lost a seven-year-old son, little Scotty, to leukemia way back when there was no medicine for it, they didn’t even have mediports.  And now, 38 years later, his grown up brother has it.  Jan is a dear, dear friend of mine, she and Doug are like my parents.  I asked them if I could run for their son, Russ.    Do you know, it meant so much to Jan that she has written me a thank you card every week for the last YEAR?!

(They just dropped by my house moments ago to drop off a little gift bag of fruit and veggies and avocados and a card for Mothers Day, wasn’t that sweet!  They treat me like I’m a daughter they never had

Last year, just as the season was starting, one of my single friends, Julie, went to give blood and they told her there was something wrong.  She found out she had lymphoma.  She called me just a little while ago.  The first round of chemo didn’t get it all so she just finished a long round of radiation and she’s worn out.  They’ll know if it got it all in eleven days.  I invited her to come with me to one of our team runs or a breakfast so she can sort of get some of the great “energy” that our team gives off.

And just now, as I was visiting with Jan and Doug, they told me there is someone in our church whose eleven-year-old grandson has leukemia, and they wanted to know if I’d call them and let them know I run for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society?  (Of course I will!)

So, you see, it seems like, for this season in my life, God has a plan and even though it’s very hard for me, physically and time-wise, He wants me to be involved with this group.  And in return, I get to be with these wonderful teammates who have no idea how many lives they are about to touch.

They all have sweet, beautiful stories.  Yesterday was our Kickoff Event, where all the teams from down in Colorado Springs to up in Boulder came together for our initial training.  I’d say there were several hundred of us, mostly walk-runners but we had the cyclists and hikers and tri-athletes, as well.  (I wish I could swim, I want to be a tri-athlete.  You should see how the people hoot and holler when the tris are introduced). 

We had some time before the meeting started so we went around the table to tell what we did for a living and why we joined Team in Training.  Oh, man, what a group!  If there’s ever a crisis, **I** want **these** people with **me**!  We’re pretty much mostly in health care or investments and banking and real estate.  I’m sort of the odd person out — I do computer work and a little animal rescue and pet health products. 

We have Amy, who got her sister in New York to sign up, and her sister reminded her of someone here in Denver who was just diagnosed with lymphoma, and it’s apparently very slow-growing, so she got THAT friend to sign up, too!  So Kelli, that’s her name, signed up and now SHE is in our group, and she’s getting married in September, and she has unwittingly just become an extra hero to us all.  And, you know, she is not running for herself but for a friend of hers who has leukemia. 

And we have new teammates Megan and Ann Marie.  They both have great personal reasons for joining TNT and I’m sorry, I didn’t write everything down and I’m sure I’ll get the details mixed up  .  I’ll update this when they tell us the stories again.  Megan has done marathons before and I think she told me she’d seen TNT at various events and she wanted to get involved.  Ann Marie is an orthodontic resident with the greatest Southern accent.   She goes to school here at CU and since I know some dental and orthodontic students  (I live near the Fitzsimmons campus), I’m going to see if she knows any of them.   (Ann Marie, do you know a McDonough in the program?)

I have to say, at this point, this is one of the reasons I love TNT.  The calibre of people you meet are the very best of the best, who, despite very busy lives and pressures and personal challenges, they want to take the time to make a difference to someone else. 

Denise is in her third season with Team in Training, she was a captain for the Summer team (and, big secret, is a MOST AMAZING fundraiser).  She is returning as an alumni.  And there’s Traci who we didn’t get to meet today but I’ve spoken with her.  She is an alumni, as well, and she can’t wait to train with us this season.  She did a cool thing called “Virtual TNT”, which means you have to be really disciplined and do it all on your own  

Oh, and we have Debbie, who will be a captain but she is just finishing her first season and needs to do her long runs with the Summer team so she won’t join us until she has finished Steamboat Springs on June 7.  I’m really proud of her, she did 20 miles today!! She is a mother of seven, by the way.  I would never have thought someone with children at home could take the time to do this but Debbie’s husband and family totally support her and, in fact, they’re really proud of her and brag on her all the time!   Her husband encouraged her to join up for a second season.  So I say to myself, if a mother of seven can do this, ANYBODY can make the time to do it.

Joan and Lou are also returning alumni.  Joan and Lou  have a dear friend with leukemia, Dave, and they walked the full 26.2 mile Denver Marathon last year;  Dave flew to Denver and walked the last mile with them.  He has since recovered enough to be doing his own TNT half marathon in Texas next weekend.  Joan and Lou are flying to Texas to walk it with him.  And THEN he plans to come to Denver this fall to complete the Denver Marathon with them.  (Did I get that right?!) 

 This was Lou and Joan just before they crossed the finish line at the Denver Marathon last year. Left, Mary Kate, our mentor.  Joan.  Me.  Lou. Dave (their friend). 

Mary Kate, Joan, Teresa, Lou, Dave

If you think that’s all of our team, no way!!  This next group just really touches me.  There is a young lady, Alison, who has had ALL, acute lymphocytic leukemia, for a long time.  She is one of our TEAM heroes and has been for all the seasons that I’ve been with TNT.  Her father is one of our TNT Captains this year, Dr. Bolan (Dr B).  He also does a lot of nutritional coaching.  I’d actually never met him, before, and can’t really say that I’ve met him, yet, because he joined our group after we’d started introductions and was standing across the table!  But he’s cool!

All of the people who work with him decided to join TNT so that one of these days, there will be a cure.  So we have Drew, who is also a chiropractor; Jodie, a massage therapist; and Sonia, who runs the office.  (Yikes, did I get everyone?  Did I get it right?!)

I think, including me, there are 14 in our mentor group.  We may yet have more join since we are all inviting our friends and we may have some alumni.

I am so so so so so so so happy to be with this group of people this season!!  They have no idea the lives who will be touched by what they are doing.  The impact of our Team in Training experience is so far-reaching.  Four people joined up after hearing me talk about it my first season, and soooo many since have told me about a family member with a blood cancer and asked if I would run for them.

I’ll just close this week’s post with a personal note.  I’ll just confess that, while I’ve done several half-marathons and trained up to 20 miles in my first season and 16 miles this season, my training and my health is off and I don’t feel at all in shape to do a full marathon.  I know, all beginners feel this way.   

Hey, but I do plan to go and I’m going to have a great time watching all the Elvis marathoners (they like to set the running Elvi record at the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon .   

P.S.  Drop me a line and just let me know whatever I do is okay.  Okay?

 Teresa

Probably walking her first full marathon but doggone it gonna do it!

San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon May 31, 2009

http://www.IRunToFightCancer.com

SheCanRun.com

What people are asking me about my upcoming marathon

Tell people you are running your first marathon and you’ll see the kinds of  questions people are asking me!

Q.  How long is a marathon?
A. 26.2 MILES.

Q.  How long will it take you to finish it?
A. Me, about 6 1/2 to 7 hours cause I walk a little, run a little.  Fast runners do it in 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours.  Lots of people will do it in five or six hours.  But me, I’ll need practically the whole 7 hours.

Q.  How fast does your heart go?
A.  About 130.
Q.  The whole time???
A.  Well, I run a little, walk a little, so it will go up to 150, drop down to the 110’s. 
Q. What’s your resting heart rate?
A. 60
Q. So you’re an ATHLETE!
A.  lol

Q.  What do you eat to get ready for a marathon? (Knowing I’m a vegetarian)
A.  Lots of pasta the day before.  Good solid meals with whole grains, beans, you know, like sandwiches on whole grain bread, pastas made out of whole grains, Mexican food, Italian food.  Just nothing NEW the week before (so you don’t get sick).

Q. How many calories do you burn when you do a marathon?
A.  Well, the elite runners burn 8,000 calories!!  Me, hmmm, about 500 calories an hour x seven hour is about 3500 calories. 

Q.  Do you eat when you in the race?
A.  Yes, they’ll have all kinds of high calorie “goo” packets that we’ll eat every hour, plus sports drinks.  Our TNT rest stops will probably have string licorice and pretzels.  And I’m dreaming about eating a cheese sandwich while I’m running so I’ll probably take a cheese sandwich and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with me!