I am running a marathon!

Well many people have been asking me if I am journaling my experience, so here I go.
Thank you to everyone for being so supportive of me with the decision to go for this. I have always wanted to run a marathon, you know, someday. Well I have decided that someday will never come if I do not take action. When I found Team in Training it seemed like it found me. For those of you who do not know, Team in Training is a non-profit organization who fundraises for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (blood cancers). The money that is raised goes to support families and patients as they undergo treatment and directly to doctors who are working on finding a cure for cancer (not just how to remove the cancer from a patient but actually how to cure it all together so that no one else will ever have to battle it again) . Team in Training is training me to be prepaired for a marathon on June 21 in Alaska. I am definitely not a runner right now, but they are helping me get to the level that I need to be at to complete the 26.2 mile run. So I have 5 months to get ready.

Many people have also been asking me why I am so interested in raising money for this group. I want to help as many people in my life as can. Unfortunately I do not usually ave money to help out, so I have looked for other ways of helping. In 2001 I started donating blood at our local blood bank. When I started donating they let me know of another kind of donation called aphaeresis , which is a system where they remove a portion of your blood and seperate the platelets and plasma and then return your blood. It takes about 2 hours but is worth it because it helps patients who need clotting factors after surgery or because their blot takes too long to clot. I did this for 5 years and the blood bank started telling me that I was not able to donate any more, but they could not tell me what was going on. About 2 months later I had a stabbing pain in my back and was hospitalized with a blood clot in my lung. It turns out that I was born with some weird issues with my blood, basically I have too much clotting facto in my blood and not enough dissolving factor, ie. I form blot clots. So for me it was an easy fix. I take blood thinners for the rest of my life, and I should be fine (just have to be careful not to bleed because it takes a long time to stop).
So I still do not have a lot of money to donate (even though I will donate what I can), I cannot give blood anymore(they won't take it), so I have found a new way. I run and raise money for people who wish all they needed to do was run a marathon to be healthy. One of my mentors with the program has reminded me twice that I have a choice, he and the other patients do not. hey wake up each morning and have to work at being strong and healthy. I wake up and am healthy and choose to get out there and run and educate people about why.

If this sounds like something you are interested in... they are still accepting teammates. They will train you for a Triathalon, Centry Ride (100 mile bike ride), or a marathon. Also if you would like, I am looking for donations. You can visit my fundraising page. http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/tntgsfKMowers

Thank you again for all of your support through this process.