Proving Myself

Maybe it's that nearing middle age thing that makes guys want to go out and prove they "still got it" or maybe it's just finally time to do it. Whatever the case I know my inspiration is Russ French and wanting to help him out. For those of you that don't know Russ was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma. He is undergoing treatments now. Russ is a husband to Marla and Father to Nolan and Audrey. He coaches baseball and is a friend to all he meets. You can read about his diagnosis and treatments on his blog http://visitruss.blogspot.com/. His diagnosis rocked our comfy group of friends. Knowing that I couldn't help much due to the fact I didn't go to years of medical school I prayed. I wanted to do something to support him. Then I remembered a guy I used to work with did the Marine Corp Marathon with the Lukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training a number of years back. I thought I could possibly do that. I started checking out their website and seeing what I would need to do. It seemed to be a no brainer. All I had to do was sign up, raise some money for blood cancer research and run. The first two things - no problem. The third - well, I'm not what you call an avid runner. I ran because I had to. Coach told me to run to get in shape so I ran. After wrestling I swore I would never run like that again. Over the years I lost my hatred of it and started running a few times a week. Nothing much just a mile or two at the most. So now I have signed up to do the Yuengling Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA in March. I chose that one because, well, because it was sponsored by a beer company. After the run there is a party with free beer and Irish stew. The other one in that timeframe was here in DC but was sponsored by a bank. I like beer way more than I like banks right now so there we have it.
Team In Training (TNT) provides a training schedule, group runs, help with fundraising and moral support. It is a group of dedicated people helping to raise money to find a cure for L&L. So believe it or not I have only missed a couple of training runs but I am running 3 miles at a time now during the week with longer runs on the weekends. We add a mile to the run each Saturday - this weekend is a 5 mile run. I have not run that far in a loooong time. It should be intresting. So far I have not joined in the group runs on the weekends yet. As we add mileage I will have to do that to keep going. I don't run very fast (just over 10 min miles on my 3 mile runs), my legs specifically my calves are weak and scream in pain (though it is starting to get better and when my legs burn I think of Russ getting spinal taps that I hear aren't quite like massages so I keep going) my spirit is strong and I get the mileage in.
I will keep you all posted on my progress, pain and performance. Please, if you are able, go to my fundraising web page http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/shamrock09/breeve and donate.
My minimum is $1900. My goal is to get 100 people to give at least $25 for a total of $2500. More is appreciated and it is all tax deductable.
This will not be the last time I ask you to donate for a cause - just the first this year - which is why I'm not asking for $100's all at once. Just so you can plan - in the Spring we do a walk for James - Juvenile Diabetes and next fall the challenge has been thrown down for the Marine Corp Marathon so I'll hopefully be doing that for TNT.

PS - Rod and Bonnie - Thanks for the Wii - I used it the other day and found out that boxing and tenning are a great way to warm up for my run.