Pre-Kick Off Thoughts - What Am I Doing and Why?

I just wanted to share what I hope to be writing in this blog.... For those of you who don't know, I have signed up for IronMan USA in Lake Placid on July 23, 2006. During the next 10 months, I will be training with a group called Team In Training, or TNT, an organization that helps people prepare for endurance events (they have other teams like running, cycling, etc) in return for fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I have been a part of 4 different TNT teams over the past two years and it has always been a great experience for me. I have met a lot of great people and raised several thousand dollars along the way. I finally decided to take both the training and the fundraising to the next level, and thus signed up for IronTeam 2006. I will be training 5-6 days a week for the next 10 months as well as fundraising $9000 to help the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society achieve its mission: to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Well, that's what I'm doing. After explaining this to people, the first question is typically, "Why? Why would you want to do an IronMan? Why would you want to raise $9000?" I wish I had some great philosophical answer, but the answer is really simple, "Because I can." During my first TNT experience, I started out with zero connections to the Cause; in other words, I personally didn't know anybody who had a blood related cancer nor did I know anyone who had a friend or family member with this type of cancer. The closest connection I had was after reading Lance Armstrong's book. The motivation for me to join TNT that first season two years ago was actually pretty selfish: to get myself in shape and meet new people. Since then, I have met many great people through TNT who have been affected by these blood related cancers; from friends and family members of people who have lost their lives to cancers, to survivors, to those who are still in the painful process of fighting the disease, each of their stories have motivated me to take on this next challenge.

So, during the next few months I hope to record my thoughts about training, fundraising, and anything else that I think might be interesting to go back and reflect on once this is all over.