Why we train

This summer, I'll be competing in a triathlon through Team in Training (TNT), a charity organization run by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). LLS is an organization devoted to fighting blood cancers: leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma. My life has been directly impacted by the latter: my uncle Tiny passed away last year after a very long fight with myeloma. His cancer was diagnosed over ten years ago, and ruined his kidneys in short order and forced him on to dialysis for years. Even a kidney transplant from one of his brothers provided only borrowed time, but that extra time was incredibly precious. If not for the treatment methods that have been developed in my lifetime, he would have never been able to see his younger daughter grow up in to the young woman she is today. A messy divorce many years ago more or less cut him off from his elder daughter. In his last years she reconnected with him on her own, and has rejoined our family. His daughters are now close friends despite growing up in different households. These years gave our family a chance to mend itself. Without groups like LLS funding research, this may never have come to pass.

A year ago my girlfriend Katie ran in her first triathlon through Team in Training to honor her grandfather and I did my best to support her and cheer her on. Through the five month program she and I met many new caring and inspiring friends who helped Katie to finish her first triathlon in San Diego. Last April we had just returned from a training weekend with her team when my mother called with word that Tiny had passed away. I knew not long after that I wanted to honor my uncle by racing through Team in Training. That is why this year I am raising money for the LLS while training to swim 1.5 km, bike 40km, and run 10km in an Olympic distance triathlon. Days where I wake up with sore joints and muscles are nothing compared to the pain that cancer patients suffer every day. I'm fortunate to have the heath to participate in such events, and I think Tiny would be happy to see the positive changes that TNT has made in my own life. Many of the people Katie trained and raced with in her first season are back this year as mentors and coaches, and I've made many more friends on this year's team.

Since its founding in 1949, the LLS has raised over 600 million dollars for research to cure blood cancer and to support families stricken by it. When I meet my fundraising goal, my supporters and I will have contributed nearly three thousand dollars to those who need it to perform research, and to those who need it to become survivors. If I can help save even one family from the hard times that cancer caused my own family, it will be worth it to me.