I will spend the next couple months preparing for a half marathon. I will be training with a team and learning how to properly prepare my body to run 13.1 miles. This will be my first endurance event ever. I'm quite excited and challenged by this! It will require lots of commitment and dedication. But running is really only part of what I am doing.
I will be raising funds to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). The mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS is a nonprofit organization that relies on the generosity of individual, corporate and foundation contributions to advance its mission.
The money I raise will go to the society and their research in stopping this disease. A small portion of it will cover the costs of my entry fee into the North Trails Half Marathon in May.
Here are some facts about blood cancers:
An estimated 912,938 people in the United States are living with, or are in remission from, leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, NHL or myeloma.
Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20.
Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and myelodsplastic syndromes research. LLS-funded research has led to key advances in understanding blood cancers and has helped produce new treatments to enhance and prolong lives.
This cause is important to me. God has given me the ability to run. I have the opportunity, choice and ability to train and compete. It will be difficult at times, and I am sure there will be days that I will not feel like training. But I will. I will do it because I know there are people who fight this disease everyday and have not been given the choice whether or not they want to face it.
I will share the stories of the Honorees that I meet through Team In Training. These are people who have fought and are fighting blood cancer.
Your donation is very important to me. It will help me reach my fundraising goal.
Please visit my page and join me in supporting LLS. I appreciate your donation and encouragement!
What makes us dream? What is it deep inside that compels us toward something else, something greater? Often a dream begins with an inspiration. We see a person do something impressive, talented or unusual. We witness nature: rain, a thunderstorm, animals, or the land around us. Nature has always impressed and inspired me. The weather is one thing that man is unable to manipulate or control. No human has the power to call up a storm, dictate where the wind will blow, or place a rainbow in the sky. Man will always be out to conquer nature. We will climb mountains, ride waves, hike deserts and swim through oceans just to get a taste of something distant, new and undiscovered. It’s in our very nature to desire more.
Sometimes there are times in my life when certain themes resurface and repeat. I’ll read about one subject in one book, just to hear someone else talking about the same subject, and then I’ll hear a song with the same ideas. I don’t really believe in coincidences since I believe that our lives are more than just mere happenings. When themes like this begin to surface, I try to pay close attention. While I believe that God will make Himself known however He chooses, I should use the abilities I’ve been given to seek after Him. If such repetitive subjects should arise in my life, is it not an ideal time to draw into Him and ask, why?
The theme of dreams has been surfacing through a number of facets recently. I keep hearing it come up in songs mainly. But, a couple weeks ago, it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Martin Luther King famously pegged the words, "I have a dream..." He was a civil rights leader who stood up for freedom and spoke these words in a speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Today, these words are famous because they were revolutionary at the time, and his dreams have become a reality. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Luther's speech, leadership, and life were inspiring. His dream was big. His dream was purposeful. His dream was noble. His dream was not personal, but it was for all. This is an important part of a dream.
How many times a day do you hear the word dream? Listen today. You will hear it in TV commercials, radio spots, SONGS, brand names, titles, etc. You will probably say it yourself. But what measures the weight of dream? And how much should you dream?
Okay, so we all dream. We all have thoughts of a better future. It's a hope of something beyond what we are living right now. I believe it is healthy and natural. Here are some of my dreams, large and small. I dream of traveling all over the world. I dream of meeting people from different places and hearing about their life and culture. I dream of running a marathon (soon, I hope). I dream of writing a book. I dream of marrying and raising a family. I dream of witnessing a real-life miracle (God willing). Besides these personal dreams, I have more beyond my own world. I dream that there would be peace. I dream of living in a place where people are concerned for the lives of others above themselves. I dream of a world without war. I dream of beauty, not death or pain or suffering. Yes, these dreams may be beyond our human abilities, but that doesn't mean I will not fight for them. If not on this earth, I will see them in heaven.
What are your own dreams? What are your talents? What is stopping you from going after your dreams? (and how dumb is that excuse?)
I actually began writing this post a month ago, and it was way before I started training with TNT. But I took on this challenge because I had wanted to do it for so long and was tired of hearing myself talk about it. I wanted to do it because it was something that I could be a part of that was not for myself. The world is SO much bigger than myself. I love to run and having a purpose for running makes it actually worthwhile (plus I really like to tell people about it). I have dreams just like all the patients, survivors and families that I run for. They have places they want to go and things they want to do it life. Cancer is ugly, and it will be a fight to defeat it. But I'm going to be a part of that fight.
Next time you have a dream, think of some else who has a dream. It may be someone you know or a stranger. Could they be fighting cancer for their dream?
I will spend the next couple months preparing for a half marathon. I will be training with a team and learning how to properly prepare my body to run 13.1 miles. This will be my first endurance event ever. I'm quite excited and challenged by this! It will require lots of commitment and dedication. But running is really only part of what I am doing.
