Race For the Roses Half Marathon Done April 3, 2011

Our coaches, Team Captain and mentors help us get ready to let it all loose at the pre-race dinner the evening before the race!

Fingers 'n Toes Fashionistas in LLS colors!

The Team in Training racers with our Coaches, Team Captain, and Mentors, before we leave for the start-line.

Just before we leave for the staging area, we take a moment, as we do prior to each training or race to "Remember the Reason" we're doing this work!

We have many ways we carry our honorees with us during the walk. This is our Coach Sue, who carries a name of each racer's honoree on a separate ribbon on her jacket.

My walking partner, Tami and other comrades at the staging area near the starting line.  We usually have a little pre-race jitters and excitement, and appreciate the mutual encouragement! 

Finally, we're off!

Our coaches roam the course, checking on all us ducklings until we're all done, snapping pics a few times throughout the race.

And the closer we get to the finish line, the crazier our supporters get!

Almost done, can't stop yet!

Race Finish Line!  Which isn't the REAL finish line - that one is not crossed until we have achieved the "miracle" of curing cancer once and for all!

It's not too late to donate if you have a heart to help with this challenge of kicking cancer to the curb once and for all!  We know research dollars have and will save lives!  

My Team in Training donation web site will be available until May, and it would be an honor to have you support my fundraising efforts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by using the link on this blog! 

Or you can go directly to my Team in Training site at the following URL:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/oswim/roses11/dbothenh9q

Start by doing the necessary, then the possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

                                                                           Francis of Assisi

• 40 Oregon & SW Washington Roses participants raised over $50,000 from end of January to race day!
• As a team we ran or walked nearly 525 miles on Sunday April 3  

Here are some additional fundraising facts:

• A gift of $150 will fund a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society researcher for one day.
• A gift of $500 will allow The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to reimburse one patient for medical expenses for a year through our Patient Financial Assistance program.
• A gift of $1,000 will fund a patient education program on topics such as coping with chemotherapy and healthy cancer survivorship.

Given the above fundraising facts, as a team, our efforts could go to fund 333 days of research, OR fund 100 patient reimbursement requests, OR fund 50 patient education programs.  AMAZING!

Cheers and don't give up the fight!

Debbi

Training - the last month!

The last month has been a whirl!
Training, adding a mile a week until I did 11.5 miles on March 26, our biggest training week.
As we added miles, I found it hard to do any additional activities - too tired & joints were sore.  That is UNTIL I hit 11.5 miles, which felt great!  Guess I had to get over that hump...and do LOTS of stretching.

Then we started our "taper" and today only(!) did an 8-mile training.

This was our 10.5 mile training day 2 weeks ago, me with Tami and we needed our hats to fend off the bright sunshine!

And hard to believe we're ready!  But we are, we've trained hard, including the wet, blustery day today.

We have been very thankful that we've had such a mild and beautiful winter in which to train. 

Today somewhat made up for it!  Note the sudden appearance of coats & hats and some shivering!

We had our send-off party/potluck Wednesday 3/31 and received our coach's instructions and "words of wisdom" as we go into our final week of training.  

The centerpiece is made of cookies.  Too pretty to eat!!  But there were lots of other options (I love potlucks!)  And we're required to eat plenty of carbs to fuel our training, don'tcha know! 

And, Kim, one of our Honored Teammates, a beautiful woman who is a survivor herself.   Each time we meet, we make note of the Reason why we're doing this.  Kim is one of our reasons!

The big day is a week from tomorrow!!  Hard to believe it's already here. 

We just have one more short group training before the race.  Next up: 13.1 miles!!

Stretch break on Terwilliger during 8-mile training

Sometimes the muscles and joints INSIST that we take a break to do some stretching!

We had another BEAUTIFUL day today for Team-in-Training group walks and runs.  My group did our 8-mile walk, starting @ PSU, going north & eventually to the waterfront and then up Terwilliger to the view site a couple miles up the hill & return to PSU.  We couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day - it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so we really lucked out!!  Lots of smiles and a potluck afterwards for the entire group to get together & share our experiences.  Great day! 

Gorgeous sunshine for our Team in Training day today! (photos)

Beautiful view along our TNT training route today.  Who knew 6 miles could be so easy?

Beautiful smiles to match a beautiful day! 

Training Friday 2/19

Cross training today, exercycle & STRETCH, STRETCH, STRETCH.  Oh & breathing exercises to help increase lung capacity (concern d/t radiation treatment after breast cancer!)

Group TNT training tomorrow am.  Will try to snap some better pics.

2010 Race for the Roses Team in Training photos & notes

We're all excited about taking on the commitment to raise funds for LLS & train together for better health.

Retail therapy...er...proper footwear purchases.

A training outing with new friends, one of our Honored Teammates, and Mentor Ceara.

NO, THAT'S WARM UP STRETCHES!

Our walk/run mentor Ceara (left). She's a tiny little thing, and FAST!

Walking on the track can be boring but winds up being a lot of fun when shared w/ great comrades!