Team In Training

This is my first official post for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training (TNT).

As you probably already know from reading this blog, I got back on the "workout horse" this spring. Joined a gym, traded Mexican buffets for swimming at lunch-time, and did some biking and running on the weekends. As a matter of fact, it's been going pretty well, and I have really improved my fitness, lost a few pounds, and even completed a few "sprint" triathlons (swimming, biking and running) and local charity bike rides this summer. Up until recently, I was working out and racing mainly for my health and personal enjoyment, but I have decided that I’d like to do something different this fall and winter. I am going to train for next six months for a Half-IronMan length triathlon as a member of TNT.

Derek (who is now my TNT mentor) has done three events with Team In Training and raised over $12,000 for leukemia and lymphoma research. Jarrod and Jonathan each raised over $2,500 for LLS with their participation in the Texas Man Triathlon earlier this month. It is a great cause and a great experience.

A Half-IronMan triathlon will be a big challenge for me, but nothing like the challenge the people affected by leukemia go through on a daily basis. The North Texas (Dallas and Fort Worth) TNT team will be training and volunteering to raise money and increase awareness about these terrible diseases.

Making the decision to join the team and compete in this event was easy; the race – not so much. I will be swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles, and running a half-marathon (13.1 miles) down in Galveston, TX on March 30, 2008. The Half-IronMan distance will take me between 6 and 8 hours to complete. As a member of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s TNT program, we will be swimming, biking, and running to assist the organization in its efforts to battle blood cancers. The team’s goals are to complete the training and the event. Beyond that physical commitment to the program, our most important goal is to raise a minimum of $2,600 each. Over 75% of the money that we raise will go directly back to the Society for research, patient services, advocacy, and education in the battle against leukemia and other blood-related cancers.

I will be training and racing this spring in honor of everyone fighting leukemia each and every day. These “Honored Heroes” do not have a choice in facing this disease, but I do have a choice. My choice is to be out there training hard, raising money for cancer research and making a difference. In order to do that, however, I am asking for your help in contributing the money to meet my fundraising goal. Your tax-deductible donation will fund the research dedicated to finding a cure for leukemia and lymphoma. More that 712,000 Americans have leukemia, Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma or myeloma. Every five minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer and every 10 minutes, someone dies. But thanks to research funded by programs like TNT, the survival rate continues to rise each year. In fact, leukemia research has been the leader for effective treatments of Hodgkins’ disease, lymphomas and other common kinds of cancer, including breast cancer and lung cancer. Leukemia research is considered to be the window to the treatment and cure for ALL cancers.

You can contribute to my fundraising account by making a donation directly to my online account at http://www.active.com/donate/tntntx/Andrien_Wang. Whatever you can contribute matters; however large or small, it all adds up. I greatly appreciate your help and look forward to hearing from you.