TNT Update - Final Month!

Oh boy, less than one month to go until the big event. The training and fundraising are really picking up steam heading into the final three weeks before the Lone Star Half-Ironman Triathlon (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run). Here’s what’s been going on in the past month.

On February 16, I did the Texas Motor Speedway Duathlon with a few friends from work. It was a “sprint du” consisting of a 2-mile run, 15-mile bike, and another 2-mile run. It was my first multisport race of the new year and quite tough because of very windy conditions around the NASCAR track. My Team in Training mentor, Derek, said that biking in the wind was good practice because the roads around Galveston exhibit similar conditions.

Two Sundays ago, I ran the (Fort Worth) Cowtown Half-Marathon with Derek. We both did really well – in fact, I ran the 13.1 miles in a personal-best 1 hour, 51 minutes. Very happy to cross that finish line. And afterwards we “tagged” cars in various parking garages and lots with LLS flyers – I think we walked/jogged another 3 miles after the race!

This weekend, we’re going to have a TNT practice tri at Joe Pool Lake. It’s going to be a good opportunity for me and the Team to practice our transitions (swim-to-bike, bike-to-run) as we’ll be doing a short race course and repeating it 3+ times. It will also be the first time since last September that I’ve done an open-water swim; I’ll get a chance to try out my new wetsuit (the water temperature in the lake is going to be around 60 degrees – BRRR). And the following Saturday, March 15, we have a sprint triathlon (300 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 5K run) right here in Keller (very convenient :-) It’s an official TNT event, so it’ll be a great opportunity to get the entire Team together for a real race (not just practicing/training).

The middle of March (17th) also marks the Leukemia & Lymphoma fundraising deadline for this event. I’m doing pretty well towards my fundraising goal of $2,600 for the LLS, but am still about $450 short. So if you’d like to donate to this a great cause (see left side-bar) but just never got around to it, it would be great if you could do it soon. If you would like to help, you can contribute to my fundraising account by making a tax-deductible donation via my online account at http://www.active.com/donate/tntntx/Andrien_Wang.

Thanks for your support!

Best Regards,
- Andy

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Facts about Blood Cancers

· Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are cancers that originate in the bone marrow or lymphatic tissue as the result of an acquired genetic injury to the DNA of a single cell, which becomes malignant and multiplies continuously. This abnormal accumulation interferes with the production of healthy blood cells.

· Every five minutes someone new is diagnosed and every 10 minutes someone will lose the fight.

· In the US, blood-related cancers are the leading fatal malignant diseases in young men and women under the age of 35.

· Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age 20.

Progress from Research

· The survival rate for Leukemia has tripled from 14% in 1960 to 46.3% today.

· The five-year survival rate for children with Acute Lymphatic leukemia (ALL) was 4% in 1960 and is 85% today.

· Radiation-induced cures are now possible for patients with early stage Hodgkin’s disease.

· The five-year survival rate for Hodgkin Lymphoma in people under 20 years of age is now 96%.

· The overall five-year survival in patients with Myeloma has shown a modest improvement from 24.5% in 1970 to 32.4% today.