My mom, Mary, has decided to sign up with Team in Training and complete the half marathon at Nike Women's marathon. She will be raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Below is a letter from her. I have donated and would encourage anyone who can to donate what they can, and remember, your donations are tax deductible:
Why would a 61 year old non athletic woman decide to run a half marathon and raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society? My commitment to run my first half marathon and to raise a minimum of $2,100 came after I watched my daughter, Megan, complete the Nike Women's Marathon, sponsored by The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, in San Francisco last October. Standing at the finish line I watched thousands of women finish a half or full marathon. Excitement and joy were in the air but they were sharply tempered by prominent reminders of cancer survivors and those who lost their battle to survive.
I had time waiting for Megan to cross the finish line to think about people I know well who were diagnosed with cancer in the last 3 years. Donald, in his last semester at UCLA and accepted into Santa Clara Law School, did not survive his fight. Michael was a wonderful outrageously funny friend from Nebraska; he did not survive his fight. Naomi, a sister-in-law, is surviving two bouts of cancer; she always thinks of her family rather than talk about her illness. Tom was the most unlikely person I ever thought would contract cancer; he was a paragon of integrity and generosity who helped find resources for my handicapped brother while chemo dripped into his body. John, the maker of the best ice cream in California, while fighting to be in a 10% survival group, worried and talked about helping his son with homework rather than his illness. Each person fought a fierce fight and continued to care for others while they fought.
I decided it was time for me to begin actively participating in efforts to control cancer. While not all my friends had blood related cancer I decided supporting research and patient services benefiting people who have blood related cancer is a beginning.
My preparation for running the half marathon this October began last November. The first day it took 20 minutes to labor through a flat mile, now over 330 miles later I have an average mile pace of 11.5 minutes a mile and am part of a runner*s group training for my first 5K. I begin training for the Nike Half on June 7th.
Please support me and the The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society with a donation. I am personally donating 25% of my goal, this is the part of the funds I raise that will go to administration, all monies you donate will directly go to research and patient services. Donations are tax deductible and this event qualifies for corporate matching funds.
You will find my fundraising page at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/nikesf08/mreinke . Please help me by spreading the word, if you have friends or family who may support my run feel free to get information to them or let me know and I will get it to them.Thank you so much for reading this and for your consideration,
Mary Reinke
maryreinke@gmail.com
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Welcome to Summer!
At least here in the Bay Area, summer seems to truly be here. Forecasters predicted our first triple digit temperatures to be here today, and they're not too far off with the temperature at 2:00pm being 99 degrees in the Dublin/Pleasanton area. An important hydration note, when you are working out in weather that is very hot, if you are doing a long workout or you tend to sweat a lot make sure you are drinking something like Gatorade, Accelerade, Gu20, etc. during workouts and after them. If you sweat a lot and drink a lot of water, you can flush your system of electrolytes and even though you have plenty of water in you, you are dehydrated and your body is missing key nutrients.
On a happy note, my mother Mary, has joined Team in Training and will participate in the Nike Women's Marathon, she will complete the half marathon this coming October. Don't worry though, unless her coaches tell her otherwise or it does not work in her training schedule, she will still be participating in the Cowtown half marathon. So this will be an exciting fall for her! In addition to running the half marathon, Mary will be raising a minimum of $2100 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She will be sending a letter to me which I will post here in the next week or so, so keep your eye out. In the meantime, here is the link to her website:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/nikesf08/mreinke
Keep up the running/walking/wajjing! I know my official training plan starts in just a couple of weeks!
On a happy note, my mother Mary, has joined Team in Training and will participate in the Nike Women's Marathon, she will complete the half marathon this coming October. Don't worry though, unless her coaches tell her otherwise or it does not work in her training schedule, she will still be participating in the Cowtown half marathon. So this will be an exciting fall for her! In addition to running the half marathon, Mary will be raising a minimum of $2100 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She will be sending a letter to me which I will post here in the next week or so, so keep your eye out. In the meantime, here is the link to her website:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/nikesf08/mreinke
Keep up the running/walking/wajjing! I know my official training plan starts in just a couple of weeks!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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