Part of the Team again!

After taking almost four years off, I’m back with Team in Training!

What is Team in Training, you ask? Well, since 1988 the program has trained everyday people to complete triathlons, marathons and century rides; and those volunteers have raised over $700 million for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma research and patient services. It’s the largest sports endurance training program in the world!

My TNT experience began 2002, when my dad and I signed up for the SPUD Triathlon with the National Capital Chapter. The experience was amazing: great teammates, an amazing coach (Suzy), an adorable honored teammate (Caitlin), and of course- triathlons! My dad and I raced SPUD again in 2003 and 2004, and every year I had a new group of teammates to fundraise and train with.

But when I entered college, I decided to focus on schoolwork (for some reason homework at the #2 public university in the country was a whole lot harder than in high school). So it’s taken me a few years, but I’ve finally rejoined the Team!

My happy reunion began at the beginning of the semester when I became the Virginia Chapter’s Marketing Intern. That’s the official title, but I like to refer to myself as “the Charlottesville person”. Basically, the VA chapter is headquartered in Richmond, and because it’s a small chapter, they don’t have Leukemia & Lymphoma Society staff in every city. So I advertise for upcoming events in Charlottesville, find coaches, arrange meetings, etc. But after doing that for a couple of weeks I felt I wasn’t doing enough to support such a great organization. I wanted to really become part of the team and train for a race! So I signed up for St. Anthony’s and before I knew it, became the tri and cycling team’s mentor as well!!

This season will probably be my last one with TNT for a while—I don’t think they have Chapters in Africa—but I know it will be a memorable one. I’ll (hopefully) blog about my training here, and you can check out my fundraising (I’m trying to raise $5,000) here.