Goals, Tools and Missions - Peninsula TNT Summer Team Week 1

When we started this blog, "Marathoning for Life" was a goal. We want to race as long as we are physically able and still have passion for the sport. The title also came to reflect how we use marathoning as a tool to keep us healthier.  

Last week I was reminded that the title is also a mission. The reason we started marathoning was to raise money for Team in Training. Marathoning for us was literally saving lives.

Our Summer season kicked off for the Peninsula team last Wednesday. Our first regional training on Saturday was a quick 30 minute out and back on the Oracle Bay Trail where we got to know the dozen participants we have training for the Tinkerbell Half marathon and Rock n Roll Seattle half and full. 

Training Captain Cathy had an early start marking mileage.

Pre-training words from our team manager, Guy.

I chatted with each of the team members on the trail. Hal was a long time TNT veteran whose goal is to improve on his PR for the Seattle full. Nick has done a couple of half marathons and is recovering from a torn hip flexor, so he'll be staying on the flatter course at Tink. Lauren has done a few 5K's and her mother was a TNT alum who had a great season and recommended that Lauren join. Yuli, another first timer, told me he'd never run more than 1.5K in his life. Saturday's training was officially the longest he'd ever run! We have a few teammates coming back after a few years off like Robin, Andrea and Vickie and some recent alum like Kelly, Valerie and Paul. I hope to get to chat more with them as the season goes on. 

Our honoree speaker was Minnie. She was diagnosed with Stage 4 diffuse large B Cell lymphoma when she was six months pregnant. MRI's confirmed several tumors throughout her body. In the past, if the cancer was caught in the first trimester, the diagnosis would have leaned toward aborting the pregnancy, but medicine had matured in the last 20 years thanks in part to LLS funds. Minnie underwent a modified chemotherapy and she delivered a healthy son, Keiron. Shortly after his birth, doctors found tumors in her kidneys and brain, prompting radiation and more chemotherapy.

Minnie's story has a happy ending. She came through with some short-term memory loss, but has now been in remission for six years with an amazing outlook on life. Read more about her recovery on this article at the Stanford Medicine site.

We had our gear clinic at Road Runner Sports in San Carlos and a went for a post-training breakfast at Hobee's. This season's team is smaller than I'm used to, but so far with the new coaching team things are running pretty smoothly. I'm looking forward to our next track workout Wednesday where we'll start working on technique.

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News from the Road:

The Z Adventures - Cruise Marathons group finished another multi-stop event this weekend. About 30 participants ran races in 7 countries at the full, half, 10k and 5k distances. The medals were wedge-shaped and together formed a larger circle. Reviews so far have been positive. White Continent/Punta Arenas alum Tee, Brent and Kamika checked off more countries on their long list of races. 

Also concluding this week was the Marathon Expedition Caribbean Running Cruise. Congrats to Jennifer and Blair, and to John and Jenny for another successful event. Other races for your bucket list this weekend include the Daytona Half Marathon (thanks Tawni for the cool video from the track!) and the 20th anniversary of the Surf City Half and Full marathon (congrats to Stephanie, Melinda, Leah, Jessica, Adrian, Kevin and Jennifer).

100 Half Marathon Club president Jenipher finished her 100th Half Marathon at the Go Hard or Go Home Half in Prospect Park, New York. Congratulations, Jenipher!

We're a month into 2016 and working on two challenges. Susan and I joined Kara Goucher's Run The Year 2016 challenge, targeting 2,016 miles in the year. I'm counting miles from walking around at work (incidental mileage too) so to be safe, I'm shooting for about 2700 miles for the year to clear a 2 mile/day baseline. With a bit over 279 miles through February 7th, things are looking good.

Al, Lisa Marie, Tawni and I are also doing the VIP Joe Challenge in honor of our friend Joe Harris. He underwent surgery after RNR San Antonio and is back on the roads prepping for RNR New Orleans. Joe is the all-time leader for Rock n Roll races completed at 116. The four of use are shooting to finish 116 miles each in February, one for each race Joe has completed. I'm only counting "intentional" workout miles for this one. I'm just over 24 miles for February, so I'll need to step it up a bit.