Update

I've raised $1,179.65 as of today!!!!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.  That's already 54% of my goal of $2,200.00...amazing.

I ran for about 40 minutes with my friend, Wendy, last night.  It was really nice to run with someone else - made the time go a lot faster.  I took inventory of my aches and pains this morning - and had very little.  Yeehaw!  My legs were just a tiny bit stiff, but nothing horrible.  The route we took was one I used to run back in high school...it was a lot more hilly than I remembered it.  That, and I'm a lot older now.  Huff..puff...huff.

Tomorrow is another 7am-on-a-Saturday training.  Hope to see another beautiful sunrise...

First Training Run with the Long Beach TNT

Drove back to my old stomping grounds today - it was still dark when I arrived...that's how early it was.  YAWN.  While the coaches and mentors were talking, we got to see the sun rise over the Long Beach Marina (I tried to take a photo, but my camera phone app pooped out on me).  Then the campaign manager read a letter from the husband of someone who was just diagnosed with CLL.  The letter-writer thanked LLS for the support he has received, even this early after diagnosis.  It made me realize that while I usually think about running for LLS to support a cure, it is also there to support people going through treatment and all the uncertainty that brings.  There are some, like my friend, who have a good support system to help them through it all...there are some who must feel very alone - and I hope that they, like the letter-writer, find LLS (or some other support system).

The run itself was great - only 20 minutes - I love the Naples area of LB.  I was afraid of how my legs would be, since I haven't run at all since the Disneyland Half Marathon back in September.  Thankfully, my legs and my endurance haven't completely disappeared.  The schedule looks a little hard to keep up with for a working mom with three little ones...but I'm going to give it my best shot.  After all, this race I'm running for something larger than myself...


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 MY FUNDRAISING PAGE:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/la11/jpenner
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Peace,
Jenny 

Journey of 26.2 Miles Begins With a Single Step

First post on this blog...I'm hoping to keep everyone updated with my journey to the LA Marathon 2011 with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training.  I'm training with the Long Beach group - which is ironic since I just moved OUT of Long Beach...so I'll be driving to my old stomping grounds to run.

Our first group run is tomorrow morning - a short 30 minute run, according to the email.  I'm looking forward to it since I haven't run since doing the Disneyland Half Marathon back in September.

I'm thrilled to be running this race for a cause that is so, so close to my heart.  Volunteering at CHOC years ago put me in contact with so many children who were battling blood cancers.  Hearing about all the choices the parents were having to make about treatment for their children was heartbreaking - watching them go through chemotherapy was even harder.  Through the years after that experience, I would donate to LLS as much as possible, even doing the Light the Night Walk a few times.

It became even more personal, however, when a good friend of mine was diagnosed with lymphoma.  Our daughters are good friends, and of course the worst case scenarios all ran through my head.  This renewed my desire to do everything I can to support the cause of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - so that patients like the children at CHOC get the support they need, and to support research that might find a cure for blood cancers.

I hope you'll follow my journey here - tomorrow I take my first step of thousands.



*********************************************************************************
 MY FUNDRAISING PAGE:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/la11/jpenner
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Peace,
Jenny