Santa Monica Sunshine Run

Knowing the New Year's gluttony ahead of us, we opted for a short jog while in Santa Monica. From the Ambrose Hotel where we were staying on 20th and Arizona, we jogged to the pier and back through 3rd Street Promenade. Still early and having rained just the day before, the air was crisp and clear. The shops hadn't opened yet and we got an uninterrupted view of Santa Monica before the tourists generally wake. Was lovely.

$1 Billion - For Charity!

Endurance Athletes Cross Major Fundraising Milestone

Team In Training ^®(TNT), The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) groundbreaking charity sports training program, has reached a remarkable milestone of raising $1 billion to support blood cancer research and patient services.

For more than 21 years, TNT has been the pre-eminent charity endurance sports training program, preparing amateurs and seasoned athletes to complete a marathon, half marathon, triathlon, 100-mile century cycle ride or hike adventure. Through the program's expert coaching and support, more than 420,000 people have experienced the exhilaration of embracing and achieving a major athletic feat. The enormous success of TNT has made possible advances in blood cancer research, helping to find better therapies and treatments that have prolonged and enhanced the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients.

TNT began in 1988, when Bruce Cleland, a Westchester County, NY, businessman, spurred on a group of 38 to train for the New York City Marathon while they raised money for leukemia research in response to his own young daughter's diagnosis with the disease. Cleland enlisted friend and Olympian Rod Dixon to train them. That first team raised $320,000 for LLS; and so a movement was born.

"I had been supporting LLS, organizing galas and other events like that, but I wanted to do more - something different. And then it occurred to me: let's bring a group of non-athletes together, train them, and run a marathon together for the cause," recalled Cleland. "Who would ever have thought, way back in 1988, that this program would have grown into the force that it is today? I am so awed at all the effort that has gone into the program, by LLS and the TNT staff, by the 420,000 participants, and of course by all the extraordinarily generous donors."

The idea quickly began to catch on with other chapters, and during the 1990s, walk, cycle and triathlon were added to the mix. Spectators at the events quickly began to recognize the signature purple jersey worn proudly by TNT participants. The advent of online fundraising has also helped the program grow.

TNT continues to provide high caliber training by certified coaches and participants have the camaraderie of a group of supportive teammates while they train. In addition to weekly training sessions TNT offers clinics on nutrition, equipment, injury prevention and safety.

Among the more than 200 national and local events TNT participants can attend, the program has increasingly been adding more co-branded events to its roster, including The Nike Women's Marathon to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; the Nation's Triathlon to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; theWomen's Running Magazine Women's Half Marathon and 5K to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon & ½ to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

"TNT helps participants realize their dream of taking on the most challenging of athletic events while raising money to conquer blood cancers," said LLS President and CEO John Walter. "There can be no denying the influence TNT has had on the world of endurance sports, granting everyday athletes access to venues that were once only the realm of the sports elite. And TNT has been the big engine driving LLS's progress, enabling the expansion of our research and patient services initiatives."

TNT is currently recruiting for its summer season, which includes the and Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon & ½ to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride in Lake Tahoe and the Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage, AK. To learn more visit www.teamintraining.org or call 1.800.482-TEAM.

Mill Valley and the Tennessee Valley Trail

This was Saturday's run route. Mill Valley Middle School to Tennessee Valley Road to the trailhead and out to the beach and back. The landscape alone is pretty amazing and the trail to the beach rewarding if not seriously challenging with the wind blowing in your face constantly. Running this route reminds you of how fortunate we are to be living in beautiful California and especially, the Bay Area.

Double Down

Dear Friend of LLS,

I write today with the good news that The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has received a research challenge grant.

An anonymous friend of LLS will match $100,000 in donations made by December 31st to support an important research focus - to reduce the long-term and late effects of some of today's intensive treatments.

Cure rates for many blood cancer patients have improved dramatically in past decades. But harsh treatments that save lives can come with a cost. Too many cancer survivors experience long-term negative effects from their treatments. Some are chronic conditions that affect quality of life. Others, which might occur years later, can be life threatening.

What patients need now is for current therapies to be made less harmful without sacrificing their effectiveness. This matching challenge will help accomplish that.

Please take advantage of this challenge and double the impact of your gift by December 31st. Your donation of $25 will become $50; your gift of $50 will become $100. Whatever you give will go twice as far. Don't miss this chance to make a gift here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/mardigra10/knishikawa

Thank you again for your valued support.

Best of health,
John E. Walter
President & CEO

power of pause... and connection

I can't get real work done with the radio or TV on. As I write this, no one is home, it's peacefully quiet and I'm comfortable in the silence. I can no longer procrastinate. I am more and more convinced that “change” comes in moments of peace, during pauses—when we get to ponder ideas, causes, concepts, practices, etc.—and not in the heat of the moment when we are pressed with life and it's ever-constant challenges.

So I just turned 32, which gave me pause. Getting older doesn't really scare me, but what does is that awareness of time passing and having yet to make my mark. Continually I ask myself, "What am I doing that will make a difference?" I'm not a person of big ideas or visions of grandeur, but however small or large, I recognize that each of us touches others in ways we cannot put a price tag on. So this season, my way of making a difference is to again, run for a cause.

With the economy as it is, I find it hard to ask my friends and family to join me in this effort, but my glass remains half full. No matter our situations, I remain hopeful and believe that the holidays especially are when we can a take hard, deep look within and see ourselves in others -- "what if you were the one fighting Hodgkin's disease and relied on the help of cancer organizations like LLS and its volunteers?" You would be so grateful that there are people out there who fight to end cancer and support those who live with it.

So, I ask you to take YOUR life pause, right now and look within. Can you help make a difference with me and donate whatever you can to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society right now? Click to make a difference. Your donation is tax-deductible and 73 cents of every dollar goes directly to the mission -- see where the money goes here. I am training to run yet another race this year (haven't decided which one, but no more full marathons for me thank you, at least not yet...) with the Team-In-Training arm of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. (This is the first of a few emails I intend to send before my mid-January fundraising deadline. If you'd rather not hear from me about this stuff, it's cool; just let me know. Otherwise, thanks for listening to me on my soapbox.)

As we pause together, it not only gives us reason to be thankful, but also a time to connect with family, friends and each other. I challenge you to pause... connect... and rally others to do the same, for I believe connection is why we are here.

Merry Christmas and much love,
Kimi