We had our team kickoff on May 9th, and I was so excited to get all of my stuff and meet my new team. I brought my friend Kristen along in hopes that she would want to take on this challenge with me. We found our table, and quickly met the teammates, mentors, captains, and coaches. And we also got to meet our team patient hero, Mark, who will be riding the century tour with us!
Once we got to meet and greet, we sat down and got to hear the staff tell us about many of the patient heroes that we are running, cycling, and doing triathlons for. This is where Kristen got hooked, and quickly darted out to get herself signed up.
Once we heard about the team heros and the program, we started brainstorming with our group on fundraising ideas. Since our group has mostly veterans of the program, we all had lots of ideas. This was a big relief to me, since you can imagine raising $2,400 seems a little daunting. We also received our training schedule, which showed us kicking off our training the following Saturday, May 16th.
Our first training ride was at Washington Park in Denver. We were scheduled to ride 15 miles around the park, which I wasn't super excited about since I knew we'd be riding in circles for about 6 laps to get up to our 15 miles. But I was willing to follow the instructions, because obviously the coaches know best. =) So once everyone was there, off we rode.
For any of you that aren't familiar with Wash Park, there is a speed limit of 15 mph. And yes, you can get a speeding ticket on your bicycle for breaking this speed. I know someone that it's happened to. This actually turned out to be a really good thing, because the point of this ride was to get a good feel for being on our bikes, and (at least for me), continue to get to know your teammates. Now 15 mph is a pretty decent pace, but it's a great pace to be able to pedal along and chat with your fellow teammates. I got to know several of them much better during the ride, which made those laps go by much, much faster than I expected. I was tempted at times to zoom off, but I realized that I needed to get to know the people that I was going to be spending many, many hours with on many, many Saturday's to come.
It also turned out to be a good thing that I was riding in circles around a park since my chain decided it wanted to be loose during the first lap. I wasn't sure what was going on, but my bike kept shifting itself up and down and it was really getting on my nerves. Finally my mentor, Alison, came riding up and told me that my chain was probably just loose and that I needed to get it tightened up. Better for that to happen in a park, then on some hilly mountain. So my bike is headed to the shop for a little tune up!
We were also supposed to get in 10 miles on Sunday, and 10 tomorrow (Wednesday). I had a race on both Saturday and Sunday (running), so I wasn't able to get in another ride, but Kristen and I will be doing a training ride Thursday together. We will both be out of town camping this weekend, so we won't get to train with the group and will have to make up our ride when we get back in town. We are going to be busy little bikers next week!
I will be sure to keep you updated as our training mileage increases, and as we start our hill training. I have yet to get a flat tire on my bike ever, but I'm sure that is to come with all of this training. That should be an entertaining story for anyone who is following. =)
Don't forget to visit my fundraising webpage if you would like to make a donation!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/moabtour09/cwardbgtef
Cassie
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Decision
As many of you know, I trained for and completed the Nike Women's Marathon in October 2008 through Team in Training (TNT). It was one of the best experiences of my life. The fundraising was hard, and it took me until the last second to get all the money in. The running was a physical and emotional roller coaster. But when it was all over, it was one of the happiest moments of my life (even if my finish line photos don't seem to express that!). Not only had I just finished running 26.2 miles, I had raised $4,200 to help fight blood cancers. It was a huge accomplishment in my life.
While I had sworn off running for several weeks after the race, I was hooked on TNT. I met so many wonderful people during my training, and heard so many inspiring stories. Almost everyone on my team was running in honor or memory of a personal friend or family member. Hearing their stories, and how the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's funding had helped them, kept me going. I ran because I could, and because I knew I could make a difference in the lives of those fighting blood cancers. And I didn't want to stop.
I was struggling with when I wanted to do my next TNT event. Afterall, it seems like just yesterday that my friends and family were supporting me emotionally and financially to get to that finish line. Was it too soon to start again? I just wasn't sure...and then I went to lunch with a friend. During lunch, my friend mentioned that she was going to mentor a TNT group for the Moab Century Tour, which is a 104 mile bike ride in Moab, Utah. This really peaked my interest. It was a different endurance event, and I love Moab and riding my bike. And I'd be doing it with a friend.
I still went back and forth for a couple of weeks on whether I wanted to do it or not. Was it too soon to start fundraising again? Could I raise the money? I didn't know. And then I was on Facebook doing the usual...looking at photos, reading updates, etc. As I was looking, I noticed a lot of comments on one of my high school friend's updates that said things like "We are praying for you", and "You are in our thoughts and prayers". So I went to her page to see what was going on. When I got there, I saw the news...in April her husband, John, was diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma (click here to read John's story https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnharris/). That was my sign. So I went to the information meeting and signed up.
So here I am. Riding because I can. And because I know that no matter how hard it seems to pedal that bike for miles and miles, and up big hills, it can't even begin to compare to chemo. As John begins his fight against lymphoma, I will pedal my heart out for him and his family. He will be my inspiration when I think that my legs are going to fall off and I can't pedal anymore, or that I won't make it up that big hill.
I've started this blog to keep all my friends and family, and whoever else may be interested, updated on my training and fundraising progress. We have kickoff next week, and I'm guessing we'll find out our training schedule then.
You can also check out my fundraising progress and make donations at my official fundraising site http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/moabtour09/cwardbgtef. I have to raise $2,400 and every little bit helps! And for those of you in the Denver area, look forward to more fun fundraisers!
If you would like to learn more about TNT, check out their website: http://www.teamintraining.org/.
Cassie =)
While I had sworn off running for several weeks after the race, I was hooked on TNT. I met so many wonderful people during my training, and heard so many inspiring stories. Almost everyone on my team was running in honor or memory of a personal friend or family member. Hearing their stories, and how the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's funding had helped them, kept me going. I ran because I could, and because I knew I could make a difference in the lives of those fighting blood cancers. And I didn't want to stop.
I was struggling with when I wanted to do my next TNT event. Afterall, it seems like just yesterday that my friends and family were supporting me emotionally and financially to get to that finish line. Was it too soon to start again? I just wasn't sure...and then I went to lunch with a friend. During lunch, my friend mentioned that she was going to mentor a TNT group for the Moab Century Tour, which is a 104 mile bike ride in Moab, Utah. This really peaked my interest. It was a different endurance event, and I love Moab and riding my bike. And I'd be doing it with a friend.
I still went back and forth for a couple of weeks on whether I wanted to do it or not. Was it too soon to start fundraising again? Could I raise the money? I didn't know. And then I was on Facebook doing the usual...looking at photos, reading updates, etc. As I was looking, I noticed a lot of comments on one of my high school friend's updates that said things like "We are praying for you", and "You are in our thoughts and prayers". So I went to her page to see what was going on. When I got there, I saw the news...in April her husband, John, was diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma (click here to read John's story https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnharris/). That was my sign. So I went to the information meeting and signed up.
So here I am. Riding because I can. And because I know that no matter how hard it seems to pedal that bike for miles and miles, and up big hills, it can't even begin to compare to chemo. As John begins his fight against lymphoma, I will pedal my heart out for him and his family. He will be my inspiration when I think that my legs are going to fall off and I can't pedal anymore, or that I won't make it up that big hill.
I've started this blog to keep all my friends and family, and whoever else may be interested, updated on my training and fundraising progress. We have kickoff next week, and I'm guessing we'll find out our training schedule then.
You can also check out my fundraising progress and make donations at my official fundraising site http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/moabtour09/cwardbgtef. I have to raise $2,400 and every little bit helps! And for those of you in the Denver area, look forward to more fun fundraisers!
If you would like to learn more about TNT, check out their website: http://www.teamintraining.org/.
Cassie =)
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