Last year I trained for the Tour of the California Alps, aka The Death Ride, 129 miles and over 15,000 feet of climbing.  Due to the excellent coaching I received from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training program, I and almost all of my teammates managed to complete all five passes (in only 13hrs 50mins).  Major bike failures and food poisoning stopped the few who did not complete the course, and most of them are back again this year to beat the hills.

As I had such a positive experience last year I decided to return for another season, but this time I wanted a different challenge.  I always liked the idea of triathlons, the mixed skill sets combined into a single race.  I knew the cycling was going to be okay, and I remember being an okay swimmer in high school, so that only left the running…and now I know why I never ran a marathon, this running lark is a lot harder than it looks!  I’ll be competing in the Wildflower Triathlon in Monterey County in May, the King’s Trail Triathlon in Maui in June, and the Death Ride in July.

Enough about me…the reason the team exists is to raise money to support blood cancer suffers and their families, and to fund research to find a cure.  Despite some major advances over the last 12 months (information can be found here: www.lls.org) there is still no cure, so we still need to raise money to fund further research.  My target this season is $5,000, please help me reach it and surpass it.