Laura Rasmussen's Team In Training Page
Racing to Save Lives
Welcome to my Team In Training home page.
I am training to participate in the PF Chang Rock and Roll Marathon in Arizona on January 14, 2007 as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I'm completing this marathon in the memory of my sister-in-law Peggy who passed away on December 16, 2005 from complications of lymphoma and my mother who died last summer from another cancer. My Mom and Peggy and all of the other people battling these diseases are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!
Last time I raised money for Team in Training in 2005, I surpassed my goal and raised around $20,000. This year, I've upped the ante - my goal is $30,000. With your help, I can do it!!
Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission.
I hope you'll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!
Laura
BLOG
September 12 - Training is progressing. We got up to 7 miles this past weekend. My body is rebelling a bit - but not enough to make me quit!!! Go Team!
September 23 - 10 miler tomorrow!! I know I can do it!... Just want to let everyone know that I'm 1/5 of the way to my goal. I'm psyched - everyone's been so generous. THANK YOU!
October 25 - I haven't written in a while, so I'll try to catch everyone up on how my training's going. I've been having problems with my right leg - the one in which I tore the ACL and all my ankle ligaments four years ago. I've been going to physical therapy and the chiropractor and getting some relief, but I've had a couple of really bad episodes and I haven't run much in the last two weeks. We have a 15 mile run scheduled this weekend, and I'll just have to see how it goes. If it's too hard on my leg, I may have to drop down to the half-marathon length - which feels like a cop-out, but I guess I can only do what I can do... The fundraising, on the other hand, is going great! Thanks, everyone!!!
October 29 - Well, I ran 14 miles yesterday, and it wasn't a piece of cake, but it wasn't so bad... I think I'll try to run the full marathon in January. I have to send in all of my paper work to commit to the full marathon this week, and I think I want to go for it.
Well, the paperwork's sent in, & I'm signing up for the full marathon. I am going to try a compromise on my training run this weekend by doing a run-walk method rather than running the whole way. I'll probably run for 8 or 9 minutes, then walk for 1 or 2 minutes... We'll see how that goes.
December 26 - Well, I haven't been too good about updating this portion of my website, but we just had our longest training run on the 23rd - 20 miles! I made it without any major problems (despite a nagging problem with a tendon that runs along my shin) it just over 4 1/4 hrs. I'm confident that I can run the full marathon - in less than 3 weeks!
February 3, 2007: Well, race day has come & gone. It's been almost 3 weeks since the race, but it lives on in my memories - and my knees! The whole experience of the weekend was fantastic. I was honored not only as the top fundraiser for Minnesota, but the top fundraiser for Team in Training for the whole event! I even had to go on stage to receive an award & to say a few words to the 2000 people in the audience. EEK! But, I survived... The race day itself was frigid. Here I had decided to do the Phoenix marathon because it would get me out of the cold of Minnesota - but it was in the 20s. I survived the race, but it was not my best long run. The last 6 miles were more walking than running. But I MADE IT! Tom was along with me and was able to see me 3 times on the course and also at the finish line. It was great having him there. It was very emotional for him - with the memories of Peggy, participating in the Team in Training pre & post race parties, and seeing me run. I loved having him with me. The only thing better would be to have him running with me. (Maybe next time?)
If you'd like to see some photos of the weekend, you can view my Picasa web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/k5tog1/PhoenixMarathon.
I want to thank everyone again for supporting me throughout this, particularly my family for giving me the gift of time to do all of my training - at the same time that I bought a business and was testing for my black belt in karate. All-in-all, they've been fantastic! And, thank you to all of my sponsors. I believe that my success at fundraising for Team in Training had very little to do with me and everything to do with what a wonderful person Peggy was and the generosity of everyone who heard or felt her story and responded. So, for the last time, THANK YOU!
