Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Get "Team Goodman" in your Inbox

For my friends, family and generous donors who don't wish to subscribe to the my blog "feed," and for those who don't even want to know what RSS/feeds/syndication are all about, you can now subscribe to have the Team Goodman blog updates sent to your email automatically.

Just complete this short form via this link or in the right hand margin of this page.

As always, thanks for your support and interest.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Flower Mound RunBiTri


Everyone was a winner today! A group from the winter Fort Worth TNT triathlon team traveled to Flower Mound, north of Dallas, on a very cold January morning to participate in the first of a series of "RunBiTri" or reverse triathlon events. And we all won meddles! As you can see in the picture at right, we are all thrilled about our recognition!

(Pictured: Jennifer Starr, Jonathan Goodman, Nick Luft, Brett Starr, Tara Haelle)

I ran the "RunBi" or "Du" - which consists of three legs: 5k run, 13m bike, 2k run. The rest of our team competed in the "RunBiTri" or "reverse triathlon" which consists of a 5k run, 13m bike, and 350M swim.

Results are posted (for those who care).

In summary: another great and humbling event! Medals are fun, even when little more the participation prizes! Full fingered gloves are on my to-buy list to combat the cold during sub-zero temperature bike rides.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Goal update: from Lavaman to Lonestar

I'm now training for the Lonestar Triathlon - Quarter Ironman.

After giving careful consideration to my current fundraising trajectory and comparing that to the rapidly evaporating weeks until race day (April 1), I decided to shift my race event, and thereby my overall fundraising goal from $5,800 to $2,600 (the amount of money I need to raise in order for the Society to cover my race expenses. Team In Training must send at least 75% of all donations directly to Society, the remainder can cover programs expenses, including the costs of sending yours truly to my race).

The Lonestar Quarter Ironman is also slightly less of swim than an Olympic distance triathlon for which I've been training thus far (I'm not sad about this fact).

All that said, I've rededicated myself to overachieving my fundraising commitment, with your continued help, some special activities and volunteering, and my own contributions.

Thank you to all my great friends and family for your support - you can see all of the generous supporters on my fundraising page.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Join the Conversation

I was just reminded by a comment from my big sister and again from my favorite podcaster/blogger, Joseph Jaffe, that my intent with this blog, in addition to providing a chronicle of this journey of raising money for LLS and training for my first triathlon with TNT, was to conduct an experiment in communication with the people in my "community," those who I can call family, friends, colleagues, and other peers and acquaintances.

And my passionate desire is make this a conversation.

Not a one way communication.

And I just realized that I've not explicitly invited comments!

Stupid me.

Please comment. Join the conversation. Just hit the "comment" link below. Let me know you're out there... Or call me, write me... share your opinions, views, ideas, & contributions (and not just the financial kind).

Friday, January 12, 2007

23 seconds

In the time it takes me to swim approximately 15M in the pool, you can watch this short video. Just try not to smile, I dare you!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Mission Moment

A note from Misty, our North Texas TNT Coordinator:

Want to know how much you matter? Read on...

  • In the 1960's the five-year survival rate for Myeloma was 12% - Today it is 33%!
  • In the 1960's the five-year survival rate for Leukemia was 14% - Today it is 49%!
  • In the 1960's the five-year survival rate Hodgkin Lymphoma was 40% and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma was 31% - Today Hodgkin's five year survival rate is 86% and Non-Hodgkin's five year survival is 63%
I wanted to share this outlook with you, who are the real support behind this effort!

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Count down to Lavaman

I hope you, my reader, had a wonderful holiday season!

Despite a few blips and missed training days to due holiday traveling, the endurance-athlete-in-training member of Team Goodman has made progress.

Jonathan's Training:

Swim - "Swimming is hard; my coaches look at me with a face which betrays their curiosity. I look like a swimmer when out of the water; I've got something akin to a swimmer's build. But in the water, well, my form is lacking. My immediate goal is to graduate from the slow lane of the pool. My endurance has picked up quite a bit over the past three months."

Bike - "I love to cycle; I'm still training with my Kona Fire Mountain, which is as you'd guess, a mountain bike. I can do the Olympic distance no problem. Between now and April, I'm going to work on my road skills and improve my time. Oh yeah, and pick up a proper road bike..."

Run - "Since training started in September, I've been able to build a good base of endurance to build upon; I've run a 5k and 10k event. Like my cycling training, it's now about improving my time and working on good running and race technique."

More updates to come soon on raising money and other upcoming events...

Three months until Lavaman!!

Again, thank you for your support!