Rosedale Ride in Austin

When traveling away from home, I've a hard time keeping to my training schedule. While blazing down I-35 from Fort Worth to Austin Friday evening with dog, bike, & Deirdre safely contained in the Element, I phoned my friend and fellow traithlete Jeremiah, hoping to arrange a Saturday morning ride.

Serendipitously, Jeremiah returned my voice mail to let me know he was doing the Rosedale Ride, an choose-your-distance ride organized by the Rosedale Foundation to benefit the Rosedale School, part of the Austin ISD and a school for children with multiple disabilities.

I chose the 32-mile loop. Miah did the 45-mile track (yes, he's a total stud!)

We enjoyed a beautiful morning ride out with several hundred other riders, some also doing 24-mile and 63-mile loops. Volunteers, including many teachers from the school were also out in force, encouraging riders of all ages and riding ability.

The start/finish was at Applied Materials' campus in Austin, which has its own running track which loops a pond in the center of the main buildings. So I was even able to complete my scheduled "brick" workout, which calls for finishing one training exercise and transitioning straight to another - on this day I went straight from the bike to a 20-minute run.

Catching up with a dear friend, supporting a great cause, enjoying a wonderful central Texas spring morning, and ticking off a scheduled training a week before the big event... I don't think it could have worked out any better!

Mission Moment

This message is from Danielle. She is one of the newest Tri Honored Heroes.

Dear Teammates,

Thank you for taking the time to train and to do something that will matter a great deal to all of us who have been affected by a blood related cancer. The funds that you raise will help the Society to continue to fund research.

Over the past few years, many research advances have been made due to the efforts of people like yourselves who have joined Team in Training. The development of Gleevac was due in part to the funding of Dr. Brian Druker received from the Society's TNT program. Gleevac has put my CML in remission and has allowed me to lead a very active life-keeping busy with high school studies, club soccer, and the normal activities of a sixteen-year-old.

I hope that I will have the opportunity to meet you over the next couple of months.

Go TEAM!
Danielle

Used Cell Phone Collection

Send us your old cell phones!!*

They are worth a bit of money (up to several dollars per phone) and you can offer them as a donation to LLS. A big box of phones will take me one step closer to my fundraising goal.

Send your phones to: Deirdre Goodman, 2800 Covert Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76133.

Or if you're in the North Texas area - we'll come pick them up!

*Note: you need not send chargers, adapters or any accessories. No manuals, no original packaging, no SIM card. Just the old phone - that's it!

Volunteering at the 1st Annual Double Play Duathlon

TNT Participants can earn up to $300 in volunteer credit to support their campaign. Still having credits available, I woke up early on Sunday (truly no rest for the weary!) to arrive at the Rangers Ballpark at Arlington (just renamed from Ameriquest Field), home of the Texas Rangers, by 6:00 AM to volunteer at the Double Play Du.

I'm learning about how this business of stages races operates. It's a pretty cool little economy.

Race production companies partner with hosts and event sponsors, many of which have a charitable mission. For example, $10 of every entry fee of the Double Play Du goes to support the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation.

The production companies can keep a lean staff, because they work with TNT and other groups to provide volunteers for when they most need help - race day. I get credit toward my fundraising goal. Athletes get a well-staffed event which means a safer and more enjoyable time for all.

A good deal all around.

Athens Tri and the Missing Timing Chip

The photographic evidence is in - my timing chip was lost in the pool during the 300m swim. Mystery solved!

Notice the bare ankles.

One ankle should have a Velcro strap containing some sort of RF ID device that tracks my position and time as a I cross from swim to transition to bike to transition to run to finish line.

A bunch of zeros appear on my official results. Bummer, eh? I had a great time nonetheless.

That's why we do these practice races, I suppose. Learn, and avoid these mistakes on the day of the big race.

Update (3/21): while volunteering at the Texas Double Play Du, I spoke to the team at RunFar, the company that does the event time keeping. It was the same crew who did the Athens race, and it turns out I was one of two athletes who lost their chip at Athens. He said in pool swims, it's usually closer to four or five lost chips. Come Lone Star, I think I might reinforce that Velcro with some duct tape!!

Athens-YMCA Triathlon

That's Coach Tom pictured right (showing off his big guns!)

Back in January, while we were all still triathlon neophytes, Coach Tom told us about this great event in Athens, Texas, sponsored by the town's YMCA. It's a Sprint distance triathlon, which is about half of an Olympic distance, and exactly half of Quarter Iron Man distance that our team will divide up to conquer on April 1 - just 15 days from now. Lance Armstrong ran this race when he was a young Texas triathlete. Tom offered this race as a great practice event.

So the majority of the Winter North Texas Forth Worth Triathlon team of TNT traveled to Athens on March 10, (about two hours drive from Fort Worth) to compete in this event.

A more beautiful day nor more idyllic weather could have greeted us. It was beautiful, even with a patch of fog that forced the local police to delay the race start to ensure the safety of the bicycle portion of the race.

I had a fantastic time - an absolute blast. TNT was well represented from our team, Team Starr's Bret and Jennifer and Team Magma, aka Dan M., and other local teams such as Dallas.

My only misstep was losing track of my timing chip, which began the race strapped to my ankle, but was separated from me without my noticing. So I have no official results, but I'm pleased with my effort.

And our team looked great today; I'm very proud to be a part of this group.

Coach Tom had us very well prepared for this race.

Bill Walsh- update

SI.com writer Michael Sliver offers a revealing and touching article on Bill Walsh, his legacy, and his reflections on his life in coaching.

One of Coach Walsh's regrets - leaving the Niners at the height of their success. 'You know what, I blew it. I shouldn't have resigned.'

As we noted in our November post, Walsh is facing the last fight of his life with grace and dignity.

We're still pulling for you Bill.

Researcher optimistic about cures for all blood cancers

Chris Meehan, reporter for Kalamazoo Gazette, reports on very encouraging news coming from researchers at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (the beneficiary of my fund raising effort).

Notable quotes:

"A goal of curing most types of blood cancer by 2015 is realistic and attainable"

"The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society awarded about $60 million in grants to scientists in 2006."

And how about this for dramatic improvement:

Before Gleevec was introduced more than five years ago... about 50 percent of patients diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia every year did not survive for five years.

Today, because of the drug, which kills cancer cells without also killing healthy cells, 95 percent of the patients with the disease are still alive at the five-year mark...

While no one treatment or drug offers a panacea, real progress is being made. Amazing to think we can speak seriously about "cancer" and "cures" in the same breath.

Total Immersion Swimming

I have been meaning for some time now to write a post about Total Immersion Swimming.

It's a book.

It's a DVD.

They have classes in your area with certified instructors.

Starting out in triathlon training, I found swimming very frustrating. I just knew I was doing it wrong, and even worse, I knew I was not getting better quick enough, if at all.

So I asked around, finally, and bought a book "Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster, and Easier."

The title does not lie, and this system does not disappoint.

Ask me about if you'd like to know more; I can't say enough good things about my experience with TI.

Dave Ramsey's baby steps

If you've never experienced the Dave Ramsey phenomenon via his daily radio-talk show, or best selling books, you can check him out on his Web site.

Deirdre and I were given an opportunity to see Dave live recently in Dallas. Dave has a lot of great things to say. You really can't argue with the guy actually.

What struck me was his "baby steps" that challenge people to take ideas and put them into practice. It's one thing to know, quite another to do, as we all know who have read self-help books, diet books, exercise books, or even cook books.

Dave is all about getting it done.

Baby step one: "Put $1,000 away form an emergency fund"
Baby step two: "Pay off all debt using the 'debt' snowball"
Baby step three: "Three to six months of expenses in savings"

Find steps 4-7 here: http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/cms/index.cfm?intContentID=2867

Back to step one - Dave also added these fundamental principles of money management

1. You must SAVE money
2. Pay yourself FIRST
3. Give, save, then pay BILLS

While we may see a tension between giving and saving here, Dave's reminding us that it's good to give, right to give, healthy to give, even or especially for those who have the least to give. Give to your community, your church, your favorite non-profit.

Giving aligns the giver and her resources with the world around her. Cool stuff from Dave!

Michael Brecker Memorial

In the January 29 issue of Time, page 18, I came across a death notice of Michael Brecker, 57, "11-time Grammy winner widely regarded as the most influential jazz saxophonist since John Coltrane; of leukemia; in New York City."

To be honest, I had never heard of Mr. Brecker until I read this short paragraph about his life and recent death. So a I did some searching and found an article that tells more of the story.

Michael Brecker was diagnosed with MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome), an early stage of leukemia in which one's bone marrow cannot produce enough healthy blood cells, sometime after that. His wife Susan had sent out a plea via mass email, "...it's critical that he has a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant (which has nothing to do with embryonic stem cells). The initial search for a donor, including Michael's siblings and children, has not resulted in a suitable match. We now hope to have as many people tested as possible that share a similar genetic background as my husband."

The appeal for help has also been posted atop the official Michael Brecker website since soon after the 57-year-old saxophonist first announced that he had been diagnosed with MDS. Despite worldwide publicity, a donor match was never found. An experimental cell transplant procedure was performed on Michael Brecker in 2005 but was not as successful as the surgeons and medical experts had hoped.

His website offer details on a memorial service to be held on February 20 in New York City.

More on his life:

His work as a sideman was featured prominently on TV and movie soundtracks, including "The Wiz," "Warriors," "Footloose," "9 ½ days," "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and The Bill Cosby Show. Michael Becker also performed as part of the dynamic house band for NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in the 1980s, and recorded with popular artists as diverse a Dire Straits, Herbie Hancock, Todd Rundgren, Manhattan Transfer and funk rock icons, Parliament.

Fundraising Update: Six Weeks to Go!

Team Goodman crossed the $1,000 mark today in funds raised for LLS. Our goal is $3,000 before the end of March. Thanks to my big sister for tipping us over into the four-digit territory! (ok, so immediate family - check; aunts, uncles and cousins, I'm coming for you too!)

I'm also working on corporate and local business donors. If anyone has ideas are ways to help spread the word, please don't be shy.

Here's the secure online donation site just in case you lost it.

For those of you we've expressed your intent verbally to support my campaign for LLS, now is the time!

Thank you all again. I'm off to SPIN class. Training update to come too... lots of good stuff to report.

A Salute to Coach Tom

TNT attracts a group of seemingly ordinary folks who volunteer their time to train the endurance/fundraising teams, often multiple teams at one time such our winter team and the new spring team which kicked-off their training in '07. I suppose like most humans, their extraordinary qualities manifest once you get to know them better.

Bret from Team Starr provides an appropriate tribute to Coach Tom, the leader of our pack of wild triathletes-in-training, and a super human being.

Read Bret's post. I bet you'll laugh out loud.
http://teamstarr.blogspot.com/2007/01/coach-tom.html

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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.

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.

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.

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).

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!

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!

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!