This isn’t a post about writing, but something more perso...

This isn’t a post about writing, but something more personal. Please read on at your pleasure . . .

I’m fundraising to find a cure for blood cancers

and I’m asking for your help.

The quick version: 

I’m doing a triathlon with Team in Training on April 19th, 2015. My goal is to raise $2500 by January 17th. Please help support my fundraising by making a tax-deductible donation at http://pages.teamintraining.org/gba/s...

Every little bit counts!

The long version:

In 2007, I did my first Team in Training. The year before, my cousin Susan Butcher—the 4-time Iditarod Sled Dog Race winner—had died at age 52, of acute myelogenous leukemia. When I learned there was a x-country ski team, that it was a fundraiser for leukemia, and that the event was a ski marathon in Alaska, I knew I had no choice but to race in her honor.

If you’re a female athlete who grew up in the ‘80s, if you’re lover of dogs, or if you simply follow amazing courageous endeavors then you’ll recognize Susan’s name. Her athletic achievements were an inspiration to many. But she couldn’t win her fight with blood cancer and, unfortunately, she is not alone in that battle: there are an estimated 1.1 million people in the U.S. who are living with, or are in remission from, a blood cancer.

In 2008, I joined the TNT Ski Team again, but this time I wasn’t able to ski. Earlier that year, just before my 50th birthday, I had crashed my bicycle. From the outside, it didn’t look so bad—a few scrapes and bruises, a chipped bone on one elbow, and a badass story to tell—but the invisible injuries were more significant. The simplest way to describe it is that I sprained my pelvis. The cartilage, the soft tissue, the pelvic floor muscles—all sprained or strained or torn. Barely able to walk, let alone ski, I found myself in the midst of a full-blown identity crisis: if I wasn’t an athlete then who was I?

It took over a year before I could run without stabbing pain. During that time, my clever body came up with new ways of moving and stabilizing my pelvis. Who knew you could run moving only from the knees down? Who knew that the back/hip flexors could be almost as good at core stabilization as the regular abdomen/butt combo? But then these compensations became as problematic as the original injuries. It took several more years to unwind these compensatory habits. It was a long time to be out of commission.

But it wasn’t time wasted!

Spraining my pelvis led me on a fascinating physical (yes, perhaps even spiritual) journey. I learned to advocate for the unusual truth of my body’s injuries in the face of otherwise skilled practitioners who wouldn’t treat ‘down there’ (it’s just another set of muscles!). I found talented medical practitioners with obscure training and knowledge made me curious about this somatic language and led me to become a certified as a massage therapist. And, with the familiar bold athleticism subdued by injury, I learned to listen to the subtler ways bodies can speak to each other, and the surprising things they can know: subtle body, energy systems, and all the complex ways mind and body collaborate. Even understanding what it was to injure my root chakra (see, I really did go all woo here in California) opened new terrain. All of these experiences—ones that never would have happened without the injuries from the bike crash—brought me into my body in new, subtler but more profound ways. All of this was a gift.

So now it’s 2014 and I’ve come back to Team in Training once again. This time, it’s on a quest for wholeness and integration. Now that I’m injury free, can I come back into my athletic self without loosing my newly gained sense of subtle embodiment? Can train with my rationale mind (training schedules, techniques, etc.) and my intuitive heart (gut instincts, fears, compassion) as equal partners? Can I become the exuberant animal that is really what I long to be?

This triathlon is the test of that integration.

In 2015, on April 19th (Patriot’s Day to you Concordians), I will participate in the Silicon Valley International Triathlon. It’s a 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run. Crazy right? Your support—in cheers or in dollars—will be what gets me to the finish line.

So will you consider donating to my fundraising campaign? I’ve pledged to raise $2500 by January 17th. I need your help. Every contribution, no matter what size, will make a difference.

How to Donate:

All donations are 100% tax deductible (LLS Tax ID is 13-5644916).

1. Best way (by credit card): Make a secure donation with a credit card at http://pages.teamintraining.org/gba/s...

2. Alternative way (by check): If you’d prefer to write a check (made out to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) you can then send it to me so I can submit it to LLS as part of my fundraising. Let me know if you’d like to do it this way and I’ll send you my mailing address.

Thank you in advance for your support,

 

 

 

 

P.S. Do you know someone who has battled leukemia or lymphoma? If so, let me know I will be happy to add them to our team’s list of honorees and to swim/bike/run/crawl in their honor!

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MORE ABOUT LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY

In Created 23 years ago, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training (TNT), has prepared more than 500,000 people to achieve their dream of completing a marathon, half marathon, triathlon, 100-mile (century) bicycle ride or hike adventure. Those participants have raised a remarkable $1 billion to support blood cancer research and patient services.

LLS has made critical contributions in many areas:

Last year alone, LLS invested approximately $70 million in cutting -edge research.
For more than 60 years, LLS has invested nearly $1 billion to advance cancer therapies and save lives.
Since the early 1960’s, five year survival rates for many blood cancer patients have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled.
LLS helped advance Gleevac for patients with CML; this oral drug is now helping patients with other cancers.
LLS partners with academic centers and biotechnology companies to get new treatments to more patients, faster.
LLS advocated for state and federal legislation to ensure patients have access to quality, affordable and coordinated care.
LLS is the leading source of free blood cancer information, education patient support.

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