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Tag Archives: leukemia & lymphoma society


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Race Recap – San Antonio Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon

My slowest best ever!

I am pretty proud of that.

This year I have already PR’d in 2 distances and have run my second fastest in another 2 distances. The San Antonio Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon was purely for fun. It was my race to catch up with friends.

I have been running with Team in Training in support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for 4 years and have been a mentor for a flex team this season. Going to the race allowed me to meet all my Team in Training friends and meet my mentees finally. One of my running friends snuck up on me at the Expo and this whole race weekend became a weekend of running with friends.

At the start line it was pretty clear that this was not a day to PR. It was hot and humid. My friend, who I was going to run with, hadn’t trained properly (he is a running coach and now has a story to tell on what NOT to do…) as he had  an injury recently. So we set off with the goal to make it to the finish line and have as much fun as possible in-between.

Mile 3 (ish): The Alamo. A number of friends had planned to hang out in front of the Alamo. I missed 2 of them, one of them apparently shouted out my name, but I missed that, too. But we saw one of them, shared a hug and a high-five with her son.

Mile 6 (ish): One of my friends from Waco came up from behind me. I hadn’t seen her since last year’s race, so we chatted for quite a while. I met her boyfriend, who ran with her.

Mile 8 (ish): Another friend took a photo of me and my running buddy.

Rock 'n Roll San Antonio Half Marathon

Mile 10 (ish): We passed the Team in Training cheering group, shared a few more hugs and high-fives.

Mile 11 (ish): I cheered up a new Team in Training runner, who was sad she wasn’t running well. I told her to focus on the medal and not worry about time. It’s hot and humid, best excuse to run slow.

Mile 13.1: Got an awesome medal.

Rock 'n Roll San Antonio Half Marathon Medal

This was the fourth time I ran the San Antonio Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon and I think I am done with this race. It has been my very first half marathon in 2008 and will always hold a special place in my running heart, but I am finally tired of the course. Next year I’ll need to find a new fall race in November, somewhere where it’s a little less humid maybe.

Happy running!

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One mile at a time…

I am back!

It’s been a great trip to California with lots of mixed emotions. And I can’t do all my emotions and adventures justice in one post, so I am going to post about all my adventures in chunks over the next few days.

Let me start today with why I went to San Diego.

Cancer is so limited…

I have been running with Team in Training for over 4 years and participated in 5 seasons as a fundraiser. This year I raised over $2,500. The reason why I come back year after year – even now that my team is in Texas and I am in London – is the people who are Team in Training and the cause.

When I started my first season with Team in Training in 2009, I didn’t know anybody who was affected by leukemia or lymphoma. But I was captivated by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society whose mission is to cure cancer and improve the lives of patients and their families. 75% of their funds go to patient care and research. That’s a lot more than many charities do.

Over the past few years, I have gotten to know that many of my friends were affected directly and indirectly by leukemia and lymphoma and other cancers. So, there is no reason to stop fundraising now.

My jersey on San Diego showed 13 names.

Ruben – we were Team Ruben. Ruben passed away last fall. He was a dear friend of my Team in Training coach, Stephanie. Stephanie created Team Ruben to honor her friend and raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in his name. Our team raised close to $200,000 and LLS is naming a grant in honor of Ruben.

Jay – a friend and fellow Team in Training buddy, who was just diagnosed with lung cancer.

Rachel – a fellow Team in Training buddy, who was a member of our 2010 San Diego team and who has just learned about the relapse of her leukemia.

Peggy – a friend and Team in Training buddy, who is a breast cancer survivor.

Lisa – a friend, who is a breast cancer survivor.

Derek – a friend and Team in Training buddy, who is a lymphoma survivor.

Denis – my friend Chantal’s dad, who is fighting cancer.

Pierre – my friend Annabelle’s dad, who passed away this March fighting leukemia.

Antoine – a 7-year old boy, friends with Annabelle’s family, who passed away earlier this year fighting blood cancer.

Normand – my friend Alexandra’s dad, who passed away 3 years ago.

Darron – a friend, who passed away last summer fighting a brain tumor.

Andrea – my high school friend, a cancer survivor.

Julie – Sandi’s (flamidwyfe) friend, who passed away 7 years ago fighting CML.

I missed a few names on my jersey, but I will tell you about these awesome people as well.

Rose – fellow blogger happyhippierose, who is a lymphoma survivor.

Jackie – Peggy’s sister, who is a fighter. She was diagnosed with CML 7 years ago and with breast cancer 4 years ago. She keeps fighting and is an inspiration to all of us.

Cariann – a fellow Team in Training member. Cariann was part of our 2010 San Diego season. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the beginning of last year. The cancer was diagnosed late and the aggressive treatment was affecting her. Peggy and my friend Rob kept in touch with her when she moved back to San Diego to be with her family during her treatment. They invited Cariann to our Team in Training inspiration dinner in San Diego this past weekend. Cariann joined us and was thrilled to be there and share the evening with us. Very sad news reached me though on Friday as Cariann lost her fight against cancer and passed away.

There are many other people who deserve to be mentioned and I am sorry that I am missing some. Cancer is a horrible disease and we need to keep searching for a cure!

I will be back fundraising next year to honor survivors and to run in memory of those who lost the fight. We need to find a cure for cancer.

One mile at a time.


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Today is Jay's Day!

Our teammate and former coach, Jay Taylor, is beginning the next phase of his journey to full recovery today at MD Anderson in Houston, TX. He was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

 I have known Jay for over 4 years and he has been a running buddy for my very first half marathon and a few subsequent races. We most recently ran a race together in Anchorage, Alaska, last summer. He has been relentlessly running and fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for many years.

I’m donating $10 in his honor to LLS through my fundraising page.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sctx/rnr12/tkudla

Will you please join me?


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Official season start

Today marks the day of the official season start. It is only 12 weeks to the Edinburgh Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon.

Time to get serious! Of course, that would be true if i hadn’t twisted my ankle a little on Saturday’s run. It’s not hurting, but I am going to be cautious for a few days. So, yesterday I did yoga instead of a run. I was very much worried about hurting like crazy today, but I am not! Now I am wondering, did I not work hard enough yesterday during the yoga class?

Today I went to the gym. OMG! I have not been to the gym since February last year and now I remember why… I was just happy that I rediscovered my iPod last week. 🙂 Stayed away from the treadmill, but “ellipted” on the elliptical trainer.

This week also is the official start of my Team in Training training for the San Diego Half Marathon. I am waiting for my motivational emails from my team! 🙂

It’s not what we have in our life.

But who we have in our life that counts.

~J.M. Laurence


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Heading for San Diego

Running my fifth season with Team In Training! I will be running the San Diego Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon in June with my beloved and very-much-missed Austin Team.

It’s been a great journey for me to run for a cause. I have been running races for causes for the past 10 years, but only took up fundraising in 2009 with my first full marathon, the NIKE Women’s Marathon. And I couldn’t have found a better team than Team in Training. I made new friends, pushed myself further than I ever thought I would and have seen the good work the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) does with their patient support.

I am a remote member of the team, so I can’t participate in the team runs, but can’t wait to see everyone in June in San Diego.

Be a hero and help support my fundraising or be a hero by joining the team.

We won’t always know whose lives we touched and made better for our having cared, because actions can sometimes have unforeseen ramifications. What’s important is that you do care and you act.
~ Charlotte Lunsford


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Things you do on a Sunday…

Run a half marathon, have a drink and lots of food with friends, then relax with a movie…

My friends S and Y signed up with me to run the NIKE+ Women’s Half Marathon (N+WHM), a virtual global race to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with the motto: Your city. Your terms. Only thing you had to do is run 13.1 miles and sync it with your NIKE+ device. Cool stuff (geek runner talking)!

I have been supporting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for over 3 years and have run the real deal, the NIKE Women’s Marathon in San Francisco a number of times. So it didn’t take much for me to sign up here (just pray to the weather god for glorious London weather in January – no biggie).

S, Y and I had a great few hours in glorious sunny London weather (thanks weather god!), running along the river. I think there may just be a few more fun runs coming up with the three of us. By the way, we clocked 13.86 miles according to my GPS and 14.4 miles according to S’s GPS – take your pick!

Though, I have to say, the most important part of any run is the delicious food to be had afterwards – guilt free. 🙂  Here is what is now my best ever favorite dessert ever:

a cookie biscuit  filled with

chocolate brownie

topped with marshmallow

pieces and chocolate honeycomb topped

with vanilla ice cream

topped with caramel

sauce.

happy.

(a poem)