TNT Kick-Off Party

Thursday, I was invited to the Team in Training kick-off party at 1149.  I got there right on time and signed in.  Since I am already registered, there was no paperwork to fill out, but I did get my training shirt, which is a very nice tech shirt that I will be proud to wear. 

I grabbed a drink and started to mingle.  I was so happy to meet my coach but was soon disappointed to learn that most of the training runs are at Brown University on Sundays at 7:30 a.m.  This is a problem for a couple reasons.  

First, it's Brown, which is 40 minutes from my house.   On the weekends that Mr. RWM is home, this is not such a big deal, but there is no way I will be able to get a sitter that early in the morning on the weekends that he is not home.

Second, it's Sunday.  Are we the only family that still goes to church?  I am pretty sure it is impossible to get to Brown, run four miles or more, drive home, shower and get dressed to be at the church by 10:15 a.m. 

I am really trying not to make excuses, but where do I draw the line? Part of the allure of TNT is that you have people to train with and real running coaches.  I don't want to miss out on this, but I will not skip out on Sunday services for the next five months either. 

I am sure I will come up with a plan that will work for my family and for my training, but I can't help but be a little disappointed. 

I did meet a few wonderful people who I am looking forward to getting to know better.  Talking with the other participants increased my excitement, which was pretty high to begin with.  I loved hearing why they were running and who they were running in honor of.  I told everyone I could about Haley and our team. I even tried to recruit a few people, but didn't get any takers.

Are you interested in running the Nike Women's Marathon?  We would be happy to have you be part of Haley's Sweet Sixteen.  Just message me and I will get you started.  

On one of the tables was a box for donations.  I was happy to give and soon found out that the money inside was going to be raffled off to one of us and that the money was going towards our fundraising total. 

Guess who won?  Yeah, me!  In the box was $48.49.  Yes, I am feeling lucky.

At every TNT event, they have an honored guest who talks about their battle with blood cancers.  Tonight's honoree was Ramon Sanchez.

He was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma on August 23, 2011, a week before his 27th birthday.  He also had just found out he was going to be a dad.  He lit up the room when he spoke and smiled and I was so happy to be able to speak with him a little.  He was also the one who pulled my name out of the hat for the Raffle.  Thank you Ramon!

I am excited to say my fundraising is really off to a great start.  I hope you all will consider being part of my Run Strong, Think Big Virtual 5k.  You can run or walk and you will receive a medal for participating. 

I am going to leave you with a few words from Ramon Shanchez.  "We all fight our trials in our way, the key is to live like you beat them yesterday."

Run strong, think big.