How Does This Work?

Thank you all for the wonderful comments on my last post. I am super excited and honored to be running with and in front of you all. I know that all of you will keep me on my toes, literally and figuratively.

I've received a few questions on how all of this works, from training to fundraising, to eventually October 21. Here is the run down:

When you sign up for Team in Training (TnT), you are automatically entered into a spot that they have reserved for each chapter in whatever marathon you choose to run. For example, several people are training for the Chicago Marathon or the NYC Marathon. Due to its national recognition and social cause, marathon organizers keep slots open for TnT (except the NYC and Boston Marathons, since they are uber popular).

Once you sign up TnT, you receive a training calendar. The calendar is your guru, your paper guide. It demarcates how much you run, where you run, and when you take a day off. In my training program, I run with the team twice a week (for me, it is Tuesday and Saturday). When you are not training with the team, that doesn't mean you slack off. DARN. It means you run on your own, cross train, or take a day off (Fridays are my days off). During the group runs, we get advice from coaches (all coaches have done like 15000 marathons!), exercise routines, physical therapy advice, etc.

In return for the marathon training, the feeling good part, and a slot in a selection of awesome marathons, I must fundraise for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I've never really enjoyed money. But, over the past years, I've gotten pretty well-versed on personal finance. I realized my fear doesn't mean that money will stop leaving MY wallet or coming into it (nice!). By the time of the race, I have to raise $3900.

Yes, that is correct. Three thousand nine hundred dollars.

This was one of my biggest obstacles to joining TnT. Raising that money brings a lot of fear. You know how when you are in another country, you immediately convert the money into dollars and think, "Hey, that outfit is only $1.43? It's a steal!," when it is like thousands in that country's currency. I do that with dollars and law school debt. When I saw $3900, I immediately converted it to three months of my law school debt. !!!

But, after talking to folks who have run with TnT, they all told me that I could do it. I believe them. I do. I believe in people giving, caring, and supporting someone they care about just because (and more importantly, because they care about the cause). If you would like to start donating, check out my fundraising page. After this weekend, I will share my financial goals with you for this race.

To recap:

I run. I fundraise. I bring attention to a blood cancers that are prevasive. Oh, and I cross the finish line in beautiful San Francisco on October 21, 2007.