This year the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program, one of the first endurance events benefiting a charitable cause, celebrates its 20th Anniversary. I participated in TNT in 2001 and walked the Anchorage Alaska Marathon. In fact this is what I had to say about the program:
While I had walked 5K’s and done other type of fundraising, Team in Training is what really got me hooked on fundraising events. There are so many great things about TNT, I cannot begin to describe it!
Crossing the finish line at that marathon is still one of the best moments of my life. Even though I have done other events since then that was my first biggie and will always be remembered fondly. It impacts the participants and most importantly helps the Society make strides in research and services for people going through Leukemia & Lymphoma.
Check out this video that shows the history and impact that the program has made.
Anastasia Sowinski ran her first marathon when her mother was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2002. Sowinski, a Brookfield, Illinois resident joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program. Sowinski raised five thousand dollars and on the first anniversary of her mother’s death, ran her second marathon.
Sowinski has also ran three other marathons since her Team in Training days. So she has five marathons completed out of her goal of fifty, one for each U.S.A. state. She has run marathons in Alaska, Chicago (Illinois), Miami (Florida), Cincinnati (Ohio and Bloomington (Indiana).
She is preparing to run the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, October 28th in Arlington, Virginia. On December 1st she will run the Memphis Marathon in Memphis, Tennessee. Sowinski’s goal is to run three to four marathons each year.
For the Marine Corps Marathon Sowinski is raising funds for A Running Start, a charity that helps African children obtain a U.S.A. university education and to use their athletic abilities.
This year’s event attracted 340 runners and 275 walkers, up from last year’s 500 participants. The walk is sponsored by Bradley’s Buddies, a charity organization to remember Bradley Caraker. Caraker was a 9-year-old Wenonah boy who battled T-cell leukemia and died in 2006.
The run/walk ended with a dedication of a memorial walkway in Caraker’s name that is located in the Wenonah School butterfly garden.
The State-to-State Half Marathon will be held on Sunday, September 16th in Ohio and Indiana. The race begins in Uptown Oxford, Ohio and follows Contreras Road into Indiana. It then loops back into Oxford, Ohio.
The half marathon offers many opportunities for runners for different distances: from a half-marathon, a 5K run/walk, a kids 1K “fun run” and a toddler/preschool dash. The event anticipates 1,400 runners for this year’s event. 900 runners have registered so far. The race began five years ago, in 2003 with 800 runners. To celebrate the race’s fifth year prizes will be given to the top runners, and also to those who have participated each year in the event.
Cash prizes totalling $4,600 will be given to the top three runners in the men’s and women’s brackets for the 5K and half-marathon run. Fifth-year runners will be given a copy of “C.C. Pyle’s Amazing Footrace” by Geoff Williams. Williams’ story is an actual account of a coast-to-coast run across the U.S.A. in 1928. The first 850 runners will get free T-shirts from New Balance.
Last year’s event raised $13,000 for Butler County charities and this year’s event is anticipated to raise at least that amount for charity. This year funds will be donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training - Southern Ohio Chapter and other local charities. The State-to-State Marathon is completely run by volunteers.
The Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon Anchorage, Alaska 2001
While I had walked 5K’s and done other type of fundraising, Team in Training is what really got me hooked on fundraising events. There are so many great things about TNT, I cannot begin to describe it!
I loved knowing that by raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society I was helping others live stronger, healthier lives. I met a beautiful young boy, my honored patient, who was undergoing treatments for leukemia. Read more… »
While I had walked 5K’s and done other type of fundraising, Team in Training is what really got me hooked on fundraising events. There are so many great things about TNT, I cannot begin to describe it!