By the light , of the Silvery Moon....

Well I’m still getting up every Saturday at 5am so I can eat and then head out to a training session. Our Saturday training sessions start at 7Am. And as the winter season approaches, ..it’s very dark and cold at 7 Am. Since I’m not a morning person (and have never been) getting up at that time on a Saturday is a bit of a challenge. I also have to eat about an hour before I run. I’ve never have been a breakfast person either. So having to eat pasta at 5Am is probably harder to do than driving to the workout area and standing around in shorts when it’s 50 degrees outside. (I know, I know... us southerners are such wimps when it comes to cold weather...I think it’s been in the 30's up north already)

This Saturday we ran in a very popular area for the runs (probably because it is part of the marathon route). It’s especially nice because it is in a very old part of town with very cute and expensive bungalows. Most of the little homes have been re-done and are as cute as can be. It makes for interesting run.

We had an easier Saturday....we only did 6 miles that day!

Light the Night event-----

Light the Night event

My youngest son, Trevor, and I did the Light the Night event together. It was fun and lovely at the same time. There was live music, free food and lots of free give-way stuff. Trevor wore the white shirt and carried the red ‘support’ balloon and I wore the blue’ survivor’ shirt and carried the white balloon. What made it extra special was that I got to meet one of the fellow CLLers, John Wagner, from the forum that I’m on. Trevor and I walked with him and his lovely family.

It was a beautiful clear night the lighted balloons looked great. There was also a lighted hot air balloon there as well. Lots of supporters were present and many ‘survivors’ ( one ‘blue shirt survivor’ was a little 3 year old wearing a surgery mask..sooo touching and so cute). I believe there were about 3-4000 people there.. Another little supporter was a 13 year old who was raising money for her best friend who was sick with leukemia...she managed to raise $15,000...to help her friend....what a great story!

It was a night to remember.....

So it's Root, Root, Root for the Home Team ...

I belong to a Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia forum called http://www.cllforum.com./ It has been a life saver for many of us. We can get info about the disease to help us understand what we have(trying to figure out what’s going on by yourself ,at first, is so over-whelming), the latest on treatment and personal experiences with treatment, doctors and clinics....and loads of emotional support. It’s a place to ‘share’ with others that are going through what we are going through. Since this forum is also an international site...some of the exchanges are quite amusing.
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A post from Maddog23 who lives in the USA entitled "Continuing with activities while in treatment"--

I was diagnosed in 11/07 and by the beginning of softball season (04/08) discussions were already underway about what treatment I needed to undergo. I began treatment 06/10/08 and am in the middle of FCR. I continue to play softball throughout treatment and my team has qualified for 2 national championships. I am leaving Thursday to go to Columbus, OH to participate in the ASA National Softball championships. I am going to attempt to attach a picture of our team. If you look very closely you will see a "Root for the Cure" CLL patch on the right sleeve.
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Reply from Richard who lives in NEW ZEALAND:

Hi Maddog, A question about your post entitled,"Continuing with activities while in treatment."

I was just wondering what activities you are continuing??

In NEW ZEALAND - "to root" is a slang expression for sexual intercourse!!

Baseball or whatever.... enjoy!!

CheersRichard

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~~~Hmmmm... interesting fund-raising possibilities!~~~
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So if YOU want to "Root for the Cure" (the USA definition) and make a donation go to :
: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ctx/austin09/akingdpckk

(Thanks to Maddog for letting me use his story on my blog)

Team in Training-- the movie

IF YOU CAN'T JOIN A TEAM... SUPPORT ONE! BE PART OF MY TEAM BY DONATING TO:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ctx/austin09/akingdpckk

"Light the Night"

The”Light the Night “ walk is a wonderful family event which celebrates and commemorates the lives of people touched by leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma and raises money to support critical research and provide education and services to patients and their families. Participants at the walks carry illuminated balloons -- white for survivors, red for supporters.. {{In Austin Texas it will be happening on October 18,2008. Meet at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas (located at the Mueller developement) Registration and Activities start at 6pm (food, live music, kid's stuff). I will be walking with John Wagner's Team (I'll be wearing my TNT shirt) Walk at 7:30pm.}} Find out where & when your local “Light the Night” walk will be at : http://www.lightthenight.org/
...help us make people aware..... just walk with us...

2008 -See it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DOQIYbSySs

About past “Light the Night” walks
(2007)Actress Cynthia Nixon is lending her face and fame to help The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society raise awareness for one of its key campaigns, Light The Night(R) Walk, an annual fundraiser held each fall in approximately 250 communities in the United States and Canada..

As national spokesperson for the 2007 Light The Night Walk, Nixon has filmed a public service announcement and lent her image to brochures, email blasts and other publicity materials.
"The Society's mission is very close to my heart and I am honored to be the national spokesperson for Light The Night. Nixon became familiar with the urgent need to support blood cancer research because of friendships she made through her acting career. She performed in the Pulitzer Prize winning play "The Heidi Chronicles" written by Wendy Wasserstein, who succumbed to lymphoma just over a year ago. And while playing the role of Miranda Hobbes in "Sex and the City" she came to know the actor Evan Handler, who played Harry Goldenblatt, the lawyer husband of Charlotte York, Kristin Davis's character. Handler is also a leukemia survivor.

(2006)Honorary chairpersons for this year's Walk are Cleveland Indian's pitcher Cliff Lee and his wife Kristen.
The Lee's 5-year-old son, Jaxon, was 4-months old when diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in September 2001. A bone-marrow transplant in February 2002 saved his life. Jaxon Lee had a 30 percent chance of survival when diagnosed five years ago and has been in remission for 4 1/2 years.
"We hope that something can be gained by sharing the experience our family went through and that those who are touched by cancer will find hope and strength to fight their disease." - Kristen & Cliff Lee

~~~Just give us some of your time-----Just walk with us ~~~~~~~~~

"The Long and Winding Road"

The other Saturday, we met downtown to begin one of our walks. I was walking with George ( a female), who has walked the full marathon with TNT for the last two years. When we first got there, I picked up a map for the ½ marathon work out (3 miles), while the others picked up the full marathon work out maps ( 4 miles). Both maps started downtown and then looped around part of Town Lake.
George and I walked together and decided early on to follow Tricia and Angela who were walking the full marathon 4 mile work out. George and I figured we would get a really good work out and increase our speed.

This seemed like a really good idea at the time!

Well, after a while it was apparent that Angela and Tricia can walk a very fast 12 mph...and George and I walk a slower 15-16 mph. So this caused a problem. At one point we were getting further and further behind, so George and I had to run to catch up with the 'speedy ones'.

After a while, George and I seemed to be running fairly often. (Is anyone really surprised?) Finally we reached a point where we lost sight of the '12 mph pace setters' and we didn’t know which way to go. (Remember I only had the map for the shorter distance and not the longer one which we were in the middle of). Yes, we were sorta lost in the woods!

Thank goodness for tall buildings! We did find our way back to the start. And, well, I was pretty pleased with myself for going on the 4 mile work out. And remembering the lecture about doing the ice bath after a long work out, I had the following conversation with coach Cassidy:

Me: "So, are we supposed to do the ice bath after this walk today?"

Cassidy: "You only need to do it after a long walk."

Me: "We did walk 4 miles today."

Cassidy: "That’s what I mean, only after a long walk."

Hmmm.....
What I learned today......4 miles is NOT a long walk!
"Let your fingers do the walking" over to : http://pages.teamintraining.org/ctx/austin09/akingdpckk