Somebody Up There Likes Me!

This weekend, we did a 5 mile training walk/run from Astoria Park to Roosevelt Island and back. In my case, there was no "and back", since I caught the subway back to Forest Hills for my Weight Watchers meeting, instead of walking back to Astoria Park.

Somebody up there really likes me, that's all I can say. The "Zombie Staircase" restroom was unlocked when we got there, which was perfect timing, since I was trying to figure out how I was going to make it halfway around the island to the tram restroom. We also had free pasta samples courtesy of one of the farmers market vendors, and my train was there within less than a minute of getting to the subway station. Somehow, by some miracle, I only gained .4 lbs over the holiday week. Like I said, somebody up there really likes me!

Please consider making a donation in support of my efforts on behalf of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/halfnyc14/crawlcarolcrawl 

Thank you.

My First-Ever Tattoo: From Promise to Reality

Back in March, I had promised that if I made my Team in Training fundraising goal for the NJ Long Branch Half Marathon, I would get my first-ever tattoo - a smaller version of this taco tattoo - by the end of the year. Well, I was about a month behind schedule, but on Sunday, January 27, 2013, I made good on that promise. It's still healing, but this is what it looks like 2 1/2 weeks later. It doesn't hurt, it just eventually needs to peel on its own, kind of like a sunburn.

(Click the picture to enlarge.)

The idea for a taco tattoo as a symbol for me to remember why I do my marathons and half marathons and who I do them for came about largely in memory of my friend Patty who lost her battle with cancer almost two years ago, and her love of Taco Tuesdays. Those of you who are friends with me on facebook know that I was already posting a weekly "Happy Taco Tuesday" status message in memory of Patty. The tattoo idea came about a bit later, and I just knew that a taco tattoo above my left ankle was the way to go. Now, whenever I look at it, I remember my friends who have kicked cancer to the curb, those currently fighting their battles, and those who have lost theirs. I have a feeling that the resultant innuendos are their gift back to me.

As some of you know, this was not a decision I made lightly. I had been thinking of doing this for a while, and wanted to make sure it was done right. My worst fear was that my tattoo would come out looking nothing like what I had in mind, or worse yet, that it would come out looking awful. So, when my finances finally allowed, I took my time, read reviews of several tattoo shops here in Queens, NYC, and finally decided on True Blue Tattoo in Middle Village, Queens. Why did I go to a tattoo shop halfway across Queens, when there were several closer shops in my immediate area? I don't know. Something about it just felt right, and I've learned to trust that feeling. I'm very glad I did. My tattoo artist was Louis Andrew, and I could not possibly have asked for a better fit both in terms of what I wanted to have done, and personality. I could tell right away that Louis truly loves what he does, and his portfolio is really amazing. I can't say enough great things about both the shop and Louis. I don't think I could have possibly had a better first-time tattoo experience.

For those wondering about the pain. I don't know if it was the spot on my ankle that I chose for the tattoo, or Louis, but it wasn't bad. I watched the whole thing as he was doing it, and the hardest part was staying still. There were a few spots where I really felt it, but even that wasn't overly painful. I didn't scream, cry or curse - not even once.

Two Half Marathons in May - Over and DONE

I'm still not sure what possessed me to sign up for two half marathons within two weeks of each other, but I did it, I race walked them, finished them, and, most importantly, earned two new medals to add to my collection! The Long Branch Half Marathon with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training on May 6th, followed by the Super Hero Half Marathon in Morris Township, NJ on May 20th.

Now I get to take it "easy". "Easy" as in no half marathons for at least another 4 months (the Hershey Half on 10/21 is looking very interesting) or major fundraising efforts for at least another 6 months. (I may reconsider that if Team in Training is doing the Disney Half in January 2013.)

Next up on my race schedule is The Color Run 5K with my niece, Erica. It will be her first race, and I signed us both up as soon as registration opened this past Wednesday. By the end of the race, we're both going to look like Walt Disney threw up all over us. VERY cool! :-)

Taco Tuesday Fundraising Challenge = My First-Ever Tattoo???

In keeping with the personal significance of Taco Tuesday, today starts my Taco Tuesday Fundraising Challenge. If I make my Team in Training fundraising minimum in time for my April 18th deadline, I PROMISE that I will get a smaller version of this tattoo emblazoned on my leg by year-end to honor those I race in honor/memory of. All donations welcome, no amount is too small! Every dollar helps save a life!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/nj12/crawlcarolcrawl

Source: google.com via Carol on Pinterest

A Typical Marathon Training Walk to Roosevelt Island and Back - A Slideshow

You can hover your mouse over the slideshow and click to pause it and go from picture to picture manually.

If you want to see the full-size photos, you can view the online album at
https://picasaweb.google.com/MsCarolM/ATypicalMarathonTrainingWalkToRooseveltIslandAndBack?authuser=0&feat=directlink

You Gotta Know When to Hold, and Sometimes...

You gotta know when to fold 'em. As in after mile 4 of this morning's Ted Corbitt 15K race of death. I went into this with high hopes, after surviving the brutal weather conditions of last year's race. I really wanted to show Ted who was boss this year. Alas, finishing was not meant to be.

Last year, I was healthy on race day. Not so this week. I've been dealing with a major respiratory cold/bug/whatever since Tuesday. Yesterday morning in Central Park, I did a 4.04 mile run-walk in 1.01 hours, and didn't feel particularly bad afterwards. My warning sign should have been when I started losing my voice on the phone last night. It should also have been when I woke up wheezing and coughing a few times during the night. My body was trying to tell me something, but did I listen??? NOOOOOOOO!!! I was very intent on kicking Ted's ass. My plan was, at least according to whatever I wrote on my facebook page at somewhere around 5:30 this morning, to show up, attempt the first 4-mile loop, and then quit if I felt like death. At least I can say I stuck to my plan!

While it was not as brutally cold as last year's race, it's still December in New York City, and it was still cold. Maybe not, as my father would've said, "snot-freezing weather", but still cold enough at somewhere around 32 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, not Celsius, for those who weren't sure). Somewhere between the corral and the starting line, I lost my left glove. Fortunately, I had stashed my pair of dollar store gloves in my pocket, so I didn't have to do the race looking like a Michael Jackson impersonator. Then, somewhere before mile one, my left groin muscle started to hurt. Not horribly, but eventually enough to make the "run" part of "run-walk" pretty much out of the question. Special thanks go to my friend Liz and Coach Dari for hanging with me up until around the 4 mile mark. I was not a particularly happy camper, and was probably WAY not fun to walk with. (Note to Liz: Next race, if I'm not feeling 100%, RUN FAR AWAY and SAVE YOURSELF!!! Seriously, I won't be upset, nor do I want to inflict my pain on others - it may be in everyone's best interest to just leave me alone with my misery:-)

So, I get to around the 4 mile mark and just know it's time for "Plan B" to go into effect. I wasn't feeling well, and the thought of having to survive another 5 miles was just too much. So, I decided to stop. Not quit. Stop. There's a difference, and what happened next made that distinction very clear. There comes a time when, as Coach Dari put it, you have to listen to your body. Your body gives you signs and you really should listen to them. The way I see it now is that it's kind of like those cheesy horror movies I watch all the time. You know, when the young couple with the two kids gets a great deal on a house that is generally way, way, way out of their price range. That would be sign number one. Then they ask the realtor why the house is so cheap, and they get some lame-ass story that only people in a horror movie would believe. That's sign number two. Sign number three is when they go into town to do some food shopping, and get all sorts of funny looks when they tell people that they've just bought the old "Bates" place up the road. They still don't realize that something is wrong with that house. Usually, they don't realize it until the walls start dripping blood and the house starts yelling at them to "GET OUT!!!" That's a really BIG sign that they really SHOULD listen to, but DO they??? NOOOOO!!! They decide to fight whatever's possessing the house, which usually involves it having been built over a sealed portal to hell that's been re-opened or some old sacred burial ground. That's when it gets really messy.

So, what happened next that made me realize the difference between quitting and stopping? When I started barking. Yes, you read that correctly. I had just passed our head coach Michael and told him I was done and leaving. I got about 10-15 feet away, and I started making these very strange barking noises when trying to breathe in. It sounded like a barking seal. Now, I'm totally used to wheezing, and an occasional barking cough at some point during my semi-annual cold. But this was happening when I was inhaling, not exhaling, and I was having trouble breathing air in. Pardon my French, but that scared the fucking crap out of me! I have never, ever, even with my mild asthma, had problems getting air into my lungs, much less made strange barking sounds while trying to do so. Definitely my body telling me to "GET OUT!!!" So, I stopped, and, after a few more barking incidents, they eventually stopped, too. This was not about quitting or giving up, as much as it felt that way at the time. This was about stopping because I could not breathe. I even started crying at one point while I was changing into my warm clothes, which definitely didn't help matters any. Bad enough to be barking like a seal, but having a snotted-up nose from crying was just the icing on the cake!

(Edited to clarify, because someone expressed concern about this being something potentially more serious: The barking was not coming from my lungs, but from my throat, which, if this makes sense, felt like it was closing up. Don't know if it was due to over-exerting myself or some sort of emotional/stress-related thing, but it stopped once I stopped the race, and hasn't happened again since.)

Interestingly enough, once I got out of the race and out of the park and onto Fifth Avenue, I started to feel more human. I decided to try to walk down Fifth Avenue from East 102nd Street to 86th and Lexington to catch the subway. I started to relax, and made it down to the Metropolitan Museum, and a coffee vendor, at East 82nd Street. With hot coffee in hand, I decided to keep walking down Fifth Avenue for as long as I continued to enjoy the walk. I made it down to East 57th Street and still felt good. I stopped at Rockefeller Center both to see the tree and to use the restroom, and kept going. I made it all the way down to the #7 subway station at East 42nd Street, where I got on my train back to Queens.

Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!! - The Sequel: I'm Doing it AGAIN!!!

Forget “Run, Forrest, RUN!” I’m doing it AGAIN!!!

LAST YEAR: I DID IT!!! I walked all 26.2 miles in the Walt Disney World Marathon on 1/10/2010. It only took me 7:23:03 (that's 7 hours, 23 minutes and 3 seconds) to do it, too!

YOU DID IT!!! You helped me cross that finish line! Your generous donations and moral support were what kept me going after around mile 18, when things got a bit tough. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

THIS YEAR: Not only am I doing it again, I've also signed up as a Team Disney Mentor! I’ll be training to race walk the full marathon in Walt Disney World to support The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, AND helping new team members get the most out of their Team in Training experience. I'm committing to walking 26.2 miles in this event, and beating last year's time. I may even attempt the “Goofy Challenge” – a 13.1 mile half marathon on Saturday, followed by a full 26.2 mile marathon on Sunday.

In doing so, my goal is to raise $3,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by November 15th to help bring hope and at least some ease of mind to people facing blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and myeloma.
 
Your donation can make such a huge difference. It funds research, assists patients with small reimbursements for treatment expenses, provides training for peer support programs, and most important- it brings hope to so many. Please donate what you can. I know the economy is tough on us all, but please think as big and dig as deep as you're able. Every dollar counts, and at least 75% of your donation goes directly into cancer research and patient support programs. Also, your donation is 100% tax deductible.

Every single dollar makes a difference!

Please visit my website to donate:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/wdw11/cmartzinek

If you're not able to donate, there are loads of other ways you can help me make this happen. I've listed them below. They're equally important and greatly appreciated.

Some other ways you can help me Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!!:

• If you have a blog or website, if you could post a link to my Team in Training website with a small blurb like the one below, it will help tremendously:

Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!! - Please support Carol as she trains to walk in her first marathon to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training.  http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/wdw11/cmartzinek

• Visit the Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!! Shop at http://www.cafepress.com/crawlcarolcrawl - all profits benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

Thanks for taking the time to read and for anything you can do to help me
Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!!

26.2 Miles Later...

I did it! I crossed the finish line of my first (and possibly last) full marathon. (Yeah, I know - I say that now.)

I think one of the most amazing things (besides actually being able to see and cross the finish line) was that I did it all with only one pit stop during the race at Mile 9, without another one until I got back to my hotel room after the marathon. We're talking almost 6 hours without a pee break. Considering the amount of water and Power Ade that I drank at each station, and the fact that it was freezing-ass COLD out there, that's nothing short of miraculous!

All in all, I held up pretty well physically. Some minor annoyances like a small blister at the bottom of my little toe that started at around Mile 23, and my left knee started to bother me a little bit after Mile 10, probably due to the pitch in the road. Mentally was another story altogether. There were some long stretches of highway walking - particularly between the starting line at EpCot and the Magic Kingdom. On the plus side, they were flat. On the minus side, they were B-O-R-I-N-G! They were also just a bit windy in spots. Just a bit. I think my worst stretch mentally and physically was between miles 18-24, especially between miles 20-21! (Those of you who were there know what I mean:-) My best miles pace-wise were miles 1-10.

My best miles mentally were miles 24-26.2, when one of my coaches met me and walked through EpCot's World Showcase with me as far as mile 26. It was like strolling through my "home away from home" at Disney. The best part (aside from crossing the Finish Line) was having an unplanned cheering section made up of my friends, the fabulous and wonderful World Showcase Players, who were starting a show right as I passed the United Kingdom pavillion. That was AWESOME!!! Talk about perfect timing!

More to follow a bit later (because there's SO MUCH more great stuff to tell), but I wanted to write at least this much down before I forgot it all. It was a great experience!

I'm Not a WIMP!!! I'm a ...

SERIOUS BAD-ASS!!!
(and quite modest about it, too, as you can see:-)

Things I learned today:

• AccuWeather is definitely less-than-Accu-Weather! It was nowhere a "real feel" of 9 degrees this morning! Fortunately, it actually felt warmer than it did last night!
• If you do the absolutely most hated, "I can't deal with this" part of your training workout first, everything else is downhill - in some cases quite literally!
• One reverse upper loop up the West Side of Central Park in the freezing cold makes you a bad-ass. Two reverse upper loops up the West Side of Central Park in the freezing cold makes you a SERIOUS BAD-ASS! The added bonus is that nothing else in the park is anywhere near as torturous and the rest of the workout is a piece of cake!
• Even after walking over 14 miles, I am still faster than half the tourists on Fifth Avenue! Holy crap, those people walk SLOW! Amazingly, I did not mow anyone down, although I came close on more than one occasion.

My walk coach, Barb, was very helpful during my "meltdown moment" yesterday. The "staying in the park instead of going up Riverside to the Little Red Lighthouse" idea was a good one and it really worked out well for me. It went so well, that instead of my usual walk to the subway station at Fifth Avenue and West 59th, I walked all the way down to Fifth Avenue and West 42nd Street! Total miles on my pedometer at the end of it all was...

17.25 miles!!!

Another interesting by-product of all this is that "The Great Broccoli Mystery", which I originally wrote about here has been SOLVED!!! It grows on the trees in the area! No joke! If you look at the picture below, you can see round objects on the tree branches in the lower left, and upper middle sections. (They're a bit larger up close - about the size of a tennis ball.)

Those aren't nuts or apples or cherries. They are broccoli-like things that are look like the thing in the center of this picture:


Had we not been doing a reverse loop this morning, we might never have solved the mystery!

I'm Being a Wimp, Not a Bad-ass

I think I've probably hit the worst part of my training, at least mentally.

I am freaking out, in tears and panicking about doing a 16-17 mile walk tomorrow in the freezing cold. I don't think it's about the weather or the distance, though. I think it's more of a mental thing. I've e-mailed one of my coaches for suggestions. In the meanwhile, I'll write about it here so that at least I can get it out of my head and onto "paper".

I am scared to death about getting through tomorrow's long walk. We're supposed to walk up Riverside to the Little Red Lighthouse and back, and then some. It's supposed to be 26 degrees out at 8:00 AM, with a "real feel" of 9 degrees! After my 9/11 volunteering, and my more recent trip down the West Side Highway and back last week, I know it feels about 10 degrees colder along the water and it's usually really windy. But, at least walking down the West Side Highway is familiar. I know where things like clean restrooms are. I have no familiarity with walking up Riverside. I also know that, as a walker, chances are I'll be walking at least part of the way back alone. So, the thought of being in unfamiliar territory, in the freezing cold all by myself is kind of scary. I don't think the thought of doing it would bother me as much if the weather was warmer. The combination of the two, though, is more than a bit intimidating and overwhelming. We have the option of doing our miles in the park, which may be what I'll end up doing if no one else is going to be walking up Riverside and back with me.

The other thing that's overwhelming me a bit is the thought of then having to commute back home in the cold. I have a change of clothes packed, so I have something warm and dry to change into once I'm done, but I think I'm having flashbacks from last weekend, when I was wet and chilled to the bone and waiting for a bus in the rain. I didn't get really warm and dry for over 2 hours after the actual walk was over. I really don't want to go through that again. I think being chilled and cold on the trip home is worrying me more than being cold during the actual 16 mile walk, if that makes any sense.

Like I said, I'm being a wimp, not a bad-ass right now:-) I'll survive, I'm sure. Nothing I could possibly face in the Walt Disney World Marathon next month could ever be this bad weather-wise!

Tonight Will Be Our Last Hill Workout - YAY!!!

Great news! Tonight will be our last hill workout in Central Park!!! We're going to be tackling Northern Hill tonight, but then the hills are DONE!!! WOOHOO!!!

Of course, our long walks are going to get even longer on the weekends to make up for that. This weekend, we're looking at 15 miles. YIKES! If past experience is any indication, this will mean about 4 hours of walking. I'm thinking I may need to switch my shoes, and have ordered a pair of New Balance 768 to try out this week. The ASICS are a bit heavy after 10-13 miles, and I may have a slight issue with the arch support in them on longer distances. But, other than that, they're fine. I can definitely use them for walks of 10 miles or under. Hopefully, the New Balance pair will arrive today, so I can try them out during tonight's training session.

On a related note, I've sent in my info to be a shoe tester for FitnessMagazine.com during December, and am waiting to hear back from them. Wish me luck, as this would give me a few new pairs of shoes to test-drive during my December miles!

What's Broccoli Got to Do With It?

Yesterday's training walk was a 12-miler... in the rain! Last week, I had a very rough time finishing 10 miles, so I wasn't too sure that I'd make it the full 12 miles. But, I did, and with energy to spare, surprisingly! (I promise I'll get to the the broccoli part eventually.) So, what was different this week from last week? What worked this time around? This is what I did differently:

• Wore my "Emergency Rain Poncho" to keep dry. This had little or no effect on my actual walk, other than to make me a real fashion statement. Also, if you ever need to rely on an "Emergency Rain Poncho" in an actual weather emergency, by the time you got the thing opened and on, the storm would've passed six times over. Seriously, they're like trying to un-stick Saran Wrap. Do yourself a favor, and use a large trash bag or recycling bag instead. I've since bid on, and won, a GoreTex jacket on eBay.
  
• Ate my whole wheat bagel with peanut butter about a half hour before walking. This worked! Last week, I ate my whole wheat Arnold Sandwich Thin with peanut butter before I left the house, which I guess was way too early. On previous walks, I'd get a bagel at the cart on my way out of the subway, and that has worked as well. So, now I know to have my bagel and coffee about a half hour before I walk.
• Brought two different types of sports drink, one high in carbs and one high in potassium and with bit more sodium - both from PowerBar. This worked! I alternated between the two, and it seems to have worked out fine.
• Brought a second whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and ate half after about 5 miles, and half after about 8 miles. This worked! I wasn't lightheaded after my walk at all, nor was my stomach growling. I think I need to have some sort of solid food in my belly after a while.
• Walked at a slower pace. This worked, but I'm not sure I'm all that happy about it. I started off slower (still under a 16 minute mile) and didn't really push myself too hard to go faster. However, by the time we finished 12 miles, I still felt good enough to walk about another half mile to the subway station, and then walked another half mile from the bus to my mother's house afterwards. I did not feel like I wanted to die or kill my coaches. This is a good thing!
• I walked with someone else. This really worked well for me mentally. It was nice to focus on a conversation, rather than how far I still had to walk. Plus, I got to learn a bit more about one of my team mates.

Now, I promised I'd get to where the broccoli fits in eventually. Maybe one of you can solve this mystery. For the past three Saturdays, right before we get to Harlem Hill in Central Park, there has been broccoli on the jogging path. There are no horses or anything in sight, just heads of broccoli, sometimes whole and sometimes squished all over the path. I haven't been able to find a reason for this. I've asked my coaches, and I've Googled "Central Park broccoli" to no avail. Does anyone know why there is always broccoli on the jogging path just past East 105th Street in Central Park? Enquiring mind wants to know!

Google Wave Invite for First 5 Donations of $20 or More

I have a supply of Google Wave invites available.

I am giving FIVE (5) of them away to the first five people to make a donation of $20 or more via my Team in Training web page at http://tinyurl.com/crawlcarolcrawl

You MUST be in the first five today to receive a Google Wave invite. I receive timestamped notifications of online donations, and will base the winners on these. First come, first served. I may hold another giveaway tomorrow, but it depends on how many I need for my personal use.

A very brief update...

Today we hit the DOUBLE-DIGITS! Official training walk today was 10 miles. I not only survived, I walked a bit extra thanks to losing my sense of direction entirely and starting of walking the wrong way on the last 4 mile loop:-) By the time I got home at 2:30pm, my pedometer read 14.01 miles!

On another note entirely, special thanks to my friend Mary Anne Gruen, of Starlight Blog who has given me two very nice awards for this blog, which I will eventually get around to putting up at some point this weekend - I PROMISE!

Also in the works - I will be adding a Twitter gadget so that my tweets and pictures from my training sessions, etc. will show up in the sidebar of this blog. I hope to get this done tonight.

On the fundraising front... I am past the halfway point!!! Any and all donations are still being very gratefully and cheerfully accepted at http://tinyurl.com/crawlcarolcrawl, which is a shortened web address for my Team In Training fundraising page. Seriously, every dollar helps! Those $5 donations really do add up! I'm halfway there, can you help me cross the finish line? Heck, if you want to give me $5 just to get me to shut up about my fundraising, that's cool too - I'll take it! :-)

Why Training for a Marathon is a REALLY BIG Deal for Me

Aside from the obvious reason of raising funds for much-needed cancer research and patient support programs sponsored by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, that is.

Training for a marathon represents a HUGE symbol of my progress physically. On 9/11, I weighed just over 300 lbs. In October, 2006 I weighed roughly 289 lbs, and in April/May 2007, I was hospitalized for the first time in my life with cellulitis. After never spending a night in a hospital for over forty years, I was hospitalized twice in one month! I got cellulitis first in one leg, and then a few weeks later in the other. Real fun - NOT!

Long story short, I apparently got it due to severe cracks in both my heels, thanks to working in a job where I was on my feet for about five hours straight each day. I worked for an all-natural vitamin & nutritional supplement company (funny, huh?:-) and part of my job involved packing all of the previous day's orders and getting them ready for shipping. Another fun side effect of the job was severely cracked fingers and palms of both my hands. All of this was later diagnosed as eczema, but I felt like I had the plague. Some of you reading this will remember those fun days.

At any rate, thanks to a wonderful dermatologist, an equally wonderful podiatrist and getting fired via FedEx (another first) from the job at the nutritional supplement company due to my "recent and planned extended absences" (umm... I was sick and in the hospital - I was not out having the time of my life in Disney World), my hands and feet slowly began to heal. I have been completely "crack-free" for just over a year now.

Fast-forward to November 2007, when I walked into my first Weight Watchers meeting. I weighed in at 271 lbs. While I had done charity walks before, the possibility of me actually walking in a marathon never entered my mind. The end of this month will mark my 2-year anniversary with Weight Watchers, and I currently weigh in at 186 lbs - 85 lbs less than when I started, and about 120 lbs down from my heaviest weight.

Training for this marathon represents all of the progress I've made over the past 2 years. The fact that I can walk a 10K in under 2 hours and not need an oxygen tank or CPR afterwards feels pretty good. The fact that my feet can handle all this walking without having to deal with painful cracking and splitting is amazing. The fact that I can now walk a mile in under 15 minutes is pretty miraculous! (Hallelujah! She can WALK!:-)

So for me, in addition to the importance of raising much-needed funds, this marathon also represents a celebration of my new life, because I never would've been able to do I of this 2 years ago.

WOW! This was pretty AMAZING!

As one of the winners of a recent Team in Training fundraising contest, I received an exclusive invitation to tour the cancer research lab of Dr. Chen-Kiang, a recipient of Leukemia & Lymphoma Society funding. She is currently researching a new treatment for myeloma aimed at halting cancerous cell division to more effectively treat the cancer. If successful, these treatment methods could eventually be applied to many other types of cancer.

First of all, I have to admit that at first, I wasn't exactly sure just how interesting a lab tour would be. I thought it might be highly and possibly boringly over-scientific. Boy, was I wrong! First of all, they fed us! They had ordered these absolutely delicious organic sandwiches, bottled water, and best of all, coffee!!! (Thank you, Deidra!) Not only that, but at several points during her presentation, Dr. Chen-Kiang stopped and made us feel guilty about the number of sandwiches still on the trays, so we had to eat some more!

If there is one thing Dr. Chen-Kiang is not, it is boring! Her enthusiasm and the joy that she finds in her work was obvious. You could tell that she totally loves what she's doing by the way her face completely lit up as she told us about some of the important discoveries they've made in blood cancer research. This was second only to the way her face lit up when she talked about her daughter, who is currently attending medical school there. Her passion for her work is infectious. Far from being overly-technical, Dr. Chen-Kiang has an amazing gift of explaining very complex cancer research and biology to a room full of total non-scientists (seriously, we weren't even close!) To top it all off, she is funny! She has a great sense of humor, particularly when it comes to stereotypes about scientists being a bit like Dr. Frankenstein.

The lab tour was really incredible. We were able to see actual living myeloma cells that are being used to test various treatments, and to see the effects on cells that were treated. What I found really amazing, other than how well some of these treatments are doing what they're supposed to do, was how tiny cancer cells are. Under a microscope, they were about the size of the head of a pin. It's really hard to imagine how something so small can kill a person, but they do.

The research that Dr. Chen-Kiang is doing is aimed at a combination of targeting only the cancer cells, stopping their growth and cell division, and then killing them before they start another growth and division cycle. Dr. Chen-Kiang started working on this back in 1997, and they are on a very encouraging path. One of their treatments is now also being used successfully with breast cancer patients. So, the work her team is doing benefits not only those with leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, but with other types of cancer as well.

It is really amazing, and it definitely added something very concrete and very personal to my mission to raise funds for blood cancer research. This is where my fundraising dollars are going, to support the research of cancer biologists like Dr. Cheng-Kiang. To be able to see my fundraising dollars at work was really pretty incredible!