Get the Ball Rolling . . .

Hello, and welcome to my blog! I created this blog because A. a ton of my friends have a blog and I feel left out, and B. I decided to sign up for a half marathon while raising over $4,000, and I thought this might be a good way to share my journey with all of my "supporters" and also have something to look back on one day.

This year I made a New Years Resolution to better myself, mind, body and soul. This is no small task I might add ;-) However, through divine intervention a brochure arrived in my mail a few days after the New Year. The brochure is the whole reason for this blog. It was from Team in Training (which will be referred to as TnT going forward), and it advertised an incredible journey, a chance to meet amazing people, a chance to go beyond your limits, all while raising money to wipe cancer off the face of the planet. Enticing, isn't it? I thought so too! This was exactly what I was looking for! The half marathon in Seattle option peaked my interested immediately. I could lose the extra pounds I recently put on, keep myself out of trouble since alcohol and training for half marathons don't mix, and join a group of people who are making a difference.

My first step was to attend an informational meeting which occurred on January 14th. All of the TnT representatives seemed really cool, and they each had their own personal story about why they joined . . . obviously some were more emotional than others. At the end of the meeting I was totally jazzed to join and start training, but also freaking out a little bit. Signing up for 13.1 miles is not the same as a 2 or 3 mile run that I usually do on my own. The fundraising goal also scared me a bit. Four thousand dollars? In this economy? I slept on it and decided that this in deed was EXACTLY what I wanted to do. Nothing good in life comes easy. The bigger the challenge, the better the reward!

I was notified that my fundraising website was ready the following afternoon and I attacked that thing like it was the plague. I had Facebooked (I know thats not a word, but I'm sure you all know what I mean) over 100 people by that night soliciting donations. My first two donations came in immediately and I was stoked. The following days I spent compiling different lists of people and figuring out what other events I could organize to reach my fundraising goal. Within a week and a half I was at the $500 mark and feeling a little more confident that I could reach my goal.

Last night was the TnT kick-off meeting. All of the summer event participants gathered at the Holiday Inn in Dunwoody to meet each other, and to get pumped up for training to officially begin. I met one of my mentors, Andrew, who seemed really cool, and two of my teammates, Sarah and Bridget, who also seemed really cool. They had a little fashion show to showcase all of the cool TnT apparel you will receive through out training depending on which event you signed up for: marathon, adventure race, bicycle race, hiking, triathlon. Of course no cancer fundraising event is without tears and a few of those were shed as one veteran told their story. All in all, I am REALLY excited to start officially training and to get this show on the road. Saturday morning at 8:00am I will be freezing my tooshie off (per the weather forecast at the moment) on my first team run. Thank goodness its only going to be 2-3 miles and I ran 2 miles the other night to return a DVD so I know I'm good for at least the first few weeks!!!!



More to come as the adventure continues . . .

Oh yes . . . and my website in case you want to track my progress:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/rnrseatl09/aweaver1tv

And, before I forget, a very special shout-out and THANK YOU to everyone who has donated thus far!! It brightens my day SO MUCH to get a notification that I've received another donation!