Off We Go - First Saturday Team in Training Session

First of all, welcome. This is post number one to the "If Diddy Did It..." blog that will tell the story of seven friends (Ashwin, Brandon, Jessie, Brian, Lena, Crystal and Chris) training and fundraising for our first marathon.

What you'll find will hopefully be a regularly updated account of our training, fundraising efforts and thoughts along the way as we prepare for the Nashville Country Music Marathon on April 25, 2009t with a group from Team in Training.

For those that don't know, Team in Training is "the world's largest endurance sports training program" that raises funds in support of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The roots of Team in Training were established in 1988 when 38 runners raised $322,000 for the Westchester/Hudson Valley LLS Chapter.

So while we prepare our bodies to complete the marathon, we'll also each be working toward a fundraising goal of $3,000 (and hopefully more!) in support of an important cause. Team in Training provides a nice breakdown of where the funds for our running will go in the LLS's efforts to cure blood cancer.



Saturday morning at 8 AM, our group of seven fearless individuals turned out in Arlington for the first DC area Team in Training session for the spring marathon season. It was not warm. Six out of seven participants were late to the meeting. Most of us were very hungry.

Despite the adverse conditions, all of us finished our 5K timed run in under 30 minutes, with results ranging between 22 to 28 minutes. All in all, some strong first steps down the long road to 26.2 miles in April.

Training day number one taught us a few things:

The early wake up calls on Saturday are going to take some getting used to as well as more than a little self control on Friday nights usually reserved for some stress busting beverages after a long week of work or school. As the training gets more intense, a rested body is going to be crucial.

Grabbing a snack before a long run is vital. Banana, toast, something. For me, it ended up being some chocolate and caramel Chex Mix from the vending machine after I ran out the door empty handed. Being low on fuel or thinking about a growling stomach is going to make some already tough running that much more difficult.

We're going to make some great friends along the way. The group of strangers jogging through Arlington hours before we'd usually be awake on a Saturday were all enthusiastic, friendly and supportive.

That's all for now. Look for personal profiles on our runners in the coming weeks. Note: There are links to the fundraising pages for each of us on the sidebar of this site. If you're feeling inspired after reading about our training please contribute to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through one of our donation pages.

Hopefully after runs we'll start seeing less of this




and more of this