My first time...

Here it goes...my first blogging experience!

As you can see I am training for a BIG marathon, 26.2 miles! The farthest I have ever run is about ten, not even half of what I will be attempting come this October. With the help of TEAM in training, they promise that I will will be able to do it! So here I am, six weeks into my training with 16 weeks left to go! I have also begun my fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I have the goal to raise a total of $4,000 before race day. So far I have raised a little over $900. You can check out my progress on my TEAM website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/id/nikesf08/abuettner. If anyone has any fundraising ideas or suggestions please feel free to let me know.

Throughout my training I will be honoring many people that have fought cancer in their lives; many that have been fortunate enough to get through it while others have lost a life fighting this terrible disease. A good friend of mine, Michael Sierra, was diagnosed with Leukemia in high school. He fought the battle and is now living a happy, healthy life. Because of programs like the Leukemia and Lymphoma society we have more money towards finding a cure and are able to better educate people about this disease.
As many of you know my mother and sister were both diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Both courageously fought an uphill battle and overcame it. My mom has now been cancer free for five years and my sister for two years.
It is through their courage and resilience that I will be able to complete this marathon. Since I have started my fund raising I have learned of several others that have also fought Leukemia and Lymphoma, I ask that you please share with me your stories. It will be my honor to wear the names of these people on my shirt come race day. Here is a list of my honorees so far:
Honorees:
Micheal Sierra
Tonya Beiner
Pamela Buettner
Scott Anderson
McKynna Deann Luper
Kaden Pate
Don McPhail
Justin Wise
Dottie Ann
Jolie Hunter

As far as my training is going, well it has not been to bad so far. I run every Satuday morning with the TEAM and during the week I have been running by myself or sometimes I can get Jay to come out with me. Our Saturday runs have gotten progressively longer. So far our longest run has been 8 miles. We are scheduled to run our first double digit this weekend (10 miles)! I am a little nervous about this one! During the week I have worked up to an average of 4.5 miles on about three days. The temperature is rising and it is getting much more difficult to run for longer distances. We are going to start our runs at 7am now, so hopefully that will help a little. We have also started some cross training at the YMCA. Last week we had a spinning class. It was one of the most challenging, yet rewarding things I have ever done. Boy was my butt sore! I think I was sweating out places I never knew that I could sweat! This week we will be doing yoga and water aerobics, should not be nearly as rough as the spinning.

Well, I will do my best to keep you updated on my progress. I am also going to get some pics up of my runs.

Once again I appreciate all the support and encouragement! I hope you find this as rewarding as I do. Maybe I can even convince some of you to join the TEAM! :)