 |
| I feel so special. What are my perks? |
Pat. Pat. Pat.
That is not the first time I have patted myself on the back today. We do that a lot in first grade. Today we made it through 5 minutes of silent independent reading after choosing where to sit around the room. Then we patted ourselves on the back. Twice.
But back to running.
After seeing that wonderful achievement today, I began to think about the last year of running. I thought way back to where I was this time last year. And then I mentally worked my way forward through the entire year. And here is what the past year has mainly consisted of for me: Team in Training.
I bought (actually, my parents bought for a 4 month early birthday present) my watch less than a month before my 2nd marathon. I had been training with my 2nd season of TNT since April, and I was less than a month away from tackling the Victoria Marathon.
 |
| Beautiful course, beautiful day, and a 25 minute PR. Canada can be cool |
And once I completed that marathon, I took a couple months and then dove straight into another team, starting training for the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon at the beginning of February. After several months of training with the team, I crossed that finish line too (read about it here and here):
 |
| Not so beautiful course, not so beautiful day, but still a 10 minute PR. San Diego is cool, but not the RNR marathon course. |
 |
| Me, Ironman MacKenzie, and Erica. Before it started pouring ran for several hours. |
So the question that poses itself to me now is, what keeps pulling me back to Team? How have I gotten so addicted to the Purple Kool-Aid? And it's not quite a simple answer.
My first encounter with TNT was when I ran my first half marathon. I had decided on my own to do the Inaugural Rock N Roll Seattle Marathon 4 years ago. None of my friends were runners, so I looked up a training plan online, trained on my own, and ran the race by myself. During the race, I saw lots of purple people. And they looked so happy. And they looked like they were all friends. And suddenly, I wanted running friends. It looked way more fun.
So the next year, I signed up to run my first marathon, the Seattle RNR Marathon, with Team. And now, more than 2 years later, I have more running friends than I can count of my hands twice over. If I'm having a sluggish day, or I just don't feel like I can tackle my long run, I get to Team practice and everything seems easier. When I run with friends, my steps feel easier, my body feels lighter, and time moves faster. Running friends can even make 3 hour, 19+ mile runs seem like a piece of cake.
But that's not the only reason I keep coming back to team. Running is great. Friends are great. But what's even better, is that Team makes me feel like everything I'm doing counts for something. Every step I take, every mile I run, isn't just about me. It's about finding a cure, support cancer patients, celebrating cancer survivors, and honoring those that we've lost to blood cancers.
These people ran in Victoria because they care.
And these people ran in San Diego because they care.
And there are so many more. So many more people who run because they care. Some may join because they want to run, some may join because they want to find a running community, and some may join because their lives have been touched by blood cancers. But in the end we all stay, because we all have stories. We have stories to tell, and we want to be able to do something. We don't want to stand there and watch it all happen. We want to know that somehow, we are helping. Not only are we running and saving our own lives, but we are helping to save the lives of others.
And that's what makes TNT so special. That's what makes it unlike any other running group. We have something deeper, something stronger that ties us all together. We are here to live our lives, and to make sure others can too.
But I'm going to be honest. Just like anyone else who joins the team, I am nervous about my fundraising this time. The first time I raised money, my friends, coworkers, and family said "Yay Tessa! You're crazy but I will support your cause while you run your first marathon!...And by the way, what's a marathon? How many miles is this one? 26, you say? Oh sorry...26.2? Here, take my money."
My second season, I donated my time and enthusiastic energy to the cause instead of money. And I talked a lot about running.
By my third season, it had been 2 years since I'd fundraised, so my friends, coworkers, and family said "Yay Tessa, doing it again! I know how long a marathon is...it's 26 point two miles! I haven't donated in a long time, so I'll support you!"
But now, having just finished a huge fundraising season in June, I'm back at it again. And so now I imagine my friends, coworkers, and family thinking "Really?? Again? How many times are we going to do this? Oh you're going to run 13 point one miles the day before you run 26 point two? We already knew you were crazy. Good luck."
So I'm trying not to bug them too much, and that means I'm going to have to get creative this time around. Fundraising events? Crafting? I'd bake, but I'm not too good at that...don't think you'd want to buy it. Car wash? I think as a rule you have to be 16 to legitimately hold a car wash. I am no longer 16. I know, alcohol! There will be alcohol involved in any sort of fundraising. Yay wine!!
No matter the method though, I think I'll still get there. I'll try my best to get there. Because I know that what I'm doing counts. I know that every little bit I contribute makes a difference. And for that, I pat myself on the back.
Pat, pat, pat.
Have any good fundraising ideas for me? Share! Help!
Oh yeah, and if you want to contribute, you can do it on my fundraising website. See how it feels to make a little bit of a difference. I promise it's great :)
No comments:
Post a Comment