Why Run with TnT

Why I’m Running with TNT

What is TnT?

Team in Training, which I will occasionally refer to as TnT, is a sports training and fundraising program run by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society who coach participants for various athletic events such as hikes, bike rides, marathons, half-marathons, and triathlons. When you sign up for TnT you get to sign up for an event and they give you access to a coach and training plan in exchange for your commitment to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. These funds literally help save lives by funding medicines and research to cure blood cancers and to help patients fund their recovery and hospital bills. So. Awesome.

Why a Half-Marathon?

Running a marathon has been on something I call my Ultimate Goal list, this is like a Bucket List but I think Ultimate Goal List sounds more epic, since I quit competitive swimming. Like many others with a marathon on their to-do list, I want to complete one because its a sign of physical and mental strength and endurance, a solid accomplishment that will no doubt be rewarding. Doing this half-marathon in June will be the first step to to complete the bigger task, a full marathon.

Past Attempts and Excuses

In the past couple of years I’ve tried on and off to train for a marathon. I found random training plans across the internet and I would mold them into something overly challenging and eventually never continue with the make-shift training plan I created. Looking back, there’s quite a few reasons, well, excuses actually for why I kept giving up. One reason was I never actually signed up for an event. I never had something tangible to look forward to and commit my enthusiasm towards so the initial excitement of training wore off quickly. I kept telling myself “I’ll start looking and sign up for an event when I know for sure I can run X miles,” or “I’ll sign up when I feel stronger.” But of course these excuses just made it easier for me to push back my marathon goal to a later date.

Another reason why I had trouble sticking with my make-shift training plan was because I wasn’t confident that I was training properly since I didn’t have a coach. I’ve heard stories of people who ran their first marathon and injured their knees or hips bad enough that they can’t run again. As an ex–athlete, I’ve always had a coach to correct my technique, set up practices,  and knew the most productive and effective way to train. For running, I am mostly self-educated, just kind of picking up dos and don’ts across the internet, sometimes finding contradicting advice. I over thought things, as I usually do, became overwhelmed, and decided yet again that this was a good excuse to just wait on accomplishing my marathon goal.

Committing (Finally)

I was introduced to Team In Training from one of my old coworkers after she told me how she recently completed her first full marathon with the help of TnT and was already signed up for another one. Team In Training sounded exactly what I was looking for, a solid training plan with access to a coach, an event to look forward to, and it helps raise funds for an awesome charity. It was perfect. So I went home and researched Team In Training as well as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I was super excited because I knew that this was the right direction for me and I signed up for the Seattle Rock N’ Roll Half Marathon. It’s definitely one of the better choices in my life.

I’m a little over a month into the program through their online team and I’m already confident that I will finally finish my first half-marathon. The coaches are awesome and always available. They host live virtual seminars on important parts of training for the event such as injury prevention and how to fuel for your workouts. I’ll be trying to post regularly about my training experience and possibly other random things that come up. I’m a pretty private person, so this blog is really out of my comfort zone, but I’m hoping it will help me stay committed to my goals and help me improve my writing a little bit. Also I hope it motivates others to step out of their comfort zone and so that they can be closer to the person they’ve always wanted to be.

Wow, that was a lot more writing then I thought it would be so if you read all this, kuddos my friend! Please don’t forget to help me reach my fundraising goal by donating here! Thanks for reading lovelies and look out for some new posts soon.