My first involvement with Team in Training was as a participant. I had signed up to run the Honolulu Marathon. My primary motivation was fitness, initially, but as I thought more about why I was doing this, I realized that it was like a circle closing. Nearly twenty years previous to that first season, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease. I went through a year of weekly chemotherapy sessions and three months of radiation treatments. I lost a lot of weight (and most of my hair.) My knees did not function well, due to one of the drugs (fortunately, this was reversible once I finished treatment), so my infant running routine disappeared.  I had a recurrence of Hodgkin’s not quite five years (4 years and 11 months!) later. This time I was treated at Stanford, and it was six months of “aggressive” chemotherapy leaving me with even less energy than before (but alive!) Thus, years later – after many well-intentioned but short-lived exercise routines – I signed up with TNT. I figured that the structure and the support (as well as promising hundreds of friends, family, and friends-of-my-mother that I was running a marathon) would keep me on track and help me through the inevitable aches and pains. I was right, and in December 1997, I finished the Honolulu Marathon. I had so much fun I signed up for the next season as well – aiming to run the first ever Rock n Roll Marathon in San Diego. But about a month into the season I noticed a lump in my left breast. After another month of doctors, consultations, mammograms and a biopsy, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I learned later that it was extremely likely that it was connected to the earlier radiation treatments. Finishing the Rock n Roll Marathon became a life-affirming goal for me. I continued training for it, around my mastectomy and then chemotherapy appointments. That first Rock n Roll Marathon had some difficulties but I actually felt pretty good - the fact that I was there at all overshadowed any problems. I finished just a few minutes slower than Honolulu, and I felt much better. I came back the following Spring season to run the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon, and then switched to mountain biking. I was a “newbie” when I joined the first MTB team, in the Summer of 2000. I learned a lot about bike handling and pacing, and finished all 55 miles at Moab, amidst red rock and canyons. When TNT offered a multi-day event (Adventure on the Arizona Trail) the next year, I signed up for that, too.  To keep things interesting, I signed up for an Adventure Race with TNT in Spring 2004. I’m not sure I’ll ever do that again, but it was (mostly) fun. Ask me about it and I’ll tell you about our three-person team rolling in the mud (fun) and swimming fully clothed (not.) My latest new / old adventure has been LLS’s Hike for Discovery program. I hiked as a kid, a teenager, in college, and then all over the Bay Area before I started running marathons. In 2006 I did a 7-hour hike on the South Kaibab trail at the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely stunning. And in 2007 I went hiking in Kauai!  I returned to running and finished the Rome Marathon with Team in Training in March 2008. It had been awhile, and was intended to be a celebration of ten years post breast cancer. But, that season turned into a bit of a repeat experience, with a breast cancer recurrence involving surgery, radiation, and chemo (fortunately AFTER the marathon). This was a harder regimen than 10 years ago. I have now finished active treatment, my hair and energy are coming back, and I am signed up with the Hike for Discovery Winter 09 team, because there’s still no cure for cancer - 

I’m married (he surfs and dives); we’re doing a lot of work on our 100-year old Victorian, and we have more cats than we should (anybody want one?)