Set Back

To say that my triathlon training and fundraising has gotten off to a bumpy start would be an understatement. After my first week of training, which were really about just getting to know swim drills and mechanics of a bike, I got the stomach bug. I had to sit out for an entire week because I was too weak to participate. That was disappointing, but even more disappointing than that has been my fundraising efforts. I keep thinking of awesome fundraising scenarios in which I set up a bake sale table and, voila! I have a thousand dollars in the bank. Or maybe I could sell something at the Skysox stadium? No, I checked into it, can't do it. Maybe a barbecue in which I invite all of my friends and neighbors and they donate lots of money? Too much out of pocket expense. I know! I'll sell donuts at Shane's work!! We have lots of friends there and they'll surely empty their pockets for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I put together an information board, set out two boxes of donuts and a mayonnaise jar with a slit cut in the lid and waited for the dollars to roll in. The next day Shane's friend told him that at 9 pm there were two empty boxes of donuts and a handful of change in the bottom of the jar. We didn't even break even. I'm wondering how I'm going to raise the $2,000 balance of my goal in just a few months. I wonder if I should even keep going. There's no way I can pay for the balance out of my pocket. Let's do some math: I have raised $465 so far. I have $1,935 left to go. I just need 77 people to donate $25. Even less than that considering I'm still going to have a "craigslist sale" of all of my old baby things.

Thank you to all of you who have helped me to my goal so far, I can not tell you how blessed I am by your generosity.

If you would like to help me reach my goal for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, please click on my fundraising webpage: http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/oktobfst09/cwarrenrzk, or send me a check made out to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Thanks for all of your support, monetary and otherwise!

I Believe in You

Thank you, thank you to all of you who donated in the past couple of days. I have reached, and surpassed my May 26th goal of $250. I have reached $375!!!! I am so blessed by all of you who donated. When you donate it's like you are saying, "I believe in you and what you are doing." I still have a HUGE deadline coming up: $850 by July 21st. It's not too late to donate if you haven't already!!

Triathlon, Here I Come!!

(This is a pic of some of my team at our first track practice)

There are so many feelings rushing through me as I complete my first week of triathlon training. I'm so excited about all the new people I am meeting and all the fun of training. But I also feel so overwhelmed by the enormity of the task ahead. I'm going to be expected to give my all, physically and mentally, three days a week for the next 5 months. That really hit home when I went to my first track practice and my best mile was only nine minutes and forty-five seconds. At my first swim practice I realized I was having a panic attack every time I stuck my face in the water, and at my first bike practice I couldn't even go over a bump without cringing in pain. I'm going to have to find a babysitter almost every Saturday, and I'm going to have to raise $2,500 someway, somehow. What have I gotten myself into???? I feel completely embarrassed and somewhat shameful to ask people to donate money, especially when they are undergoing financial stress. Shane, my wonderful husband, set me straight the other day. He said, "You aren't asking for money for yourself, you are asking for money for those kids who are dying from cancer." He's totally right. I'm not going through all of this pain and volunteering gobs of my time and paying babysitters just because I think it's fun. I'm doing this for a higher purpose; I'm committing myself, my time, my money, my efforts to finding a cure for cancer, and to making life a little easier for families who are undergoing treatment. That's why I'm doing this triathlon.

Please donate if you can. Go to my website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/oktobfst09/cwarrenrzk

or send a check made out to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and mail it to me. I have until May 26th to make it to my first fundraising deadline of $250. I only have $60 to go!! If only two people donate $30 on my website then I will have made it!

Thanks in advance for all of your support,
Catherine