Team In Training goes the distance

WASILLA — A dozen diligent Mat-Su runners-in-training have signed up to compete for a worthy cause.

Some have never trained for running marathons, while others diligently do so daily. Together, they are the Team In Training, joining forces with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) to raise money this summer for blood cancer research in Alaska.

Valley participants began training in February with running coaches at the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex to run in either Anchorage’s Mayor’s Marathon (full or half) or the San Diego Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon held in June. In exchange, the LLS asks each runner/walker to help raise funds for blood cancer research.

Vicki Halcro, director of the Anchorage Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, said her job for the past three years is to keep the marathon training focused on blood cancer awareness and research, but fitness runs a close second.

“It’s our job to help get the teams fit and ready to go,” Halcro said. “In return, they help us raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Our teams work as a family.”

Twenty years ago, New York resident Bruce Cleland trained with a group of friends and ran the New York City Marathon in honor of his young daughter Georgia, who had leukemia. They referred to themselves as the “Team in Training,” and the name stuck. Two decades later, the LLS’s Team In Training is the world’s largest endurance sports training program, providing coaching and support for people to cross the finish line at marathons, half marathons, triathlons and 100-mile cycling events, the organization reports. More than 360,000 participants nationwide have since raised more than $850 million for lifesaving cancer research and to help blood cancer patients live longer, better lives.

In Alaska last year, $458,000 was raised by more than 120 Team In Training members.

For Margaret Sharpe, a 2007 runner and mentor for this year’s Valley Team In Training, the decision to get involved was not difficult. Local coaches and mentors like Sharpe help participants set goals, hold group trainings and provide clinics on form and technique, race strategies, equipment, injury prevention and nutrition.

“What the society does is outstanding,” Sharpe said.

Last year, Sharpe walked and ran in the 13-mile Mayor’s Marathon. She exercised on a once-in-a-while basis and had never participated in a marathon race in her life, but wanted to make some changes.

“I’m not a runner,” she said. “But it’s an amazing experience to go through. There’s a two-part benefit where it definitely empowers you to train and finish a race, leaving you with the feeling that you can accomplish anything. Then it also raises money to fight cancer on top of that.”

Sharpe said as an ex-smoker encouraged to live healthier, she wants to honor the families and survivors of blood-related cancers by raising money for research.

Meetings at the Wasilla Sports Complex each Saturday has opened her eyes to why the Team In Training is beneficial for everyone involved. Due to an elbow injury, Sharpe won’t be participating in the marathons this year, opting to volunteer her time instead by helping other runners and being there for support on the sidelines.

When participants register for Team In Training, they receive their own Web site they can personalize and encourage people to visit and donate through immediately.

Team In Training fronts the costs of race registration fees, airfare and hotel accommodations for Outside marathons, and throws a victory party after a race. In exchange, teammates raise funds to help with the LLS’s mission and improving the quality of life for cancer patients and their families.

“There’s been immense progress over the years,” Halcro said. “We’ve seen an increase in survival rates, but we still have a long way to go. We’ll keep going until we get there.”

Training is determined by where each runner’s level of experience lies. Beginner, intermediate and advanced runners and walkers are given a weekly schedule of rigorous training routines, with the team and on their own. Mentors and coaches are available for support and encouragement for the next four months until race day.

Halcro has been working with Team In Training with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for three years, saying it gets a stronger response each year.

“It’s a neat program because not only are they giving it their best, it’s a neat journey for them to cross the finish line with a sense of well-being,” she said.

Halcro is already making April recruiting plans to rally up runners for the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks and Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco later in the year.

Terri Mayeur, team captain for the Mat-Su Valley Team In Training, lost an uncle to lymphoma. In 2004, Mayeur went to her doctor with concerns of heart problems. The cardiologist suggested she start exercising her vital muscle, so she began walking and training for that year’s 5-mile Mayor’s Marathon.

“At the starting line I noticed all these happy people with purple shirts preparing for the half-marathon, so when I finished the run, I went over to the team tent and found out what they were up to,” Mayeur said.

Mayeur signed on for the Team In Training to honor the memory of her uncle, running in the Honolulu Marathon that same year. When her family moved to Eagle River in 2007, Mayeur decided to start a Team In Training in the Valley. This year’s Valley runners are four past members and eight new recruits. So far, 10 are training for the Mayor’s Marathon and two for San Diego’s Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon in June.

To participate in the Mayor’s Marathon, team members must raise $1,800 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; $4,800 must be raised to participate in San Diego.

Efforts to raise more money, including yard sales and spaghetti feeds, continue throughout the spring with plans already underway for a community rummage sale and sock hop March 22 at the Palmer Train Depot.

Mayeur said everyone has pulled their weight in fundraising efforts. One team member sold personal photographs of her jogging journeys across the nation. Another member sold her clothes on eBay.

“I was amazed at whose lives have been touched from this effort,” Mayeur said. “When you run in honor of those people who have died from blood cancers, it’s heartfelt.”

Team In Training is recruiting runners and walkers to help raise funds for LLS. Members meet at 10 a.m. every Saturday at the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex. For more information, visit www.20th.teamintraining.org, or contact Terri at 864-1068 or Vicki at 677-7980.

Contact J.J. Harrier at

valleylife@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.