Fall Season Week 2

What a beautiful team!

State of Mind

If you think you are beaten … you are.
If you think that you dare not … you don't.
If you think that you'd like to win
But feel you can't
It's almost a cinch that you won't
For out in this world you'll find
Success begins with a fellow's will -
It's all in the State of Mind.

Yes, many a race is lost
Before ever a step is run,
And many a coward fails before his work's begun.
Think big, and your deeds will rise;
Think small, and you'll fall behind.
Think that you can, and you will -
For it's all in the State of Mind.

If you think you're outclassed … you are.
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to know that you can
Before you ever win a prize
Life's battles don't always go
To the bigger or the stronger man,
But sooner or later that fellow who wins
Is the fellow who thinks he can.


Fundraising Tip
Write your fundraising letter to include photos, personalized text, names of honored patients and why you are led to make a difference. Send a shortened version of your letter in an email to everyone you have email addresses for. Be sure to provide your fundraising website link.

Training Tip
The best way to avoid shin splints is to be careful to not do too much too soon. When you start to increase your training regimen, or you change your training regimen, as from flat terrain to hills, ease into it and give your legs a chance to adjust and build strength before continuing with hard workouts.
Shoud you start to feel shin pain, here are some tips.

How to Overcome Shin Pain
By Jim & Phil Wharton
Runner's World
Shin splints are a common beginner's injury, so many seasoned runners assume they're immune. But medial tibial stress syndrome, the top cause of shin splints, is usually triggered by overtraining—something that can befall even experienced runners.

If you feel soreness or pain along your shinbone while running, check your training log. Chances are you've increased your mileage or intensity too much without enough rest. Other causes include running on hard or uneven road surfaces and wearing worn-out shoes. Stretching, strengthening, icing, and replacing shoes are effective rehab strategies. If your pain persists, you might have a stress fracture or compartment syndrome and should seek a doctor's care.

Rehab
At the first sign of discomfort, take a few days off from running. You can cross-train, but stick to low-impact activities like swimming, pool running, or cycling. Take anti-inflammatory medications and rub your shins with ice for 10 minutes after exercise. Replace your running shoes if they've logged 300 to 500 miles.
Build range of motion in your calves and strengthen your shin muscles. When you return to running, start slowly, gradually increase your miles, and stick to softer surfaces when possible. To prevent a relapse, continue to stretch and strengthen even after your symptoms fade.

Get Flexible
1. Sit tall in a chair with knees bent 90 degrees, feet flat on the ground. Keeping your right heel on the ground, gently raise your right forefoot up and back toward your shin until you reach a point of slight discomfort. Return it to the ground. Repeat 10 times with each foot.

2. From the same position, lift your right forefoot up, and trace the letter "J" in the air with your foot. Return it back to the ground. Repeat 10 times with each foot.

Get Strong
1. Sit tall in a chair with your right leg extended and an ankle weight on your foot. Slowly draw your toes back until you reach a point of slight discomfort. Then extend your toes forward until you feel tension. Repeat 10 times with each foot.

2. On a stair step, stand on the balls of your feet, heels over the edge. Slowly raise your heels, then lower them below the starting position. Repeat 10 time. Do 10 more reps with your toes inward and then outward.


Frequently Asked Questions
WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? As you know, the money we raise helps blood cancer patients and their families by funding research to find cures and better therapies, and provide information and support so that they have the best possible outcomes throughout their cancer experience.

However, if volunteers need a more specific response to: "What does a $25, $50 or $100 donation buy?" we hope you'll utilize the messages below.

A donation of $25 provides patients and their loved ones with FREE booklets that contain up-to-date information on their disease and help them make informed decisions about their treatment options.

A donation of $50 makes possible a Family Support group with a trained facilitator where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members.

A donation of $100 helps supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures.

A donation of $1,000 makes possible one- on-one conversations with health care specialists who provide patients with information about their disease, treatment options, and helps prepare them with questions for their health care team.

Mission Moment
Dawn
TN
Living with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma for 1 year, 4 months
Age: 38

Wow . . . How fast your life can change before your eyes. I am 37, a wife, sister, daughter, and mother to two incredible sons. My story starts with a pain in my back and chest, a pain so bad that my hubby took me to the ER. I was first diagnosed with pneumonia. After a few days of bed rest and a round of antibiotics, I left for Romania for my first Mission Trip. When I returned, I got worse even after a couple more weeks of antibiotics and bed rest. I finally get a CT-scan and we are told I have Diffused Large B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. My first chemo was set for 4 days later and it has been less than a week and my head is swimming.

I believe that God will get me through this. I believe there is so much more to experience and see...I want to Live....I will be praying for you...God Bless!

Welcome to Team In Training

Our goal is to get you to the completion of your event while making the overall experience one of the best of your life. Be prepared to receive a wealth of information over the next couple of weeks. As we get into the groove of things it won't seem so overwhelming. Just remember, we're here to help you. So if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. - Eleanor Roosevelt

Accolades
Before I start the regular blog I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge our fellow triathlon teammate, Abbey Snodgrass. At a barbecue at Municipal Park this afternoon, Abbey immediately jumped to the rescue of a choking 3 month old baby, administered CPR and saved the baby's life. Abbey, you're the kind of person we're proud to be friends with.

Fundraising Tip
Setup your fundraising website by personalizing the text, adding a photo, and setting a fundraising goal. The best websites include photos of honored patients.

It's not too late to join Team In Training!

Invite your friends, family, and co-workers to join at the first training this Saturday, 5/30. You will receive a $100 fundraising credit for every person you recruit who completes their fundraising and event!

Training Tip
With training just beginning, there is no time like the present to focus on improving your form and technique. Better technique is critical to your overall goal achievement. With improved technique, your performance is helped in several ways:

1. Better Economy – Your “economy” in sport is defined by how far you can go on each unit of oxygen you consume. Put another way, the less oxygen you use for any given amount of exercise equates to better “economy”. If you improve your skill & become a more technically proficient athlete, you will simply consume less oxygen for any given bout of exercise. Therefore, you will be more economical…this translates into going faster for the same distance or going longer before tiring!

2. Decreased Injury Risk – We all know that poor technique is one of the leading causes of injury. When joints/muscles are repeatedly moved in improper ways or have stresses placed upon them in unsupported positions, the aches & pains of pre-injury may show themselves. For endurance athletes, this is critical – consider the number of times that your shoulders rotate during a 1k swim, that your knees bend & straighten during a 40k bike, or that your feet hit the ground in a 26.2 mile run. If your form is off by just a bit each time, your injury risk is substantially higher.

3. Improved Performance – If one of your main goals is to reach the finish line a bit faster, then technique improvement is where you ought to spend a great deal of time. That base training & those high intensity intervals are certainly important, but if your mechanics are poor, you just won’t be able to go as fast as you could if you had more efficient movement patterns. Remember this…energy put into movements which don’t directly move you forward is simply wasted energy! Also consider…Olympic athletes regularly spend hours working on improving their technical abilities. If the athletes at the top of their game continue to work on form, who are we to think that we don’t need to!!!


Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT DOES THE SOCIETY DO? There are 66 chapters of the Society located across the United States and Canada. The Society supports a variety of programs: research, patient services, advocacy, community service and education.
* Research Funding—supports basic and clinical grants to find causes, cures and preventive methods.
* Patient Services—provides financial aid and peer support groups.
* Advocacy—supports access to healthcare and increased research funding.
* Community Service—referrals to local resources and sponsorship of marrow donor drives.
* Education—free educational materials and professional medical symposia. Free literature is available through the toll-free Public Information Line 1-800-955-4572 and through our Web Site http://www.lls.org.

Mission Moment
Peyton Mayhew
bBrandon, FL
female
Living with ALL for 1 year, 7 months
Age: 4

Peyton is 2 1/2 years old. Her story is common to her disease and devastating to our family. On July 13, 2006 I had taken her to the pediatrician because she had been running a low-grade fever and complaining that she hurt. We thought she had an ear infection or maybe strep throat. How shocking to find yourself in an oncologist's office hearing news that will change your entire life. Peyton receives her treatment at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg and Tampa, we have the most wonderful team of doctors and nurses who support, help and educate us each step of the way.

Our family is blessed with Peyton's older brother and sister Nathaniel and Rachael, who have been helpful, patient and understanding throughout the beginning stages of her treatment. We have had the most amazing outpouring of love and support from our friends, family, church, school, and community. Prayers have been prayed, meals delivered, presents brought to the house, cards mailed, our website visited for updates on how she's feeling and just calls to see if we need to talk.

It's been a growth time for us as a family to come together and be strong for each other- to be patient, to give, love and support each other. It's heartbreaking to watch your child's pain, to hear their cries, and to see the physical manifestations of the disease in their once perfect body. You feel like you can do nothing for them, you have no control, and there's a sense of complete helplessness. Yet you comfort, you console, you cheer, you make them smile and laugh, you make favorite foods and read the same story over and over. You hold and love through tears in the night, and let them know you're there with them through each treatment and will never leave them.

--Anissa Mayhew, mother of Peyton Mayhew www.hope4peyton.org