HOORAY! We are on our way to RACE DAY!

This Tuesday, June 1st @ 7:30pm we will have our Team Send-Off Dinner at PF Chang’s Santa Monica, our LAST team event, and we want you to come!

P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
326 Wilshire Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tuesday, June 1, 7:30PM

This send-off dinner is for ALL races (San Diego/Alaska/Seattle), so we’d love to have you join us!

Price Per Person: about $25 – please bring $ CASH $

We will stuff face, drink merrily, and celebrate the hard work and dedication each one of us have put into training this season! We are all about to accomplish one of our life goals, while at the same time fighting to save lives touched by cancer.

LET’S CELEBRATE…and get ready to ROCK N’ ROLL!!!!

O’Brien’s Irish Pub on Main Street
2941 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA

Saturday, May 8, 1:00PM to 6:00PM

It’s a Live Music Fest for a Great Cause! Proceeds benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

$15 Donation for a Bracelet
- First 50 people will receive an official Team in Training bracelet!
- Over 4 hours of LIVE Entertainment from 5 Fantastic Acts: Paul Chesne, Ted Souders, David Sparrow from the Whiskey Saints, Bernie Kim and The Connections! Not to mention our fabulous MC – Terry Tocantins!
- Additional Food & Drink Discounts only available to those who donate (Can we say $3 beers and $6 burgers? WOW & thats not all!)
- Free Entry for a Chance to WIN Comedy Show Tickets

PLUS there will be some great additional prizes being raffled off – beauty packages, food packages, massages and MORE!

Come on Out, Have a Beer, Enjoy the Music and Help CURE Cancer!
…and don’t forget to tell your friends! =)

Sponsoring this event by providing free services are O’Brien’s Irish Pub and Wilcox Sound, not to mention our various raffle donations…

PLUS the never ending support from all the Team in Training Participants who are actively training to run in Marathons this coming June 2010 & the Coaches who help to make it all happen for us!

ONE DAY WE WILL FIND A CURE!
LETS RAISE SOME MONEY AND HOPE THIS IS THE YEAR!

This Sunday we will take our final field trip. Given our location is farther away, we are pushing the start time to 7:30. We will begin promptly at 7:30 with Javier sharing his personal journey with all of you. Please be on time to hear his story. It will be another reminder of why we are all here as part of Team in Training. We will leave for our workout immediately following Javy’s story so be on time. Please allow extra time to get there…….allow time for you to get lost and still make it to practice by 7:30 (in fact you may still want to plan on getting there by 7am and just bring a Starbucks…….for me too!).

We are meeting in the shopping center at Malaga Cove. Since you are all coming from different directions, the address to use for MapQuest or GPS is:

43 Malaga Cove Plaza
Palos Verdes, Peninsula, CA 90274.

If you are heading north on Palos Verdes Drive, the center will be on your left as you come into town. Coaches Emily and Chris will get there early so look for them.

Come join us for the Alaska/Seattle Recommitment Party on Tuesday!

Tuesday April 13th
6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Busby’s West
3110 Santa Monica Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404 US

We are in week 9 of the summer season, and what better way to celebrate and recommit to the team than Happy Hour at Busby’s West!

Bring your friends and enjoy a night with your teammates! (everyone is invited!)

Notes for Alaska & Seattle participants:

• Recommitment forms are due by Tuesday, April 13th – this is a firm deadline and paperwork cannot be accepted after this date.
• All paperwork must be an original – this means no scans or faxes.

As a reminder, Hill Training is optional, Hill Training is for runners AND walkers and Hill Training is a great workout that will make you mentally and physically stronger.

The Hill is on Dewey near the Santa Monica Airport.

From the North ( Ocean Park or farther North)

• take 23rd Street South (left if heading toward the water, right if heading away from the water).
• Once you pass Ocean Park you will be heading down a steep hill. When you get to the bottom of the hill, 23rd Street will turn to the left. At this point, make a RIGHT onto Dewey. Park anywhere on Dewey or on any surface street off of Dewey.

From the South ( Rose Avenue or farther South)

• Take Walgrove North (this is also 23rd but has a different name south of the airport. Walgrove begins at Washington Blvd. Washington , Venice and Rose all cross Walgrove). If you are heading to the water, right on Walgrove, away from the water, left on Walgrove.
• After you pass Rose, Walgrove will turn to the left to go uphill. You need to make the left onto Dewey Street . As mentioned above, park anywhere on Dewey or on any surface street off of Dewey.

If you want an address to use for Mapquest, you can use 2215 Dewey Street , Santa Monica 90405 . Mapquest says that Walgrove turns into Dewey…….this is not really how it feels when you are driving it.

Sorry, a bit late on this upload, but here are the photos from the Week 5 Santa Monica Mountains run. It was a challenging hilly course, but the weather was perfect. A bit hazy during the start, but it cleared up near the end for a nice view of Los Angeles.

View Week 5 Photos Here

They’re BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

http://thebachelorauction.com/

LA’s fine faced, well versed, multi-talented men are back and most importantly SINGLE! They’ve put their boyish reservations to the side for the good of a greater cause, fighting against blood cancers …and selling themselves to the highest bidder on the floor! Yummy. Now our question – will it be to you?

This year’s auction features celebrity bachelors from the TV Reality Shows “the Bachelorette” and “Real World”

So my friends, come one come all to this annual sell-out of a party and watch us flaunt this year’s pick of the litter so that one lucky woman can walk away with a hunk on her arm, a date in her future and a goody bag around her wrist.

Paypal Presell – $20.00
Day of – $25.00
We suggest you pre-purchase you tickets, as this event DOES SELL OUT.
Pre-purchase tickets online though our secure online PayPal account. We will keep a list of who purchased tickets. However, please bring the payment confirmation with you (just in case).

Hosted by your teammate and wonderful Emcee Jennifer Ann Wilson!

http://www.jenniferannwilson.net/

We are meeting in a new spot this week as we say goodbye to the traffic lights and hello to the fire trails of the Santa Monica Mountains. This truly is a beautiful course that will expose you to another side of LA and another side of running. Because of the course we will cover, we will not have a water stop until the end of the run so please bring hydration. If you do not have a system by Sunday, simply bring a small bottle of water or Gatorade to carry. If you do this, you will need to hold on to it until the half way point or the end of the run. You will understand when you are out there but we are on our own and in somewhat sacred space so litter is definitely a no-no.

Please plan on getting to practice early. Parking fills up quickly so you will have far less distance to walk to the trail head if you show up by 7:30. Coach will be getting there by 7 at the latest.

Directions:
From the 405 and Sunset:

• Take Sunset Blvd. west
• Take Mandeville Canyon North (RIGHT)
• Take N. Westridge Road (first stop sign, (LEFT)
• Follow N. Westridge Road all the way to the top.

From our usual Santa Monica Location

• Take Ocean to San Vicente
• RIGHT on San Vicente
• 26th Street (LEFT)
• Sunset (RIGHT)
• Mandeville Canyon (LEFT)
• Take N. Westridge Road (first stop sign) (LEFT)
• Follow N. Westridge Road all the way to the top.

You will know you are near the top when you see a stone gate with wrought iron work. Look for parking on the surface streets because the lot at the top is very small and will only hold a few cars. I believe the last street for parking is Cordelia.

A few comments:

1. You are parking in a very quiet residential area, please respect this and wait until you get to us on the trail to chat.
2. AGAIN………BRING WATER!!!! THERE IS NO WAY FOR US TO GET WATER HALF WAY UP THE MOUNTAIN SO BRING HYDRATION. WE WILL HAVE WATER WHEN YOU FINISH BUT YOU NEED SOME FOR THE ACTUAL COURSE.
3. It is especially critical that you sign in and out this week. You are in the mountains…..much more surface area we have to cover to find you and we will be upset if you are home drinking a beer while we are scouring the hills.

PLEASE DO NOT FORGET THIS WEEK IS DAYLIGHT SAVINGS SO YOU LOSE AN HOUR OF SLEEP. CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS OR YOU WILL MISS PRACTICE.

Week 4 started with a running and walking form clinic by SGV TNT Coach Karla and our coach Emily. Our Honored Teammate, Phyllis, then shared her inspiring story to the TEAM. We met at the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier and headed north on Ocean Ave to the streets of San Vicente and back for a total of 6 miles. Check out the picture to the left. It’s a small obstacle to wait for traffic lights, but the perfect weather and nice scenery makes up for it! We hope you all had fun!

View Week 4 Photos Here

Name: Marcela Estrada
Team: Westside Marathon (Greater LA)
Number of TNT Seasons: 3 (participant, mentor, head mentor)
Last TNT Event: San Diego
Rock ‘n’ Roll 2008

Why did you join TNT?
I had just graduated from college, moved to LA, and felt a bit lost meeting people in such a big city. I desperately wanted a more fulfilling hobby than ‘professional TiVo watcher/ beach bum’, so signed up for an info session as soon as I received a flyer. The thrill of running a marathon was just what I was looking for! It challenged me physically, provided the team camaraderie I lived for, and gave me incredible motivation knowing it was for a philanthropic cause. The perfect way to start off 2007!

What was your best fundraiser?
I actually had a hard time fundraising through emails/ letters. In a last ditch effort before final funds, I wrote an email to friends/family with the joking statement “I’ll even write your name on my a$$ and run through the finish line with my booty in the breeze for a few bucks.” It ended up being a big hit and my ridiculous friends started a bidding war to get me to write funny things on different parts of my body to be worn during the race. In essence, my best fundraiser was becoming a running billboard for my friends antics.

Most memorable TNT moment?
Oh boy. I could go ON and ON. Serenading Coach Kevin at the Firehouse after a lost bet, making a participant recite an Ode to Stanford after we beat Arizona in college bball, the RIDICULOUS costume run during the last practice of Summer ‘08 (…and the pictures that ensued), mimosas and the world’s most expensive bagel at Shutters after our 20 mile run Winter ‘07, my first TNT Pasta Party (I think I cried… what a baby), EVERY race finish– even the painful ones, watching my participants cross the finish line as a mentor… then watching them become AMAZING mentors and captains the following seasons (Erin, Gretchen, Lauren, and Marvin… I love you all!), costume run in Agoura Hills (Heine’s lady bug costume?? Wow!), the entire Honolulu race weekend, SD MUD RUN with my mentor group, jumping in the ocean after long runs, Bachelor/Bachelorette auction, the first TNT Pub Crawl, the post-race celebration after my first marathon in SD (who knew some of the participants/ mentors from that night would become my DEAREST friends), watching Social Captain Dan become part of world record history by running the SD Marathon ‘08 dressed as Elvis, and the convos/ heckling that took place during our West Hollywood 6am midweek runs.

… but most memorable of all is running the Santa Barbara Half Marathon with TNT dressed as PREFONTAINE!! The mentors decided to show off our TNT spirit by dressing in costume (Halloween was the day before), which started my favorite TNT tradition of costume runs!! Not only were we quite a hit with the crowd, we actually made the front page of the Santa Barbara Newspaper!! I’d like to emphasize that our picture was larger and we were quoted more times than the winners of the race. What can I say? That’s how we do!

What would you have done differently during the season if you could start over?
Planned a fundraiser early on instead of relying on letters/ emails. It’s a lot of work to plan, but has a much bigger pay out if planned well.

Do you have any other words of wisdom for our participants?
Rarely do you have an opportunity to be a part of a team, support a cause, and reach a physical goal AT THE SAME TIME. My advice is to soak it up while you have the chance! Life gets busy, but immersing yourself in the experience is worth the sacrifice. Whether you joined the team for the cause, the physical challenge, or both, don’t forget to maximize your return on investment by having an absolute blast! The more fun you have, the less you’ll think about pain/ fatigue during the race. GOOD LUCK and save a little energy for that finish line picture

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This will be an ongoing series, where we will feature an alumni so you, our readers, can learn some new things from people who have done it before. If you’re a Team in Training Alumni, please fill out this form (or please spread the word).