Let's do this thing.

Hi, I'm Renata. And I have lost my mind (ish). I'm on the brink of a long and painful and exciting and insane journey of readying my body to endure 1.2 miles of ocean swimming, 56 miles of cycling, topped off with 13.1 miles of running. And here's the thing, I would never in a bazillion years think that I could be physically capable of such an absurd amount of movement. I mean, that's at least 7 hours of constant exercise. Eesh. There is, however, some "logic" to my madness - I have competed in two triathlons - one sprint and one Olympic. Both experiences were so unbelievably self-fulfilling, and therein a somewhat selfish thing to do (in an amazing way!). For this triathlon season, I've decided to raise my karma points (and hopefully yours too) and send some positive energy into the universe. Nothing about 70.3 miles of consistent exercise and four months of training sounds appealing (okay, it sounds pretty bad-ass, but requires a serious dose of motivation that I will need to summon from the depths of my soul). In fact, I'm a little tired right now and that sounds hard. I plan to surrender my nights of boozing on the town for early morning training sessions. I plan to swim, bike, run, sweat, hydrate and (likely) eat more than I ever have in my life! And with this I ask that you support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for each mile that I race. 
If you're a triathlete, you're probably thinking to yourself - Are you really going to join that sea of purple? To you, I say YES! And proudly so. Having worked my ass off (quite literally) to endure an olympic distance triathlon, I cheered on the TNT athletes with supreme admiration. Training for an endurance event is hard enough -- dedicating the energy to gather donations is another feat in itself! 
Yesterday I met Myland, a sweet, beautiful and young blood cancer survivor. Her beauty and grace absolutely moved me.
To my absolute delight, I received this message from Myland -  
I want to personally THANK YOU for joining the fight against blood cancers. As a team honoree, I am one of those teammates who can say I am alive today because of the research and development of new therapies made possible by people like you fundraising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My life dramatically changed in July 2006 when I was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). I endured debilitating chemotherapy and radiation treatments while waiting for a suitably matched donor for a lifesaving bone marrow transplant, my only hope for survival.
I cannot wait to get to know Myland better, connect with other cancer survivors, and race and train in honor of those who lost their battles.  Please make a donation. Those Karma points work WONDERS.


Much love,
Renata