Please support SaiG in his missionto help fund research on leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and hodgkin’s disease, and to help support the patients of these diseases. Together, let’s help fund and find cures for these terrible diseases..

One point that I have not yet mentioned in this blog was the fact that I had actually trained for the marathon in honor of that one special person, who was unfortunately diagnosed of leukemia a few years back. I was shattered when I first heard this news. She had to undergo some very tough chemotherapy sessions last year, and has been doing fine since then. Here’s wishing from the bottom of my heart that she stays healthy for the longest of times.

To this day, whenever I see someone training with TNT and running for the leukemia and lymphoma cause, I tend to re-live in my heart, every moment of my marathon run, as well as my marathon training experience. I especially feel for the honorees, in particular that special honoree, in whose honor I had trained and run the marathon.

When I came in this morning, I saw an email from Randy about his Gladiator run. It brought back a lot of memories and emotions from my marathon days. Coincidentally, today I happened to wear my marathon finisher’s medal (necklace from Tiffany’s) for the first time since I came to India.

Please support Randy in his mission to complete the Rome marathon and to raise funds for TNT and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He is running for a very noble cause; I hope I will get another chance to do the same.

Thanks to all the support I received from everyone, I have managed to stick through the training phase. Now I am anxiously awaiting the final event this Sunday. I am feeling quite confident, and slightly nervous at the same time. The marathon promises to be a fun, yet challenging event. Look up more details on the event at: The Nike Marathon.

Once again, thank you everyone.

Last week, I finally found the one compelling reason I had been looking for, in order to start a blog. I attended a meeting organized by Team In Training (TNT), which is a program for training athletes for endurance sports. I went there with the thought that maybe it was time I considered registering with some marathon training group- something I have been wanting to do for a long time, but never gathered enough courage to get into.

The meeting changed everything. In exchange for the training, TNT asks all participants to raise funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The society’s mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma. During the meeting, they introduced a number of “honorees” who have been battling some form of blood cancer, who have faced innumerable sessions of drugs, chemo etc., and in whose honor we will be running the marathon.

One honoree very aptly put it (paraphrase): “The darkest statement most of you would have been told in life is- You need to train for marathon or a triathlon; or You have lost your job; or something similar. The darkest statement I have been told (at age 19) is- You are going to die soon.”

That statement hit home. I am determined to run the Nike Women’s Marathon for this young girl and for many more like her.

The target is 26.2 miles and $2500. Although, in reality, the target is much beyond those two simple numbers. This blog will track my journey down this challenging path.