Denver Team In Training Participants Running to Save Lives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) October 9, 2009 -- Denver, Colo., Oct. 9, 2009 – Nearly 100 local Team In Training® (TNT) participants are preparing to run for a cure in the Denver Marathon and the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco Sunday, Oct. 18. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Rocky Mountain Chapter TNT program will have 61 participants in the Denver Marathon and 36 participants the Nike Women’s Marathon. TNT participants run in honor of people who have battled, or are battling, leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma.

“I am truly inspired by these dedicated TNT participants who are running and walking to save the lives of Coloradoans affected with blood cancer,” said Rebecca Russell, executive director for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of LLS. “They have already made such an accomplishment, two-weeks before the marathons they are well on their way to raise $300,000.”

Catherine Bernard is one of the 36 participants who will be running the Nike Women’s Marathon, this will be her second TNT event. Bernard is running in honor of her six-year-old son Mason, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May 2005. "It amazes me each week when I come out to train, that so many people have taken on Mason’s cause and are running and walking for him with the hope that one day soon a cure will be found and other children will not have to go through what Mason has so far in his life,” said Bernard.

Dr. Tom Bolan has recruited a group of his colleagues to participate in the Denver Marathon. His group is running in honor of his 15-year-old daughter Allison, a two-time leukemia survivor. Their group will join 61 other TNT participants at the Denver Marathon.

"If the months of hard work and dedication prevent even one parent from ever having to go through the pain of seeing their child suffer from a blood cancer, then it will all be worth it,” said Bolan. “What we experience with our training, even when running 40-45 miles per week is nothing compared to what these kids go through in their battle against this devastating disease. The amazing thing is, most of them do it with a smile on their face. The least we can do is raise money and be stiff and sore for a few months a year to help find a cure for lymphoma and leukemia!"

TNT is the world's largest endurance sports training program. The program provides training to run or walk marathons and half marathons or participate in triathlons and century (100-mile) bike rides. Since 1988, more than 380,000 volunteer participants have helped raise more than $900 million.

The Rocky Mountain Chapter’s TNT program, covering Colorado and Wyoming, has raised nearly $17 million since its inception in 1992. They have trained over 5,000 athletes in that time and participated in over 30 different endurance events across the country and the world.

For more information about TNT and the Rocky Mountain Chapter of LLS visit http://www.teamintraining.org/rm/.

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