I trained to participate in an endurance event as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I'm completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

I was inspired to do this in honor of a very special person, my friend and colleague Christine Pechera. Christine underwent a Bone Marrow Transplant last July, her recent scans now show her to be cancer free. It is truly a miracle. But it was a long hard road to get there. This was her second bout with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She lost her brother to the disease and her older sister has also battled cancer.

Here's a recent photo of Christine Pechera celebrating a clean scan at her 1980s inspired "FOREVER YOUNG" party.

To help fund further research and treatments for other patients and give them their miracle, I invite you to support me as I fundraise for the Team in Training program.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission.

My teammates and I continue to work hard at our training. This is the 14th and final Week of my training!

On Aug. 18th we trained in Porter Ranch and did 6 miles!

Aug. 24th we were at the top of Reseda and did 8 miles. It was very hot, dusty and we had to watch out for the speedy mountain bikers. Everyone was enjoying the trail.

On Sept. 1st we were at Balboa Park in the SFV. We've been learning a lot about hydration, salt and energy bars, blocks and gels to keep our energy up and bodies in balance during our training.

We started at 6:45am, the temperature was already 80 degrees. After 8 miles they pulled us off the trail although some did complete the 9 miles by 9am. It got up to 108 degrees that day.

The following Wednesday night we did 5 miles at Balboa Park. The weather was significantly cooler, which was great after the sweltering week in triple digits. The sun is now setting earlier as well and we finished in the dark (lucky for us there are some lights in the park).

On Saturday, Sept. 8th we went back to Porter Ranch and did 10 miles. The top of the hill was a long trek and we walked up and down and back and forth but we did it.

Here we are at about the half way point at the refreshment stop. I'm happy that the weather was much better than the previous week.

Saturday, Sept. 15th we were back at Pierce College. We learned more about strength and conditioning exercises and speed work. Here I am with my other teammates and coach Lisa!

We did lots of races with teams and cheered each other on. I think more than a few of us were sore that day, but it was a lot of fun!

The following week we were at Balboa Park, I only had to do 5 miles.

It's amazing how in a few short weeks, doing 5 miles doesn't seem so difficult now.

On the weekend of Oct. 13th I did 12 miles. It took a while but I did it. Hey, if you can do 12 miles, doing 13.1 shouldn't be a problem. Right?!

Participating in Team in Training has given me a lot of confidence in my own abilities.

Here's a photo during the 12 mile practice, we've stopped in Balboa Park for some refreshments.

Now we are tapering off to lower mileage until my race on Nov. 3rd in Santa Barbara. My left knee has been a little sore but I'm still hangning in there.

Wow, my Marathon is in less than a week. We had our training sessnion (lite for those doing Santa Barbara) on Saturday and there's a send off dinner on Monday, Oct. 29th.

I want to thank my longtime friend and TNT walk coach Mary Schaffer for getting me involved. This has been a fantastic. Experience. Here's Mary at one of the training sessions.

She's going to make sure everyone finishes!

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UPDATE!!! WE DID IT. WE FINISHED THE SANTA BARBARA MARATHON!!! We started the evening on Nov. 2nd listening to some very inspired stories of survivors. They have a shirt that read-If you think running a marathon is hard, try chemotheraphy. Llistening to their stories really confirms the importance of our fundraising efforts.

Here we are at the start, ready to go. It was really really foggy and cold that morning. I got up at 4:30am to get ready. We had to meet in the lobby by 6am and then a bus took us to the event area near the starting line. We did some exercises to warm up.

Once we started the race, you got warmed up pretty quick. I was walking with Kelly and Bucket, 2 of the San Fernando Vally Team mentors.

I was busy walking along, my brain was on the event and trying to keep an eye out for my friends who came up from LA to cheer me on. I was getting a refreshment when Kelly said to me, "Hey Barbara, aren't those your friends?" And sure enough, there was Kate, Marti and Emma. They even made up little signs to cheer me on. They caught me on my way up the hill and then they moved across to the other side and when I finally came down again near mile 11 they cheered me on again. It was fantastic to have a personal support team and inspired me to keep moving.

I was trying to keep up with the pace but kept falling back, so I'd run to catch up. Then I was also taking some photos of other teammates. My hip started to ache but that's why they give you a personal bracelet. I had Christine's name on it as well as my Uncle Roy Jr. who had non-Hodgkin lymphoma and passed away a number of years ago. Looking at the bracelet and thinking about them kept me going.

Here's Mary coming back down from the last hilly part before you turn around. Notice all the empty water cups.

We finally made it up the hill and down and up again and finally made the turnaround. We were next to the ocean along a beautiful stretch but frankly we we pretty focused on the race.

I met Sandy from the San Gabriel Valley Team in Training and we walked the rest of the way together with some short runs inbetween. Sandy took some photos of me.

Mary and Kelly met me about 300 yards from the finish and ran me to the finish chute. I finished in under 4 hours (hey was happy to finish).

We celebrated at the Victory party on the rooftop of one of the hotels in Santa Barbara.

Thank you to all who have contributed. AND IT'S STILL NOT TOO LATE TO MAKE A DONATION!! ANY AMOUNT IS APPRECIATED AND MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

I appreciate your support for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

GO TEAM!!!!

Here I am the week after Santa Barbara walking the Calabasas 5k...IM WALKING, YES INDEED I'M WALKING...

Barbara