Back to Nike Women's Marathon

April 28, 2011 - learned my luck did not bring a lottery entry for the 2011 Nike Women's Half Marathon, so signed on for my 7th Nike Women's Marathon appearance with Team in Training. Have actually been there for all of the NWM events, but the first year was as "Support Crew" for Naomi's first effort doing a Marathon. Have now done five Fulls at Nike and one Half, so guess that makes me a veteran. We are going back for the eighth time to the Nike Women's Marathon - October 16, 2011, a couple of weeks after we do the Marathon di Tuscany.

4 weeks earlier Naomi will be riding 100 miles with TNT in the Moab Century Tour with me along as support/mechanic. After the Nike we return to Virginia, where we'll racewalk the Marine Corps Marathon 10K on October 30. The 10K uses the last 6.2 miles of the MCM course, finishing at the Iwo Jima Memorial. You may recall last year's MCM was my last full marathon. "Beat the Bridge" and finished, but enough is enough

Again this year I am raising money for LLS, adding my efforts to the $1 Billion raised for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society since TNT was created 22 years ago. Some of that money has gone to help my friend Bob Raleigh in his battle with AML or acute myelogenous leukemia. Not long ago we were not sure about Bob's prognosis, by May of 2010 he was well enough to be back in the courtroom and now he's going strong.

The other reason I keep doing this is a young man named Caleb Schneck, who turned 6 in February of this year (he is pictured above in the yellow "TNT gear"). He is also a leukemia survivor, having been diagnosed at age 3. Caleb is a very active boy who seems to be able to take the ongoing medical issues with amazing grace, as do his parents and family.

Bob and Caleb are survivors instead of statistics thanks to research funded by your TNT contributions. The treatment programs both of them participate in are funded in part by the Leuekemia and Lymphoma Society, the parent of TNT. Bob's done with active treatment and is putting his life back together again, thanks to your help. Caleb's medical attention is currently more active than Bob's but his Mom says in about a year his active treatments should be complete.

Bob and Caleb are what we at TNT call "Honored Teammate" - the ones who are fighting the blood cancers in person. Ohers involved with TNT are people like me who get out and do these endurance events because they are "fun". Yes, there is hard work involved, but when the race is finished, it's fun.

Your contribution to this LLS fundraising is the best possible way to help support treatment for Bob, Caleb and all the others who are fighting blood cancers. We don't have a cure yet, but the survival rates are improving every year, thanks in large part to the money donated by friends of TNT. In fact Dr. Kwak, whose work has been funded by LLS, is on the 2010 Time100 list in recognition of his work with cancer vaccines.

Please - take the time now to make a donation! By supporting my participation in Team In Training you help patients like Bob & Caleb and advance LLS's mission. Use this link to contribute by credit card, or send a check to me in Alexandria and I'll be sure it's properly credited on the TNT records and you get a tax receipt.

Want to join us for the MCM10K? Great way to see the fun of the MCM, and it's only 6.2 miles. Just use this link to register, but get there soon as they limit it to 10,000 people.

Thanks for your support! Cash goes to TNT but your friendship is priceless.

"Walking Tom" Farnam

ps - Purple for this post - the TNT color, also the color of my pancreatic cancer lapel ribbon.

Bulldog Pride & Determination

Yes, it says runner-up, again and we are mighty proud of our Bulldogs! Butler is the only Indiana school to ever go to the final game two years in a row, and based on a quick glance at the NCAA history it looks like you have to go back to the late 60's/early 70's UCLA teams to find any school repeating in the final game more than two years in a row.

Alright, this blog is supposed to be about my racewalking, so let's return to that topic. After finishing the Marine Corps Marathon last fall, I've been doing some shorter events over the past few months. Not giving up on Half Marathons, will be doing The Virginia Wine Country Half on June 4th, which is an inaugural event. In the meantime, here's a quick list just to bring it all up to date:

• November 20, 2010 Cranberry Crawl 5k – 41:04 =PR


• February 13, 2011 Love the Run You’re With 5K – 43:26 (bronchial asthma)


• February 19, 2011 GW Birthday 10K - 89:00.01 (into 50mph wind gusts on 1st half)


• March 12, 2011 4 Courts 4 Miler - 58:08


• March 26, 2011 National Marathon ½ Marathon Relay – 5 Miles in 1:09:000


• April 1, 2011 Crystal City Friday 5K #1 – about 43:22


• April 8, 2011 Crystal City Friday 5K #2 – about 47:11.7in cold rain


• April 10, 2011 GW Parkway Classic 5K – 40.31 = PR

Naomi is spending a good deal of time on the bicycle, even got herself a new Trek Madone 4.7 to go faster more easily. Neat bike, carbon fiber frame and weighs very little. My contribution to this process has been a really nice indoor trainer which she uses with her older bike just to avoid installing and removing the new one. Also have modified the car bike rack to fit more closely with the new Trek bike. Can't say enough good things about our Bird Automotive bike rack. It took about an hour to install the first time, but just as advertised it's very easy to install and remove without any tools. Naomi can walk into the garage, install the rack and put the bike in place in less than 5 minutes with no tools, and you can still use the trunk of the car. Great investment, if Sam Bird makes one for your car it's worth considering. He even makes versions to carry golf bags, skis, snowboards and luggage.

Walking Tom