Week 11 Holiday Gift Wrapping

December 19-25
Swim 3000+ yards, Bike 30+ miles, Run 15+ miles

For fundraising, I spent several days holiday gift wrapping at Barnes & Noble. They allow local non-profits to come to their stores and take gift wrapping shifts where they give the supplies, but we wrap the gifts. So, I figured I would give it a try to see how much could be earned with tips from customers having gifts wrapped because it's a free service and the fundraising is through donation. It was fun, although not as busy as I would have liked. Still, it was a chance to share the cause with others and try something new. Here's a photo from the Redwood City store where I spent an evening before leaving to Seattle.



Not having done my training yet that day, I went home after wrapping and spent an hour on my bike trainer from 10-11pm inside spinning, knowing it would be impossible to train while in the car driving to Seattle. Being able to train is definitely one of the challenges when traveling. This photo was taken in the car on the drive from San Francisco to Portland of Mt. Shasta. It was a beautiful day to drive.

IronTeam Honorees

Our Honorees give back to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, so that others will hopefully never have to experience what they have been through with being afflicted by blood cancer. They came to support the team at our practice sprint distance triathlon on Treasure Island December 4th. Lesley, one of our Honorees, participated and will race at Ironman Canada. From left to right are Kevin, Laura, Larissa, myself behind Larissa, Lesley, and Oleg.

Kevin Weaver
Kevin's story is quite amazing. Diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was almost 3 years old, Kevin has reached the 24 -year mark of being in remission! He's been a TNT honoree for many teams for the past six years, and decided to celebrate his 31st birthday by training for the PF Chang's Suzuki Rock & Roll Half-Marathon in Arizona in January. As part of this, he's doing some fundraising of his own, so please help him blow his fundraising goal out of the water as a thank you for constantly giving back to the cause he's come to know so well! Learn more about Kevin.

Laura Warren
Laura is what one could call a 'walking miracle'. A 28-year survivor of Hodgkin's, Laura experienced a recurrence of her cancer years after her original diagnosis, as well as undergoing a mastectomy and treatment for breast cancer years after that recurrence - all while training for and ultimately completing the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon! Laura's since become an avid cyclist and has continued participation with other TNT teams, both as Honoree and active participant. We are lucky to have her as our IronTeam honoree again this year.

Larissa Campana
Larissa is a ten-year old girl who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) just after her first birthday in 1995. Due to the amazing advancements in cancer treatment, Larissa is still with us today and evidently feisty as ever! Larissa is no stranger to TNT; she has been a team honoree for the East Bay triathlon team for several seasons and loved being involved. In fact, one of our own participants extraordinaire, Gary Bean, is Larissa's pediatrician.

Lesley Mansford
Lesley is also in the video game industry; she's a top executive at Electronic Arts (EA) and somehow has managed to participate in several triathlons (Wildflower, Treasure Island, among others) despite her busy work schedule. Lesley was diagnosed with CLL, May 2002, but was lucky to catch it at Stage 0 (ie., very early on). Not one to sit around and do nothing about her health, Lesley is also an IronTeam participant, and will be rocking the Ironman Canada course next August. She expects the run at IMC to be the hardest, but yours truly couldn't even catch up with her at yesterday's Nike Half-marathon. Lightning!!!

Oleg Nodelman
Oleg was was diagnosed with Burkitt non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on May 1, 2003 - just two days prior to competing in his first triathlon at Wildflower where he, too, had spent several months raising thousands of dollars for the LLS. Blessed with a sick yet hilarious sense of humor, Oleg named his tumor "jerry" and went several rounds fighting him out of his body, keeping his spirits up the whole time. Oleg is currently in remission and continues to take charge of his health with the support of his amazing wife, Heather.

Craig Dalton
This is Craig's second year as an IronTeam Honoree. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in June 2002, just weeks after completing his very first triathlon at Wildflower with TNT (he'd just gotten done raising thousands of dollars for the LLS, in fact). In addition to being an Ironteam Honoree, Craig was also a participant - he completed Ironman Canada just this past August and smoked the course!! Formerly a competitive mountain biker, you'll usually see Craig in his Lombardi Sports team bike gear - if you don't see him first at Ironteam social functions or "testing" games on his wireless cell phone created by his company, i-play. Learn more about Craig.

Louie Bonpua (1965-2001)
Last but not least is our forever team honoree, "Shrimp" Louie Bonpua. Louie was diagnosed with leukemia on September 17, 1997. Louie was an Ironteam participant and completed Ironman Canada in August 2001 - while still suffering from leukemia. That next January, in 2002, he escaped from the hospital just long enough to carry the Olympic Torch over the Golden Gate Bridge. Louie made local and national news of his amazing inner strength and positive spirit. Sadly, Louie had to go back into the hospital two days later and never recovered. Louie's memory lives on, however, as you can see from his website, www.shrimplouie.com as well as many other stories and articles that made Louie a local legend and inspiration to so many. Ironteam has since held an annual Louie Bonpua Memorial Triathlon, which is held every year in January in Louie's honor and memory. Learn more about Louie .

Week 10 Night Swim

December 12-18
Swim 3000+ yards, Bike 30+ miles, Run 15+ miles

Sometimes I'll choose to swim at the UCSF pool later at night when it's empty. David plays squash in those lit up rooms behind the pool, so I'll meet him after work which motivates me to go get the swim done and give him a ride home. He took this photo of me swimming laps.

Week 9 UCSF Pool

December 5-11
Swim 3200+ yards, Bike 40+ miles, Run 13+ miles

Finding an outdoor pool in the city of San Francisco is difficult, so the opening of this new pool on the rooftop of the UCSF Rec Center is perfect. The Gladstone Institutes where David works is right across the street, and he has a free member ship, so he can escort me in as a guest for $6. This is going to be a popular place to swim especially when the weather is warmer.



Here is a view from the roof behind the pool looking at downtown San Francisco. The green area to the left is part of a driving range which will probably be closed with the development of this area called Mission Bay:



Here is another view from the pool looking towards the Bay Bridge. The tents from the Cirque de Soleil are visible to the right just below the bridge:

Week 8 Practice Sprint Tri

November 28-December 4
Swim 3900+ yards, Bike 30+ miles, Run 8+ miles
IronTeam Practice Sprint Triathlon

Okay so I thought I had finished with Treasure Island on November 5, but no instead I swam yet again in those chilly waters next to the Bay Bridge—and in the month of December on top of it! This is where we held our first official practice IronTeam triathlon. I'm not sure if this is normal behavior or not to jump into these waters when most people on the shore are wearing hats. Nonetheless, that is what we did and it sure did make us feel alive and made sure that our legs felt like clubs during the bike and run. I guess you'd say we're getting used to these activities since hey we are IronTeam!

Brrrr! There's a reason why the majority of us are still standing along the edge of the shore just looking out at the cove. It's the startling feeling we get when the water first enters the wetsuit.



Here I am preparing for the swim with body glide to make sure my neoprene cap or "squid lid" doesn't chaffe my neck. Once I learned the lesson of not using enough body glide and had a mark looking like David had reverted to the teenage days of hickeys.