OK, my first entry. I didn't run today, but Jane and I got together with my mentor group for dinner. Mentors are Team in Training participants who have done the program before. My mentor is David Innis. He did the Honolulu marathon last year. He has a very personal connection with the Leukemia Society: his daughter, Kelsey, was diagnosed with a leukemia-related cancer when she was 8. She seems to have made it through the experience OK -- she just celebrated her 13th birthday. She's one of the success stories of the kind of research that gets funded by the Leukemia Society. She's a Team in Training "honoree": a survivor of leukemia (or a related cancer) who inspires and educates a group of Team in Training participants while they go through the training and fundraising. The honorees put a personal face on the project of raising money to fight leukemia. They make you feel like you're tangibly helping someone you know. My honoree isn't Kelsey, but a woman named Linda Lyon. She got diagnosed with leukemia as an adult (which is more common than people realize). She has been fighting the disease for over 3 years now. She's a remarkable woman. Knowing Linda and Kelsey and the struggles they've endured makes our struggles with training and fundraising seem insignificant. Unfortunately, for every cancer survivor like Linda or Kelsey, there are many more who don't make it. My Uncle Jud died earlier this week after a long fight against melanoma. We're dedicating our fundraising efforts and our marathon to him; and to Jane's mom, who died last year of colon cancer; and to my old friend Rodney Meaux, who died of bone cancer at age 12.