Last Sunday I participated in the 10th Annual LA River Ride. It was a 70-mile ride from Griffith Park to Long Beach and back. It was definitely not the most scenic route through LA and I’m not quite sure that there was ever a “river.” I did however see (and smell) cookie factories, warehouses, abandoned buildings, the LA County jail, incredible graffiti art, horses, a train, and oh yes, the Long Beach Harbor (home to Gunn/Jerkens)!  I consumed four bottles of Powerade®, at least eight PowerBars® and a variety of other “endurance foods.” My post race meal consisted of matzah ball soup and a salami sandwich – yumm!  It was long, hard and yes I did complain along the way, but at the end of the day I realized how very lucky I am… and how lucky we all are! I’m fortunate to be healthy enough to do this kind of training and to be able to give back in such a significant way.

As you may or may not know, I’ve been doing triathlons (swim, bike, run) as part of the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team in Training program for the past five years.

Since this is my fifth year training and fundraising for the cause, I’ve decided to kick it up a notch. In addition to the Nation’s Tri (1-mile swim, 26-mile bike and 6.2-mile run), which I’ll be completing with the team on September 12th in Washington DC, I’m committed to completing my first half Ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run) and possibly a full Ironman next year. I refuse to put the Ironman distances in writing – it’s way too intimidating.

As we say at the end of every practice:  “GO TEAM on three, GO TEAM on three …One, two three – GO TEAM!!”

Click here to donate or track my progress!