The training is picking up and I (Andrea) am feeling a little left behind. The training as prescribed has included runs and bikes of the distance or more than the event. I am still lagging behind in what I have accomplished in those 2 categories. I'm not giving up by any means, but I am getting nervous about it. I am starting to be very aware of the weeks flying past...and I fear that getting across the finish line is not going to be pretty. But it is what I signed up for...an endurance event.

In happy triathlon gear news we have our wetsuits and our trishorts. One of the things that I learned about triathlons is that you wear all of the clothing for your bike and run (minus the shoes) during your swim. So trishorts are sort of important in that regard--they offer a little padding like cycling shorts, but not too much because it is going to get water logged and you have to run with it. Things I never knew I'd need to know...

This past weekend was a big one for me (Andrea). My graduation ceremony for my Master degree (MS in Urban Policy Analysis and Management, in case you were wondering) was Friday. And on Saturday Murph and I were jointly awarded the "spirit cape" at practice. The spirit cape is a TNT t-shirt that gets passed between team members that are recognized for a few moments for their contributions to the team. While you have the shirt you add something to it. I am/was very honored.

Murph and I are gingerly proceeding with our training. I am experimenting with my knee troubles and he is fighting off foot troubles--cultivated in the marathon a year ago. We're quite a pair. I have started PT and with a little tape on the old knees had a pretty good run on Saturday.

The good news is that we timed our 1/2 mile swims this weekend and we've both shaved significant time off since we began training. I dropped about 3 and 1/2 minutes and Murph has dropped 5 minutes. He's gaining on me!

Hectic continues. May is flying by with lots of busy-ness. But in terms of training, I (Andrea) am fighting injury. I hit a wall in training this morning. I have seen a sports medicine doctor (the team doctor for the Rangers actually) about my knee pain and have been given the green light to continue training. But with the diagnosis of hyper-moveable (the non-scientific name) knee caps. Basically they're not as attached as they should be and they slip all over the place while I'm running, causing inflammation in my knees and therefore pain.

Part of the problem is that after a couple of years of primarily working out my brain and not so much the rest of me, my legs are not strong. I need to build up my leg muscles to support all the training activity that I am putting them through. So that means physical therapy, which I have to find time to schedule in. I didn't make time for it this week--I just pushed through the training and wasn't able to complete the workout this morning. I'm disappointed, but I knew that it was time to say when.

So that's my bad news. Here's the good and its real good.

First... Angela's PET scan (an amazing scan where they have the patient drink a glucose solution with contrast and then they watch the way that their cells respond to the food. Cancerous cells eat up more of the sugar and therefore more of the dye. So they can tell if there are active cancer cells or not. I watched Murph have one and its really amazing science. and they deliver a clear message about what is happening. and clarity is key if you're wondering if you still have cancer.) anyway, Angela had one and it came out clean. NO CANCER!!! So she's done with chemo. but likely heading into radiation treatment next. As insurance that its really dead and that it doesn't come back.

And that's so good I am bursting with relief and happiness. but there's more good.

We (you and me and murph together) have as of today raised $5,200 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! And those two pieces of good news are very much related. This money goes to making sure that there's the great kind of science that is curing cancer and telling us what is happening to our cells.

So thank you. for being supportive. for donations. for reading what we're up to. We're not done yet, 9 more weeks until the NYC tri... but its been a good start and we're getting somewhere for our effort and knee pain.

this has been a bit of a hectic week in our non-training lives (yes, we do still have those) - so we slept on the blogging a little.
what we would have / could have / should have posted was the photos from our last weekend. first, a look at how spritely spring has sprung here in brooklyn:

we went to the cherry blossom festival at our botancial gardens last saturday...

where we (i) (john) discovered that cherry blossom season is the same as lilaac season...

you can't really notice it in this picture, but we are INCREDIBLY TAN. hawaii was an investment that paid dividends - and we actually got even MORE tan the next day (last sunday) at the NJ State Marathon in Long Branch, NJ. i was the honored team mate for that team, as well, and so knew a lot of the runners (and their supporters). caught a ride down with some friends to cheer for some more friends - here we are at the finish line:

dawn, in the jersey, has just finished running the marathon with a time 15 min faster than my san diego time! (hence the gritted teeth in my grin). the two people between dawn and andrea are eliana and louis, team mates of mine from the san diego team who are currently in vancouver to run the marathon this sunday.

this program is really amazing. it has taken us - or at least connected us - all over the country, and brought so many amazing new people into our life. one of the amazing things about these people is the fundraising they do - our triathalon team has raised half a million dollars in 12 weeks!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!half a million!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

totally amazing. i'm really proud to be a part of it, and to recommend it to folks. calling all new yorkers: we'll be at an info booth for the leukemia lymphoma society on the upper west side this sunday (after we ride our bikes for an hour and a half...) stop by, check it out, and show us some love!