Oh Hello Again!
April 19, 2021
Let’s just say what we’ve all be thinking…2020 was an interesting year! Jason and I started off 2020 announcing our pregnancy to our friends and family, taking a trip to London in February and getting ready for the arrival of Baby M in June. On January 7, 2020 we celebrated the 10 year anniversary of my bone marrow donation! For Owen, it was the 10 year anniversary of his bone marrow transplant to treat JMML (Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia). 10 years, can you believe it?! If you asked me 10 years ago what I would expect to come from my donation it would have been a lot of “I hope…” and “I wish…” Never would I have imagined the relationships I gained and experiences I had. I’m sure Owen and his family had hoped they would finally get to hear the words “cancer free.”
Our 10 year anniversary was a reason to celebrate! Most people might have thrown a party, or remembered the day quietly with family and friends, but I wanted to do something bigger; I wanted to give back. I was so graciously selected to run the 2020 Boston Marathon with Team in Training to support LLS. But, my doctor suggested with Baby M on the way it was best to postpone running a marathon. Baby M joined us in June 2020, and we have been busy growing as a family of three (more to come on that later!)
Here we are in the spring of 2021, and my goal to help make sure other pediatric blood cancer patients have the hope and resources to get better, just as Owen did, has not gone away. And what would be a better way then to get back to raising funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to help find cures and ensure access to treatments for blood cancer patients, all while training to run a dream marathon…the Boston Marathon! That’s right, I’m going to be running the Boston Marathon in October 2021! And just like Owen had his family and a HUGE support system in their town, it going to take more than just me to make up a team and that’s why I’m asking you to help!
Donations to LLS help fund treatments that save lives every day; like immunotherapies that use a person’s own immune system to kill cancer, or the LLS Children’s Initiative, a collaborative approach to change how pediatric blood cancers are treated. In Minnesota alone, just over $9 million was given by the LLS to the University of MN and Mayo Clinic to help support research on all types of blood cancers and $1.7 million was given to MN blood cancer patients in 2018 to help them fight their disease. You may not know it, but every single donation helps save a life with breakthrough therapies or financial assistance.
Patients need these cures and they need your support.
I’d like to ask you to please make a donation in support of my goal with Team In Training to help get us all closer to a world without blood cancers. (You can check out my official TNT page here – https://pages.lls.org/tnt/mn/boston21/lmoffett)
I promise to keep you updated on my training journey as a new mom, even through the middle of the humid Minnesota summer, and I cannot wait to FINALLY celebrate this 10 year anniversary with all of you when I cross the finish line in October 2021.
With love,
Laura
Boston 2020 – Training Update
January 21, 2020
Happy New Year everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. It has been a few months since my last training update, so I would say I am overdue for one!
We are 90 days from the Boston Marathon (as of January 21st), and we’ll just say my training has gotten a little off track. Late this fall, Jason and I received some really exciting news that we are pregnant and our little family will be growing by one in July 2020! Initially, I planned on continuing to train but slowing down and taking most of my runs indoors to avoid the snowy Minnesoata sidewalks. Between all the lovely first trimester symptoms, I couldn’t complete much of my training at all, and after a discussion with my doctor recently, we’ve decided it is best to postpone my Boston Marathon to a later year.
Now I’m sure this news has a lot of you curious about what’s next! Team in Training has been very supportive and is very excited for Jason and I. They are allowing me to defer my race for 2020 and will hold onto all your very generous donations and fundraising that we have done so far. I am planning on reapplying for a 2021 Boston Marathon bib and should be able to re-start fundraising later in 2020 starting with what we have already raised. And let me say we have a few fun events planned for when I do kick-off fundraising and training again!
Words cannot really express how thankful I am for all of your support and kind words since I began my training and fundraising for Team in Training. I have been blown away by all of it! We have already helped make an impact in fighting blood cancer and I am very excited for continuing to do that with you.
With love,
Laura
P.S. I’ll also plan on a few additional training updates later this year when I kick-off my training again.
Building A Strong Base
November 3, 2019
T-169 days (from Sunday, November 3rd) until the Boston Marathon. That seems so far away, but I’ve already started fundraising and a little bit of training!
Since I have not been running much on a weekly basis (maybe 2-5 miles if I’m being honest), I knew I needed to start doing a little bit of base building before the official TNT training plan starts on November 4th. So I made up my own little training plan! The last three weeks looked something like this…
Monday – 1/2 to 1 mile warm-up run then my co-ed Volleyball league game
Tuesday – Alchemy Class
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Alchemy Class
Friday – 2 mile run
Saturday – Alchemy Class
Sunday – 3ish mile “long” run
Alchemy classes were what got me back into working out this past spring. The class formats are based on a combination of yoga, strength training, conditioning with more yoga at the end…all the types of workouts I love! I was drawn to how supportive and encouraging the coaches were, the music during classes and how I was able to zone everything else out and just focus on being in the studio and pushing myself. (If you’re in the Minneapolis area and want to give it a try, let me know, I’ll glady go with you!)
In all my prior training blocks, strength training is something I’ve always cut out or skipped due to time constraints, even though it is so good for runners to strength train to help prevent injuries! One of my goals going into this training cyle is to make sure I’m keeping up with strength training, and I think making sure I get to Alchemy classes regularly will help! So, what better way to make sure I do this then to start now!
I was a little nervous about how I was going to feel getting outside and running again, but I was pleasantly surprised how good it felt! Yes, the first few runs were tough…I was sucking wind, my legs felt heavy, I wanted to stop and walk and my brain kept thinking about how “out of shape” I was. But, something clicked over the last week or two and now my runs feel much better! Breathing isn’t as hard, my legs feel strong (hills are still hard…I think they always will be), and I’ve been really pleasantly surprised at how I feel afterwards! My calves have been a bit cranky, which I am not happy about this early in my training, but I’m trying to look at it as a reminder that I also need to be foam rolling and “pre-habbing.” Good thing we have at least 3 foam rollers in our house!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I actually need to get out and get my run in!
P.S. Thank you to everyone that has supported my Team in Training fundraising efforts so far! I am blown away by your generosity. Please visit my TNT page here for more information on why I’m running the Boston Marathon and to help support me and patients battling leukemia and lymphoma.