Team Challenge training begins

Yesterday the Wisconsin team for CCFA’s* Team Challenge held it’s first training session for 2009. We had a great turnout for the session, between 25 and 30 people. This year, we have participants for two different half marathons that are training together. One group is training for the Kona Half Marathon in Hawaii on June 28, 2009, while the rest are training for the Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon on July 19, 2009. (I’m personally training for the Napa to Sonoma run.)

Calvin Deutsch, physical therapist and partner with InStep Running and Walking Centers, started us off with a Dynamic Warmup Clinic to teach us good warmup practices and help avoid strains and injuries. After that we ran or walked (or in my case, both) around the Petite Ice Center’s indoor track for the next 30 minutes.

Even though I ran 13.1 miles in the San Antonio Rock N Roll half marathon just over three months ago, yesterday I felt like I haven’t gotten off the couch in years. I guess the moral is that I should have kept running and exercising after San Antonio. I have no doubt I can get back into shape to run a half marathon by July — after all, I did it before San Antonio. Given my body’s various issues, it will be a challenge, but (to paraphrase another member of our Team Challenge team) I’ll do whatever it takes to get to the cures for Crohn’s and colitis.

Team Challenge participants run or walk a half marathon to raises awareness and research funds for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis*. My goal for 2009 is to raise $3,900 through my Team Challenge run. I’ll train hard, but will need your help as well. To show your support and contribute, please visit my participant page on the Team Challenge website.

*The best source for information about Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis is the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America, also known as CCFA. CCFA is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization dedicated to finding the cure for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. CCFA provides accurate, current, disease-related information to the public, health care professionals, and patients and their families. The CCFA Information Resource Center can be reached at: 888.694.8872. The CCFA website is www.ccfa.org.