Whenever someone asks me or my wife Tammy how we met, we always smile and say it was through Team In Training. I was a running coach for TNT and Tammy was getting ready to walk the Bermuda Marathon with TNT. Tammy had never done anything like train for a marathon so when she started to have problems with her ankle she heard she should talk to me. I had been a lifelong runner and was co-owner of a running store at the time so people would ask me for advice from time to time when it came to injuries and such. I remember I couldn't see Tammy during store hours but I did say I would meet her for her training walk the next day where we would try to figure out what was wrong. Tammy says she was impressed with the fact that I met her at 6am the next day but frankly I think I was just doing my job as a coach. Anyways, I didn't talk to Tammy for the next few days until I saw her at a TNT dinner. I sat down across the table from her and engaged in some small talk but when I overheard Tammy say she had a cat well that is a subject I'm pretty passionate about. At the time I had six of my own cats so we talked about our pets and that week we went out on our first date. Right here I have to say that Tammy was wearing this long, tight red veltet dress that caught my eye and the fact that Tammy is a redhead didn't hurt either! To finish our story, Tammy's ankle got better, she finished the Burmuda Marathon and we got married. It has been over seven years now and many marathons for TNT. Thanks TNT. We will always be grateful.

Norman Ferris

I met my boyfriend through Team in Training in January of 2006... I had signed up for Alaska and he signed up for San Diego. We didn't really talk much the first month of training, then one Saturday he was not feeling well, so he ran with the "slow" group (ie: me and a friend!) and we talked the whole time. A few days later we had our first date, and two years later we're still together!

Team in Training was definitely a life changing experience for me. When I signed up, I was a waitress and a single parent. I met my boyfriend, who is a police officer, and he inspired me to pursue my own dream of being a police officer. I've since completed the police academy and am finishing up my first year as an officer. As a celebration for my personal life achievements and as a thanks to Team in Training, I also recently signed up for TNT again, this time to do a triathalon (in Miami).

Teri and I go way back. Back to the spring of 1999 and our decision to train for the Midnight Sun Marathon with TNT's Chicago chapter. As she tells it, one day she saw a cute guy with the "fast runners" already on the way back during a long, cold out-and-back. As I tell it, I noticed her in a weekend TNT workshop - it might have been the "sendoff" event. We both agree that after inspiring runs in Anchorage (my first marathon, her second or third), that she, in her boundless energy, asked me to dance at the celebration afterwards. I lamely declined.

Although it took months to clear our busy schedules for a first date, we were engaged by August 2000, married in May 2001, first child in August 2002. Teri's patient-hero, Emily, inspired us and served as one of the flower girls in our wedding in Lake Tahoe, conveniently planned around our the Tahoe Century ride. (Emily is a survivor! She's a boisterous teen now!)

Three houses, two more kids and a cross-country move later, we've never strayed from our TNT connection. We've fundraised, mentored and/or coached both in Chicago and now in Utah - on a combined 15+ events, raising what we estimate to be more than $100,000. TNT has taken us to events in Anchorage, Dublin, Memphis, Chicago, Lake Tahoe, San Diego, St. George, Orlando, Tucson ... and probably a couple more.

I "retired" from marathons three years ago. But today I learned that a friend's father passed away. He was diagnosed with lymphoma last fall - fought hard for six months, but maybe never had a chance. I came home rattled from work at lunchtime and said, "Teri, it's time to fundraise again." Ogden, Utah - May 2008, here we come. We can't stop now!