I never participated in an event....but I've cheered from the sidelines of several!

Rod Dixon, a past winner of the New York City Marathon, was the honorary chair of the first TNT team.  I was having a hard time making it up the last mile of the New York City Marathon and heard a distinctive voice cheering me on.  That gave me a new burst of energy to get to the finish line.  That moment, and being a part of the first TNT team, and seeing the happiness of Bruce Cleland and the other original team members celebrating their completing the marathon at the victory party.

I walked San Diego this year and from leaving home until the return home it all was memorable.

TNT takes good care of it's athletes.

Hightlight however was the night before the race.

Right before going to dinner we were in line and we passed all the coaches and support staff cheering for us.

There must have been 30+ people ringing bells and applauding the crowd.

Wow!

I am currently completing my 10th season with TNT.  3rd season in a row and every experience has been amazing.  However,

the race moment I hold closest to my heart was the 2006 Nike Women's in SF when I came around the corner at mile 9 to see my friend &

team honoree, Brenda Donato, holding up a sign saying  "TNT: I'm alive because of you!"  Her big, beautiful smile just urged you on.  Her strength was amazing considering she was in a battle for her life with a relapse.

Sadly, Brenda didn't win her battle.  She passed 6 months ago.  But when I'm out there on Sunday, running in a sea of purple, I know Brenda will be by my side urging me and everyone else to keep going and keep fighting!

Go Team, Go Team Brenda, & THE EAST BAY ROCKS!

Jeanette

All the experiences are memorable! Just knowing what we are accomplishing is so motivating...especially when the mile markers get farther and farther apart!! I am always amazed at the number of purple and green people out there...we seem to outnumber all other athletes in every race I have done Also amazing are the numbers of spectators yelling "go team" even when they don't kow a single person with TNT. They know what we are doing and they are so supportive!

St Anthony's in 2007 would be my most memorable event because it was my first. The next day, I signed up for another season!!!

Keep up the good work everyone!

I've only participated in 1 event as part of TnT but it was an absolutely fantastic experience. I did the Disney tri last month and it was a great race. Or would have been a great race had i actually prepared properly... But that's for another post. LISTEN TO YOUR COACHES.

Anyway, on to the story. I'm riding my bike for lord knows how long, cramped up about 4 times on the bike and had to hop off and stretch, no big deal i'm thinking, i'm probably not dehydrated right? wrong. I get back into fort wilderness (the resort with the transition area) and my left leg locks up 100% Fine i think, i can stretch this out, unclip my left foot and bring my right pedal down to unclip. Oh there goes the right leg! Great! Now i'm straddling my bike with 2 completely stiff legs so i sorta just fall onto my right side. i go to bend my knees and hopefully stretch my legs out but that was a terrible idea. what came next was the most pain i've ever felt in my life. A few people go by and ask if i need help, i'm a trooper and say no, i really wanna finish this race. maybe 2 minutes pass and i ask someone to go get help. My legs were not loosening up and i was not a happy camper. Luckily 2 nice gentlemen rode by and asked if i needed help. I told em what was going on and they gave me some salt tabs and water. They go on their merry way and im actually not in excruciating pain amnymore.I start to stretch out my legs and get up and sorta stumble around. I see a white van coming down the road and i tell myself to just get on the bike and start pedaling, they're not pulling me off the course today. I ride past a volunteer and tell her they just called and ambulance for me and to cancel it, i'm fine. I guess someone told my chapter coordinator that i was down so one of my coaches sent her son out to run me some water. He gets me water and i'm maybe 250 yards from transition and my coach comes running up to me, sorta jogging alongside the bike "finish that water, what do you need? SALTINES! i've got some, i'll try and get them to you in transition" (TnT has the BEST coaches btw). So i get into transition and i hear people complaining that they can't take their bikes out yet, sorta made me mad considering ehy're done with their race and they watched me run in with my bike so they KNOW i haven't even started my run yet, but anyway. I get out on the run course and i'm doggin it. My legs are killin me and i'm just not in a good mood. My coordinator (the best in the nation btw) sneaks me a bottle of gatorade and cheers me on for a good portion of my run (walk). Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for me..) they closed the second loop of the rundue to an impending storm, so i didn't actually get to "finish" the race. So i'll be back next year for revenge. =0)

So while the race was absolutely terrible for me, i have never felt more camaraderie in my entire life. My teammates were very supportive, coaches were all over taking care of me on the course, and my coordinator was the best sneaking me a bottle of gatorade so i could get through it all. All in all the experience was absolutely wonderful. TnT is by far the best organization i've ever been involved with and i look forward to many many more seasons with them.

My first event was PF Chang's marathon in Arizona this January, which I ran with my husband (and several thousand others...).  There are so many things that were great, it's difficult to think of a single favorite.  Some of the highlights include: arriving at the airport to find the entire city seemingly taken over by TNT; the corridor of cheering coaches and staff on the way into the Pasta Party; the speaker at the Pasta Party who told an amazingly moving story about her granddaughter that had died from leukemia (ALL?) - not a dry eye in the house; going back to our room and seeing all the doors with notices like "Behind this door sleeps a hero"; the freezing cold weather (OK, not really a highlight) - going from NJ to AZ in January seemed like a good idea in August when we signed up - little did we know running in Phoenix would be colder than all of our training!; being cheered on by so many coaches - that last 2 miles seemed to have a coach every ten feet.  Two things really stick out though - one is watching my husband run over the finish line with the biggest smile on his face that I have EVER seen (he had come to the info meeting with me but didn't initially sign up, because he thought there was no way he could finish a marathon).  The other one involved my father who had passed away from NHL November 26 2006;  he had really wanted to live long enough to come and support me in my first marathon, and I was pretty emotional the few days leading up to the event, wishing he was there.  At about mile 18 (I think - I probably wasn't thinking my clearest at that point!), I said out loud "Daddy, give me a sign that you're out there - I need your help"; I go around a corner and see this huge store sign for "Fry's" - my maiden name was Fry.  For the first time I knew what it means when people say something "took their breath away".  I stopped in my tracks and cried and laughed at the same time!  When I asked for a sign, I didn't really mean it so literally!

Next Monday, my husband and I run the Dublin marathon and will, no doubt, have even more great experiences to share.