1. …sign up for my newsletter at:
   http://www.runtowin.com/newsletter.html …
2. …or ask me a question about marathon preparation at:
   http://marathoning.org/1-question.html

I apologize for any inconvenience that this might cause.

Email me your receipt number, and I will send you a guide to integrating the BodyBot into your running schedule so that you can see the best gains given your experience level and training goals.

Not sure what the BodyBot is? You can read my full review over at Run to Win.com.

Before the call, Emily and I collected questions for what you wanted to hear us discuss. Specifically, we discussed how her 4 year old daughter Maddie is dealing with her Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and what specifically that is, Emily’s running history and how her training has been affected by having to care for Maddie, Emily’s thoughts on the upcoming Olympic Trials and her and Maddie’s fund raiser at Two Trials.org.

I hope that you enjoy the call, and that you please take a moment to visit Emily’s website at TwoTrials.org and consider donating to her and Maddie’s fund raiser. As Emily mentioned on the call, every dollar counts (even the $5 bill that was sent in a card through the mail!) All money donated goes directly to the Maine Children’s Cancer Program to help fund the type of research that has raised the survival rate of children with ALL to better than 85%.

On Wednesday, March 12^th at 7:00 I will be asking Emily LeVan your questions. If you know what you want to ask, you can do so here:
http://marathoning.org/ask/Emily-LeVan.html

Emily LeVan ran track in high school, but was a field hockey player at Bowdoin College. A few years after graduation, she debuted in the marathon at Sugarloaf in 3:16:24. She ran a 2:41:38 at the 2003 Boston Marathon, which qualified her for the 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials.

Emily took a year off from competition and opted not to compete, instead giving birth to her daughter, Madeline. In total, she has run a dozen marathons, including 5 Boston Marathons (of which, she was the 1^st American in 2005), 2 New York Marathons, and the 2005 World Championships. She is currently the 14^th ranked woman in the Marathon Trials with her 2006 Boston time of 2:37:01.

Last year on November 5, Emily’s daughter Maddie was diagnosed with ALL and will spend the next 2 or 3 years of her life in a marathon of blood transfusions, x-rays, ultrasounds, spinal taps, bone marrow biopsies, and chemotherapy.

Emily and Maddie are trying to raise some money for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program so that they can provide the same excellent that Maddie received to other children in need. In Emily’s own words:

My goal is to raise $52,400 (Maddie and I are now running two marathons, so 26.2 times two is 52.4) for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program during the roughly 3 month period that the fundraiser will be running. Every dollar donated will go directly to the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. The fundraiser will run (no pun intended) from January 18th, which is Maddie’s 4th birthday, through the Olympic Trials on April 20th.

So far they have already raised over 60% of their goal in the past 8 weeks. If you have anything that you would like me to ask Emily or if you would just like to be on the call, then head over and let us know what kinds of questions that you would like answered. The address for that is: http://www.marathoning.org/ask/Emily-LeVan.html

We will leave it up to you to decide what sorts of topics we discuss on the call. Click here to ask your question and to get the call in details. There will be a webcast available for anybody that wants to listen but doesn’t want to pay long distance or international phone rates.

If you would like to ask a question for me to answer on the call, then please visit: http://www.marathoning.org/1-question.html

The first call went really well and was a lot of fun. I managed to answer 9 questions before running out of time, and I had fun chatting with a couple of the people that had called in.

Click here if you would like to listen to the replay of the first call again. I have left the recording for that call up, although you need to belong to marathoning.org in order to download the transcript.

Here are the call in details:

Sheri Piers led the ladies, and her marathon training was very evident this year as Sheri’s winning time of 58:25 beat her last year’s winning performance by over 4 minutes. Unlike last year, she had competition this time around. Kasie Enman was only 4 seconds behind her, finishing in 58:29. Kristin Barry ran about half a minute behind them in 59:07. Emily LeVan rounded out the top 4, coming through in 1:01:58.

Sheri Piers and Kristin Barry both qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials this past Autumn at the Philadelphia Marathon, finishing together in 2:45:37. They both race for Dirigo R.C. here in Southern Maine, and finished the race off by getting a small crowd together to run the course backwards as a cool down.

Emily LeVan runs for the Boston Athletic Association and trains in mid-coast Maine. She treated the race as a tempo run, using it as the middle miles of a sustained effort with a 5 mile warm up and a 3 mile cool down. She is the 14^th fastest marathoner in the country, gaining her qualifying time of 2:37:01 when she was the first American across the line in the 2006 Boston Marathon. She is 1 of only 19 women to make the “A” qualifying standard for the Olympic Trials.

Kasie Enman also runs for the B.A.A. and trains in Vermont. She qualified for the trials with a 2:44:06 race at Grandma’s Marathon in 2006. She is coached by Jeff Staab.

Related Links:

• Full results at the Maine Track Club
• Race Description at Run to Win (includes links to all photo collections)

The “Two Trials” fundraiser kicks off today, January 18^th, 2008. Join me, Emily LeVan, at www.twotrials.org as I begin my training for the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials - Women’s Marathon and my fundraising to help research, treat, and cure childhood leukemia.

Why leukemia?

On November 5, 2007, my daughter, Madeline (we call her Maddie), who will turn 4 on January 18th, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Suffice it to say, that my husband Brad and I were devastated and crushed by this diagnosis. In early November, Maddie, Brad and I spent 10 days at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME where she had numerous blood transfusions, x-rays, ultrasounds, spinal taps, bone marrow biopsies, and chemotherapy. Our world was completely turned upside down. We learned that we were embarking on a new kind of marathon; one that, if all goes well, will last the next 2-3 years of Maddie’s life.

Since we were sent home from the hospital, we’ve developed a new kind of routine; one that involves weekly trips to Maine Medical Center in Portland or the Maine Children’s Cancer Program Clinic in Scarborough. In terms of the leukemia, Maddie’s body has responded well to the treatments; her blood levels and bone marrow biopsies are all very encouraging. We are tested, however, by the day-to-day challenges of fighting this disease. While the chemotherapy drugs and other supportive medications are doing a good job of knocking out the cancer, the results do come at a cost. The side effects of the medications are numerous and challenge all of us daily. We keep charging ahead, though.

Why a fundraiser?

Throughout these last several weeks, we have been amazed and inspired by the support offered to sick children and their families at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital and especially at the Maine Children’s Cancer Program (MCCP). This illness touches every aspect of our lives and places significant financial, physical, mental, and emotional strain on us. MCCP has lessened the burden for us and helped make this journey seem manageable.

Brad, Maddie and I feel incredibly fortunate to have these resources available to us and we want to ensure that other families in the future can continue to benefit from the support and programs offered by the MCCP. That said, we are organizing a fundraiser for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program that will run concurrently with my training for the Olympic Trials in April. When Maddie was initially diagnosed, I thought the Trials would be thrown out the window; I had no idea how I could possibly manage her treatment, work, family and training. Brad, Maddie and I decided as a family that I should do it.

I love running and I have benefited in ways I could never have imagined from the sport, but it is a very self-serving endeavor. I feel that right now I have the opportunity to use the running to benefit something beyond and greater than me. Both Brad and I feel strongly about giving back to our local community and we see this fundraiser and its beneficiary as a way that we can do so.

Come visit our fundraising website to learn more! The website www.twotrials.org will consist of:

1. a marathon training log describing number of miles run each day, type of workout, how I felt, etc. Log will be updated daily,
2. A treatment log for Maddie which will be updated weekly,
3. general information about childhood cancer,
4. information about the Maine Children’s Cancer Program with a link to their donation page
5. a section for people to post comments and questions,
6. a photo gallery,
7. information about a fundraising carbo-loading dinner and raffle to be held a few weeks before the Trials in Maine
8. information about the Olympic Trials - Women’s Marathon which takes place on April 20th on Boston, MA.

My goal is to raise $52,400 (runners should understand the significance of that amount, as Maddie and I are now running two marathons) for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program during the roughly 3-month period that the fundraiser will be running. Every dollar donated will go directly to the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. The fundraiser will run (no pun intended) from January 18th, which is Maddie’s 4th birthday, through the Olympic Trials on April 20th.

Why donate to this cause when there are so many great causes out there?

Great question! Maybe you decide to give to this cause because you’re a runner and understand the challenge of training for a big race under even the best of circumstances. Maybe you decide to give because you have been touched in some way by cancer. Maybe you decide to give because you want kids to be able to be kids. You want their biggest worry to be if they will be able to stay at the beach all day playing in the sand and salty ocean water and not if they will be stuck again with a needle, if their hair will fall out, or if they will even feel like playing in the sand at the beach again. Whatever your reason for giving, know that every donation (however big or small) helps us toward our ultimate goal. You can be a part of the journey through this new marathon and you can help us reach the finish line.

Contact emily@twotrials.org with questions.

Editor’s Note: Maine Running Company will be hosting a “Fund” Run for Emily called “Emily & Maddie’s Run” on Thursday, April 3 @ 6pm. Every donation of $10 will receive Emily and Maddie’s “Two Trials” Bracelet. Come out and help Emily and Maddie reach the finish line!

You can read a 13 page description of the book here: http://marathoning.org/marathon-preparation/

You can also download a “sneak peek” and read the introduction at: Run to Win (sneak peek)

You will need to log into the website before you can download the file.

You got here just a little bit early, but I am looking forward to launch day which is on Thursday, January 17^th, at 2:00 EST.

I am still setting up shop and getting everything put onto the site in the meantime.

Unfortunately, most of the content for this site requires that you be logged in before you will even see any of it, so don’t mind the emptiness in the meantime.

In total, I answered 9 specific questions that had been submitted as well as a couple of general questions that had been asked and whose answers fit into some of the other topics I was speaking about. I also got to speak with a few of the listeners and go a little more in depth into the questions that they had. I had fun and I am looking forward to doing this again.

As promised, here are the links to various websites referenced on the call:
(more…)