Team In Training - Sharing the Fun

This week our TNT coordinator asked if I'd mentor on the run team. I was already running as a participant and the team could use one more mentor. Without even thinking about it, I said sure. If TNT needs a mentor, I'm in it to win it. Mentoring is fun and it a great way to give back to Team in Training and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Certainly there's also fundraising which I'm happy to do, but helping people reach their endurance race goal is a thrill.

Whenever I think about mentoring, I think about how much there is to learn about endurance events. Going into my first marathon, I had a ridiculously full fuel belt. I wanted to be prepared for any and all possibilities. It's as if I was packing for a camping trip, not a race. If you click on that first photo, it'll take you to the flickr page which lists everything I managed to pack for the race. That's not all. There's another photo of my race outfit and a third of my post race gear bag. The second photo is my gear/clothes for my second TNT event with a much smaller fuel belt and a lot less stuff. I was absolutely prepared for that race, but coaches and mentors and experience had taught me what was important to carry and what's okay to forget. Now, I carry even less.

Of course, this means that Steve is mentoring the cycle team and I'm mentoring on the run team. One of these days, Steve and I are going to need to align our event calendars.