Moms In Training Team“I think I am going to run a 10K”  I told my husband over dinner one night.  He looked at me like I had two heads.  “If you told me that you were going to swim or cycle, I wouldn’t be surprised – but running is not your thing”.

It’s so true!  It’s not my “thing”.  In fact I hate running, but I received an email from Apple Seeds, an amazing indoor playground offering tons of classes for kids and moms in New York City, Mumbai and Dubai, telling me all about this Moms In Training group.  A group of moms, who train together for 8 weeks leading up to the race day, a women’s run around Central Park on June 8th.  So, I decided to look into it… and it sounded AMAZING!

One year ago a pair of moms, Helena and Kristen, started this program.  It is part of the Team in Training program that helps teams train for races to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  The weekly training sessions are led by certified trainers (the Madison Square Park group is led by Meri Treitler, founder of Mommy & Me Fitness). Here’s what you get:

  • The participants can walk or run or do both.
  • They can bring the kids in a stroller or not.
  • They can participate in one of 5 locations (Central Park, Madison Square Park, Prospect Park, Astoria Park, or Clove Lake Park)
  • The participants are assigned a mentor, who will guide you through the training
  • There are fun, social activities that participants can attend
  • You have free access to a personal trainer for 8 weeks
  • It’s a great way to meet new moms in the area and the get in shape at the same time
  • and (perhaps the best reason of all) you get all of this while raising money for a very worthy cause LLS.

So… I signed up!

I received an email from my mentor, Kristen, introducing herself and the organization. Then last Saturday we had our Kick off event, where we met each other for the first time, had bagels, met Meri (our trainer) and received our calendars with a full training schedule.  The schedule has details of what we will do each Saturday as well as daily expectations.

I had such a nice time meeting moms and look forward to running (probably more like walking) with them over the course of the next 2 months.  I’m not sure how I will do it, I just know that I am very nervous, but I am also very determined and very stubborn (once I set my mind on something I.will.do.it!).  I worked out a schedule with my husband to take care of the children on Saturday mornings.  All that’s left for me to do is get a new sports bra!  🙂Kristen & Helena with boys

Now, I will spend my Saturday mornings doing something for me, while still raising money towards an amazing cause.  Too many children are effected by cancer.  According to an interview that Helena did with ABC News last year, “the survival rate for childhood leukemia in 1949, was zero, while today it is 90 percent”.  There’s no were for it to go but up!

To date this year’s Mom’s In Training team has 146 moms (up from approximately 55 moms last year) and has raised $49,506.50 to date.  According to LLS:

  • $25 provides patients and their loved ones with educational booklets that contain up-to-date information on their disease, which helps them make informed decisions about their treatment options
  • $50 registers 1 person to be a bone marrow donor.
  • $100 pays for the cost of 4 patient’s chemotherapy drug prescription co-payments.
  • $250 provides materials for the Back To School program which facilitates the re-entry of young cancer survivors back to school.
  • $1000 allows patients to meet with health care specialists to design and discuss their disease, treatment plan and prepare them with the info they will need during the treatment process.
  • $2000 provides patients with a one month supply of Gleevec, an oral chemotherapy drug, funded by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The money raised so far has helped so many families, and I am so proud to be a part of it… and hey, maybe I’ll get myself into a good habit of running along the way!  🙂

If you live in the vicinity of any of the 5 boroughs of New York City and are interested in joining in the fun, there’s still room.  Just follow this link.  It’s that easy!  If you don’t you can still contribute here.

Have you ever done anything that brought you outside of your comfort zone for a good cause?  How did you manage?

Photos credited to Helena & Kristen, the amazing moms who will have us running in circles for the next 8 weeks.

 

Maman Aya (USA)

Maman Aya is a full-time working mother of 2 beautiful children, a son who is 6 and a daughter who is two. She is raising her children in the high-pressure city of New York within a bilingual and multi-religious home. Aya was born in Canada to a French mother who then swiftly whisked her away to NYC, where she grew up and spent most of her life. She was raised following Jewish traditions and married an Irish Catholic American who doesn’t speak any other language (which did not go over too well with her mother), but who is learning French through his children. Aya enjoys her job but feels “mommy guilt” while at work. She is lucky to have the flexibility to work from home on Thursdays and recently decided to change her schedule to have “mommy Fridays”, but still feels torn about her time away from her babies. Maman Aya is not a writer by any stretch of the imagination, but has been drawn in by the mothers who write for World Moms Blog. She looks forward to joining the team and trying her hand at writing!

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