honored teammate, Laura

Fortunately the weather was perfect outdoors. Our team met one of our honored teammates. Her name is Laura and she is the wife of Coach Charlie. Her story was very inspirational. She was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and underwent two years of intensive chemotherapy including several clinical trials and radiation. Because of the enormous amount of toxicity in her body from the treatments, every organ in her body was affected. She has the inside of an 85-90 year old. Although she is in remission from AML, she was diagnosed with another cancer-bladder. During this time, she was training for a full marathon. She was running with a urinary catheter for their long runs 12, 16, 18, and 20 miles. The 3rd day prior to her event, the catheter was removed so this also meant she had the urge to use the bathroom frequently. Despite all of her obstacles, she never gave up. She finished her full marathon in about 8 hours because of the frequent potty breaks although her running time was about 5.5 hours. Pretty darn good! She has done several events with Team In Training and her husband being her coach for the century bike ride. She has done a triathlon, cycling events, and a full marathon. Amazing woman!