Dash 4 the Stache - Pittsburgh Fundraising Event, 11/17/12

DASH for the STACHE - Pittsburgh Fundraising Event

Saturday, November 17, 2012

~RECAP~

What an AMAZING family we have!  It's incredible to see what can happen when a loving, compassionate community comes together to support people, ideas, and causes that they care about.  People can truly affect those around them through exercising positivity and hope!

I am so proud of my family, and namely my two younger cousins, Brittany and Natalie.  We suggested to them that a fundraising event in Pittsburgh, Uncle Dennis's home town, would be a wonderful way to reach out to those that really know and love him and his family.  After that, our cousins and their entire community took it upon themselves to host the most motivating and inspiring fundraising party, consisting of friends, neighbors, college roommates, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas, and smiling strangers excited to support our cause.  

The night's activities included 50/50 raffles, auctions, t-shirt sales, fake mustaches, and the bar donating a portion of the evening's funds to the cause.  Laughter and hugs abounded.

Brittany and Natalie are two amazing women that I am so fortunate to call my family, and they and their community are full of so much love and positive energy that Uncle Dennis has the most gracious and inspiring support system imaginable.  Go Team Dash!!!

Team Dash for the 'Stache - the Giarnelli family!!  The first cousins + Grandma

The restaurant was packed!!  Thanks so much, Cafe Supreme!

 So many people donated beautifully amazing gifts for the auctions!!

 The t-shirts and baseball shirts were a big hit!

 Grandma!!!  The most amazing woman - the matriarch of our glorious family!

********REMEMBER TO DONATE AND JOIN IN THE FIGHT!********

Team Dash still needs your help!

Visit our Team page:http://pages.teamintraining.org/md/wdw13/thedashforthestache 

and help in the fight against blood cancers!

No donation is too small

and all donations are 100% tax deductible!

Mustaches Unite!

An 8-Mile Track List

We're getting closer and closer to the January event and the Baltimore half of Team Dash has been ramping up their long distance training runs!

This weekend Tony and Adj (yours truly) will be running along the NCR Trail north of the city for 8 MILES!

Yes, you read that right the first time.

People often ask what we do on these long runs, especially now that these outings can be well over an hour in length!

Mostly, Tony and I take in the scenery - autumn in the D/M/V (that's DC/Maryland/Virginia for the unfamiliar) is breathtaking in terms of foliage and occasional temperature drops.

But, really, there's only so much green Tony & Adj can take and conversation can be difficult to maintain when you're trying to catch your breath, so I'm a fan of playlists. Tony has a shuffle and I have a Droid, so it's easy enough to keep some tunes on hand as the miles pile on.

So here for you, loyal Dasher, are some of our recommendations for an 8-mile Track List:







(That last one is particularly good for HIIT intervals...)

Really, anything that has a good tempo is useful. If you're looking for something to distract you while you're hitting the pavement, we suggest plugging into some podcasts:




So lace up and plug in (not too loudly! You need to be aware of your surroundings, people.) and we'll see you on the asphalt!

Love,
Adj & Tony
(Team Dash - The Baltimore Edition)

******************REMEMBER TO DONATE AND JOIN IN THE FIGHT!**************

Team Dash still needs your help!

Visit our Team page: http://pages.teamintraining.org/md/wdw13/thedashforthestache 

and help in the fight against blood cancers!

No donation is too small

and all donations are 100% tax deductible!

Mustaches Unite!

Autumn Running + Inspiration

Running is hard!  I've always thought I couldn't do it, always thought my knees were those of an 80 year old woman (yet there are plenty of women more than twice my age that are more than twice as fit as me!), always thought running was a high-impact, joint-ruining waste of time.  Yet so many people around me loved it, and put stickers all over their car for it, and would get up with the morning song birds before dawn and wear neon tights just to go do it every day.  What were these people thinking?


Today was one of the best runs I've ever had, and I went farther than I have ever gone - 5 miles!  May not seem like much, but to me it is a universe away from what I thought I could do.  But why and how did I get started doing this in the first place?  The run we're doing in January is the obvious driver, but we're running for much so more than to say that we've done a half-marathon.  My reasons, and I'm sure my teammates' are similar, are much deeper and farther reaching, and still being discovered every day.

I've been in and out of exercise my whole life, mostly diving into activities that allow me to be outdoors or to get from point A to B (functional exercise).  With regard to organized events, I've participated in a small handful of 5K's and short bike races, but my first real appreciation for large, organized fundraising athletic events was with the Bike MS ride in New Bern, NC to raise funds for research to help fight MS and find a cure.  My good friend Grayson was my amazing riding partner, and we did 50 miles for 2 days in a row, for a total of 100 miles in one weekend on a bike!!  My bottom hurt more than my quads, but my heart was full of encouragement and inspiration with regard to not only long distance athletic ventures, but for a critical mass of warm hearts coming together to make change happen.


So, how is the running compared to the biking?  This time, the event I'm running toward is very much closer to my heart, affording a boat-load of motivation and internal emotional support for the early morning runs.  However, I'm starting to discover, after months of bike training, and more than a month of gradual and well supported run training (go TNT!), that ... I ... actually ... LOVE RUNNING!!!  

It's glorious - endorphins pumping, sleeping better at night, seeing gorgeous countryside on bright and crisp fall mornings, meeting amazing people.  It's splendid - and running with Team in Training - hearing their Mission Moments each week as to why each individual is part of this team, what motivates and inspires them - makes me so proud to be a part of this.  What's more, my cousins and my husband and I, along with the whole family behind us, are coming together and doing so much more together than we could have done alone.  And our regular skype dates are pretty rad too!

So, kids, lesson is - 

• GIVE RUNNING A TRY!  
• GIVE YOURSELF TO A CAUSE!!
• COME TOGETHER WITH THOSE YOU LOVE TO DO AMAZING THINGS!!!

Mucho love ~ Leslie

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Help us help others strike back against cancer and help make a difference in other peoples lives!  Donate to Team Dash for the 'Stache today!!