Welcome to the Iowa TNT Alumni page!  Thanks to the more than 1,500 alumni in Iowa, we have raised $5.8 million to help find a cure for cancer!

In celebration of Team In Training's 20th Anniversary, an Iowa TNT alum will be featured here each month.  Please share your story and pictures for all to see by sending them to Amanda.Freese@LLS.org.

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ALUM OF THE MONTH

DECEMBER

Amanda Freese - Eastern Iowa

In 2002, I walked into Beems Auditorium at the Cedar Rapids Public Library uncertain of why I had decided to learn more about Team In Training.  After seeing an add in Runner's World, I thought it looked like an interesting way to train for a marathon, but didn't consider myself a "real runner."  Feeling a bit out of place, I found a chair in the back of the large room and began looking through the informational packet sitting on the chair next to me.  Before I knew it, the lights went dark and a montage of pounding music and images of happy people began flashing on the screen in the front of the room.  "This is where you become SOMEBODY," a purple-clad runner says after finishing his marathon.

Immediately, I knew I was going to do a marathon.  Two days later, I registered for Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, AK.  The race was more than 6 months away, yet it seemed like that was going to be so soon.

I signed up because I wanted to do something that would make a difference in the lives of others.  I had seen firsthand how non-Hodgkin's lymphoma had impacted the lives of a family in my hometown.  One of my favorite teachers died from complications of the disease at the age of 33.  I was a sophomore in high school.  It was at that informational meeting that I realized I could make a difference now. I had felt helpless as a high school student, but now ... well, now I could run for a cure.

On June 21, 2003 I stepped up to the starting line among a sea of purple in the parking lot of Bartlett High School in Anchorage, AK.  Throughout the run, I had conversations with others wearing TNT purple.  Stories were shared about why each person had come there, where they were from, and the special honored patients who had inspired them throughout the journey.  As we approached a lake toward the end of the marathon, we were greeted by a woman with a sign that read, "Thank you.  I am a leukemia survivor."  The weather had been less than favorable for spectating that day.  The temperature never rose much about 50 degrees Fahrenheit and there had been a constant light rain since about 8 a.m.  I was nowhere near the front of the pack finishing in just under 6 hours, yet here was this woman, standing in the rain with a poncho and her sign. By mile 25, I was working hard to choke back tears.  Tears of pride, tears of sadness, and tears of hope.  The finish line was amazing.  Never in my life had I felt so good.  Never had I felt so strong!

About two weeks after finishing my first marathon with TNT, I learned of a family member's diagnosis of a blood cancer.  Never would I be helpless again, I thought.  I registered to run Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego in 2004.  In 2006 I did the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego TNT Half Marathon and in 2007 I finished my first triathlon at the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines with TNT. 

When I signed up for my first TNT event, I had no idea the path it would lead me on.  These days I'm working for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as the TNT Campaign Coordinator in Eastern Iowa.  After raising more than $14,500 for the Society nothing thrills me more than to help our current participants reach their individual goals in fundraising and training.  I haven't chosen my 20th Anniversary event yet, but count me in to help make 2008 one of our BIGGEST and most SUCCESSFUL events for Team In Training in Iowa!

GO TEAM!