Team in Training

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Team in Training, also known by the acronym TNT, is an endurance sports training program. The program provides training to run or walk a full marathon or half marathon or participate in a triathlon (sprint, olympic, or half ironman), a century (100-mile) bike ride, or a cross-country ski marathon (25K, 40K or 50K). Team members raise funds to help support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in exchange for a life changing experience, certified coaches, training clinics (specific sports, equipment, nutrition, stretching), personal fundraising Web site, support from staff and teammates, a fundraising mentor, event fees, and lodging and airfare to more than 60 accredited events in the US and abroad. The Society uses at least 74 cents of every dollar raised for cancer programs, funding research to find cures to leukemia, Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, and myeloma - the blood cancers - as well as assistance with the often overwhelming burdens faced by patients and their families currently fighting blood cancers.

In 2008, TNT has had more than 360,000 volunteer participants raise over $850 million to support blood cancer research and patient services for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.^[1]

Contents 1 Benefits of TNT 2 Criticism 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Benefits of TNT

Most of the funds raised for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society go to research and patient care. funds are used to offset the cost of a patient’s chemotherapy drug prescription co-payment, register a person to be a bone marrow donor, provide bone marrow typing for a family member of a patient with leukemia, provide a patient with transportation for traveling to and from a cancer center, provide patient aid to a person with cancer for a year, or help the Society fund research efforts to find a cure.

Team in Training athletes following training plans designed by noted coaches such as Dave Scott, Arnie Baker, and Jack Daniels.^[2]

[edit] Criticism

Charity running in general has been criticized for several reasons. Some of the more common complaints are:

• The increased cost a race must incur to accommodate charity runners, which is then passed down to race entry fees.^[3]
• Inexperienced participants in races displaying a lack of "Runner's Etiquette", such as walking five abreast and obstructing other runners.^[3]
• The lack of dedication a charity runner has to the sport. For instance, they may focus all attention on their one fundraiser marathon and never run again.^[3][4]

A 2009 article in the Chicago Tribune cautions runners new to charity programs:

But while marathons can be rewarding and life changing, they can also be grueling, unpleasant events, especially if you're new to the sport. If you're also fundraising—no easy feat—you might feel pressured to keep pushing with training when you shouldn't. And some running coaches worry that the charities are more interested in raising money than in the health of the runners, a charge the charities deny.^[5]

A few of the more vocal critics of charity runners in the running community are running author and New England Runner columnist Tom Derderian, veteran running Broadcaster Toni Reavis, and Jim Hage of the Washington Post.^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Team in Training official website
• Team In Training 20th Anniversary Site