When you sign up with Team In Training to run a race for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, they give you all sorts of little presents. You get chapstick with the team logo on it. You get stickers. You get your race singlet, of course. There are hats and all sorts of brand stuff.
And then there are two little presents that mean a bit more. One is a hospital bracelet that has the team logo on it. You write the name of your honored patient on it, and wear it until race day. It's a reminder of why we're up early in the morning, lacing up those sneakers just before dawn, when most people are drooling on their pillows. It's also a reminder that no matter what kind of a crappy day you're having, you can't blow off the training run. Do you think your honored patient can blow off a chemotherapy treatment? No.
The other present you get is a purple rubber bracelet, similar to the Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelets. Embossed on the rubber bracelet are the words "Train - Endure - Achieve - Matter":
It's the motto for Team in Training. It's our goals, simply put. We're training and enduring so that what we achieve (our fundraising) matters in the life of a cancer patient.
Plus, the first letters spell out "T-E-A-M". How neato keen is that? It's the little things, folks....
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