Aside from the obvious reason of raising funds for much-needed cancer research and patient support programs sponsored by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training, that is.

Training for a marathon represents a HUGE symbol of my progress physically. On 9/11, I weighed just over 300 lbs. In October, 2006 I weighed roughly 289 lbs, and in April/May 2007, I was hospitalized for the first time in my life with cellulitis. After never spending a night in a hospital for over forty years, I was hospitalized twice in one month! I got cellulitis first in one leg, and then a few weeks later in the other. Real fun – NOT!

Long story short, I apparently got it due to severe cracks in both my heels, thanks to working in a job where I was on my feet for about five hours straight each day. I worked for an all-natural vitamin & nutritional supplement company (funny, huh?:-) and part of my job involved packing all of the previous day’s orders and getting them ready for shipping. Another fun side effect of the job was severely cracked fingers and palms of both my hands. All of this was later diagnosed as eczema, but I felt like I had the plague. Some of you reading this will remember those fun days.

At any rate, thanks to a wonderful dermatologist, an equally wonderful podiatrist and getting fired via FedEx (another first) from the job at the nutritional supplement company due to my “recent and planned extended absences” (umm… I was sick and in the hospital – I was not out having the time of my life in Disney World), my hands and feet slowly began to heal. I have been completely “crack-free” for just over a year now.

Fast-forward to November 2007, when I walked into my first Weight Watchers meeting. I weighed in at 271 lbs. While I had done charity walks before, the possibility of me actually walking in a marathon never entered my mind. The end of this month will mark my 2-year anniversary with Weight Watchers, and I currently weigh in at 186 lbs – 85 lbs less than when I started, and about 120 lbs down from my heaviest weight.

Training for this marathon represents all of the progress I’ve made over the past 2 years. The fact that I can walk a 10K in under 2 hours and not need an oxygen tank or CPR afterwards feels pretty good. The fact that my feet can handle all this walking without having to deal with painful cracking and splitting is amazing. The fact that I can now walk a mile in under 15 minutes is pretty miraculous! (Hallelujah! She can WALK!:-)

So for me, in addition to the importance of raising much-needed funds, this marathon also represents a celebration of my new life, because I never would’ve been able to do I of this 2 years ago. Can you help me cross the finish line? All it takes is $5.00 – http://tinyurl.com/crawlcarolcrawl

I’m not sure what it is lately, but my eating’s been a bit out of control the past few days. Okay, maybe a bit more than a bit – I polished off two boxes of Triscuits in as many days. Not all at once, as I had portioned them all out into 3 point bags, but I kept going back for another bag. I’m trying to figure out why, though.

I think part of it is that I have not done any cooking last week or any meal and snack planning. I also haven’t been eating on any sort of a real schedule, so that could be part of it. My fruits and vegetables are down this week, too, as is my water consumption. Some of it may be hormonal in nature, and I think part of it may be a bit of boredom and laziness creeping in.

My activity, on the other hand, is significantly up, thanks largely to my Team in Training marathon training sessions twice a week. On Wednesay, I added 6.29 miles to my pedometer by the end of the day, and yesterday’s total was 7.51 miles. Of that, at least half was either the group training session itself, or walking to/from it.

So, my aim for this week is to cook, plan, water and walk:-)

If anyone is interested in keeping up with my marathon training adventures and misadventures, I’ve started a separate blog, Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!!

I’ll try to keep this blog updated with the highlights, but Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!! will be focused solely on my Team In Training marathon training and fundraising progress, cool gadgets I discover, and other helpful info, so as not to bore anyone who’s not interested. (Although why anyone wouldn’t be interested in my journey from semi-couch potato to marathon walker is beyond me!)

As mentioned in my last post, I signed up  to walk in the TNT Walt Disney World Marathon with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training. I am walking in memory of my late friend, actor Cliff Gorman, who died from leukemia in 2002. At some point, they will also match me up with an honored participant who is someone either currently facing the disease or someone currently in remission.

I have a very ambitious (as in $3,700) fundraising goal to meet between now and December.

If you can help me get the word out and support my efforts by placing a widget on your facebook page, that would be totally awesome! It’s easy to do:

Just go to http://apps.facebook.com/lls-fundraising/

On the right-hand side is the option to add the widget to your page in support of a friend. My fundraising page address to enter into the box is is

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/wdw10/cmartzinek

Allow the application to access your profile, etc. and when it takes you to your facebook page, click the “keep” button to add it to your page. When it’s done, you should see a Team in Training box on your facebook profile.

If you have a blog or web page and would be so good as to add a link like this to my Team in Training page, that would help tremendously, too!

Me??? A Marathon Woman??? – Please support Carol as she trains to walk in her first marathon to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training. http://tinyurl.com/marathonwoman

Thanks a million! Your moral support throughout this is priceless!

Yup, that’s right! I’ve taken leave of my senses and signed up to walk a marathon. As in a 26.2 MILE marathon for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training.

Between now and the weekend of January 10, 2010, I will be training to walk a full marathon in my favorite place on earth, Walt Disney World. I’ll also be working to raise $3,700.00 to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am walking in memory of my late friend Cliff Gorman, who died from leukemia in 2002.

Please visit my Team in Training Page at

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/wdw10/cmartzinek

for updates, info and to make a donation in support of my efforts.

Anything you can do to help me get the word out, and raise needed funds in this challenge will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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Help support Making Strides Against Breast Cancer as a walker or “virtual walker”.

Donate and/or join the team by clicking the link.

Help us to create a world with more birthdays! Thank you!

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Less than 20 lbs to go before I reach my initial goal of losing 100 lbs on Weight Watchers, and less than 30 lbs until I reach the “healthy” weight guideline for my height! As much as I would like to reach one or the other by my 2 year Weight Watchers anniversary at the end of November, I don’t know how realistic that would be.

But… I have reached another milestone beyond the scale! My BMI is now under 30, which means, according to the info found in Wikipedia… drumroll please… I am now no longer classified as obese! This is a major milestone! I’m still technically considered overweight, but I started Weight Watchers with a BMI of 42.4, and prior to that, I had been as high as 47.1, which is considered morbidly obese at my heaviest! So, I’ll gladly trade it in for overweight!

If you’d like to calculate your own BMI, the Mayo Clinic has a BMI Calculator on their website.

Below is a link to an article on Health.com that I found interesting. I just wish I had read this about a year ago!

5 Ways to Lose the Weight… Without Losing Your Unhealthy Friends – Diet & Weight Loss – Health.com

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