Man vs Mooseman - Open Water Swim

It was bound to happen eventually! We've finally done some open-water swimming two weeks before the race. It happened on Sunday, May 22 at Upper Mystic Lake in Winchester, MA. Now there wouldn't have been anything so tough about getting to lake water in MA, except that we've had so much rain that most of the open water has been closed, to swimmers that is, until now. We must have done about 1000 yards in various intervals, mostly getting used to the feel of our wetsuits. It was chilly enough letting the unheated water inside the rubber panels, but I really didn't find it bad at all standing out there for the photos and the lessons. Moving through the water was surprisingly easy, even though the full-armed suit can be rather confining. Once I was confident enough that I could rock and roll out there far enough to get a clear breath on either side in my freestyle stroke, it started to be fun. I'm pretty confident now that I'll have no real trouble getting through the 1500 meter swim at Newfoundlake on June 5. But lemme tell  you something: about 90% of these folks can out-paddle me out there, and it's going to take some discipline just to stay in my own groove.

One of the little games I play with my would-be donors is to ask them which one of the team is actually me in the picture. So I'll set that up again here: where am I in the photo above? To find out the answer, check out my fund-raising web page at http://www.teamintraining.org/ma/moose10/dgraessle.

Man vs Mooseman - Fundraising

My fund-raising team and I have come a long way from my slow start in February, to the pre-race fund-raising deadline of 21 May 2010, last Friday. While I have raised the minimum required ($2700) earlier on, I have also sent out mailings, emails, made Facebook appeals, and talked this up with friends and colleagues. Many have responded. I have taken to calling all my donors and I my fund-raising team, to incorporate the Team concept we use with Team In Training. While each of us has our own web page and individual resources, we watch each others progress, and attend one another's fund-raisers, and share ideas to generate more dollars for our cause--to eliminate blood cancers in our lifetime.

Currently, my dollar total stands at $4600, just $400 short of my goal of $5000.  I know a number of people who have broken that figure in single events they've done over each of the previous three years I've worked with TNT. My team of donors and I want to make a habit of breaking that $5k barrier every year. I know that means a higher an higher percentage of what we raise goes to support research for new drugs and treatment systems, as well as support for families of (first-hand) cancer-fighters. So if you haven't joined my donors team yet, there is still time. Let's try to close this out by June 5, race day. I need 16 more of you to do it. See my Facebook profile page, or my Team web page at http://pages.teamintraining.org/ma/moose10/dgraessle. Thank you!