Valley Residents to Train for Marathons, Triathlons for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

About 90 runners will lace up and begin training for marathons and half-marathons on Saturday at Lake Balboa Park—many in memory of friends, loved ones or their own battles with blood cancer.

They are running with Team in Training—a fundraising effort for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The participants, most of them new to running, work together and raise money for the society. Along the way, Team in Training coaches give the runners the support they need to meet their goals.

It also has a cycling and triathlon program. More than 400,000 participants, from first-timers to seasoned athletes, have trained with Team in Training and conquered marathons, half-marathons, triathlons, 100-mile bike rides and hiking adventures.

In exchange for endurance sports training and support, athletes raise money for blood cancer research. The fundraising minimums vary from race to race. According to the coaches, 75 percent of the money raised goes directly toward blood cancer research, and the remaining 25 percent covers the cost of each participant’s training, race registration, hotel accommodations and airfare.

Since its inception in 1988, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has raised more than $1 billion to fight cancer.

For the San Fernando Valley marathon coach, David Hagan, involvement with the society is personal.

“My brother is a leukemia survivor. When he was in grade school, actually, he was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Back in those days, kids who were diagnosed with that disease had a 50-50 chance of living five years or longer,” said Hagan. “He was put on an experimental program that was funded by what was then called the Leukemia Society, which would be the predecessor of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. And 35 years later, he’s done fine.”

Hagan joined Team in Training as a participant in 2003 and moved up through the ranks to become a coach about three years ago.

Participants will be preparing for the Disneyland Half Marathon on Sept. 4 or the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco on Oct. 16.

A couple of days a week, Hagan will train the team at 7 a.m. at Lake Balboa Park for three to five hours a day, depending on where they are in the training calendar. Throughout the summer, the team will participate in 5Ks, 10Ks and half-marathons as preparation for the big races.

At the same time, Dominique Zoida will be training a group of mostly novice triathletes to take on the challenge of swimming, cycling and running. They will  prepare for the Malibu Triathlon on Sept. 17, or the Nation's Triathlon in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11.

“Because of the outcome of Osama bin Laden, it’s going to be enormous this year,” said Zoida. “Of the 40 to 60 people [on my team] training for the triathlon in D.C., about 30 are from the Valley.”

For more information about Team in Training, or to sign up, visit teamintraining.org/los.