Team In Training Atlanta

Two numbers help explain the work being done at Team In Training: 570,000 and 1.32 billion. The first figure is the number of people who have crossed a marathon, triathlon, or cycling event finish line thanks to training from the organization's team of experienced coaches. The second figure is the amount of money those endurance training sessions have raised for leukemia research.

Numbers alone don't define Team In Training's movement, however. There's also a willingness to help that stems from the first of those 570,000 people, a man named Bruce Cleland. To raise money for leukemia research he and a group of friends signed up for the 1988 New York City Marathon, the city's famous race around the Statue of Liberty. The practice runs leading up to 26 miles were no doubt taxing but Cleland had extra motivation. His daughter had leukemia. On the day of the race, the group raised $322,000 and, more importantly, set Team In Training in motion.

Today, 25 years later, the sensibility of Cleland and others like him still guides the organization. It only supports promising advances such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy and its transparency about where the money goes shows that 78% goes directly to the program's services and the other 22% goes directly to the program's services.