Team in Training
Team in Training, also known by the acronym TNT, is an endurance sports training program business. The program provides training to run or walk a full marathon or half marathon or participate in a triathlon, a century (100-mile) bike ride or, in northern Californa, a cross-country ski marathon (25K, 40K or 50K). In exchange for receiving professional coaching, support, event fees and transportation costs, team members raise funds to help support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
The program was founded in 1988 by Bruce Cleland, a resident of Rye, New York whose daughter Georgia was a leukemia survivor. He organized a team of 38 runners who trained as a group to run The New York City Marathon and raised over US$322,000 in the process. (Cleland would later be honored by Runner's World magazine in 2004 for his role in starting TNT.)
Since 1988, more than 340,000 volunteer participants have helped raise more than US$800 million for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
A day or two before an event, volunteers for Team in Training usually travel together on a plane to a specific destination. The night before an event such as a marathon or a half-marathon the volunteers celebrate with a pasta party which recognizes "honored teammates" and individuals who have raised large amounts of money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Some sites of events in which TNT participates include San Diego (Rock and Roll marathon and half-marathon), Orlando, Florida (Disney marathon and half-marathon), Austin, Texas (Capital of Texas Triathlon - Olympic Distance) Dallas, Texas (White Rock marathon and half-marathon), Tucson, Arizona (El Tour de Tucson century ride), and Anchorage, Alaska (Tour of Anchorage cross country ski marathon and the Mayor’s Midnight Sun marathon and half-marathon).