She wears a white wristband that looks like a hospital bracelet. Written on the band in black marker are two names. Each name represents two people who have been hospitalized, two people who have leukemia.
Several times during the day she glances down at the names, fingering the bracelet gingerly, and thinks about how proud she will be to complete a triathlon in their honor.
For second-year College student Deborah Pink, the bracelet she has donned for the past three months is like a tattoo, a reminder of the goals she has set out to accomplish for two cancer victims. It is for these two people, or "patient partners," that Pink will compete in the St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Petersburg, Fla., April 30.
Pink and two other University students, Deborah Dory and Heather Sullivan, each hope to raise the $3,600 necessary to take part in a grueling race comprised of a one-and-a-half-kilometer open water swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride and a 10-kilometer run.
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"I wanted to try something new, something totally different that would help the community," said Sullivan, a second year who decided to participate at Pink's request.
Though she said she sees the training for the triathlon as rigorous, she added that she is enthusiastic about the cause.
"I really want to raise money for cancer and to help advance research," Sullivan said.
She said she devotes several hours per week to mountain biking, running and swimming as part of her training regimen.
Pink agrees the training can be time consuming -- she rises at 6 a.m. three times per week to swim laps -- but said she also believes competing in honor of an individual is the greatest reward.
"You're doing it for them, that's why you don't stop. You think about the people you're doing this for and how much you're accomplishing," she explained.
The hours of straining muscles and bursting lungs that these three women have pledged themselves to are part of a nationwide program called Team in Training, a division of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (formerly called the Leukemia Society of America).
"The purpose is to recruit volunteers to participate in endurance events," said Tasha Fuller, campaign director of the Virginia chapter of the Team in Training program. "Each participant raises a certain amount of funds for the Leukemia Society of America."
Nationally, the Team in Training program recruits 25,000 participants each year who raise in excess of $300,000.
Fuller said her role as a coordinator is diverse -- she oversees the fundraising progress of Virginia participants as well as the biking and running coaching currently offered for University participants.
She said Pink, Dory and Sullivan have five to six months to raise the $3,600 each needs to compete in the race.
Fuller said each participant who meets the fundraising goal also receives an all-expense paid trip to St. Petersburg, inclusive of entry fees, hotel and airfare.
Although the three University students participating in the program are full-time students, all have managed to raise large sums of money for the event.
"It's been difficult," Pink said, explaining that most of her funds have come from donations made by friends and family.
Although most of Sullivan's money also has come from friends and family, in these last few weeks before the triathlon she also has campaigned door-to-door for funds.
"People were surprisingly generous," she said.
Even though financing the road to the St. Anthony's Triathlon may seem a hindrance, the participants said campaigning adds to the uniqueness of the experience.
"I've done rowing, I've done running, but I've never done a sport that's so self-rewarding," Sullivan said.
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