Tina Ward is more than a member of Team In Training, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's charity sports training program, but Team in Training is nothing without people like Ward.
TNT, as it is known, is more than 570,000 participants who have helped raise over $1.3 billion since 1988 to help to find cures for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma.
Patch caught up with Ward, who lives in Newington Forest in Fairfax County, to ask her a few questions.
Patch: What's your morning routine?
Ward: During the week, up at 5 a.m., catch a little of the news, then shower, dress, pack breakfast and lunch and at the office by 7:30 a.m.
P: What do you do for a living? And what's the best thing about your job?
W: I am a paralegal by education, but work in regulatory affairs at Washington Gas. The best part of my job (besides the sub-10-mile commute), is that I interact with other departments, giving me a working knowledge of other aspects of the company that I would not otherwise be exposed to.
P: What's the hardest?
W: Juggling many important matters, all at the same time.
P: How long have you lived here?
W: I was born at Fairfax Hospital and, with the exception of my college years, I have lived in Northern Virginia my entire life.
P: What's your favorite thing about living here?
W: I love that our "local" news is national news. I can't say I enjoy the partisanship of politics, but I do enjoy the process. By living here, I feel we have a very different understanding of the process than perhaps folks who live in other parts of the country.
P: If you had to arrange a secret meeting here, where would you have it?
W: Anywhere in DC. I mean, it's DC. Secret meetings are required to happen there, right?
P: Tell us something about yourself that most of your neighbors don't know.
W: I just started running a few years ago, and ran my first half marathon 1 week before turning 44. This was my first experience with Team in Training. I'm back this season for two half-marathons!
P: When you want a really indulgent snack here, where do you go and what do you get?
W: OK, so it's not really a snack, but my favorite super duper indulgence is chocolate fondue at The Melting Pot!
P: What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
W: "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." ~ John Bingham
(Does that count as advice?)
P: What are you doing after this interview?
W: Going home to take advantage of the warm-up to get in a few training miles before it gets dark.
P: What's something important to you we should add?
W: The link to my TNT fundraising page.
- Have a neighbor Patch should spotlight? Email todd.richissin@patch.com.
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