FRI JUL 8 05

		Athletic Altruism. Growing numbers of former couch potatoes are going into training -- not only to get fit, but to raise money for charities, reports Camille Sweeney in The New York Times (7/7/05). "I don't feel at all motivated by the competition itself," says Sharla Phernetton, who hopes to finish the Ford New York City Triathlon, nyctri.com, this weekend, and in the process raise at least $2,300 from her sponsors. Her training is courtesy of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program, teamintraining.org, her charity-of-choice reflecting her brother Randall's "bout with blood cancer." Sharla's not alone. About 250 other "Team in Training" athletes will join her in the triathlon, and according to Jim Estes of U.S.A. Track and Field, usatf.org, "more than ten percent of the half-million people who entered marathons" last year "raised money for charity." Some people call the trend "The Lance Effect," referring, of course, to "the impact that the cyclist Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor, has had through his yellow 'Livestrong' bracelets, which have raised roughly $50 million for cancer research." Others apparently are attracted to training for charities because the "gym culture has gotten boring," as noted by Eric von Frohlich, founder of RoadFit, roadfit.com, "an outdoor training program that meets in Central Park. The majority of participants, interestingly, are women, like Michele Conlon, "who is in training for her fourth MS Challenge 50-mile walk." She's in it to benefit her husband, who has multiple sclerosis, but she also acknowledges that she benefits as well: "No matter how good it is for you, regular exercise does not come naturally in a family of four," she says. Despite all the obvious benefits, some folks think the energy is misplaced. "Why not train because you want to train and write a check because you want to write a check?" says Doug Stern, a trainer. "It's too much, too fast for a novice athlete," he continues, adding that most of the charity training programs don't build enough cardiovascular capacity or muscle tone to finish a marathon with getting hurt. "People feel beholden to the pledges they've received," he says, "They push themselves over the finish line and a lot of them end up injured ..." But sports psychologist Jeffrey Brown sees it differently: "For someone who's been through a life-threatening illness or has someone close to them who's gone through it ... training for a marathon gives ... a sense of control over something that ultimately can't be controlled." That would be someone like Sharla Phernetton, who has persuaded her brother Randall, five years in remission, to join her. "We may have to crawl across the finish line," she says, "but we'll finish." Tim Manners, editor