Leah Schilling, one of the University of San Francisco Sport Management program’s soon to be graduates from Cohort 31, has been working for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) as the company’s 'Team In Training Campaign Manager.’ LLS is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to finding a cure for blood cancer. Team in Training (TNT) is one of the largest sports endurance programs and happens to be one of the biggest fundraising arms for the organization. TNT provides a comprehensive program to help participants achieve their dream of completing a marathon, half marathon, triathlon or long-distance cycle ride. Since 1988, TNT has successfully trained over 400,000 athletes who have helped raise over $1 billion for cancer research nationwide. In addition to research, the fundraising dollars also go towards patient advocacy to make sure that their voices are heard at the local, state and national levels for important legislation, as well as patient services such as financial aid and support groups.
In a nutshell, TNT trains people to complete endurance events and participants fundraise in return. The great thing about TNT is that they guarantee 75% of all funds raised go back to the mission, which is 'To cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and myeloma and to improve the quality of life for patients and their families.' This is far more than many of the other charity endurance training programs and TNT keeps it consistent.Leah’s role as Campaign Manager is to make sure the training seasons run smoothly. There are four seasons a year that people can join to train for various events. The campaign manager is personally responsible for the cycle teams for three of the four seasons. Each sea
son Leah is recruiting volunteer staff (coaches, mentors and captains) and working with them to develop a training program. She is also in charge of planning the entire event weekend which includes race entries, hotels, banquets and travel. Leah personally attends many of the weekly trainings to help keep her staff and participants motivated to reach their training and fundraising goals. 
Leah’s winter team just finished the Solvang Century on March 12th and her spring team is now training for the Death Ride which will be on July 9th (129 miles, 15,000 ft of climbing). The summer season kicks off on May 21st and the cycle teams are training for Levi Leipheimer's King Ridge Gran Fondo (103 mile ride) on October 1st in Santa Rosa, CA, as well as the Moab Century Tour (100 mile ride) on September 17th in Moab, UT. Team In Training also offers the Nike Women's Marathon, Kauai Half Marathon and Dublin Marathon with the Marathon teams and the San Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz, Pacific Grove Triathlon and Big Kahuna Triathlon for the Triathlon teams. Leah is an inspiration in many people’s lives and continues helps fight this war against cancer, one stroke at a time. 
