If you need a good reason to strap on your sneakers and get some exercise this fall, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s NYC-based Moms in Training is ready to provide you with all the motivation you need. And best of all for you new mamas: Your stroller-riding baby is totally welcome to join you and more than 300 new friends in this group that won’t just help you in your quest for better health, but could help thousands.

Moms in Training’s mission–to help stomp out cancer by raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training– goes way beyond working out. But, I love that this is so much more than a fundraising group. By joining Moms in Training now, you’ll be right on time to participate in their 10-week training program kicking off on Saturday, September 27. Join weekend meet-ups in one of ten locations all over the city, and by November 23, you’ll be a lean, mean, fighting machine, ready to come together for a four-mile race through Central Park.

One of the things I appreciate most about Moms in Training is the flexibility, something all of us moms need. Can’t make a weekly workout because your kids have the sniffles? No problem. Group workouts are strictly optional, although highly encouraged since they sound really, really fun. Are you unsure that you could race four miles? Then walk, or run/walk, the entire thing—that’s totally up to you. Are you a new mama? Bring your stroller-riding baby along to the workouts. You don’t even need a special jogging stroller to do it. Even the race itself is optional if you find that you can’t make it.

As a Moms in Training member you do commit to raising $500 to help fight cancer, although your $100 registration fee will go toward your fundraising goal. If you aren’t sure you could do the fundraising, watch their incredibly powerful Moms in Training video that will introduce you to people who will give you the motivation to get out there and help. Their fight will make all the sweat you’ll shed seem a lot more meaningful.

Check out the Moms in Training page on the  Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training website for more information on how to join this group which kicks off its ten-week training program on September 27th.

For more fitness tips and ways you can support cancer research, visit our archives.