A Letter From a Hero

Here is a letter from Ian, the Denver team hero's grandmother.  Break out the tissue.

Hello Triathlon Team,

Team Hero Ian and family would like to sincerely thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to training and fundraising over the past several months. We know it has not been easy and we want you to know how much we really appreciate all you are doing to help find a cure for blood cancers. We never would have thought the youngest member of our family would be diagnosed with Leukemia when he was only two years old. We have had some rough times these past three years, but being part of TNT has helped give us hope and the realization that we are not in this alone.

Some of you have met Ian and you have seen that he is a little shy. And he is too young to really understand what all of us are doing in the purple and green shirts, and those strange "monster" wetsuits. As his grandmother, I can tell you what he probably would like to say to you some day when he understands all of this a little better:
Because of you, I started Kindergarten this year just like a normal 5 year old kid. 
Because of you, I do not have to live in a bubble. I can play with other kids. 
Because of you, I have been able to avoid radiation chemotherapy. I lost my hair only once! 
Because of you, I am in the hospital less, and in school and playing with my friends more. 
Because of you, I can play with my Transformers, Star Wars and Spider Man toys. 
Because of you, I have an 80% greater chance of survival than I would have just a few years ago. 
Because of you, I have witnessed strange monsters coming out of the water! 
Because of you, I want to ride my bike, run really fast and learn to swim. 
Because of you, I want to do something to help others.

Thank you Team In Training! You are awesome! I hope this gives you a little inspiration on your big day!

Love,

Team Hero Ian and Family

My triathlon is less than two days away now, and this letter really brought home why I am still doing this.

Mini-tri at Chatfield

Today is the day we finally got to put it all together: a 500 yard open water swim, then a transition to the bike (15 miles), and finally a transition to the run (2 miles).  The real race in September will be longer, except the bike will be a little shorter.  I feel really good about how I did.  I dove into the water and aggressively fought for a good position, then flailed around a bit doing some side stroke and backstroke.

 I was so surprised when I got to the fence and saw a lot of bikes still lined up.

 I realized that I must have been one of the first ones out of the water.  Yay!  I thought, gotta hurry up because they're all going to catch me on the bike, let's just try to delay the inevitable.  

So I really pounded up and down the hills on the bike trying to prolong the time it took for the rest of the field to catch me.  I was so surprised, again, that many people really didn't catch me.  A few did, of course, and I caught up to one on the run at the end.  

It took my friend Denice until the very end of the race to catch and pass me.  

(This is Denice on her way to the finish line)

That was a huge ego trip for me, I thought surely she would have caught me on the bike.  I loved the comraderie all of us had for each other throughout the whole race.  Every time I saw someone they were cheering me and I was cheering for them.  My friends were all waiting for me at the finish line, cheering and giving high-fives when I came in.  It was a very uplifting day.  After putting bikes and gear away we had a picnic with one of our team heroes, Ian.  He's only 5 years old and has cancer.  I had a great time chatting with him about kindergarten and his day at the beach.  What a brave little guy.

 Thank you to all of you for supporting me in this triathlon.  I'm having a great time training and making friends,

but I'm also learning about helping my community and giving back. If you'd like to help me make my goal of $2,400 by Sep. 8th, please click this link or send a check to me written to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Soc.  I only have $200 more to go! Thanks!

Team in Training Pub Crawl

I had the most incredible day last Saturday. I started out by dragging out of bed at 6:30, then rushing around trying to get breakfast going, snacks packed and a cranky baby into clothes and a clean diaper. Granted, I was not that excited to go, but so glad I did. What luck! As I was strolling up to Prospect Lake and the transition area I see my coach jogging toward her bike. Yes! I thought to myself, I seriously need to see how a transition goes, I mean, how in the heck do they get from murky lake and wetsuit to biking with cleats? So I watched carefully: zip off the wetsuit, unroll it, step out, sun glasses, helmet and she's off! I met up with my other team mates who were the support crew along with me and we cheered as fellow athletes and teammates got out of the lake and onto bikes, then off of bikes and onto the run, then through the finish line. It was such an uplifting learning experience. Quick car nap for the baby then off to Tri 101 and pancakes at the coach's house.



Back home for a shower, makeup and hair, feed the baby, then off to our major team fundraiser: The Down with Cancer Pub Crawl!! We met at Jack Quinn's for a free beer and $2 off appetizers, then on to the Ritz for an appetizer buffet and $2.50 pints. Next was the Thirsty Parrot for $1 beer and shots and the raffle. We had some pretty amazing prizes donated, including a pound of coffee and a $20 gift cert. from Raven's Nest, and a free sitting fee and 11x14 print from Ashley Photography. I have to admit I brought Carissa with me, but we left at 7 pm and I mostly walked her around outside on the sidewalk. This is where she fell in love with an incredible looking maroon Victory motorcycle. She loved the deeping chugging sound it made as it pulled up to the curb and I know she just ached to go touch it. The pub crawl was so much fun. I just loved hanging out with my teammates and getting to know them outside of the track and pool. The best part of the pub crawl was raising $1,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!! I was given $280 toward my personal fundraising effort of $2,400, that only leaves $280 more to go!

If you are seriously thinking of helping me raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, please do so as soon as possible. Click here to donate. My deadline is September 8, that is one month from today! I am so grateful for everyone who has contributed and helped out in one way or another. Thank you, Gina, for donating baby boy clothes that I am now consigning, what a great way to help me get to my goal. Thank you Laura, Lily and Tom for helping babysit Carissa on Saturday mornings so I can get my bike rides or swims in. It is so nice to know Carissa is well cared for.

Blow Out

Ok, so this is a really embarrassing story about my first "Brick" workout.  A brick is when you first bike, then run, or swim then run or swim then bike....you get the picture.  My first brick was scheduled for last Saturday and I was nervous and excited about it.  We were going to bike for an hour then run for twenty minutes.  I loaded up my bike, got Carissa to her tweenage babysitter's house, and made sure I got to the meeting place right on time.  Perfect.  Nicole, my coach, tells us to always check our tire pressure before setting off.  I thought, well, they feel pumped up, but I'd better check like she says.  So I borrow a pump and try to shove it down onto the valve of my back tire.  I hear air escaping so I jiggle and wiggle it until it comes off, then try to shove it down again.  Once more I hear air escaping.  "Can someone else try this?" I ask.  Someone else tries it.  "By the way, you really shouldn't jiggle the pump off of your tire valve," says our team captain, "You could tear your tube that way." Ok, I thought.  So then we still hear air escaping and we get someone else to try their pump on my back tube.  Jon comes over and says, "It sounds like your tube is ripped around your valve."  Shit!! Are you serious!! I can feel the heat coming to my face and I'm starting to get really embarrassed as everyone is now gathered around my busted tube.  "Impromptu tire changing session!!" says our team mentor.  Ok, I can do this, I'm thinking. I get the back tire off no problem.  I get the tube out, yep, it's ripped around the valve and I haven't even been on the road yet.  Stupid stupid stupid!!!  So I get my spare tube out of it's box and start putting it into the rim.  It won't fit!! Are you kidding me?  Apparently my spare tube had the wrong valve and wouldn't fit into the hole in my rim.  I'm feeling really disappointed and embarrassed.  I have to go home.  No brick workout for Catherine.  And the worst part was feeling like such a poser.  I have this awesome bike I've ridden maybe five times, I have a brand new bike rack

that everyone has commented on, I just bought "tri" shorts at the running shop, but I can't even pump up a tire.  Wow, what a loser, the voices keep telling me.  That morning I went for an hour long run instead, and the next day I did a brick by myself.  I think my disappointing morning has really convinced me to workout all the harder and with more dedication.  No more skipping practices for me.  I don't want to be a poser, I want to be the real thing: an athlete.  

Shout Out!

I'm giving a shout out to a few recent donors: Thank you to my cousin Sandy, long time friend, Susan, pre-school teacher, Sandy,  my friend, Suzi, Aunt Haydee, and my Nana.  Your donations have raised my total to $755!!!!!  I've said it before, but I feel so blessed by all of your contributions.  Just thinking about your faith in me puts me in the mood to really burn up the track tonight!  By the way, whether I'm supposed to be going easy, medium or fast around the track, I have been regularly running about 30 seconds faster every time.  I got my bike fit to my dimensions at my fav. bike shop, Ascent Cycling, and they are letting me demo some women specific seats.  I am a lot more comfortable on the bike now.  Thank you, Patrick!  I'm still really slow in the water, but I think my technique is getting better, and I'm not getting those panic attacks anymore.  I'm having my beer tasting and bbq fundraiser this Friday, hopefully a few people will come.  I'm also putting a bunch of old equipment I don't use anymore up for sale on Craig's List.  I'm very confident I will make my next goal of $850 by July 21st.  Thanks for all of your support!! 

If you would like to help out my fundraising effort for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, please go to my website:  http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/oktobfst09/cwarrenrzk  or send a check made out to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to me at my address.  

Epiphany

Today I had an epiphany about my fundraising efforts.  As you probably can tell from reading older posts, I am scared to death about raising $2,400 in a few months.  Well, today, I got knocked upside the head by a voice, "It's ok if you have to pay the entire balance by yourself, it will be wonderful sacrifice, and you will be blessed."  And I thought, huh, you know, I think that's right.  Why don't I stop bothering and nagging all of my friends, family, neighbors, and people I don't even know, and just let them be blessed to give, just as I will be blessed to give? I am going to continue to fundraise, but I'm not going to be gripped by fear anymore.  

If you would like to help my fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, you can go to my fundraising website:            http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/oktobfst09/cwarrenrzk 

Or you can send me a check made out to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off......

Ok, after that last really depressing post, I thought I'd follow up with something a little more upbeat.  Before I even conceived of the idea of becoming a "Team in Training" member and spending all of my time training for a triathlon, I had another goal: BolderBoulder.  I think I signed up for BolderBoulder in January, and even though I had only run two 5k races, I started training for this 10k road race undaunted.  I completed the BolderBoulder in about 71 minutes and had a fantastic time; it was a blast!  There were more than 50,000 participants and 26 bands playing all along the route.  Not to mention friendly neighbors handing out Doritos and cupcakes on their lawns, ringing cowbells, spraying us with waterhoses and inviting us to their Slip 'n Slides.  We ended at Folsom Field at Colorado University.  I felt like an Olympian as I entered the stadium and started passing people left and right as I made my way to the finish line.  It was such an incredible feeling knowing how hard I had trained for that moment and finished strong.  Here are a couple of pictures from race day:

               Shane and Carissa, ready to wait for me at the finish line.

    Here's one of the professional wheel chair racers from the event, they were really fast.

    These soldiers ran the whole way, then did about 50 push-ups before crossing the finish line.

News from the fundraising front: I have a couple of great ideas for making my goal.  I'm selling breakfast burritos at Shane's work, complete with sign up sheet and cost per burrito. I'm going to have a neighborhood garage sale where, hopefully, my neighbors will just give me their valuable junk to sell.  Finally, and this one I'm really excited about, I got a brewery to agree to donate beer for a beer tasting.  Wish me luck as I try to put all of this together in about a month!