Cancer You Made it Personal

Thank you again for visiting my blog. A lot has happened since I last wrote, but there is two main things I would want to talk about! 

I FLEW!

Okay I didn't superman through the air, but I did obtain the feeling of flight. Let me explain. Every so often while running there is an indescribable moment when your form and pace are perfect, your energy reserves feel 110%, and the scenery is breathtaking. Needless to say the run isn't going good, it's perfect. The experience feels so amazing, many describe it as a second wind but to give this feeling a true description I can only compare it to flying, because everything is so effortless. I really feel like something else has taken over and I soar through the run. I personally kill for these moments, and I love them. 

These moments come every so often while running, and I am thankful for every one. What makes this last week so amazing is that I had a flying experience during a sport I struggle at, SWIMMING!

Here is my outlook on swimming, throughout my youth my parents forced me to attend swim team during the summers, therefore early on I had a love/hate relationship with swimming laps. Fast forward a few years and I will admit I am afraid of swimming.The thought of starting a race with 1800 other people--who are probably better swimmers than me--in an open water system is freaking scary. In fact people have had their noses broken, eyes blacked, or even drown during the swim legs of tri's. Scary right? Most people never attempt an IRONMAN because of the 2.4 mile swim, not the 112 mile bike or the marathon. Glad to know my fears are shared by the populous.  So in preparation for an IRONMAN I have decided to spend a lot of the time in the pool learning how to swim properly for long periods of time. 

I knew that if I wanted to accomplish this goal, I had to learn how to swim again. So for three days a week I have been developing my swimming form, breathing, and endurance. I evolved my swimming training plan from a Run/Walk training plan first time runners should follow. (The Run-walk training plan involves the individual running for a few minutes, then walking, then running, then walking etc. The goal is to stay moving for a full 30 minutes. Over time the runner spend less time walking and more time running until they can run the full 30 minutes without walking. I highly recommend (and used) this practice to (as a) first time runners because it prevents possible injury, often people get hurt because they overload themselves). With swimming I started with short distances and rotated between the difficult freestyle stroke to a more restful stroke like breast or back stroke. My first week I was doing a few freestyle laps with an equal break of breast stroke. I would go slow and work on form and breathing. It was boring, extremely hard, and I have certainly drank my body weight in pool water. As with all exercise I was able to build up doing long stretches of freestyle and shorter/less frequent laps of breast stroke. Today I actually was able to jump in the pool, warm up and stretch, then swim 1000m freestyle without a break. That was FREAKING AWESOME! 

Yet the topic of this post wasn't supposed to be about how much I swam today, it was supposed to be about what happened two weeks ago. I had planned a long swim (1500m with several rest breaks). I did my normal preswim warm up but as I started off my first lap I knew something was different. I was cruising a lot faster, I was getting plenty of oxygen, my arms were pulling with such strength, plus I didn't have to focus on keeping my form because my body was doing it for me. Muscle memory kicked in! This experience went on for lap after lap after lap. I didn't want to stop, I realized that I was flying. While Swimming, something I am supposed to hate! I was floating along the water I truly felt weightless. I was so excited, I was getting this swim thing down. I am gaining confidence in myself and my swimming ability. I am starting to believe I can swim 2.4 miles in the ocean and fight off the other athletes. I now look forward to ever swim workout, with a thirst for another flying experience. Hey maybe one day I will love swimming like this guy!

Cancer, You Made it Personal

This one is close to home. Recently one of my cousins was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He certainly is a trooper and joined with his family and the power of God he is fighting this terrible disease. I tip my hat to Brett, he has always been an outstanding athlete, hard worker, and believe in pushing himself. The news of Brett's cancer has hurt like a sucker punch to the throat and has burst my "superman complex". It was shocking to me that someone just barely older than me could be fighting for his life. This experience has shown me that I am not invincible and how short life can be. I am so thankful that Brett is doing well, he truly is to strong enough to beat cancer. I wanted to help in anyway I could. Other then the normal family support I spent most of December, when Brett was undergoing Chemo,bald. Brett did comment I looked better bald then he did. It made him smile that he wasn't the only bald one around Christmas. I felt this wasn't enough though, luckily I was presented with an opportunity to do more. 

The company I work for, Myraid Genetics, is a genetic cancer lab. Other then providing hundreds of thousands of patients with information about their genetic risks for certain types of cancers and treatment options we seek to support local cancer clinics. I accepted the challenge to run with my company RAGNAR team raising funds for the The Hometown Heroes program. This race will be outstanding as we will be competing on the Wasatch back ragnar course. This course is beautiful, challenging, and has cooler temperatures. I look forward to the course because my last Ragnar was in Las Vegas where the average temperature was around 90 degrees. Due to the heat I never ran with a shirt on, and so now my Las Vegas team things I have issues with wearing clothing. (Which I don't) The other highlight of this future Ragnar is that over 25% of our team are cancer survivors. I am honored to have the chance to run along side those who have battled and won the fight for their life! 

This is where the run gets really interesting, the Hometown Heroes program is designed to help participants reach their endurance goals (through coaching and workshops from professionals) while raising much-needed funds for cancer research. Since 2003, Hometown Heroes have raised over $1 million dollars from everyday people! Huntsman Cancer Foundation relies on the generosity of community members to support cancer research programs. I had never know the importance of donating to research until I myself became a researcher. Huntsman research potential is only limited by the funds it receives. That is why I am asking everyone who knows me to consider donating to my goal of raising 500 dollars for cancer research. I have attached a link below that goes directly to my donation site, please visit and decided if you have the means to make a small donation.

I thought it would be fun to ask ya'll to donate a small amount (like a dollar) per mile I run (which will probably be about twenty miles). If you can't donate twenty dollars, I would be so grateful for any and all funds donated. Since this is a run for a cause I participate without paying a entree fee, but I believe it is unfair for me to ask others for their hard earned money and not make any type of donation to my cause. I not only pledge to run the longest and hardest leg of the race (you get more bang for your buck) but I will donate at least the cost for a normal RAGNAR entry (about 100 dollars) to my cancer raising efforts! Yes already 20% of the way to my goal! I find this Ragnar as a great opportunity to combine my two loves, helping people and running to an outstanding cause and I truly believe your donation, combined with others, can help Huntsman in the race for a cure.  We all have have had cancer touch our lives in one way or another. Please help me, because cancer has made this fight personal! 

Here is the link:

http://ragnarrelay.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=998779&lis=1&kntae998779=3E95FBDFEB764E30B602CF574D3E8D59&supId=349855714

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE donate! 

Thank you so much for reading along my blog, Here is a few ideas about what is to come in future posts.

A review of my new running shoes (they are HOTT)

My first time experience with my Triathlon bike (She is super hot, I need a nickname open for suggestions)

The new Running Diet I will be going on, got several good cook books coming

Important announcement about which IRONMAN I will be doing!