To The Moon!

Do you guys remember that the year I was diagnosed (2010) I was training for an Olympic Triathlon? Well, obviously that crumbled, but this winter I decided to use my good health to take a tour of not what could have been - but is about to be. I don't know if that makes sense, but what I'm trying to say is that I'm snatching up opportunities to challenge myself; to get back to living the life I was born to enjoy. That includes challenging myself physically like the mad runner that I always was.

One thing that I've learned about myself is that competing, although awesome, isn't as fun unless you don't take yourself too seriously. Wow, how is it that I can speak in double negatives, yet I can never, for the life of me, understand it when others do. (Or maybe that wasn't a double negative. The mystery is on). I digress. So, a year or so ago, someone stole my bike, the bike we would use for speed and comfort. But with friends like ours, it is of no surprise that my buddy Laura lent me her 6 speed beach cruiser to galavant around the hoods of Seattle. She's rusty, but trusty, and when I hit the never expecting bump from our evergreen roots, the bell dings on its' own. I am a sight to see, I'm sure, if not for a lesson in humility.

Next month, I am coming up on the 1500 meter swim (haven't swam since dunking myself in the sound on Saturday and it was a real in and out moment), the 25 mile bike ride (just imagine the cacophony of dings as I race around the course), and the final 10k which is about 10 times longer than I've been running. Not to mention this race is at Lake Chelan where it will easily be 90 degrees by early morning. Dan has gallantly decided to join me, although I don't know how seriously he is planning on taking it. He may leave me in a swirl of bubbles and dust.

From This:

To this:

My Trusty Medicine in The Basket At All Times

On Saturday, Dan trained me down to the farmers market, and back home. Everyone needs a good coach. No joke, my balance is still a bit off from all the brain surgeries, but I'm confident. Dan even made a little video, sneaker that he is, and I can't stop laughing about it. My goal to finish the Olympic Triathlon is to complete in under 3.5 hours. I'm being modest though, I really think I'm going to easily make the three hour mark. (I hope you can literally hear me laughing as I wrote that.) Set the goals high right!? To the moon!

I may not be living the way I thought I would, but good God, I'm having some freaking fun every single day. And I realize that life is more than just having fun, but sometimes it's really exactly what you need.

If you'll be in the Chelan area the race is July 18th, a Saturday. I assume it will be a zoo, but if you're around you'll know me by my uncontrollable dinging, and ahead of its' time aerodynamic helmet. (Sarcasm.)

Polar Bearing for FD

Alright, sorry for the delay. We've been inundated with friends all weekend. Yay! So we've been enjoying the company, and now it's time for the results of the fundraiser. Drum roll please.........we did it!!! We climbed 51 climbs, I believe. I knew we wouldn't be able to remember all of the climbs so we took a photo of each route we completed (many we climbed a few times). I'm uploading the photos to prove it, although we did sneak in some kid's climbs, but hey, they were still 10-12 foot climbs, and of course we had to do climbs in the bouldering area (okay okay, we did mostly bouldering to get the quota). Those count, right?

We had so much fun climbing; you can't beat that crew! And in honor of all those magical donations which I consider the equivalent to a bunch of carebear stares to hearts you've never met, nor likely will, Dan and I ran into the drink today to say thank you.

And the video to prove it:

It's far away, and you probably can't easily tell, but I pulled off a shallow dive and we both went under the water for a full dunk. We also spooked three huge rock crab. One of them was missing a pincher, poor guy.

Here's a photo with our photographer, Burke. After filming, he set down the camera and ran in too! So look at that, you inspired a whole new person to get "OUT LIVING IT".

Thank you again for the AMAZING success of this fundraiser. You all completely blew us away with the continued generosity, and support. Please know that the money that you donated is truly going to have an impact on young adult cancer people. It was a turning point for me, a huge eye opener, and one of the best weeks of my whole life. When you get diagnosed then get thrown into the medical system, it's overwhelming and your whole life changes. It's terrifying, and sad, and you have amazing friends that come together to help you, but there are others who pull away, or whom you must pull away from to avoid toxic relationships. All of a sudden your whole life is survival. Your body changes as they cut, (and burn and poison) you're told you don't have long to live. The whole process is overwhelming, shocking, dumbfounding, impossible to relate. So when an organization forms to help us young adult humpty dumpties put ourselves together, it is not only generous and kind, it's profoundly needed. Young adult cancer patients have the worst survival rates. It's scary in here, in this group, and we need support to continue to mend, and flourish. So thank you for helping do that, and thank you in joining us in paying it forward. You have all touched my heart so deeply.