moonlight beach

celebrate!

brad and cj finished the san diego marathon.  there were 8 people {brad and cj among them} out of 3,100 team in training athletes who completed their team in training triple crown in san diego.  century ride, triathlon, marathon.  there were 30,000 participants.  and the entire race benefited the leukemia and lymphoma society.  those are the concrete facts.

here's where the fuzzy not so coincidental coincidences come into play. 

i got an email at 5:45 am race day letting me know i could track brad's race if, and only if, i signed up the day before.  shoot.  two kids in tow in a strange city with very little information {but a helpful tour guide}.  i had no idea when his wave of the race started.  no idea how fast he would run.  we drove to qualcomm, took the trolley to sea world-ish, walked 1 1/2 miles to the wrong finish line, walked some more to the right finish line, stood around wondering if we should move, moved away from the finish line, then crossed over the path to a perfectly clear spot where...brad passed us at that moment {and saw us cheer for him}. 

after the race, i ran to cj and hugged him big.  he needed his own cheering section and sweet pea and beans were occupying their dad.  we started walking and he told me that 3/4 of a mile from the finish, when he was SPENT, his dad's favorite song came on.  celebrate by kool and the gang.  without fail he said.  during his hardest races the song randomly plays.  we just walked and cried.  the day was so powerful.

and that my friends is what i'm talking about.  on angel's wings those boys were carried to the finish line.  i'm so proud of them.

winner, winner, chicken dinner!

my goodness.  last week blogger went kablooey right in the middle of my week long tribute to cancer survivors and those who fight for them {aka - my husband and cj in particular}.  and, well, i was having a giveaway which was next to impossible to participate in.  and still.  there were comments and well wishes and encouragement.  and i just have to say, thank you so much to those of you who did comment.   

without further ado...

random.org picked comment number five as the giveaway winner.  bridget royston. {keep in mind that blogger deleted the first four comments, but i didn't delete them from the contest}.  my first memory of bridget was our trip to mesa verde in the 6th grade on a greyhound bus.  bridget was a huge support when i went to haiti.  and now she's cheering on my hub.  i'm so excited she won the bamboleo neclace!!  congratulations, bridget!

you can still support brad and cj by donating at their team in training page!

OR

you can make a purchase from amy's store {remember on the top right to click on "can't make it to the trunk show - find your hostess" and type in Brad St. Clair}.  she's donating 20% of the proceeds to brad and cj.

xoxo

GIVEAWAY!!!

yesterday you met amazing amy.  amy is a stella and dot jewelry stylist.  today, with amy's help we are having a giveaway.

1) easy entry into the giveaway.  go to amy's stella and dot store and leave a comment back here letting me know the one item you wish you could win.

2) get a second entry if you leave a separate comment on this post with your story or encouragement for brad and cj.

3)  one more entry if you spread the word on your blog or facebook linking back here, and leave me a comment letting me know you did.

three chances to win.  winner is picked at random and announced on friday. hmm...i wonder what you might win.  i guess you'll tell me!

also, amy has offered 20% of her proceeds towards team in training to help brad and cj.  one of the great things about team in training is that it is not only a support group of athletes, it's also a fundraising arm for the leukemia and lymphoma society.  if you are interested in supporting them, please visit amy's stella and dot store.  click on "can't make it to the trunk show?  find your hostess"  and type in Brad St. Clair.  all purchases will count towards amy's fundraiser for the boys.  and don't forget that this is the perfect time of the year for teacher and graduation gifts!

survival story: hope, strength, guts, grace

just a few weeks ago brad and cj were on a long run.  the longest run they've ever done together.  brad told me that they pushed a little further than the team and he was starting to regret it.  he said, "i aint gonna lie cj.  i'm struggling a bit."  and cj replied, "think about the little boy who is  fighting for his last breath.  you can do this."

it's not just angel's wings that carry them across the finish line.  it's also the stories of survival.  of pushing through the pain.  the stories of hope.  beating the odds.  amy is one of the reasons they keep going.  the reason they seek new distances. 

i asked her if i could share her story.  she sent the most amazing words.  meet amy:

As an athlete and breast cancer survivor, Team in Training has a special place in my heart. On July 31, at 32 years old and 8 months pregnant with my second son, I heard the words that would change my life forever - you have cancer. The next days and months were a whirlwind - with a newborn baby, I went through several surgeries and 5 rounds of chemo. I lost my hair and my breasts, but gained a deeper understanding of my own strength and the true love and kindness that exists in this world. I learned just how much my friends and family loved me, and that I could conquer any challenge that was put in front of me. I kept my sanity by pushing my body physically to keep doing the swimming, biking, running and lifting that I so desperately craved as a triathlete. And gradually, my life returned to normal - my hair started coming back (slowly but surely!), my strength returned, reconstructive surgery gave me fabulous new breasts to make me feel whole and beautiful again. And perhaps most importantly for my spirit, I was able to race again - training for and participating in my first Olympic triathlon just 6 months after chemo ended and achieving a half-marathon PR 7 weeks after reconstructive surgery. I was, and am, so thankful that cancer didn't take away my ability to enjoy pushing my body physically to achieve new goals. As I ran the Indianapolis mini (half) marathon this past weekend, almost two years after diagnosis, I pushed through the pain every step of the way toward my goal of breaking two hours. I nearly broke down when I ran past a sign around mile 9 that said "You are brave - you can do this". I knew that if I had beaten cancer I COULD do this, I could meet my goal and make myself proud. From then on, I thought to myself, chemo was WAY harder than this, I have this. How bad do I want it? Crossing the finish line in 1:55, nearly 5 minutes faster than my goal, is something I never would have achieved before having cancer. It would have always been "it hurts too bad" or "I'm not fast enough" or just plain "I can't do that." In August, I will participate in my first half Ironman. While I know it will involve pain and a lot of hard work, I know I can do it and know how proud I will be when I cross that finish line. It's a high that stays with you for your whole life. I applaud Brad, CJ and all the Team in Training athletes for pushing themselves further than they thought possible. I applaud everyone involved with Team in Training for helping to end cancer while spreading the message that you CAN do something you never thought possible... and you will be a better person for it.  xoxo amy

i am so thankful that amy is here.  encouraging us all to fight beyond the place we never thought possible.  it would have been difficult for me to convey her beauty.  not in the way it pours out of her very own words. 

read more about amy's journey at pink ribbon chronicles.  

tomorrow amy is hosting a stella and dot giveaway {here at sp&b} that will benefit team in training.  don't miss it!

monday inspiration - THE BIG BANG!

{cj  and brad}

i want to share with you some inspiration this week.  the blogosphere is always bursting with life and energy and amazing stories.  but sometimes you need look no further than your own backyard for remarkable people.

once a neighbor poked her head in the back door and commented, "do you know your husband runs every day while you are at work?"  {i know, right?  small town...}  as if i had something to be worried about.  that man of mine was sneaking around behind my back.  running.  dear me.

so let's talk about that for a minute.  in the early days of our marriage i used to beg him to run with me.  his response: "only when chased."  and then something happened that changed our lives.  changed the lives of so many of our friends and family.  and in the end it has pushed my husband to live the kind of healthy lifestyle that often leaves me in awe.

in 2007 our friends cj, jen and jackie lost their father, carl, after a very brief battle with lymphoma.  i remember talking to cj on the phone days before the end and encouraging him that there was no way this was going to take his dad.  carl was a fighter.  he was larger than life in my mind.  more commonly referred to as THE BIG BANG!  in reality, cancer doesn't take into account the magnitude of its victim.  it doesn't refer to the owner's manual about life's work, goodness of heart, or plans for the future.  it doesn't ask about the widow who will be left behind or the children or the grand children.  it is so selfish that way.

cancer arranged for carl's abrupt departure.  but he was the big bang.  and he didn't go quietly.  he left part of himself in those children and his spirit with his wife and beloved friends.  and shortly after he left us, brad and cj started on a mission.  raising nearly $10,000 in the first year, they joined team in training the fundraising arm for the leukemia and lymphoma society.  brad bought a road bike.  and those boys found themselves training for a 100 mile bike ride around lake tahoe.

they finished the race.  it was terribly inspiring.  we stood just before one of the check points, my little boys cheering for every single person that rode by in a purple shirt.  often i found myself crying.  that these men and women put themselves on this grueling bicycle route.  that they pushed themselves through crazy pain for hours and hours.  all united in the belief that cancer shouldn't have the right to choose its victim.  not one more person should suffer the way our friend did.  not one more family member should be left behind.

now, four years later brad and cj have raised around $20,000 to fight cancer.  they have participated in the century ride around lake tahoe, a triathalon, a half-marathon and in less than a month will run their hearts out at the rock & roll marathon in san diego.  they are not about to be silenced by carl's death.  they will shout in the face of cancer every step of the way.  and they honor him.  they honor his memory. 

but listen.  i would have been disappointed if that nosy neighbor came over and told me, "the whole time you are at work brad is doing yard work."  disappointed because we know too many people who are struggling, fighting, surviving this ambitious disease.  and i love that he runs and trains and takes seriously his mission against cancer.  not in a quiet way.  but in an active, healthy, fight. 

brad and cj are carried across the finish line on angel's wings.  with the stories of survivors and fighters pushing them along.  and this entire week i want to focus on their mission.  support my husband.  support carl's wife barbara, cj, jen, jackie {and family}.  to honor carl.  to celebrate in the victories of some and scream hope into the lives of those who are still fighting. 

please share.  please comment.  send your encouragement.  tell your story.  give these boys something to fight for!  tomorrow i am going to introduce you to amy.  you do not want to miss what she has to say.  inspiration through and through.

Thank you Carl!

In February I began a journey on which I had no idea what to expect. I set out to honor the memory of a good friend and gained so much personally from it that I almost feel guilty.

I spent almost no time on a bike since I was a kid other than in college going to class or a bar (in no particular order) so when I decided to ride in America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride I thought there was a pretty good chance I had lost my mind – and when I agreed to raise $4200 for Team In Training when I had never done any type of fundraising, my suspicions were confirmed.

After about 4 months of training and over 1000 miles on my bike and several fundraising events I have gained new friends and gotten re-acquainted with old ones, expended blood, sweat and tears and found out a lot more about myself and what I can accomplish. The generosity of our friends and family is unbelievable. I am overwhelmed by the encouragement and financial support I received from everyone. Between Grant, CJ and myself we raised nearly $10,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society so that more families won’t have to endure what the Bang family did last year.

Thanks Momma-girl for putting up with me through all of my training and watching the kids by yourself nearly every weekend so I could ride my bike all over the state. And thanks to sp & b for not driving your mom completely crazy. And, thank you all for coming to Tahoe for the ‘big ride’ although I’m pretty sure it won’t be tough to talk you all into going back there.

Thank you to Carl Bang and the whole Bang family for being my inspiration for doing this ride. I know that Carl would be very proud of what we were able to accomplish, especially the fact that we were able to dance well into the night after riding 100 miles and he would have been especially happy that it was his favorite song “Celebrate” that got the party started.

Now, who’s ready for a triathlon?

summer camp

as we were following those bike riding maniacs around lake tahoe, i felt like i was in the place i always imagined summer camp was located (mind you i didn't go to summer camp, but i envisioned what it would be like).

the boys were amazing on the trip. they travelled so well and were very well behaved (i will think twice about travelling alone with two kids on a plane, though). thank you to grammy for getting us to the airport and helping us get checked in. thank you random stranger for giving us your row on the airplane so we could have some space. thank you other random stranger for carrying all of our carry on items to that row so we could depart the airport without causing some major delays on the west coast. thank you random couple who didn't yell at us when sweet pea threw a tantrum and kicked your seats, and thank you for entertaining him as well with your lovely airport voices. thank you reno strangers for offering us help with our car seats at the airport. thank you brad dad for buying our snacks and drinks and getting our room ready. and thank you grandma bobbi for coming to lake tahoe to help with the boys and see brad's ride!!!

here is the rocky mountain chapter of Team in Training going out for their warm up ride on Saturday. it's the pre-ride, because they haven't adorned their helmets with frivolity yet.

they had to "empty" a few cans so we could spot them during the ride.

cj, brad and grant who worked their tales off in memory of CJ's dad and in honor of so many others who are struggling with leukemia and lymphoma. it was humbling to watch the 1800 "heroes" (Team In Training participants - 3300 riders overall) make their way around lake tahoe and i'm in awe of their determination and will power.some more pre-ride festivities....perfect weather conditions at dawn and throughout the day. brad was more worried about the weather than he was about the initial ascent or the 10 mile climb at the 70 mile mark.

the starting line...6:45am

beans cheering on the Team

these are our new friends that we spent much of the weekend with. all the same ages (within weeks of each other's birthdays). they made the trip so much fun and it was nice to meet a new mommy friend while the guys were out there working.and then our old friends who drove to meet the guys at the top of the mountain and cheer them on with bananas and water. it meant so much to them to see the ralph's cheering as they came up over the crest of that TOUGH hill climb.while we were waiting for the rocky mountain team to gather together to cross the finish line, we got some play time at zephyr's cove.finally the culmination of all that hard work. the entire team made it to the finish line and then the celebration was on!

lake tahoe was heavenly (not to be cheesy). anyone up for a ski trip this winter???

badgers

the team in training group had their last fund raising event on monday, before the big ride in lake tahoe in 11 days. they raised another $3000 (roughly) bringing the team total to nearly (if not over) $50,000 for the leukemia & lymphoma society. i am so proud of the whole team, but especially brad, cj and grant for sticking with this thing and really pouring their hearts into fighting cancer and training their bottoms off (literally) to prepare for the ride. i'm sure brad will have lots to add to this, but i want to thank all of our friends and family for being so supportive of their efforts.

blogging about this just wouldn't be the same without adding one carterism....my sweet little pea has a tiny obsession with one of my coworkers that we fondly call mackadoo. sweet mackadoo's sister got married nearly two weeks ago and apparently those folks from wisconsin just can't get enough of bucky the badger.....so they just hired him and the band to show up at the wedding reception (which is actually a very fun and sweet idea - way to go mr. and mrs. s).

how does this relate to sweet pea and his obsession? at the fundraiser on monday, sweet pea struck up a conversation with mackadoo about her sister's wedding (he had been asking me about it for a week). then he looked at her and said, "badgers are mean." that's when i knew she'd won our long fought battle over which was a better mascot: the badger or a pioneer (i refuse to acknowledge ruckus the strange prairie bird that they've tried to adopt as mascot since my days at du). mackadoo was smiling at me when she said, "yes they are very mean and ferocious." i don't admit defeat easily. so even though sweet pea supported mackadoo's argument that badgers are worthy of mascot status, i know for a fact, that daniel boone would have eaten a badger for dinner if given the chance.

training update

On Saturday our team ride took us around Golden. CJ and I had a very tough time riding past the brewery without stopping for a cool one, but we managed to focus just long enough to put the brewery behind us. After about 27 miles around the outskirts of town we made our way back to the base of Lookout Mountain which would be our climb for the day.
The climb rose about 2000 vertical feet from Golden in about 5 miles, and was our toughest challenge yet. I recalled thinking the last time I drove up that road and had to go around a bunch of bikers, "why in the hell would anyone want to do that to themselves?" This was of course long ago before I became a rider (several months back.) I now know the answer to my question. It was such a great feeling of accomplishment to make it to the top of that mountain, and passing a few other riders on the way up feels pretty good too. On our way down we got to coast just about the entire 5 miles knowing that we had earned every bit of it. Another great feeling was having cars pull over so we could pass them on the way back down (speed limit? I never saw any speed limit signs.) Our ride was just under 50 miles, we added a few extra miles thanks to a wrong turn in Golden, and I know that we are well on our way in our training for America's Most Beautiful Ride on June 1.

Our fundraising is also going pretty well. We are at 86% of our goal of $8400 and still have a couple events left. Thank you to everyone who has donated and supported us in this, we have had a great time doing it and are very happy to be raising money for such a good cause.

Brad

Training update

So far in my training I have logged almost 200 miles in my first 2 weeks of training. I haven't had any major setbacks and feel like I will probably be spending lots of time on my bike even after the ride on June 1. It has been a lot of fun and I have learned that you can get just about anywhere in Denver on bike trails although sometimes the people on the trails can be worse to deal with than the cars on the road.



Also, our fundraising is going very well. We recently passed the 50% mark but still have a long way to go to meet our goal of $8400. We have some great prizes for our raffle so far including autographed merchandise from the Denver Broncos, Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Browns, Florida Marlins, Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Twins and a 1 week stay at a condo in Silvercreek and other fun fun stuff. We still need some players for our golf tournament on May 10, but I am confident we will get that filled up soon.

In memory of Carl Bang

As many of you know in May of 2007 Carl Bang. my friend CJ's father, was taken from us after a short battle with lymphoma. By the time he found out he had the disease it had already infected too much of his body and made him too weak to handle the chemotherapy treatments. He was a great husband, father and person. If my wife and kids love me as much as his loved him I will be able to consider my life a great success.

In his memory, myself and a few friends CJ, and Grant have decided to join Team in Training to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We will be doing a 100-mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe on June 1. In order to participate we have each agreed to raise $4200 to help with the organization's mission of finding cures for blood cancers. Team in Training is entering it's 20th year of endurance races and hopefully this year we will be able to help push the total raised over the $1Billion mark.

You can help our efforts by donating online at http://www.active.com/donate/tntrm/CelebrateCJBJr, any donation is greatly appreciated and will help us get closer to our goal of finding a cure for blood cancers. Check back often to track our fundraising progress and I will update you occasionally on my training for the 100 mile bike race.