Camping in the Rain - I did it for Maxwell!

Hey everybody! Just a forewarning, this is going to be a VERY long post, but it's very important to me to get it all out, so I hope you take the time to read it.






I am (somewhat) freshly back from my first camping trip in probably close to ten years! The last time I went camping was with a fraternity in Oregon and I lasted one night out of the two night trip.. Needless to say camping hasn't been, and still really isn't my thing.


I went to Arizona for Spring Training and to visit Jason's family last weekend, and had spent the entire week between the desert and this past weekend complaining about having to camp in the rain, how miserable I was going to be and how much I really didn't want to spend my weekend out in the woods. 


On Friday Morning, I heard the sad news that the son of a friend of mine had been diagnosed with A.L.L., which is a form of leukemia that effects 1 in 29,000 children in the United States. If there is any good news in the world of cancer, A.L.L. has one of the highest survival rates of childhood cancers. Needless to say however, it made me reflect on how I had spent the past week complaining about camping in the rain, while my friend spent the same week in the hospital worried about her son's health. Suddenly, camping in the rain was the least of my concern or worries. 


My team mate Leti picked me up around noon on Friday, and we made the 4 hour journey down to Lake San Antonio, which is about 30 miles outside of King City, California. The purpose of the weekend at the Lake was to give our team a preview of the Avia Wildflower course so we would know what to expect on race day. 


Friday afternoon and evening consisted of setting up camp, having a team meeting and gearing up for all the activities that the weekend had in store. I spent the first night in my tent wearing all of the warm clothing I had packed for myself. I slept in knee-high wool socks, sweats, two base layer shirts (which are not as warm as promised!), my Northface Fleece Jacket and a wool hat. I buried myself as far down into my sleeping bag as I could and hoped to get a good night's sleep, resting up for the next morning's swim and bike ride. However, between being freezing, having the air mattress crinkle all night and my slightly irrational fear of being in the great outdoors and eaten by a wild animal (which at this campground consisted of deer, turkeys, rabbits and wild pigs) I only got about two hours of sleep.


I woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of rain on my tent. We had all been mentally prepared for a rainy swim and bike ride, but I had hoped our prayers to the sun gods would come through and we could avoid the chilly ride. Sadly, this was not the case.


I headed down to the boat ramp, wetsuit in hand, ready to take part in my first open water swim, EVER! I was extremely nervous, with many thoughts running through my mind. The one that kept me going though was about Maxwell and his family. 


Let me take a break from the story about my weekend to explain something:
When I joined Team in Training in Spring 2010 to ride my bike around Lake Tahoe, I did so for selfish reasons. I had friends who were into cycling, and in my desire to be able to cycle with them at some point, I signed up for an event where I could become comfortable riding on the road and getting into shape enough to hang with them. 


During the Tahoe ride, I went through many emotions and thoughts. Endurance events are very, very mentally taxing, and even though you may be in the shape of your life, once your mind tells you you are done, it's very hard to keep going. This was the case for me on the last long climb at Lake Tahoe. At mile 80, you begin an 8 mile long climb up to Spooner Junction. That's right - that says an EIGHT mile climb after riding EIGHTY MILES. Mentally I was done. I had spent the last 8 hours on my bike. I was hot. My legs were tired. But then I saw her. Halfway up the climb. She had on her back a sign letting everyone know that she had finished her final chemo treatment that previous Monday. And then it hit me. She was who I was out here for. I made a difference in HER life and then she made one in mine. After crying and hyperventilating because of her strength, courage and determination to finish the Tahoe ride, I sucked it up and finished the ride with my team. I will never know that woman's name. Even if I were to see her again, I couldn't identify her to you, but I do know that she was the only reason I finished that event. 


When I crossed the finish line that day, my first thought was what was next. I promptly signed up for another season with the Team in Training cycle team and completed a metric century in November 2010 in Solvang, California. 


Then I began looking for the next challenge. I selfishly signed up again for another Team in Training event. This time, I chose a triathlon. I wanted to push myself farther than I had before I wanted to get myself into the best shape I have ever been in. Up until last Friday, although I had raised over $4,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, my experience had always been about me. All of that changed last Friday when I heard about Maxwell. 


What I have been doing for the last year is no longer about me and the shape I can get myself into. Each swim stroke I take in the pool, each pedal stroke I take on my bike, each step I take during my runs is now for helping Maxwell and his family. Team in Training does a tremendous job connecting people who are fundraising to the cause. I have met a number of people whose lives who have changed because of selfish people like me. But now, it's different. Now it is even more important to me that I reach my fundraising goal, and in fact EXCEED the goals I have set for myself both in fundraising and training. 


So when I learned how to put my wetsuit on, and finally jumped in the freezing lake on Saturday morning, I did it for Maxwell! Thinking of how what I was doing was impacting someone else's life, I made it through a 0.93 mile swim in frigid water. I can't say that it was done without profanity, but it was done nonetheless! 


After managing to pull myself out of the water, I made a somewhat speedy transition to bike and took off on a very hilly 40K (which is about 24ish miles for those of you not on the metric system). I am very glad that I got to preview the bike course. I think that we rode the course in the worst weather imaginable - pouring rain and strong headwinds - and therefore, even with wanting to throw in the towel halfway back, I know I can complete the bike ride in May.


After the ride we took a very cold shower (not by choice) and waited for the rain to subside - Which it did! The whole team shared a picnic pasta dinner together and had a dance party in the mud. 

After the rain subsided, it was BEAUTIFUL! 

After another night in freezing camping weather (and less than 3 hours sleep thanks to the wild turkeys of Lake San Antonio) (did I mention my irrational fears of wild animals?) We woke up, headed back down to the lake and took off on our 10K run (again, 6.2mi in non-metric terms). Since I had spent most of Saturday with wet hair, and in the freezing cold, I started to feel under the weather and wanted to turn back after the first mile. I started to think of Maxwell again and I didn't have the heart to turn around and quit, no matter how horrible I was starting to feel. 


After three miles, my body finally started to cooperate, and I was able to finish the rest of the run without a single thought of quitting. 


Once the run was finished, I had to book it out of the campground, because my ride's sister had gone into labor and she wanted to make it back before her niece was born. I think we took our tents down in record time and booked it out of the campground! 


So here I sit, two days later, reflecting on my weekend in the wilderness. I am so excited about the triathlon, and even more excited about sharing the last few weeks of training with you guys. I am going to be taking a lot more pictures of the training and the team, so you can see the heroes that are out there training with me day in and day out, making a difference in the lives of people they will probably never know. 


I wanted to say thank you again to everyone who has made donations or participated in a fundraising event over the past few months. I am just over halfway to my fundraising goal, so I still need your help! 
Please visit my personalized donation website at: Fundraising Website!


If you would prefer to donate by sending a check, directions on how to do that are also on my website.


Again, I apologize for such a long blog entry. With everything that I have done over the weekend, as well as all my thoughts about Maxwell and his family, I just wanted to get everything out.