Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Ogden Marathon - a ton of fun!

Oakley, our #1 Wacky!

Cami, Morgan & Kelsey (Kelsey couldn't participte in the 5k due to a softball tournament commitment).
We kicked off the event by attending a spaghetti dinner at the Davis Conference Center in Layton on Friday. Many had to fight with horrendous traffic, including the additional time it took to pick up the participant packets at the race expo in Ogden. With 70 family and friends in attendance, Nick welcomed all by announcing his latest set of scans proved the cancer is still not active (that we can see)! He then presented a video of a 30-minute documentary on four cancer survivors attending a First Descents camp. It elegently portrayed why First Descents is so important to young adult cancer survivors - very impactful. Tee shirts were handed out and we all got excited for the upcoming race.
Saturday morning, the marathoners and half marathoners boarded their assigned busses at 4:45 a.m. The rest of us slackers - 5k participants - boarded our very own rented school bus at a more reasonable hour of 6:00 a.m. Nick had us rolling with laughter as he donned his Buzz Lightyear costume - "To infinity and beyond!"
We all had our silly hats, costumes and very cool looking WACKY tee shirts on, ready to begin our 3.1 mile trek. Please visit http://www.nickswarriors.org/ to view all the pictures and a short video on Nick coming out of the starting gates.
Congrats to:
Marathon:
Ashley Sorenson
Paul Anderson
Ann Leoni
Carlos
Todd Raitt
Heather VanTassell
Lee Brower
Dave Sheffield
Sylvia Do
Pat Do

Half Marathon:
Jill Frey
David Vynerib
Jessica Peterson/Leigh Corbin
5k:
Ginger Balcom
Becky (with Oakley) Brower
Bo Brower
Lori Brower
Denise Cummins
Jerry Gill
Melanie Davis
Cami Griffiths
Deanna Hadley
Beth Holt
Kailey Larsen
Steve Larsen
Cory Love
Alane Macrum
Makelle Macrum
Mason Macrum
Mike Macrum
Morgan Macrum
Jennie Magnesen
Bernadette McGowan
Jon McGowan
Kelly Meacham
Brandon Newby
Carly Raitt
Nick Raitt
Erin Wilkes
We had a few that were genuinely sick with colds, a few under-trained and a few that ran with serious injuries. The weather, however, was perfect. Nick had a few kids that would look at each other when he passed and would say, "Do you know who that is!!!!" One person asked Nick why he didn't finish first, having super powers and all (he sprinted out of the starting gate, only to get a massive side-ache 50 yards later and had to walk the remaining way). Nick responded that his battery pack died. Cory Love (age 21) used Nick's grandpa's bib and as he approached the finish line, the announcer said, "And here comes 68 year-old John Balcom!" Nick's dad, Todd, finished very respectfully in his first marathon - quite a feat! And Nick's stepdad, Lee, despite suffering a dislocated shoulder, partially torn achilles and broken forearm during the past 9 months in training, finished running on a torn labrum in his hip.
I'm still working on the numbers as the pledges keep coming in, but we have raised over $20,000 between both running events! I'm stunned and enormously grateful. Our support system remains to be strong and generous!
While Nick remains to be blessed with no evidence of disease, I am reminded again about the seriousness of our cause. On Friday, a received a phone call from a mother whose son is fighting rhabdo (Nick's age). She is feeling utterly overwhelmed and frightened, not knowing where to turn next. We also are praying with a personal friend - he raised a significant amount of money for Nick's Warriors - whose wife is waiting for final results on a potentially very serious cancer diagnosis. And also on the same day, received another phone call from another personal friend of the family needing the name of a neurosurgeon from Huntsman Cancer Institute. Three new situations and all so deserving of our prayers. Thank you all for joining us, being part of a bigger family, to fight this horrible disease.
Blessings of health to everyone! We have already had our initial meeting for our next event - the WACKY Annual Charity Softball Tournament, on September 10th & 11th, 2010. And here we go!!!!!
With loads of love,
Lori

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You guys did such a splendid job on the marathon. Well organized, over $20,000.00 raised and tons of fun. Congrats on a job very well done. It is wonderful to experience the amount of support and love you have from family and friends. I count my blessings every time I'm with you all. Nick your presentation was excellent, as was your costume! Keep up the good work. With love Wacky Jennie

Chris Ulvin said...

Hi Nick opps I mean Buzz Light Year or as Jess and Stu could call you "Cuzz Fight Fear". I wonder what that costume might look like? Your Fries, Raitt, Dunlap, Henrickson, Leoni, Ulvin, Hughes, Davis, Peterson, Widdison, and Allen families had a great time celebrating Wacky Warriors Ogden Marathon. We all talked about next year and how many relay teams we could man. If your dad could run 26 plus miles first time out, we all should be able to master 7 miles. We may excuse aunt Sergia and aunt Helen though. Love and prayers continue for you - Mr. Nicholas William Raitt.
Love, aunt Chris

Unknown said...

Sorry we missed 5K. Laurel and I were looking for a run but Buzz is Lightyears ahead of us, excuse for not keeping up with your blog. Will catch you next year at this race. Keep up the good work. Awesome stuff. Brad and Laurel Wilkinson

Rums said...

I was going through blogs and saw yours. Thats really great work you are doing. Hats off