I'm an Asteroid Fighter

Friday night was our local Relay for Life event in Kitsap County, WA. This is the second time my family has participated in a Relay for Life event and I know it won't be our last. It began in the early evening, continued all night long, and finished late morning. It isn't just walking (or running or in our case, lunging) around a track all night, there are also some fun events sprinkled into the mix which usually provides something for everyone.

Our team was "Lauriel's Asteroid Fighters". Since her diagnosis she has viewed her brain cancer as asteroids which need to be destroyed. We are her asteroid fighters (we = family, friends, doctors, everybody who supports her). We will continue to fight asteroids together. All of us. Forever.

Our event began at 6pm with the survivor lap. This is where cancer survivors open the relay with one lap around the track. It was inspirational to see so many people on the track at this time. It gave me hope that we're making progress in our battle against this disease. The second lap of the event was dedicated to care givers. It was even more amazing to witness all the family members and friends who joined their survivor for this lap. In our case, Shawn and Lauriel walked half of this lap together. He has been there with her since her diagnosis and every step along the way. I was completely honored to be asked to join them on the second half of this lap. Lauriel says that I've been a virtual care giver and pray-er since the beginning. So we walked this lap together at a moderate pace and when it was over, we realized that we completely left the rest of the group behind us... guess CrossFit makes us fast walkers too?  :)

Lauriel and Shawn

As you can see from the picture above, it was typical Seattle weather. Sigh. It pretty much poured rain for the entire event. That didn't stop us though. People of all ages were on the track all night long and soaking wet. In a weird way, it was kinda fun. There wasn't much any of us could do about it so we just embraced it (we CrossFitters tend to embrace things that suck and make the best out of what we've got). We had someone on the track walking or running for our team from 6pm on Friday evening till 11am on Saturday morning. We ended up totaling 428 laps (107 miles!)! Kudos to our team member, Jordan Sonora, who ended up running 52 of those laps in the middle of the night! Of course at least one of those laps had to be done in true CrossFit fashion... A few days before the event, I challenged my buddy, Dave (AKA: D-Lo), to one lap which had to be completed via walking lunges. That's taking a big step forward with knee directly over ankle while the back knee touches the track. Of course he accepted this challenge and when he showed up at 11pm, it was time to execute! Just before midnight, 4 others decided to join us. Times for our 400m walking lunge challenge varied between 13 minutes and 15:26 (my time!). More importantly we ended up raising $1,260 to help fight cancer!

400m lunges... 3-2-1-GO! Greg, Dan, Amy, Tim D, me, D-Lo.

For those of you with children, this is a family friendly event. My entire family (9 year old and 7 year old) spent the night in a tent on the foot ball field. The kids had a blast. It was great to introduce them to cancer and to have them begin to understand the effects of this horrible disease. They realize this is something serious but to have this topic discussed in a positive environment was a blessing. There were also many booths set up with items which catered to children. For a donation of any amount, people were very giving to the kids. There was a bounce house and numerous kids activities set up for them to enjoy. There were also various groups doing demonstrations (hula, Zumba, hip-hop, and Jazzercise). I got so much joy out of seeing my kids participate with these groups which welcomed them!

Beyer and Sarah getting on their Jazzercise!

More photos of the evening...

Amy and Hal, asteroid fighters. 

Catherine, Lauriel, and Hal.