Race T-shirts and Lost & Found

Everybody! So sorry to the same day registrants that didn't get t-shirts. All the seasoned race people told us only to order like 10 extra so that's all we did :) But we did finally get all the shirts ordered for the people that registered same day!

My mom has them and they will be available for pick-up at 2104 E. Fort Union Blvd. from 8:30 am to noon on Friday Oct. 5. PLEASE pick them up, they are super cute and we don't want to be stuck with them, especially because you already paid for it.

UTAH COUNTY: For those of you in Utah County, you can pick them up after Friday night at my new house in Cedar Hills and I will also come to Utah Valley University sometime....


We really want everybody to have their shirts, they are super cute and we ordered shirts for everybody that paid.

If for some reason none of these pick-up times work for you, message me and we will see if we can work something out.

Also, we found a pair of women's sunglasses. If they are yours, message me so I can get them back to you!

Race Recap

Phew I have been BUSY. So busy. We were packing all week, moved into my in-laws on Wednesday, Sterling's birthday on Friday (I forgot to get pics, sad), and the race on Saturday.

I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everybody who was so incredibly supportive and generous. I cannot believe the amount of people that showed up to the race, the amount of people that donated and the amount of people that stepped in to help the race be a success. I am so so humbled, I cannot even begin to express the gratitude I have for everyone. It is ridiculous the number of people that helped in one way or another. I wish I could name every single person but it would be in the tens of thousands and I would leave people out. I have hundreds of thank you notes to write and I just want to tell you, if you don't get a thank you note, please don't be offended! I tried so hard to keep track of everybody that I need to send one to and I know I am going to leave out a ton of people :( I wish I could personally thank each and every person but it is impossible.

The race was so much fun Saturday!! I had the funnest time ever and I ran pretty fast! It was almost the fastest 3 miles I have run since having surgery. I couldn't have done it without everyone cheering me the whole way and my two favorite guys right next to me. Thanks Dad and Ster for running next to me the whole time :)

We had 463 total registrants and 83 people that registered the morning of. Sorry for those that had to wait in line and almost didn't or didn't get registered in time!! We didn't expect so many many people and the police made us start the race because we couldn't have the road blocked off that long. Also, to those people that didn't get their shirt yet, they will be ready on Friday. You can contact me, Trudy Zufelt or Wendy Hone to get those (email me to get the contact info).

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. I got so many compliments, so I think everyone enjoyed it. I have to thank all the companies and people that sponsored the race too. We had so many companies that were incredible generous that I just want to give them all a shout out: Creamies (yum), Daniels Chocolate (also yum), Dan's for the donuts, Utah Truffles for all the chocolates, Clear Channel for the radio ads, Staker Parson, Hair Restoration Center of Utah, Cardinal Mortgage Services, McDonalds for all the cookies, Destinations, Geneva Rock, Morgan Asphalt, Road ID, Intermountain Concrete Specialties, Granite Construction, Jessie Oberg Photography, Chocolate Chic, Hart's Gas Stations, the guy who painted the beautiful deer/elk pictures, everyone in my extended family, Massage Envy, Park City ski resort, and so so many more that donated to the silent auction that I can't think of right now but totally deserve to be named. We could not have done this race without our sponsors, putting on a race is expensive! Who knew.

To view the results go to http://runnercard.com/runner/data/1825/4310/Result/2012_Fallen_in_Chocolate_5K.htm
If you were an age group winner and did not get your prize please contact me!

And now for the fun part, pictures!!

My teammates are so cute!!! 

 

Love you Grandpa :)

I had so many people I didn't know that came to support me and wanted pictures with me. It was so cool

My former roommates! Awesome friends

My good friends from Jr. High and High School

Awesomest teammates ever

I already miss our old ward and it's only been 5 days since we moved :( I love you guys!

These people put in so much time, effort and money to make this day a success

UVU wrestlers are the coolest. 

Thank you to John McAtee and Taylor Jay Photographer for providing these pictures. They are both on Facebook and there are hundreds more if you want to check them out.

Again, I am so sorry if I left someone out or didn't get to talk to some people at the race. I got to see so many people and talk to so many of you, but I know there were people that came that I didn't get a chance to visit with. Thank you so so much everybody!

Life's Greatest Lessons Aren't Learned in a Book (and other updates)

Friday, September 21st, I had the opportunity to speak at Bingham high school to a group of English students. It was a really awesome experience. I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to speak to so many people about what I'm going through and how I've been able to deal with things. I also got to speak at Pleasant Grove High School on December 5th

If you want to read the speech I gave, here is a link to it https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRXA_nEm7xptqEdwvMix1i_s-Rnb_C948a5hqsUBBs/edit?usp=sharing
I wrote down my speech exactly like I would say it if I really were speaking so just read it as such and not like an essay or something.

I created this slideshow that I shared at the end. I think the video means more after you read/hear the speech:


The other update I know many people are dying to find out is how my doctor's appointments went on Friday. They went good. I met with the liver specialist first and after waiting for at least 5 years in the very comfortable exam room *insert dripping sarcasm* she finally came in to talk to us. She was pretty nice and cool. She basically just explained what she would be doing in surgery which is removing two or three (?) spots from my liver. They are both close enough to the surface that they will be easy to wedge out. She gets to pick up my liver and turn it around and cut spots out of it with a cauterizing tool. How cool is that? I asked her to take pictures. It seems so unfair that all these people get to sit around looking at my insides and touching all my organs and all I get from it is a huge scar and 2 weeks in the hospital. Selfish doctors. Oh and they are going to cut me all the way to my sternum. Yucky.

Then I met with my gynecological oncologist (female organ cancer surgeon). He was really nice and took a long time with us. We decided on surgery on Tuesday, October 9th (ninth). All I can say is if I have to get another NG tube, they are going to have to put me under anesthesia to do it.

And I have an awesomely funny idea of what I'm gonna do on surgery day :) But I'm not telling it yet.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was great. Went to Sterling's cousin's wedding all day Saturday, it was gorgeous. I have a bit of a cold which totally sucks :/ But otherwise, I am doing great. I hope the smog clears out so I can run outside again!

My First Lecture about a Last Lecture

I was recently asked to be a guest speaker for the 11th grade English students at Bingham High School. There will be about 180 sixteen to seventeen year old kids that are all listening intently to every word I say. Well at least the ones they hear in between sending text messages to each other ;)

The book the students are reading. It's about a guy with terminal cancer and his advice to people. The teacher though I was a good real life example of the words in this book. 

I am speaking on Friday and although I have been contemplating and pondering my speech for at least a week and a half, I have made very little headway. I have never given a speech or talk longer than 10 minutes.

Here's where you guys come in. I have received so many texts, emails and comments about how much you guys appreciate my blog and my willingness to share my story. Is there something specific about what I've said that has been helpful or inspiring? I don't feel inspiring because I am just being me. I just write about whatever I feel like, but I guess when you have cancer even normal things are spotlighted. I would really appreciate if you guys gave me some specifics about what to you has been inspiring. Not because I am looking for compliments, trust me, that is not what this is about, but because I really want to do the best job I can to reach out to these teenagers. It wasn't very long ago that I sat in a high school auditorium wondering where my life would take me and thinking how invincible I was. I want to say things that won't be cliche or unrelatable.

Thanks friends :)