Thank You Trish!

imageTrish (my TNT Summer 2012 teammate) helped me in more ways than one during this last fundraising campaign. I figured the best way to honor her was to create a collage featuring her favorite buddy, Declan (her son). He’s such a cutie I couldn’t pick just one photo. And if you know anything about Trish, he gets his ever-present smile from her!

Thanks Trish - for the advice, for the donation, for the matching, and for the Wildflower hand-holding :-).

Source: pages.teamintraining.org

Thank You Pam!

imageI should stop pre-writing my thank yous since, for the last few rounds, I’ve had to throw out my original draft because of a new experience that became more relevant that what I originally had to say.

For Pam Friedman, I felt like her experience with the disease and why she contributed summed up why I fundraise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society:

“Chrystal, you rock….I’m thrilled to donate to this cause in memory of one of my great husbands, Ed Friedman. Eddie died in April 1989 at age 59 of this dreadful disease. Eddie’s father, Joseph also died of leukemia at aged 39. Because of your commitment, we will see an end to blood diseases in our lifetime….”

Every year I fundraise, there are at least two people who donate in memory of someone - a father, a mother, a coworker, a friend. Heartbreaking stories of those who are fighting and of those who succumbed. I was someone on the outside looking in on trajedy.

Today, I entered the room.

A dear family friend visited the hospital because of back pain and came out diagnosed with Leukemia. Today, I was initiated.

Tomorrow, you may be.

It’s frightening, isn’t it?

Thank you Pam for helping me keep my commitment to the cause. And thank you for yours.

Source: pages.teamintraining.org

Thank You Nate!

I woke up at 5:30 am on Saturday, May 11, 2013 thinking “No way, Eff this. I’m not going.” I was up because I was supposed to do a Sprint Tri - less than a week after the craziness at Wildflower. By craziness, I mean the near drowning-death experience I had in the choppy waters of Lake San Antonio. I did not want to go back in the water.

But I had a coach last year named Nate Moore who said “no fear.” And so a week after a horrible swim, I was putting myself into another large body of water.

Let me backtrack. We’ve all heard “no fear” before. Coaches have a patter that is common when supporting an athlete. “You can do it,” “Dig deep,” etc. But for me, none of the slogans really registered when I was sweating and grunting and just trying to get through a workout. That is, until it did.

The day before my first triathlon last year after a dismal pre-race swim, Nate said a bunch of things to me because I was panicking. “Race your own race, hang back, etc.,) and then he revealed something about himself. He said that it took him 3-4 seasons to be comfortable swimming in open water. I would have never guessed. He looked like he was a born athlete - swimmer, cyclist, runner. He didn’t look like he had ever struggled with anything.

And he told me to visualize. Not like a vision board visualizing. Visualizing myself swimming successfully without the goal attached (completing a mile). Just swimming in a relaxed and calm way. The funny thing about this story is that though it sounds like this was a warm fuzzy conversation; it wasn’t. The thing is, that’s what coaches do. They give you the tools and the information and the encouragement and then they wait and hope that it will resonate.

It was Nate’s example got me into the water again. I stood on that shore at 8 am and closed my eyes and saw myself swimming easily and gracefully. I breathed deeply and plunged. And clearly, I’m still here to talk about it.

Thank you Nate for being my coach last season (and for the donation). And in case you haven’t heard this in awhile - you make a difference.

(P.S. although the Wildflower swim was bad, I still beat my Bass Lake time by 4 minutes! http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/wildtri13/christalchacon)

Source: pages.teamintraining.org

Thank You Laviza!

imageWhile looking through my Middle school yearbook, I discovered that I would put checkmarks next to the pictures of friends that I thought were great. I imagine that since I had arrived in our second year (8th grade, not 7th like everyone else); I felt a little like the odd girl out. Laviza (known to me as Lisa then) had two checkmarks. :-). I thought she was nice and friendly and made me feel welcome at this new school.

Fast forward to 2013. Laviza is still good people. Not only did she donate to my campaign but she actually thanked me for doing it!

  • “Thank you for your dedication and effort !!”

And then she posted my fundraising plea to her wall to generate more support. I hope she sees what I see in the progression of photos I’ve posted. I see someone who’s remained caring, kind and happy from within.

Thank YOU Laviza.

Source: pages.teamintraining.org

Thank You Brenda!

Dear Brenda,

Your essay was thrown out. Not literally but figuratively - I started writing about you two days before I was to race in the Wildflower Olympic Distance Triathlon. I knew I wouldn’t get to post it before I raced for a couple of reasons (job test on Saturday, a 4 hour drive, no cell service, etc.) Anyway, once I finished the race, I knew I couldn’t write the old essay.

What happened in short form was this: it was a windy race - winds up to 34 miles per hour. I think they call them gusts up north and I can understand why. What wind translates to up there is a scary bike ride and choppy lake water. The lake is where this essay began.

I got in 68 degree lake water and it was wonderful. I had a warm up swim in the the boat dock area - all good. The start horn went off and it quickly became hell. Once I came out of the calm inlet I previously enjoyed, the wind created waves (waves in a lake had never occurred to me). Feet, arms, legs all moving forward splashing through the choppiest water I’ve ever had the pleasure of semi-drowning in. I had a panic attack and my asthma made its debut with gusto.

I say all that to say this. I thought of YOU. No kidding, no exxageration, no gilding-the-lily. You kept me going. After the very first buoy, I was going to quit for the first time in my triathlon career. It was that bad. I hung on to the lifeguards surfboard. Also a first. But I would not quit. I remembered your experience of that sea in Hawaii. I remembered that you didn’t quit in the first half-hour, you didn’t quit in the second 1/2 hour. You didn’t quit even when it took you two hours to finish. And I got through my swim because of you.

I’m sure you’ve been described as strong, stubborn, a go-getter, brave but what I held on to was your perserverence. That is who you are to me. Tenacious B!

So thank you. I hope you stick with triathlons despite what happened because you make a difference both in the lives of people with cancer and your fellow teammates.

(To be a hero, donate at http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/wildtri13/christalchacon)

Source: pages.teamintraining.org

Thank You Tina!

“The great challenge of adulthood is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence.”
– Bruce Springsteen

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Tina without a smile on her face. Even after finishing her first triathlon on March 25, 2013. I imagine she was smiling after her first marathon which, incidentally, was also in the first quarter of this year. Really? A marathon and then a triathlon a month and a half later? On top of that, she raised closed to $4,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. That, my friends, is idealism in motion.

I’ll be thinking of Tina during my grueling hills at Wildflower this weekend. And somehow, I will smile.

Thanks for supporting me Rockstar!

Source: pages.teamintraining.org

Thank You Audrey!

imageFive good reasons why a white girl from Pacoima can throw up gang signs:

  1. She’s raced 39 times in marathons, 1/2 marathons, triathlons and more
  2. She’s raised over $78,000 dollars (that’s a conservative figure) for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Team in Training
  3. She’s a ten-year survivor of non Hodgkin’s lymphoma
  4. She’s had a stem cell transplant 6 years ago
  5. She’s still here.

Whenever, I’m racing a triathlon for Team in Training and it seems that the going is getting too hard, I think of Audrey who said it best: “If you think this is hard, try getting chemotherapy.”

Audrey Duffy - The Original Gangster

(To donate, go to http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/wildtri13/christalchacon)

Source: pages.teamintraining.org

Thank You Joe!

Thanks to a stand-up guy - Joe Virnig. Thanks, in part, to him, I still have hair on my head! At the very end of my hair-cut contest, Joe donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society so that I would avoid what looked like a bald future. I can’t thank you enough! :-)

(BTW, if you’re looking for a realtor…Joe Virnig, Broker Associate, RE/MAX Gold Coast REALTORS, Office: (805) 644-5005, joe@vcres.com)