2nd Annual RODS Race for Vaughn

 

 

We've had some incredible fundraising events over the last year and a half.  As I look back at all the different ideas I can easily pick out the RODS Fun Run as one of my all-time favorites.  That's why I was a little bummed when my career took me down a different path that didn't include me living in Meridian earlier this year. 

 

When I moved from Idaho to Utah I knew that the likelihood of being able to do another community race in Meridian probably was very slim.  With my new job, the move and everything else we had going on with RODS it just seemed like it was going to be too much for me to handle.  At least that was my mindset until later that summer went on I got a phone call from Angela Redding to talk about doing another race.

 

As many of you who may have followed this blog over the last 18 months have come to find out, Angela Redding is a RAINMAKER when it comes to events.  She was the brainchild behind the snow cones for Kona campaign.  She also organized the Tyler Stenson concert last year as well as was a major part of the first RODS Fun Run.  So when Angela called to talk about organizing another race despite the fact that I lived in another state I listened.  It only took a few minutes of conversation to convince me that this was a great idea. 

 

I knew from the onset that I wasn't going to be able to attend the event.  This was hard for me but I've also come to the realization over the last few months that the only way this organization is going to grow to it's fullest potential is if individuals like Angela are given opportunities to take the ball and run with it with or without me.  And run with it she did!

 

Similar to last year, Angela decided to do some "multi-tasking" for the race.  "In addition to saving orphans, why not help a young man out with his Eagle Scout Project", she said.  That young man's name is Jonny Holm.  He did a fantastic job in taking charge and organizing this race alongside Angela. 

 

In addition to Angela and Jonny's efforts, there were some incredible people in the community who stepped up and volunteered their time and talents as well.  Special thanks (in no particular order) to Docena Holm, Tracy Coltrin, Randy Stenson, Kerry Stenson, Shauna Jenks, Chelsea Rippy, Tiffany Erickson, Leah Stenson, Sheena Lindholm, Carrie Paternoster, Alexis Jorgenson, Lori Jorgenson, Kim Redding, Michael Nelson, Maria Hoagland, Becki Goodwin, Brian Preece, all the timers, Erin Larkin, Rachel Jessen and the activity day girls signs and especially to ALL OUR RACERS WHO CAME OUT FOR THE BIG DAY!!!  As well, I'd also like to send a special thanks to FRANZ, our special guest who once again was the life of the event!

 

I'd also like to thank all of those who sponsored the event.  If you have any chance to use any of their professional services, PLEASE DO SO!  These individuals are the reason why there was so much good that was accomplished during this race!

 

 

 

In the end, this event played a major part in RODS Racing reaching our ultimate goal of raising $15,000 for Vaughn, a young orphan in Columbia who has Down syndrome.  This money will go towards the adoption costs in bringing Vaughn home! 

 

One housekeeping item is the race shirts or better yet, lack there of.  We had over 60% percent of our participants sign up less than 8 days before the race.  We LOVE the participation but it put us in a bit of a pickle with race shirts that had been ordered.  The good news is we have a big order in for more shirts that will be done the week of October 10th.  As soon as we get the shirts we'll be in touch to get them to you.  Sorry for the delay!

 

RODS Racing has continued to grow in a way that nobody could imagine just a short 18 months ago.  My son Nash was the original inspiration for RODS.  However, that inspiration now comes from so many others as well.  It's individuals like Angela and all the other volunteers for the race that personally take on the call to action to do something outside of their comfort zone with the intention to simply do good in the world that make RODS Racing what it is today.  It's because of these selfless acts that a young boy has a chance at life now. 

 

For that I want to say one last THANK YOU to each of you for being who you are and doing what you do for Orphans with Down Syndrome.  Here's a few pictures from the days events.  You can see all of the race pictures at HISSHEENA.SMUGMUG.COM  Huge thanks to Sheena Lindholm for volunteering her professional photography services for the event!

 

 

Keep training and keep up the great work! 

 

 

Brady



 

 

 

 

 

 

Golfing for Vaughn

Each year our company has their annual golf tournament.  This is a good opportunity for our advisors to have a chance to bring their clients or others with whom they have a business relationship to the course and enjoy a morning of golf.  For this year's tournament I decided to do something a little different.  I felt like this would be a good opportunity to not only have an enjoyable day of golf with our clients and friends but as a firm also try and help Vaughn inch closer to the goal of $15,000 raised for his adoption.

The idea came when I was visiting with one of our advisors about the tournament.  He suggested that we do a fundraiser where we had Nash be involved somehow.  That's when it hit me.  Why not put Nash and I on a par 3 and "help" the teams that come through in hopes that they will be willing to help Vaughn reach his goal of $15,000.  So that's exactly what we did!

We setup on hole 14 at Old Mill Golf Course.  We put these two signs out explaining what our intentions were for assisting each group that came through.  We had Andrea and Ridge there as well as our Director of Operations, Teresa May to help out.  The weather was great and the typical excitement and anticipation of a golf tournament was in the air.

 

So this is how we were planning on helping out.  The tournament was a 4 man scramble.  Each player hits and whichever player had the best shot the rest of the team moves their ball there.  That's where the boys come into play.  When everyone was gathered around the best shot, I'd have the boys toss the ball towards the hole in hopes that we would get the team closer.  Where ever the toss ended up the team had the choice of playing from there as if that was their original shot. In return, we asked that they make a donation to Vaughn for the assistance they received.

I have to admit, I was a little worried on how this would work out.  I worried whether or not the boys really could have enough touch to get them closer.  I also worried whether the boys could last 4 hours.  I'm happy to say that they did amazing!!!

Here's a few of the highlights.  One of the groups hit a great shot and were less than 10 yards from the hole.  With everybody watching, Nash lined up and eyed the hole.  He rolled it at just the right speed and from the release it looked good.  The ball slowly rolled right up to the hole and as luck would have it, went right in!  The team erupted and Nash went into major celebration mode.  He took off running around the green with his arms like an airplane yelling that "he did it!".  Everybody loved it!  High fives and hugs all around.  Nash actually had two "hole in one's" on the day!

 

 

The second highlight was a group that was playing well, but for whatever reason had 4 not so good shots on this hole.  The best shot was off the green a ways.  Not only that but there was a huge drop on the green that really made it hard to play it right.  You would have had to hit it just right and let the ball roll down the hill and turn towards the hole.  Nash took the ball and threw it overhand as hard as he could.  The ball landed perfectly, rolled down the hill, made a big turn and stopped 12 inches from the hole.  Once again the team erupted and Nash went into his airplane celebration victory lap.
 

 

 

 

When we had everybody back at the club house I felt it was important to really try and help everyone understand just what their donations would do for a little orphan.  I showed a picture of Jaymi Bonner and told her story about how she had spent the first 5 years of her life in an orphanage.  Because of a loving family willing to take a huge leap of faith and many people rallying around them to raise the needed funding, she was now home.  Then I had Jaymi and her mom Jeana walk out to the surprise of the group.  It was fun to get to see everyone's expressions as the story unfolded right before them. 

On the day, we raised $1,014.  It's possible that more donations will come in as well as everyone had an addressed envelope where they could send a donation to RODS Racing.  That brings us up to nearly $13,000 of our $15,000 goal for Vaughn.

It's so fun to get to involve the wonderful people that I get to work with in the cause to help these special children find a home.  It's also very rewarding to get to do this as a family and see how each one of my family members can contribute in their own way.  Or in Nash's case today, in a BIG WAY! 

I'm already brainstorming for next years tournament.  How cool would it be to have Vaughn be our special guest...

 

Utah Half Ironman Race Report

Yesterday marked my last race for the 2013 season.  It's been a slower season schedule wise due to the move and new job.  The good news is I'm already signed up for 3 big races in 2014.  My hope is that Andrea and I get to do at least one of these races together. 

This particular race is called the Utah Half.  The swim takes place at the Utah Lake Marina.  The bike takes you through some of the farming country around the south part of the lake.  The run is a gorgeous route along the running trails of Utah Lake Marina.  The transition area is in the same area for both the bike and the run which is great! 

I've always heard that Utah Lake is shallow and can be a little murky at times but I wasn't 100% prepared for what it would be like.  It was a non wetsuit swim because the water temps were above 80.  There were around 350 athletes participating in the race.  Throughout the swim it was crazy to see athletes standing in waste high water right next to you when they wanted to take a break.  I sometimes wondered if I might be faster just walking the swim.  Maybe that's my trick to a faster swim time!  The final 200 yards you actually did just that.  The water was thigh high so we all just started trudging towards the finish.  It was kind of funny because you couldn't run because the water was too high on your legs but you didn't want to just walk either.  After all this was a race!  So you see a long line of athletes slugging along in the water. 

When I got on the bike all systems were check and it was time to go.  This course was flat and fast!  The biggest climb was going over the freeway ramp.  I loved the bike!  I could see that I was kicking out some good splits and my legs felt great so I just kept pushing it.  I averaged 251 watts on the bike and 22.5 MPH.  I finished in 2:22:34.  A new personal best for me. 

The run felt great out of the gates then I slowly started to slow my pace.  I knew I wasn't going to have a stellar run because I haven't got the miles in that I normally would like to have the last few months of training.  There are no shortcuts to trying to put together a good race.  You just have to grind out the training and if you do you will almost always reap the benefits. 

One thing that is amazing to me in each of these races is what goes through your mind during the run.  Every single time about half way through the run you hit a wall.  There's different stages of "the wall" but in every case you have to mentally tell yourself to just keep going.  Logically it seems to make sense to stop and walk for a while.  Your legs hurt.  You can't breath.  It's too hot.  You're thirsty.  You're feet ache.  Your jersey is rubbing your arms raw.  You don't know why you do this to yourself.  You can feel a blister starting.  You think you're going to throw up.  And on and on the list goes.  Here's the thing though.  These are the defining moments of a triathlete.  These are the defining moments in life.  How we mentally push through these temporary setbacks are what defines the very person who we are.  So we push forward.  One step at a time.  One mile at a time and just as it always does....the finish line appears! 

Many times along the way when things seem like they will never get better we receive help from others.  This comes in many forms.  Yesterday I had some special help just when I needed it.  I was at mile 9.  This is when you're so far into the race that you are dying but you still have to run another 4 miles which seems like an eternity.  It's the death zone really.  I was running down the trail and I see a person walking towards me.  Even at that distance I instantly could tell this was a person who had Down syndrome.  As I approached him I could see that he was in his early 30's just out for a morning stroll along the walking path.  He probably didn't even know there was a race planned that morning or just how much of a boost he would give me.  As I passed him our eyes met and we exchanged smiles.  This was all I needed to put things into perspective.  Why I do these races and just how blessed I am to have a son who has Down syndrome.  It was a great moment.  Highlight of the race really. 

At the end of the race I was pushing hard trying to finish strong and had something funny happen to me.  The run course is setup with two loops.  I looked at my watch and could see that I had hit the 13.1 mile mark.  I looked around for the finish line and wouldn't you know it, I had passed the turn for the finish line and was going back for a "3rd loop".  I could see the finish line but I was going the wrong way if I wanted to finish this race.  So I stopped, turned around and started backtracking to get there.

I thought to myself, "so I ran a little extra, no big deal."  It wasn't until I looked at my final race time that I realized that it was a big deal!  I missed my all-time Personal Record for a Half Ironman distance by 23 seconds!  Ouch!  Final race time was 4:53.53.  I guess I will just have to do another one to try and beat it!

I finished up coming in 23rd overall out of 350 racers.  I finished 6th in my age group of 67.  Can't wait for the end of March when I take on Oceanside!

Fruits of our Labors...

There's been a lot that has gone into Racing for Orphans with Down Syndrome.  Lots of times its pretty tedious.  Some days it's not really all that fun to get up early and go out in the cold to ride a bike in the dark.  I know that it's a huge sacrifice for Andrea in so many ways as well.  Probably the biggest challenge for her is putting up with me when I'm tired and cranky from all the training! :)  But she always handles it with a smile! 

Despite any challenges and sacrifices that may be required it's days like today that make it so worth it.  I've been working with our website guys to update our site the last few months.  As part of this update, I've been reaching out to all of our previous RODS Orphans who our team has raced for and who have a family committed to adopting them.  One of our RODS Orphans named Dylan recently had a family from Utah commit to adopt him.  This is exciting news since I live in Utah!  With the help of my sister Lindee Jo, I was able to find Dylan's new mom on Facebook.  I sent her a short message just introducing myself and anxiously waited for her reply.  When Dylan's mom wrote back, I was humbled by just how many miracles I have seen first hand since starting down this journey for the kids.  Please take a moment to read her message:

Hi Brady- It's really nice to get your message! I can't come up with adequate words of thanks for all you have done for our sweet Dylan. It's amazing and humbling what you and Rod's Racing do for orphans. We didn't know that our boy was a Rod's orphan when we inquired about him, but when we found out I've since been trying to think of a way express our gratitude, but I haven't yet because words just don't seem enough.

Although we aren't a very athletic couple I've told my husband Gavin that we are going to have to change that so we can join Rod's team and pay it forward! :) Would it be okay to write a post on Rod's facebook page? That would be a start to expressing our appreciation.

We have never met, but you have made a life changing impact in our lives. One night over a year ago in April I was reading a blog and it mentioned your story in the Desseret News and so I clicked over to read it. Little did I know my life was about to change forever. It was from your family's story that I first heard of Reece's Rainbow. After only a few weeks we were committing to our little angel Harmony and then later in October our other little angel Penelope. Our two beautiful Russian dolls that we pray a plead every day that Russia will get it figured out and we can bring them home. In the meantime, there have been some pretty divine and incredible happenings that have led us to our handsome boy. So, to find out that he was a Rod's orphan feels so full circle because it was your story that brought us to Reece's Rainbow, to our girls and Dylan.
Simply.....thank you.

We look forward to meeting you!
-Mali

Allow me to take a moment to give you some background here.  The very first Ironman I ever raced was Ironman St. George last May.  It was in preparation for this race that we founded RODS Racing.  In trying to share the kids story we contacted all of the local news outlets hoping one would share our story.  Deseret News was the very first news outlet to cover the story.  It's still one of my favorite articles that has been written.  Now well over a year later we just found out that it was this story that introduced this family to Reece's Rainbow.  Within two weeks they committed to adopting a child and later committed to another one!  Unfortunately their little ones they committed to were in Russia and all adoptions there have since been banned.  Heartbroken this family opened their hearts back up and found Dylan.  Ironically enough, of all the many hundred children listed on Reece's Rainbow, Dylan was one who we have chosen to race for as a RODS Orphan.  Dylan's family didn't know that he was a RODS Orphan but it sure seems fitting that he was! 

The purpose of RODS Racing is to raise funding and awareness for Orphaned children who have Down syndrome.  It's easy to track the success we have raising the funding but many times we can't quantify how much good comes from the awareness side.  Do you remember the part in Dylan's moms message that said she was introduced to the news article by someone sharing the RODS Racing story on their blog...?  This proves once again that it's by small and simple things that great things are brought to pass!  Whoever it was that shared the story, I just want to say thank you! 

Nash just celebrated his 6th birthday yesterday.  Andrea and I reflected back to when he was born.  What a wonderful 6 years that it's been for our family and everyone who's life has been touched by our little Nash.  We love you buddy!  We are so thankful that you are our son and that we are your parents.  Here's to many more years of service for all your little buddies.  We couldn't do it without you!

What better way to celebrate a birthday than going fishing!