Exuding Compassion in February

Athletes in Tandem has been keeping up their resolutions and running around the US thus far including Colorado, Florida and Kentucky to name a few states~

Here is a fantastic photo from the Sweaty Sweater 5k at Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins in late January

Pushing Yourself & Someone Else, Why Not?

Summer has quickly gotten away from us & Athletes in Tandem couldn’t be any busier with races! There have been many new athletes participating this summer with AiT & all are having the time of  their lives. Postings will begin to pick back up again on the blog here as our schedules allow. But for now we wanted to share a few opportunities for you to participate in as an athlete to help further AiT’s mission, showcase a few photos from events this summer & direct you to a few newspaper articles & other media that has featured AiT.

Thank You For Your Support

We cannot thank everyone enough for supporting us in completing our first marathon & donating to Athletes in Tandem. Your generosity, encouraging words &  enthusiasm made this whole experience a huge success. In total we raised $7,672.00, which supports Athletes in Tandem in providing many more experiences to athletes of every ability.

Thank you businesses & family sponsors that donated enough to receive a spot our on marathon shirts:

Marathon…Completed

Take a moment to imagine…

The sound of a raging river rushing by, the soft pounding of 1,000’s of feet hitting pavement & the chirp of birds waking up with the morning sun;  the view of a beautiful sunrise in between tall canyon walls giving the exposed bedrock and Lodgepole pines a red & yellow glow; & the cool, crisp, mountain air providing an exhilarating rush of adrenaline.

That was what it was like for the first 17 miles. Amazing. Spirits were high, the air was brisk & everyone’s legs were cruising down the hills. Just before mile 19, we had the most wonderful uplifting surprise. Our friends Kris, Roy, Rachel & Aspen all SCREAMING at the top of their lungs cheering us on & then running with us ¼ of the way up the only hill in the course.

11 Hours & Counting…

Looks as though we’ve finally made it! The race is roughly 11 hours away from the START! Cannot wait to see what 6 months of training can do for us. We are getting really excited to see some familiar faces throughout the race, especially Athletes in Tandem participants Zachary & Susan!!

The past few days we’ve been taking things quite easy, stuffing ourselves full of protein, carbs & of course lots of water. During the race there are aid stations that are stocked with water, energy drinks & energy gu’s about every 3 miles throughout the course, along with port-a-potties too. Athletes in Tandem will have 2 aid stations that they are volunteering at, one when we get to mile 3 & we cannot wait to see everyone at their next aid station at mile 19! It will be at the crest of the only hill we have to climb & from there on out it will be flat & we will be looking to “hopefully” pick up the pace in those last 7 miles.

5 Days To Go!!!! Thank You & Events

Lori, Cynthia & Ryan with Travis & Dennis as their pushers in Texas April 29th, 2012

Thank You

We wanted to begin by saying Thank You to more friends from Michigan! Mr. & Mrs. Harrett, whom I’ve (Stephanie) have known since I was a wee-little one & another good friend Lori Lautenbach. Thank you for your generosity & kindness. You are really making a difference in the lives of many through Athletes in Tandem!

Training

We truly cannot believe the marathon is soon to be here! We’ve had an exciting past few weeks filled with massages, new physical therapists & delightful taper runs. Packet pick-up for the race begins on Friday, where we will get to learn about using our race chips (either on our shoes or on our bibs), meet other racers & find out what kind of good freebies (usually energy bars or GU type supplements & of course our commemorative race shirts!) are stashed in the bag.

17 Days To Go…Thank You, Final Push & New Partnership

*John with Dennis pushing him in the HITS Naples Olympic Distance Triathlon in January 2012

Thank You! 

We first want to start off by thanking Mr. & Mrs. Harrett, dear family friends in MI, for a wonderful & kind donation they sent to support Athletes in Tandem! It’s truly incredible to have such a strong network of support from many of our friends, family & local businesses. Graham & I have also made a donation & we couldn’t be more excited to have surpassed our original goal of $2000.00. Since we have not had to raise any money since high school fund-raisers, we really were not sure if we could even make our goal, but WE DID! Raising funds & awareness for Athletes in Tandem has been a great experience. Learning more about the organization & getting to know the people who participate has been truly inspiring in itself.

Training:

We couldn’t be happier at this point, besides when we cross the finish line, to be in the final weeks of training. It has been a long journey & has been the first in a long time that we have had to put forth so much effort & rearrange our lives to train for something that is so physically demanding.

37 Days To Go… Featured Athlete Zachary & Things Are Heating Up!

Featured Athlete: Zachary

We wanted to first thank Mr. & Mrs. Yocum for their kind & generous donation they made to Athletes in Tandem! They are the sweet grandparents of Zachary this posts featured athlete.

Zachary, we just found out, has competed in 32 events with Athletes in Tandem! That’s pretty amazing, considering the organization has only been around for 3 years! Way to go Zachary & family! Below are some kind words from Zachary’s Mother talking about Athletes in Tandem involvement in his/their lives;

48 Days To Go…Less Than 10 Weeks & Personal Goal Reached!

Group shot from St. Patty’s Day Sharin the Green 5K

Spring Has Sprung:

What an incredible spring this has turned out to be! We couldn’t be happier with the amazing weather we have been having. Running outside is the way to go for us & without the typical snow & ice we had been getting for a few weeks, there hasn’t been much running done on treadmills in quite a while now.

57 Days To Go..Fort Collins 3rd Fittest & New Athlete

We wanted to have a warm welcome to the newest athlete with Athletes in Tandem, David Gallaway! He just completed his first race, The Dam Half, in Denver this past weekend alongside Dennis. We’ll be looking forward to seeing more of David this year in a number of competitions!

Training: 

The past few weeks have flown by and we do apologize for not getting more posts up. We have surely been logging the miles on our long weekend runs as well as during the week. Two weeks ago Stephanie completed a 20 mile run, her first, which went pretty well.