On Saturday night I attended the kick-off event for Lamar Sepulveda's Pay It Forward challenge. It was Lamar's birthday, a dinner to mark a 50-mile run to the event, and the kick-off of his training for an ultra-ironman of sorts. Read below for all info, and, Pay It Forward!
Lamar's Challenge"On March 2, 1984, my son Nick was diagnosed with every parent's worst nightmare: leukemia. The fear of the unknown was here. As we sat down with the doctors at Children's Hospital of Orange County to discuss our options and concerns, they took Nick away before we were done with our meeting. The seriousness of this set in really fast. One moment you have a very active three-year-old child. All of a sudden, he is fighting for his life. Questions run rampant through your mind: "What did I do? How can I fix this? Why not me? How do I pay for this?" Our lives had been changed forever.
Now, some 24 years later, it's time to pay it forward. I remember looking at the two bags full of bills that had stacked up so quickly. This was an enormous burden to deal with, along with all the other worries a young family faces. All these years, I've been grateful to watch Nick grow into a healthy young adult and to know that somewhere out there, some other person had already paid it forward by raising money for the fight against children's cancer and to help ease the burdens of a young family. For all these years I've been quietly looking for a way to make a difference in the lives of another family and their child.
As crazy as everybody thinks I have become, I'm now going to another level of "crazy." For me, triathlon is the ultimate endurance sport. Beginning on April 4, 2008 at 7:00 AM, I will be attempting one of the biggest challenges of my life. But I'm not doing just another triathlon.
My "make-a-difference" triathlon will be a 428.7-mile swim-bike-run from Venice Beach, California to Tempe, Arizona, followed by my competing in Ironman Arizona for another 140.6 miles!
Starting on the sand just south of the Venice Pier, I'll enter the water, swim out around the pier, then head north for 3.3 miles. I'll come out of the water just north of the Santa Monica Pier and run toward my "Transition 1", to change from the swim to the bike. Now it will be time to finish the rest of my first day by heading on the bike into downtown L.A., across the San Gabriel Valley, into San Bernardino and Riverside counties toward Palm Springs. Riding 17-hour days for some 373 miles, I'll end up in Litchfield Park, Arizona, near Phoenix. Entering "Transition 2," I'll be preparing my mind for the run. Slipping on my shoes, I'll head out once more, 52.4 miles to go, running to Tempe Beach Park, completing part one of this two-part challenge.
After I few days rest, I'll be back at Tempe Beach Park, demonstrating why I came to Arizona in the first place. After competing in Ironman Arizona's 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2 mile run, I'll finish with a smile, knowing that I have made a difference in the lives of other children and their families.
Swim 5.6 miles. Bike 485 miles. Run 78.6 miles. 569.2 total miles, a few days of pain and a great burden lifted, knowing when Nick joins me to cross the finish line, that we will have paid it forward.
Working together, we can all be difference makers! In the weeks and months to come, I'll be turning to you for support. I hope you will join me in this great challenge.
Thanks, Lamar Sepulveda"
