The Woodlands Spin For ALS -- Success!
What a great day yesterday with some great friends - and lots of new ones!
Three weeks ago, Kim Hager asked Bill Dwyer and myself if we could pull this off. In an effort to have the maximum awareness, as I stated earlier, we wanted to do this out in Market Street in The Woodlands. (We'll do it next year with having insurance to do so!)
However, Mike Lucas of Luke's Locker stepped up big time and said, "You can host it in our store!" Thanks to Mike, store manager Susie Schreiber, employees Tara Wilson and Andrew Perry (who opened and closed the store for us) and the entire staff, including Cyndy Bhattacharya, who brought in a number of bike trainers for us.
Additional thanks go out to Shari Roberts with Sedona Fitness for Women in The Woodlands and Phil Howard and Carol Steele with Pure Fitness for Women (Louetta Road in Spring) for providing us with spin cycles.
We also received help in getting the word out from Marty Hajovsky with The Chronicle This Week section, Deborah Rowe of The Villager, Scott Campbell of The Woodlands Running Club and TriVantage.
It was a long day, but we had a lot of fun meeting four goals that Kim had in her mind to spell success for The Woodlands Spin For ALS event. They were as follows:
1.) Honor Jon Blais, aka "Blazeman". (Click this link to hear an active.com audio interview before the 2005 Kona Ironman.)
2.) Raise money and awareness for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
3.) Share Jon Blais' story in hopes that it will provide inspiration for others.
4.) Have at least one person riding at all times throughout the 16.5 hours.
We had 21 athletes, riding for almost 38 total bike hours and to date, we were able to raise $1,240. (An anonymous donor said that they would match up to $10,000 raised on a national basis from the 15 sites across the country that were hosting similar Spinathons.)
And we had somebody on a bike for the entire 16 hours and 30 minutes -- all the day way from George Lippert, 2006 Ironman Kona competitor Allan Richardson of The Woodlands and Kim Hager to Luke's Locker employee Andrew Perry and Rocky Raccoon 100-Mile Trail Run finisher Les Ellsworth.
We had four (4) individuals - including first time Ironman Mitch Evans (2006 IM Florida in November) who drove all the way from Pasadena - who had completed an Ironman, including three that had raced at Kona.
Kim and I had a good laugh - especially over music preferences -- as we both biked for five (5) hours.
She asked me what my goals were for the day and I told her, like a runner, that I had a number of multiple goals. One was a time PR on a stationery bike (and that was an hour and a half), another was more than her and the other two were a workout PR (Sunmart; 7 hours and 15 minutes) and then 10-plus hours.
The next two individuals were Debbie Tripp of The Woodlands, who rode for three hours and 30 minutes, and 11-year-old Waverly Walk -- who rode for four hours and 15 minutes!
The Woodlands' Thomas Behe and Jim Braden both ran Run The Woodlands 5K earlier in the morning before coming in to spend time on the bike.
Kim had been in contact with John Wolski of Palatine, IL (who has organized the Spin For ALS effort) the entire time and received the following e-mail from him earlier today:
Kimberly,
You guys did a fantastic job!!!! I have to tell you that I spoke with the Blais family this morning, and they were so moved by the show of support from folks like you. You really cannot believe how much it means to their entire family. Jon told me he was beside himself.
I look forward to seeing the photos! I will post all of the event photos on the website as soon as get them all. I also plan to post a little bit of what everyone did at thier own event - should be fun to see. Final tally coming as I get them all.
Please pass along great thanks to everyone who helped and participated in your event. Let them know how much this meant to the Blais family and ALS families everywhere.
Thanks again!
John
As I shared with Bill and Kim, "We got the word out, we got great help from all involved, we got it done and did something good that was a right thing to do."
Three weeks ago, Kim Hager asked Bill Dwyer and myself if we could pull this off. In an effort to have the maximum awareness, as I stated earlier, we wanted to do this out in Market Street in The Woodlands. (We'll do it next year with having insurance to do so!)
However, Mike Lucas of Luke's Locker stepped up big time and said, "You can host it in our store!" Thanks to Mike, store manager Susie Schreiber, employees Tara Wilson and Andrew Perry (who opened and closed the store for us) and the entire staff, including Cyndy Bhattacharya, who brought in a number of bike trainers for us.
Additional thanks go out to Shari Roberts with Sedona Fitness for Women in The Woodlands and Phil Howard and Carol Steele with Pure Fitness for Women (Louetta Road in Spring) for providing us with spin cycles.
We also received help in getting the word out from Marty Hajovsky with The Chronicle This Week section, Deborah Rowe of The Villager, Scott Campbell of The Woodlands Running Club and TriVantage.
It was a long day, but we had a lot of fun meeting four goals that Kim had in her mind to spell success for The Woodlands Spin For ALS event. They were as follows:
1.) Honor Jon Blais, aka "Blazeman". (Click this link to hear an active.com audio interview before the 2005 Kona Ironman.)
2.) Raise money and awareness for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
3.) Share Jon Blais' story in hopes that it will provide inspiration for others.
4.) Have at least one person riding at all times throughout the 16.5 hours.
We had 21 athletes, riding for almost 38 total bike hours and to date, we were able to raise $1,240. (An anonymous donor said that they would match up to $10,000 raised on a national basis from the 15 sites across the country that were hosting similar Spinathons.)
And we had somebody on a bike for the entire 16 hours and 30 minutes -- all the day way from George Lippert, 2006 Ironman Kona competitor Allan Richardson of The Woodlands and Kim Hager to Luke's Locker employee Andrew Perry and Rocky Raccoon 100-Mile Trail Run finisher Les Ellsworth.
We had four (4) individuals - including first time Ironman Mitch Evans (2006 IM Florida in November) who drove all the way from Pasadena - who had completed an Ironman, including three that had raced at Kona.
Kim and I had a good laugh - especially over music preferences -- as we both biked for five (5) hours.
She asked me what my goals were for the day and I told her, like a runner, that I had a number of multiple goals. One was a time PR on a stationery bike (and that was an hour and a half), another was more than her and the other two were a workout PR (Sunmart; 7 hours and 15 minutes) and then 10-plus hours.
The next two individuals were Debbie Tripp of The Woodlands, who rode for three hours and 30 minutes, and 11-year-old Waverly Walk -- who rode for four hours and 15 minutes!
The Woodlands' Thomas Behe and Jim Braden both ran Run The Woodlands 5K earlier in the morning before coming in to spend time on the bike.
Kim had been in contact with John Wolski of Palatine, IL (who has organized the Spin For ALS effort) the entire time and received the following e-mail from him earlier today:
Kimberly,
You guys did a fantastic job!!!! I have to tell you that I spoke with the Blais family this morning, and they were so moved by the show of support from folks like you. You really cannot believe how much it means to their entire family. Jon told me he was beside himself.
I look forward to seeing the photos! I will post all of the event photos on the website as soon as get them all. I also plan to post a little bit of what everyone did at thier own event - should be fun to see. Final tally coming as I get them all.
Please pass along great thanks to everyone who helped and participated in your event. Let them know how much this meant to the Blais family and ALS families everywhere.
Thanks again!
John
As I shared with Bill and Kim, "We got the word out, we got great help from all involved, we got it done and did something good that was a right thing to do."
posted by WalkSports.com | 6:29 PM
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