Mile 23: TJ and Wanda Shufflin, In Memory Of Evelyn Williams

Mile 23: TJ and Wanda Shufflin, In Memory of Evelyn Williams

TJ and Wanda are dear friends of my dad and I am so honored to have their support on this mission.

Here is the meaning behind Mile #23 in Wanda's words:

I never had the pleasure of meeting Mitzie, but I heard she was a great lady.
My mother died in 2001 of ovarian cancer, but she was almost 78, so I had her for a long time (not long enough).  Her name was Evelyn Williams.
Could we please have mile 23 in her honor?  She was born in 1923.  And 23 is TJ's lucky number.

Thank you TJ and Wanda.  I'm honored to be a part of your tribute and I hope #23 is as lucky to me as it is to you, TJ!

Mile 50: Ricky and Jill Goulart

Mile 50 is from another one of my mom's sisters (she has three of them!)!! It was chosen in honor of the year my mom was born (1950).  Another coincidence, my mom would have turned 50 the year that she past away.  It's a special number for sure. Thank you so much to Ricky and Jill for your donation. 

Jill is one part of the my mom's twin sisters, Jackie and Jill.  Everyone just loves my grandmother's sense of humor in naming them.  Jill's also the life and photographer of many of our parties in Louisiana.  She's one of the super great aunts and she's really good at it, too!  At least it's a LOT of fun to watch her take on 7 kids under the age of 7...they all call her 'Weezer' (as in, 'Steel Magnolias') - and for good reason, too!  :-)  Love you!

Her husband, Ricky, is also awesome with all the little ones, too.  He's got a great sense of humor and he's the best high school softball coach in the state of Louisiana!  Bayou, backyard baseball games are always started by him - and they are always a lot of fun!

Thank you so much Jill and Ricky for all of the love and support!  I'll see Mile #50 on my bike ride...about half way through, so it is sure to make me smile for many, many reasons!!

Miles 95, 96, 97 and 98: The Goains Family

Miles 95-98 are a special donation from Kimberly Goains and her family.  Kim, formerly Kim Chrisman, was a dear friend of mine in high school.  We lost touch for a couple of years, but thanks to the evolution of social media we have gotten in contact again.

Her donation is in honor of our high school years together at Kingwood High School.  Wow!  That was a long time ago.  Between us now we have 5 kids (she has three!), husbands, mortgages, bills, and crazy days that keep us on our toes.  I know how hard she works to keep her family going strong as a stay at home mom, and I really, really, really appreciate her donation to this cause.

Thank you so much Kim!!  You seriously made my day the other day!!

Thanks To You!!

I'm so excited about my recent fundraising update!!  Currently, I am at $3,216 and that is just AWESOME to me because it is the most money I have ever raised towards funding a cure for cancer. I've done a lot of races to raise money for various cancer foundations from the American Cancer Society, to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but raising money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund is obviously very near and dear to my heart.  For me to reach this small stepping stone on the way to my overall fundraising goal is very, very heartwarming and encouraging.  Thank you all so much for the support!

Really quick, I want to thank a few of my donors who have not chosen a mile.  Some of them may prefer to remain anonymous, but I just have to make a quick list to make my thanks known - and how special you truly are to this mission.  So, THANK YOU to:

Eric Stewart
TJ and Wanda Shuflin
Anna Garner and,
Deborah Raley

If you would ever like to claim a mile at any time in recognition of your donations, it would be an honor of mine to give it to you.

Thanks again to everyone!!  This journey just gets more and more amazing every day!!!

Update: Yes I'm Still Alive...

I'm just very tired and hungry.  Since training began back in January, and since I've been working very hard at starting one business to feed another I find that sleeping and eating have taken on a whole new meaning in my life.  There are also a few other things that have a whole new meaning to me.  For example; towels, water bottles, caffeine, and complex carbohydrates - More on that all later.

First, I think I need to update everyone on a few things:

April 1, 2012: My first Ironman sanctioned race of the season is at Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX.

The Lonestar Half Ironman is half the distance that I will be racing in The Woodlands on May 19, so it's a great 'ramp up' race.  Hopefully you might want to come out and see me, but you might also consider coming out to watch Lance Armstrong, too.  Yes, I have no problem name dropping to get people out on the course.  Plus, Lance is a cancer survivor and he works daily to raise money for the cure, too.  How can you not love that?  The only difference between us is that his favorite color is yellow...mine is TEAL!  That's it! (Just don't look at any of his splits on race day....and the only reason why I will finish SEVERAL hours after him is that I start much later too)




May 5, 2012: Team Miles for Mitzie is at it again for the Sprint For Life with MD Anderson!  Sign up today to participate with us. 

This race benefits the Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Fund at MD Anderson...and there are a lot of great events that lead up to the big race day as well.  I plan on getting some shirts together for our team again this year...they'll be awesome and you can also wear them on Ironman race day too!!  Don't worry - bright and obnoxious colors are all I'm thinking about right now :-)  I promise you'll love them!!

 Team Miles for Mitzie at Sprint For Life 2011!

May 19, 2012: D-Day!!! (Anyone else hear the theme for Jaws playing??)  Ironman Texas will be here for me in 11 weeks and I'm freaking out just a little bit, but that's okay... right?

 I mean, it's only the biggest thing I've ever done, the most training I've ever put in, the most time away from my family I've ever given up to chase a dream, and the most money I hope to raise - all in the name of fighting Ovarian Cancer. Who am I kidding - That's HUGE!!!  I have a huge fundraising goal to meet too and a LOOOOOONG way to go to get there.  Please help me spread the word and get across that white line on race day with a $14,060 weight lifted off my shoulders and placed in the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund's hands...all in my mom's amazing memory.