My world!

My world!
Homecoming Princess and Football Star

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

September 29 letter to Team!

Good morning my fellow Team Challengers!

Hope you are all having a fantastic day! The weather in Montana this morning is just spectacular, though our long summer is supposedly ending as early as this afternoon. It’s been such a wonderful Fall so far. The other night on my long run (75 minutes) I felt like I might just be in heaven…the sun setting in the mountains, a gentle breeze, my golden retriever darting in and out of the ditches…birds chirping. I think that is about as good as it gets!

How are you all doing? I’ve been in touch with most of you, but haven’t been able to connect with a few others. If we haven’t visited on the phone yet, will you please drop me a note and let me know when would be a good time to call you? (make sure you include your time zone!) I don’t want to bug you – just chat for a few minutes and lend my support. This little group is my personal team – Team Jodie - and I want to be sure that you feel truly supported in every way as you prepare for this experience. I’m here for the good and the bad! Even if you have a non-race related reason to just need a friend, that’s what I’m for!

Also, if you have a Facebook page, please consider adding me as your friend (Jodie Farmer DeLay)…it is such an easy way for me to communicate! Any of you can feel free to call me anytime, too. If I don’t answer, leave me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. (406-209-0277)

So I think the biggest stressor for some of us is probably the commit date, coming up mid-October. My fundraising was on hold up until this past weekend because my sister had signed up for a JDRF fundraiser before I decided to do this race and I agreed to help her up until that event passed. It was this last weekend and let me tell you, it was AWESOME!!! I’m even more pumped for this race now. There is something about thousands of people coming together for a good cause that really gets me inspired! The families and friends all coming together to help kids was just a phenomenal feeling. VEGAS will be the same, I promise.

Anyway, because of the JDRF walk, I haven’t even begun to fundraise, so if any of you are feeling like you don’t have time…I hear ya! However, this is a great time to really put on the full court press, send a blitz, etc! Here is what I’ll be doing this week….

Issuing the following challenge to all my friends and family…If I get 10 donations of $100.00 or more OR hit a total of $2,500 by October 15, I will run the half with an Elvis wig… I’ll be photoshopping a wig on my pretty little head and putting it as my profile picture on Facebook… I know a few of my so called friends will find this pretty compelling!

I’m going to offer anyone who makes a donation of $3.00/mile ($39.30) or more before October 15th a set of 8 hand designed note cards. These can be used as Thank you cards or whatever – and the back will have in small letters, my fundraising site and the CCFA web page. My kids and my daughter’s boyfriend are really talented artists. I know I’m their mom, but they really are…: ;-)

I’m going to have a tailgate party at my house during the AWAY football game this weekend and ask my guests to make a donation.

Does anyone else have any ideas that they wish to share with the group? We are so geographically diverse that I think we can help each other a lot! Most of all, I don’t want anyone feeling alone in this journey! We have each other and I KNOW we can all be successful! Drop me a note, okay?

Oh, and I have a blog too…kodyandjodie.blogspot.com. I haven’t been keeping it up very good so far but will be doing better J )

Have a great day!
jd

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Sept 1 letter to team

Hi Team,

Just wanted to take a minute to introduce myself to those of you who I haven't had the chance to meet yet, and touch bases with the rest of you! I'm your national team mentor and couldn't be more excited about getting to know all of you and enjoying the journey together. I have a blog at www.kodyandjodie.blogspot.com. If you didn't get my "all about me" email you can see it posted there. In a nutshell, I'm super passionate about finding a cure for Crohn's and Colitis cause its caused a lot of trouble for my family and I hate to see what it does to LOTS of families.

In my intro note, I said that I hadn't really had an episode in almost six years. Unfortunately, I seem to be moving into a bout now. I had remicade last Friday, but it was about 3 weeks late and I'm paying for it a little bit. I have an amazing doctor who is pulling out all the stops to make sure that I don't get too out of control. I'm on cipro, flagyl, prevacid now and getting an abdominal/pelvic ct scan on Thursday. I feel like we'll be able to get it back into remission. One thing I've learned in the 16 years i'v had Crohns is that you don't mess around with it. I'm putting all my energy into feeling better. I'm behind on my training program and my fundraising, but I'm not worried. One thing I'm completely confident of is that this team, OUR TEAM, has the strength to pull everyone up when any of us falter. There is a lot of time and we are going to get through this.

I'm not trying to be over dramatic....but I want to be serious for a minute. Feeling how I am right now is freaking me out. It's scary. I know that all of you know what I mean. YOu wouldn't be committed to this race if you didn't. When Carly asked me about being a mentor, I said yes, without even thinking. I have a very deep faith and I just want you all to know that I believe ths race will be a huge part of my getting well again. When I told my doctor about it; he said, well we better get this thing whipped, you got work to do. I really want to thank all of you for your prayers and your thoughts. I know I'll be back on track in no time. Hope to talk with many of you tomorrow.

I'm here for you if anyone needs anything!

Jodie