Thursday, November 8, 2012

Team IronDean 5K

WOW!!
There really are no words except
WOW!!
Team IronDean 5k was an absolute success.
STATS:
1. Over 450 people registered for the race.
2. We raised and will be donating over $10,000 to Huntsman Cancer Institute.
3. J-dawgs donated 500 hot dogs and catering.
4. Over 80 raffle items were handed out. Including an i-touch, i-pod nano, duffle bags, puzzles, gift cards, leapsters, pillows, an awesome watch, and much much more.
5. Everyone was able to stomp out over 50 brains layed on the ground throughout the course.
6. Loudest "kick cancers {fill in the blank}" cheer yet!
 
I don't want to get too wordy, but I know my Mom wants this blog to be a way for Alex to be able to come home from his mission and feel like he was connected somehow to all that we have experienced while he has been away.
 
So, from the "race directors" point of view..... Races are a lot of work!! {And I didn't even do all that much!} Can I just say that having 8 siblings is pretty dang awesome! Between all of us there was over 4,000 e-mails sent regarding the 5k (some were as simple as "order in the court" and "overuled"), but still...., everyone was in constant contact over who was doing what and what still needed to happen. Tons of phone calls, lots research, i-video meetings, and much more!
 
A few shout-outs....and I know I am going to miss some, but I am still going to attempt it:)
 
Chris Nielski {Whitney's Hubby}: Gathered everyone together and said let's do this back in August. We had our first "meeting" down in their apartment and Chris had his spreadsheet and Google-Doc all set up and ready to make assignments. Thanks for getting the ball rolling Chris!!
 
Whitney: Holy Cow. This girl is amazing. 9 months pregnant she walked the course, set up the map, she ordered the shirts, she arranged the porta-potty's, she called the city's of s.j. and riverton and oked everything with the police department{which was an ENOURMOUS undertaking}, she reserved the pavillion, she sent probably 1,000 of our 4,000 e-mails. She was awesome. I cannot even descibe all the work she put in. :) Thanks Whid.
 
Jeff: If he ever decides to quit being an accountant {he can't quit working for Grandview Dental... but everyone else} then he should be a race director! Jeff was awesome. He was at every meeting with pen and notepad in hand. He was the main decision maker in every aspect of the race. He set up the registration page and the bank accounts. He managed all of the money, made a million to do lists, purchased all of the food, and race course set-up materials, he packed the trailer, set up the course, handed out his credit card number {love the new jeans btw:) mwa-haha} . Jeff had his hand in every aspect of the race. He was the man in charge, and he was amazing!
 
Ryan: Was the first to take the scary step of asking for donations. NO ONE likes to ask other people for money. But Ryan drafted a letter and sent it to his Boss who was beyond generous and supportive. Ryan got us all of the donations from wasatch running, along with the race tags and timer.  And can I just say that Ryan rocked it as M.C.? We knew he would though. Anyone who meets Ryan is sure to have a quick friend. We had fun trying to think of the worst jobs to assign Ryan:))
 
Lexi: This girl is A-MA-ZING... Poor Lexi. She practically had a full time job branding everything for this race. She designed every single thing. From the website to the t-shirts, water bottles, chapsticks, picture backdrop, back-packs, letter head, race course signs.... I know I am forgetting things but Lexi worked non-stop to make this race look professional and uniform and really just awesome!! Almost every step of the way Lexi had to help. We needed her talents and input constantly!
 
Greg: Thank you for marrying Lexi. Seriously. :) Greg was our gopher. Any time we had a job that needed to be done, we sent Greg a quick text and knew it would be taken care of. And since Greg and Sean were the most recently returned missionaries they were put in charge of finding donors:) Thank you boys... that is the worst job in my book.... Oh, and did I mention he married Lexi:)
 
Jordan: Jordan was the first to spend money in honor of Team IronDean:)) She ordered the wrist bands and got the ball rolling. She was also in charge of all e-mails and volunteers..... and she has already started to save for flights for next year. She refuses to be in Texas next time. We missed you but had you there in spirit Dode!!!!
 
Sean: Aka Richard, Ricardo, S-baby, Juan..... the man of many nicknames.... Music at the race was courtesy of Richard.. {Even if there was a song with the F-bomb and the beeoch:)}.... He quickly made up for it by being the man responsible for getting us J-dawgs!!! And of course anything that needed to sound professional from letters to website info and more Sean drafted up for us... That boy is a wizard with words!!
 
Lindsey: Thats me:) I will just say I was really good at putting out orders and bossing people around. But I think that is my job as the oldest daughter right? Although I did get those sweet backpacks ordered and was in charge of the bagel donations:)
 
Kim: Um.... have you seen the awesome picture's? Kim did an amazing job at capturing the moments of the race. And she was practically a single Mom for 2 months letting Jeff run around town getting everything organized!
 
Dillon: was an awesome helper at stuffing race packets, delivering flyers, and letting us boss him around when needed.
 
Grandkids: Helped us deliver signs around Grandpa's neighborhood and were all soooo excited to "train" for the 5k. Even the one's who couldn't make it from out of state:)
 
 
 
Like I said, I know there is sooo much I am forgetting, but it has been so much fun to organize this with my siblings. I feel like we were all able to contribute in our own unique way. And on that note can I just say I have the worlds best siblings? Seriously. They are awesome. Each and every one of them. I looked forward to checking my e-mail each morning wondering what brother was making a wise crack about how "annoying" us girls were, or an e-mail from one of the girls that actually had some "important" information in it:)
 
Of course our biggest thank you obviously is to each of you who helped, participated, volunteered, donated, and became a member of Team IronDean. We could not have done it without you. I know I speak for all of my siblings and my parents in saying Thank you! Everyone has been so kind and thoughful and supportive and just amazing in following and helping us throughout this journey. All of your prayers, and kind words, and again your support in making this day so special for our Dad and Family. Thank you so very much!
 
So many of you went above and beyond.. My Dad's sister Robin and her husband Gary flew in from Georgia to participate. My Parents neighbor Brother Martin... who is a HUGE Utah fan {yuck:)} went out and bought all BYU gear and wore it to the race in support of my Dad. That brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I don't think I could wear Utah gear for anyone!!:) Some of my Dads customers that he has been selling labels to for years came out to support and love him. So many friends of us kids from High School and College came out to support. I wish I could mention all of you individually. It really meant so much to all of us, and especially our Dad, so thank you!
 
When we decided to do this race we kept it a secret from our parents. We wanted to make sure we could pull it off before we announced anything:) And after much planning and preparing and once we got the website "LIVE" all the kids came over to my parents house and {me and Jordan were on our i-pads on skype}. Greg hooked up the apple T.V. and put the website up on it and Ryan went through the website and read each page to our parents. And the whole time my Dad was wiping away the tears. He is not a man big on words but his emotions spoke volumes. And then he and my Mom were the first 2 people to register for the race! I think it was a special moment for them. And each registrant after that made this race more and more special. So, thank you so so much. Thank you doesn't seem adequite enough. But please know that we sincerely mean it. We could not have done it without all of you.
 
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
 
So without further delay......The picture's from the race are posted below. They really speak for themselves.




































4 comments:

Dana said...

sending much love from an old neighbor on westbrook (mormon) court! so impressed with dean, your mom and every one of you exceptional kids! you are an inspiration! love and prayers for your dad and all of you on this journey with him.
xo dana (arnold) renshaw

Jennica said...

YOU guys are ALL AMAZING! You all know how to pull off a totally professional race/run. Everything was great. The food was amazing (umm I was a J-Dawg virgin before... but NEVER again. Maybe I should become a J-Dawg slut?! Yes, please!), the atmosphere was so fun, positive and upbeat, and the cause was superb (Cancer really does suck!). You Bun-lock offspring really rock! It was great to be apart of something so GOOD! Nice job to all of you. Love ya

Brent Nielson said...

Miracle Family!!

Robin said...

This was a total BLASt!
Kill cancer long live Dean!!