Reed-Sternberg Cells

Well, the news you have been waiting for. The pathologist found reed-sternberg cells in my lymphnode last week which means I have a form of cancer known as Hodgkin's Lymphoma. It is a very treatable with radiation and chemotherapy. At this point, I do not know my staging or specific treatment options but I am confident (as are the doctors) that I will beat this thing, it's only a matter of time. My goal is to be racing again next season! With that mind, please keep me in your prayers as I move forward in the process of tackling and beating this thing.

Fourth Time is a Charm?

I went under the knife for the fourth time this year...going under for the fourth time wasn't so bad; although, this surgery was appearantly a little more serious as I had to get an xray before the surgery to make sure my lungs would not collapse and I had to got into a real OR room. For those of you who don't know, three of my lymph nodes are enlarged and a recent biopsy was inconclusive so the doctor had to take one out for diagnostic purposes. Hopefully I will know something by early next week. Until then I was told no activity or activities which require critical thinking...guess that means no homework for me...at least for a day or two! :) Let's be honest I will be going stir crazy by tomorrow though, especially with the incredible weather we have this week, so me doing nothing is not going to happen.

Katie and Mark's American Wedding
Last night Katie and Mark finally tied the knot in America. They actually were married while visiting Mark's family in New Zealand this spring but, appearantly, Katie wanted to get girly and put the white dress on...or her mom wanted her to. Either way she looked awesome, and as any smart wedding attendent knows, watching the groom's face when he first sees his bride is the most incredible image of the day!

Their wedding was the perfect way to celebrate the end of my season with lots of fun people...most of whom I only see in spandex. This was the first time I have spent time with Cari when she wasn't wearing black and white cow print spandex with pink accents!

Amy was my date since her husband was out of town for the weekend but Mike kept trying to steal her from me. She's a good date to have and worth fighting over though! :)

Sarah wrote quite the song for Katie and Mark...something about KFC and the Original Recipe. She is quite the comedian and had everybody rolling by the end.

The happy couple, Katie and Mark Compton...yes, Mark is taking her last name!

Collegiate Nats Part 2
After raining all night Thursday and all day Friday, racing finally got under way at 4 pm. Unfortunately, my one and only race did not start until about 9:30pm and it was probably 45F at that time! Good news is I revamped my warm-up and my legs were feeling much better than Thursday morning and a bunch of people braved the cold and cheered me on.

Renee was there and gave me last minute instructions like go fast, stay up front, and attack...appearantly there was some funnier pointers as well and at this point I was able to laugh...

Than I realized how many girls where in the race...so many they had to stack some at the bottom with holders! Oh, and let's not forget, probably half of them (about 30) had never done, or completed very few, mass start track races. Fun times!

It was definitely fast and I attacked a few times when I wasn't pursuiting at the back freaked out or almost crashing out b/c the slower riders were still on the track after getting dropped. In the end I finished with the lead back but no points so my placing wasn't great. I got home around 11pm that night, went to bed around 12am, and had to wake back up at 6am for my final race, the 500m which took less than a minute in the 40F weather at 8am. Needless to say, I am now fully embracing my off season. Too bad school isn't in off season too!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

After a disappointing morning session, I returned to the track last night for my 500m. Fortunately, my legs felt 100% better (which means my warm-up was the culprit for a bad 2km) and I was psyched to go, fifth off the start line for the evening session. However, as we paid our moment of silence to 9/11 it started to sprinkle...during the national anthem it started to pour...we all huddled under tents for awhile than ran with everything up to the locker room and sat until 7:30pm when they cancelled racing for the night. Woke up this morning and it's still raining...we're supposed to start again at 1pm but I have a hard time believing the track is going to dry off before more rain comes in.

For more on yesterday's racing, check out Renee's Blog.

Collegiate Nats are Finally Here!

This morning was the first session of collegiate nats. I raced the 2km which I spent the entire summer training for. Unfortunately I did not have the legs this morning and sucked. Had the race been Saturday I would have flown but today it felt like I was pedaling through semi-dry cement for much of the race. Needless to say, I am bummed but at least I have two more races left. It was awesome to have so many people there supporting me though, including Melissa, Katie, and Renee who have helped me all summer in working towards this race. Next race is the 500m tonight and then tomorrow night is the points race.

Katie the bride-to-be
Last night we went out to celebrate Katie's upcomming wedding. It started out with dinner and gifts at Mary's house and then we were off to the infamous Golden Bee...I have heard about this bar ever since I moved to the Springs and only made it there last night, five years later, to finally check the place out.

Secretly, I think Katie really enjoyed her white feather boa despite complaints of it being hot.

Melissa really loved the sing along piano part...appearantly she has been to the "Bee" many times before and knows everybody who works there.

And I got to hang out with Amy again...I seriously have seen her more in the past two months than past two years...school will do that to your social life!

By the end of the night, Katie was agreeing to a 10am ride this morning...we'll see who's late and who really shows up after last night's shinnagins.

Happy Birthday to Me, Take Two!

Since a lot of my friends were on the annual backpacking trip (which I couldn't go on because of nationals) the weekend of my birthday, I had one more birthday celebration left. Last night we went to Amanda's Fonda...a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, it was too cold to sit outside (it's been unseasonably cold the past week) but we had a great time and it was fun to hangout with some of my favorite ladies in Colorado Springs. Note: Five of them are former roommates of mine!

Chris and Peter's Excellent Adventure

For those of you who don't know, my younger brothers are spending a month in Europe. And, let's be honest, it is definitely going to be an adventure for these two! If you are interested in following their trip, they also have a blog: Chris And Peter's Excellent Adventure.

Farewell Winders
My good friends, Steff and John, and their little boys, Trevor and Carson, are getting ready to move to Corvallis, OR this week. Steff and John were my neighbors way back at the Platte house and then again this summer in the new apartment. It's been so much fun having them as neighbors again and I am really going to miss having them around.

Trevor and I have become buddies this summer riding bikes, playing soccer, and reading books. It's fun to leave the land of studenthood to play with kids.

Oh, and by the way, Steff and John are both Big Ten alumni. Steff swam for U of I and John played football there. So, we have a very special midwestern and Big Ten bond. It's not very common to find Big Ten alum out in the Rockies and it's been fun to share our love for sports over the years. Goodbye Winders, you will be missed dearly!!!