Team Transplant, UWMC

Superstars of the Week…

Let’s hear it for our remarkable water station helpers..
•    Out at Alki, Jon McLees made a surprise appearance and managed home base.  Jon joined the team way back in 2002 and had competed in the Seattle Half Marathon every year since then …until last year.  He’s been sidelined with a back injury but is hopefully now on the road to recovery.  It’s always a treat to see Jon so we’re pulling for a speedy return to form.  That way maybe he’ll be able to make something other than surprise appearances—We’d like to expect to see him on a regular basis!   Carla Trulson Essenberg and Laura Lewis were stationed out at Lincoln Park.   Carla’s one of our lung transplant recipients and joined us last spring.  She’s been an incredible addition to the team and is just chock full of inspiration.  She finished last summer’s RnR Half in under 4 hours and then decided to back off on training last fall to do the Seattle Marathon 5k.  I know she’s looking forward to returning to the 13.1 mile distance…and we’re looking forward to seeing what she can do with a year of training under her belt!   Laura, one of our UWMC social workers, also joined us in the spring of 2009.  She completed her first half marathon last fall in the Seattle Half Marathon.  I know it was an incredible experience for her…and it’s been an incredible amount of fun having Laura on the team!  We look forward to cheering her on in June as well!
•    Around Lake Union, we had returning water station helpers, Sam Patterson (yes…the same hockey-playing, 5k-walking Sam mentioned earlier) and Kenneth Bullis who manned the station on the other side of the lake.   We certainly appreciate their being willing to pull double duty to keep our practices rolling!