Quench the Fire 2017

[PamK1950]

Lexi and Rennie, it was nice meeting the two of you. I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures. I didn't bring my camera and haven't had my new phone that long to play with the camera on it, so I didn't take that many pictures.

I walked about 1/3 of the distance, but managed to finish in 46:50 and actually tied for 2nd place in my age bracket. (That was a pleasant surprise.)

However, the best part of the day was finding the gal I talked to last year that inspired me to get my life back. My main mission this year was to find her and thank her for what she did for me. She was a little surprised at what I told her as she didn't think she did anything special. When I asked her how she did this year, she said her RSD had been acting up and she didn't do as well as last year. Her "slower" time this year was 28:12 (compared to 25:34 last year). She is one remarkable lady.

[Rennie]

Congratulations Pam on your race time, well done. I was excited to finish at all. It was nice to meet you and Kate as well. I'm sorry I missed Lexi. I don't have many photos, My phone was put away during most of the event. I have no idea how to pass them on to you or Kate and really don't have the time to figure it out, as I'm leaving for Managua tomorrow and haven't a clue what internet access will be available once I arrive. I'm looking forward to next year.

[JacksGirl1990]

I was there and did the 5K. Came all the way from Kansas City since I suffer with a lot of mental health and chronic pain disorders. I had a seizure after the race. Pretty much the whole crowd was gone except the EMTs that stook around to help me, the event organizers of who I befriended, and Rick who was polite enough to stick around and even take a photo with me despite my ragged appearance. He looked exhausted and naturally of course was distracted by a lot of doggo's lol but who could blame him? He was very sweet, and my mom actually just kind of sat there and chatted with him while I was just kind of sitting in a chair shaking still cause of the massive seizure I had. She said it took him a bit to remember who I was after she sat there trying to jog his memory about the dog painting I made for him. He really couldn't remember at which I just chuckled cause I was like "damn I can't even remember what I ate this morning" lol But yeah he was very sweet and relaxed, you could tell he was in his element. The big outdoors, dogs, people who love him, and of course an amazing cause. Lynne tho is by far the sweetest person I have ever met tho. She's the event organizer or was, she has since stepped down due to her health. She wasn't the only one I befriended buy I'm terrible with names so I cannot for the life of me type all their names down.

I hate to report however that there will not be a 5/10k race this year (2018) due to lack of volunteers to help coordinate the race. I just got a message back last night from their Facebook page. They haven't made an announcement on their page yet so I hope I'm not going out of bounds here with telling every one on the forums. I am absolutely crushed because I have kind of already planned my next trip to LA to include the date of the race into my itinerary. That and it was one of the major charities I full heartedly support and gave me the motivation to push thru all the pain I have to actually run for such a good cause (I'm not made for cardio ah!). But I jogged pretty much the whole 5k which I didn't prep or train for (hence the seizure, and extra shaking since I was using my inhaler every 5 min...didn't know it basically acts like taking speed if you use too much of it). Now they said they won't be having it any more unless things turn around and people actually step up to the plate and volunteer.

I can't express how important this event was to me and I had only found out about it in 2016 so I only got to participate once for it. It wasn't just because Rick was there (tho I won't lie he was a major motivator for me cause well it's Rick), and because not only does my family and I suffer from a lot of chronic illnesses and pains, and neurological pain disorders but because everyone I seemed to have met there had some kind of pain too, some worse than others and they still attempted to do the race. I really hope to see this event come back. It meant a lot to me, like you have no idea. If I actually lived in the LA area and not stuck in some cold ridden state like Kansas City, MO I would be volunteering.

Sorry for the bad news. Let's hope they turn things around or maybe have a smaller event to help support this veru important cause and to have the ability for fans to meet Rick in a more relaxed way than at a con.

Wishing you all the best, love you all.

Jen

[JacksGirl1990]

Updated message I just got little less than 30 min ago from Lynne:

"Hi Jen! I've retired from QTF after 11 years - it's been a long road, but a rewarding one, and we've been able to do good things! It's an amazing amount of work, and it was taking it's toll on me. Should there be any news on year 12, you'll see it on our website QuenchTheFire.org and the Facebook Page. To low-pain days and new adventures, Lynne"

They have multiple people running the FB page so let's all pray this works out eh?

Cheers and good health!

Jen

[bftlovesRDA]

Does anybody know if QTF is not going to be held in 2018 (see previous posts on this thread).