AWARDS

LUKE ALTMIX-SIMMONS AWARD: 2008. Most Inspirational Runner
Jeanine Eller: Mental in the Mountains

The Mental in the Mountains team has one inspirational woman.  Jeanine Eller is the team captain.  She is responsible for every person on the team being there.  I can’t explain why she is so inspirational without going back to the beginning, or before the 2006 Chicago Marathon.

In February 2005 Jeanine invited a family we didn’t know to live with us, while the Mom had cancer treatment in Denver, it’s a long story.  One that involved finishing a 1300 sq ft unfinished basement, 40-50 volunteers, and 18 days so that Christy and RJ Dobbins had a place to live while she was having her cancer treatment.  Christie and RJ would live with us for 6 months.  It was the beginning of beautiful friendships, with Christy and Jeanine and Christy’s Mom Molly.  It was a busy time for our family and for Jeanine. 

The Dobbins family moved out in July and Jeanine turned 30 the same month.  She decided she needed to DO something.  Because raising 3 small boys and running 2 successful salons wasn’t enough.  She set her mind on running a marathon.  We went to Dicks, bought a treadmill, and she ran on it every day for 10 weeks.  Every day!  She decided to run the Chicago marathon in October 2006 and she had a year to go from no running to running 26.2 miles.   In November she ran her first 5k, followed by a 10k and a half marathon.   In April of 06 a stylist at our salon moved in to our basement with her family during construction on their house.   Are you seeing a trend here?  Another person welcomed into our home by Jeanine.  Jeanine quickly roped Wendy into running the Chicago Marathon too.  They started training together. Jeanine tried to get other girls from the salon involved and not one of them would take the bait.  They all thought she was crazy. In October both Jeanine and Wendy ran the marathon.  That year Jeanine raised $3500 for St. Jude’s Children’s hospital.  I was so proud of Jeanine and Wendy that I made them each a shadow box with their medals, heat sheets and the picture of them crossing the finish line.  I teared up like a little girl when I presented it to them at our annual Christmas party.  I felt so inspired that I agreed to run it the following year and raise money for St. Jude.  Jeanine went on to inspire a team of 6 to run in Chicago 2007.

In August 2007, Christy Dobbins lost her battle with Ovarian Cancer.  She left behind her mother, her husband and her sons, Lalo age 15 and RJ age 8.

By the time the  Chicago marathon rolled around, all but one of us was injured… 1 broken ankle, 1 sprained ankle, 1 double mastectomy, plantar fasciitis, and one torn Achilles tendon.  There was no Chicago marathon in 2007 for us, but Wendy went on to run her second marathon, The Marine Corp Marathon in Washington DC.

Jeanine took some time off and healed her bad ankle. 

While all of this was happening, one of the women at our salon had gastric bypass surgery in September 2006.  The pounds started falling off and her life started changing.  There was a time when Amy told Jeanine she would only run if chased and then only maybe.  After she shed some pounds her tune changed and she decided to start working out.  It was a whole new lifestyle.

In October 2007 Jeanine came across the Colorado Relay on a running website.  She started asking around for runners and convinced Amy to give it a try.  Jeanine sent her to Road Runner to get fitted for shoes and started running and walking with Amy.  By this time Amy had lost over 150 pounds, and Jeanine coached her through the starting process to become a runner.  Jeanine was so enthusiastic about the running and the relay.  She sent out emails and recruited people from school and work.  The day she registered her Mental in the Mountains team for the relay was the day she realized that the race benefitted Judi’s House and it was the same day Molly Powel took RJ and Lalo Dobbins, Christy’s kids to Judi’s House for the first time.  It was weeks later before they both understood what had happened. 

Jeanine has had 2 mental teams.  The first broke apart.  Jeanine rebuilt the team, again recruiting from work and school.  When it was all said and done the team consists of 3 True runners, Erica and Lisa, 2 girls Jeanine met through me at the physical therapy office for my 2007 broken ankle.   Janessa is the niece of one of our hairstylists.  She is a college girl that ran in school.  The rest of the team are  runners that started running through Jeanine’s efforts.  Wendy (her marathon buddy), Amy (minus 197 pounds!), Yvonne (and her husband Jamal), Dee Dee (a pageant queen), Victoria (the secretary at our kids school), Jessica (her son was also in RJ’s class at WWA), and Pegi (a WWA mom).  Amy went from not exercising at all, to walking and then running.  She ran her first 5k with Jeanine in December and her first half marathon in May!    Jessika had never been a runner.  Jessika and her husband will run the Denver marathon in October!  All of the girls have run races in Boulder, Evergreen, Vail and Denver. 

It is her enthusiasm that motivates people to want to be involved.  She will never leave someone new behind.  She starts out slow with them and encourages them up the hills and through the miles.    Our 9 year old son started running 5ks because of his Mom.   She invites everyone to join her group.  Her clients tell her all the time, “You know, because of you and this relay, I started walking on the track during my son’s football practice”, or “I joined a gym”, or “I bought a treadmill” or “I got my treadmill out.”  Jeanine inspires people to change their lives and step out of their box.  She inspires them to challenge themselves and do something crazy.  She is changing lives.   And not only that, the same enthusiasm that went in to bringing a team together also went in to raising money for this charity.   Currently her team has raised over $4000 for Outward Bound.  More than half of that is money that Jeanine has raised.  She also solicited a corporate sponsor to help out her team.  Jeanine is passionate about Judi’s house because of her friend Christy Dobbins and people feel that.   She is an inspiration.

When thinking about writing this letter, it didn’t take long to figure out what to write.  The things that I have watched my wife do over the last 10 years have been truly amazing.  All I had to do was sit back and reminisce and think about the families that her and the girls at the salon adopt at Thanksgiving and Christmas, the blankets that she has her, I and our 3 boys make during Christmas time that we take to the homeless to stay warm in the winter, and the homeless lady and her 3 year old daughter that she tried to help by finding her a job and a place to stay.  These are things that I witness my wife do often.  Our house is always open to someone in need because she wouldn’t have it any other way.  And that is why I think that Jeanine is the most inspirational person that I know.

Jeff Eller

As of the race, team Mental in the Mountains has raised over $6000 for Outward Bound and Judi's House - a record amount for a single team. -- PM