Lizzo recently visited at our last meeting to share a bit about her dear friend Kendra. She sent the following recently

Hi Friends,

As some of you may know and some of you may not, Kendra was a close friend of mine who I had met my freshman year at UCSB thru the UCSB triathlon team.

When on a training ride, biking up Gibraltar road our senior year, Kendra was struck by an asphalt truck and killed.

Kendra was a very unique individual who took every opportunity for a new adventure, a new challenge, she had the ability to cease the day!!! I appreciated that about her.

When I think of Kendra, I always remembered laughing/giggling all the time, especially on our bikes. My favorite was when we would try and sing songs on our bikes and only knew one or two of the words. We would try to mumble or hum/laugh away the rest of the song. Sometime I don't even think we even knew why we were laughing, it was one of those things were we just got each other.

Kendra was planning on graduating from UCSB that Spring and was exploring opportunities to devote her life to fostering the economic and educational development of women and children in developing countries. She intended to go into the Peace Corps in Africa after graduation.

After Kendra's death with the help of Kendra's parents, Rick and Pat Payne, the UCSB Foundation established two scholarships that supports selected UCSB students that foster the qualities of Kendra. The memorial internships named in her honor give life to her dreams.

The UCSB triathlon team that same year changed the name of the annual UCSB triathlon race to Kendra's Race. The race has been held every year since then and each year the UCSB triathlon team generously donates a proportion of the entrance fees to the Kendra Chiota Payne Memorial Fund.

It's been 10 years and each year since 2006 many of us friends and family of Kendra come back to support Kendra’s Race as a great way to come together and renew our bonds of friendship made possible by Kendra.

Today, I'm writing to all of you to come out and support Kendra's Race this year. This year's Race is a Sprint and Olympic distance aquathlon (swim/run). It also features a separate 5K running race. Race details and registration are here.

Each year we try to do a dress up theme since Kendra loved dressing up. We've stayed true to our spandex roots by choosing a theme: 1980's Tight n' Bright. If you are racing, cheerleading, or even if you can't make it and want to show support from afar, we would love to have everyone dress up in their tightest and brightest spandex attire. (Picture below is of Kendra and myself before racing the SF half marathon).

In honor of the the 10th anniversary of the Kendra Chiota Payne Memorial Fund, Kendra's father, Rick Payne, will be racing the Big Sur Marathon and fundraising for the Memorial Fund.
Click here if you would like support Rick in his Last Marathon in honor of his daughter Kendra.

Thanks for your support and hope to see you out there!!

Much Love,

Lizzo