Welcome to Rayden's Athletic Friends

Rayden and Sheena’s Story-- Sheena had experienced a rough year, shortly after her father committed suicide, Sheena and her boyfriend Rob Archuleta who is now her husband decided to find sobriety.  Sheena had been addicted to crack cocaine and Rob to methamphetamine for over 12 years. Early in their recovery Sheena and Rob tried to fill their time with anything to avoid negative thoughts and temptation.  To stay clean and sober Rob and Sheena took long walks, played Frisbee Golf, and would go into the local pet store to stare at aquariums and visit puppies. On one visit to the pet store, Sheena and Rob’s lives would change forever.  Sheena had noticed an all-white Siberian Husky on display in the pet store, this Husky was unique he was covered with snow-white fur and had piercing blue eyes.  Sheena asked the owner to take the puppy out of the cage so that she could hold him.  It was love at first sight!  Rob and Sheena played with the puppy for hours.  Finally, when it was time to put the Husky back the little white fur ball hugged Sheena’s hand with his paw and wouldn’t let go.  Sheena’s eyes filled with tears and it took every bit of strength Sheena had to leave her new best friend. Sheena became obsessed with owning this little puppy. However, there were two problems that prevented this adoption from happening immediately, the first issue was that Sheena’s new best friend was expensive, he was about $2500, money that Sheena and Rob did not have.  The second issue was that Rob and Sheena had just rented their first house and could barely take care of themselves. They were barely learning to function in society, owning a puppy is a big responsibility, a duty that no one believed the couple could or should take on. Sheena and Rob applied for credit so that they could take the dog home, but without a work history, the two were turned down instantly.  Next, Sheena asked her brother for her inheritance from her father’s death, but Sheena’s brother rightfully said no. A few days later Rob and Sheena went back to visit the puppy and he had been sold.  Sheena’s heart was broken and she left the pet store in disbelief. On several occasions, Sheena had told Rob and her closest friends that she felt the puppy was her soulmate. Two weeks later Sheena was working at a salon and telling a client about the puppy and how bad she felt not having the money to adopt him; suddenly one of Sheena’s coworkers interrupted the conversation and told Sheena that she had been in the pet store earlier that day and that they had a puppy that looked just like the one she was describing.  Sheena immediately called the pet store and inquired about the puppy, the store manager stated that they had been trying to get a hold of Sheena because the people who had adopted the puppy had a death in the family and gave the puppy back.  Sheena left work right after hanging up the phone she then convinced her brother to give her the inheritance money and bought the puppy for a lot less money because the pet store said they had already made their money on the pup and just wanted him to go to a loving home.  Rob named the puppy Rayden after the Mortal Kombat video game character.  Rayden taught Sheena and Rob how to love and became an important part of their addiction recovery.  Years later Rob and Sheena founded Addict2Athlete a program that would help addicts recover from addiction through exercise and education.  Rayden attended the first meeting and ran the track at the middle school where the meeting was held with a group of recovering addicts.  Rayden never left Rob or Sheena’s side for the following 13 years, he became their child and best friend.  Rayden recently passed away on September 25, 2017, one day before his birthday.  Through this foundation Rayden’s memory will live on.  The power of a pet is unparalleled, we hope you all have the same experiences with your furry family members.

Rayden’s Athletic Friends will host the R.A.F. Rough 5K and 1 Mile Walk or Run.  The race will start at the City Park Pavilion at 8:00 a.m. all the proceeds will be distributed to local animal shelters to help house our furry  friends who haven’t found a forever home yet.  In this walk/run, you are not only allowed to bring your pet, you are encouraged to bring them!  Each pet will receive a race shirt, don’t worry, you will have an opportunity to buy a shirt also. Stay Tuned for more details, and a link for runsignup.com will be available soon.  THE R.A.F. ROUGH PARTNER WOD is also right around the corner.  Each team will bring  a 40lbs bag of dog or cat food that will grant them entry into the WOD. Each team will have to perform a series of movements with the bag of food. Movements may include bag thrusters, a bag run, bag cleans, and bag back squats. Keep an eye out on social media platforms for dates and times. Remember these events are for a worthy cause, and  great way for fitness finatics to Save a Life One Workout at a Time.

Rayden’s Athletic Friends is a foundation that is a part of Addict2Athlete the R.A.F. Foundation gives athletes an opportunity to save furry lives through fitness the same way that Addict2Athlete saves lives through Functional Fitness and Education. We will hold several Functional Fitness events and WODs as well as runs to help support the local animal shelters and their quest to keep all animals loved and safe.