About Me

Profile

About: Hi y'all!

I'm Jose Talavera. I was originally born in Mexico City and moved to Cypress TX with my family (my dad- Raul, my mom- Paty, and my younger brother- Rod) when I was 6 years old. I grew up in Cypress and spent much of my time in the pool! Starting from when I was 9 years old, I swam summer league, high school and club swimming up until my senior year when I decided I would attend the University of Texas. At UT, I'm a part of/ have been a part of Texas Wranglers (Class of Fall 13), Camp Texas Counselors, FLO (Freshman Leadership Organization) and now I'm incredibly excited to be involved in Texas 4000!!!

Believe it or not, sometimes I do have free time and I'll still try to go to the pool! Other things I enjoy are volleyball, running, basketball, camping, cooking, hiking, dancing, and pretty much anything outdoors.

Why I Ride

When I started my Texas 4000 journey in the fall of 2014, I rode for 2 very important people. First was my high school JV swim coach, Ashely Adkins. Coach Adkins battled skin cancer through a majority of my first high school season and was my first close up encounter with a cancer battle. As the head of our team she inspired us to always keep pushing forward no matter what the circumstances were. She successfully won her battle against cancer and was able to return to the team for the end of the season. Now you can find Coach Adkins still coaching swimming and sharing her passion for the sport ans inspiring others around her like she inspired us.The second person I rode for is actually unrelated to cancer but was my former Fleet swim coach, Allen Salinas. In the fall of 2009, Coach Allen passed away after a routine early morning jog turned into a tragedy upon being hit by a car. Coach Allen lived every day with the utmost energy and passion for everything he did. He dedicated so much time and constantly worked to better himself so he could give more to us. Coach Allen is a huge reason why I am the way I am today. He instilled in me the principles of hard work and of putting others before myself which were both values that drove me to initially apply to Texas 4000. I want to give everything I have to make someone’s struggle a little easier. I want to stop cancer from affecting so many loved ones. I want to not only witness, but be an active participant in today's fight against cancer. Now a couple of months into my journey, I have met lot of my teammates and have more reasons to ride. But what I continue to love most about the organization is hearing other people’s stories in our effort to make cancer history!

I ride because I want to spread hope to those facing cancer and their communities!

I ride for all the warriors out there who don’t give up and are battling cancer every second of their life!

I ride because I HATE Cancer and I want it to stop affecting the lives of so many!

I ride for a Cancer-free tomorrow!

Thank you for supporting Texas 4000 for Cancer! Your contribution is greatly appreciated!

"Don't give up, don't ever give up"- Jim Valvano

"When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live. So live. Live. Fight like hell. And when you get too tired to fight, lay down and rest and let somebody else fight for you." – Stuart Scott

My donation link: tinyurl.com/joset2016texas4000