Jim, the boys and I saw Lisa and Jodie off at 7:30 this morning. Around 12:30, we all met up again at the finish line in Niagara Falls, including Mom and Sheila and Rick (Jodie's mom and step-father). We were well positioned to see Lisa cross the finish line about an hour later, with Jodie only a few minutes behind.
For me, the best part of the weekend was seeing cancer survivors cross the finish line. Survivors were identified by a yellow flag flying behind their bike. Each time one went by I got a little choked up. The other best part was seeing the bike storage area Saturday night, with all the yellow flags poking up amongst a sea of bikes.
By the way, I should mention that I registered for the 2009 Ride to Conquer Cancer. I have to pick a fundraising goal. I'm thinking, maybe $10,000.
Here's a few photos from late Saturday and Sunday.
Lisa at the Saturday finish line.
Sam showing his colours.
Jodie (blue) and Lisa (yellow) at the Sunday start line.
And they're off!
Mom, Lisa and me at the finish line.
Me, Jodie, Jamie and Sam at the finish line.
Riders head the last few yards to the finish line.
2 comments:
This comment is from my mom's cousin, Berna. I thought it should be here.
Bob
"I have just been looking at the latest news..
Lisa is beautiful First picture I`ve really seen of her.
Congratulations on both your children .
You must be so proud. They did a great job.
I try to look at the Blog, at least every weekend.
I`ve just had some fresh Salmon..Mike caught a 20 pound salmon this morning.
I went out there and harvested a lovely piece..Was expecting supper..but couldn`t handle their time frame - slow and uncertain, So I just brought some home.
Still hope to have you back someday.
Love berna"
Well, I did it. I conquered my Ride To Conquer Cancer!!! It was an amazing event. There were 2950 riders and together we raised over 14 million for cancer research!! Leaving Saturday morning in a sea of yellow shirts was a very unbelievable start to a wonderful life changing day. I only wish my family could have been there to see this. I was grateful to Natasha for spending those first moments with me!
Saturday was a hard, hard day for most. There were a ton of up and down hills, the only problem was the down hills were so little that it pretty much just felt like it was uphill all the way. It took me over 7 hours to get through the first day. At the end I wasn’t sure I was going to come back for the second day. I was considering sending Jim in my place J I could hardly walk, my knees were sore, my bottom was unbelievably sore. In speaking to many of the riders along the way, most were feeling the same way if not worse.
I went back to Tom’s got the ice pack out and had a wonderful warm bath. This gave me the strength to get back on the back Sunday morning.
Sunday seemed like an easier ride although there were many more up hills then they had promised but for some reason it seemed doable Sunday. Along the route and at pit stops I saw many people hobbling, crying, everyone in their own journey through these two days. Many sported pictures of those who they had dedicated the race to. It was unbelievable!
I will not likely do the race again, only because the $2500 seemed hard to raise but I would certainly help out another time with this incredibly well run and life changing race. My friend Bob, one of the people I dedicated my race to, has signed up for next year and I hope to help him out in every way that he helped me out! It was amazing meeting up with him at the finish line both days!!
I ended up raising over $4100 with more donations to come in (I am told)
Thank you for all who supported me through the many events that I held. Thank you for all the well wishes. Thank you to Jim and the boys, Mom, Rick, Bob & Jean for being there at the finish line waiting for me. It was what helped me get through the last 10km in a big hurry!! You are all awesome! Everyone who supported me was with me in spirit
Thank you for the array of wonderful emails and messages on my machine when I arrived home yesterday. It was a birthday I will always and forever remember.
Love Jodie
Post a Comment