Thursday, October 18, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Found a few pics....
I have been trying to put together a little banner or flyer to put on my bike when I ride on Sunday, and I came across a few pictures of my mom that I really like. I thought I would share them!
Last Day for Donations!
All....
Today is the last day for donations, according to the LAF site, I need to have all my money in by 0900 cst 11 October 2007. That means... DONATE NOW!!!!!!!
Today is the last day for donations, according to the LAF site, I need to have all my money in by 0900 cst 11 October 2007. That means... DONATE NOW!!!!!!!
Friday, October 5, 2007
No more rides before the 14th!
I turned my bike in to the shop for an overhaul last night. This means only one thing, if I can't do this ride by now, there's no chance for additional training. The ol' ride needs some work though, so this will benefit not only the well being of my bike, but me as well. Hopefully when I'm cranking away on the pedals come next Sunday, the chain will not fall off and my gears will not slip. (which has been happening lately) She's a bit dirty too. Part of the ride I did this past Monday was on gravel. That old ranch road in Medina wasn't paved for a few miles and I wish I would had been on a mountain bike with shocks and knobby tires. So, all that said, come next week, I'll get her back with shiny components, a new chain, and a good washin'. Amen....
Thursday, October 4, 2007
7 days left!
Well, 7 days until all the money is due, and 10 days before I meet my maker on those hills in central Texas. I was fortunate enough to be able to experience those hills on Sunday and Monday of this week. I got 2 really good rides in this week. I rode out near Bandera and Medina, Texas. The beauty of that area is too much to put in words. Anyway... please please please, if you have made the commitment to donate, its time to do so! Go here to donate, it's much easier to get online and donate then to send in a check!
Friday, September 28, 2007
Donations...
Isn't this great, I received and email from he LAF yesterday about making contributions, just as I was going to send out another reminder to everyone that I only have 2 weeks left to have all my money in for the Ride of the Roses! OCTOBER 11 is coming very quickly! I have been steadily training for the upcoming ride, and I am finally feeling comfortable with the thought of this long ride. Last weekend 3 of us ventured up to Huntsville for the Raven Ride. What a beautiful area, although riding through the state park up there was a bit bumpy! They seriously need to redo the road through the park, you need a mountain bike to handle the craters. This weekend I'm heading out to Bandera, Tx for an outing for work. Fortunately for me, the roads are great for cycling, and the scenery is AMAZING. I'll be able to get in a few early morning rides with a few colleagues that also enjoy cycling. I can't wait....
Anyway... here's the email I received yesterday about the LAF donations....
It is so exciting to me every day to unite with citizens, cancer survivors, organizations and leaders across the country to write a history for our generation that does not include cancer.
Thirty years since President Nixon declared war on cancer, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the LIVESTRONG Army are securing real commitments and advancements to eliminate cancer as the number one killer of Americans under 85.
Together, we are taking bold and historic steps. But our voices alone aren't enough. We need your financial support to help change the course of cancer in our country.
Your donation today will help the Lance Armstrong Foundation continue our research and community grants, cancer support services and public policy programs that are closing the gaps between what we know and what we do about cancer, including:
• Making cancer a national priority among elected officials.
• Hosting the historic LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum to renew national leadership in fighting cancer.
• Promoting legislation to increase access to screenings, make screenings available earlier and develop screenings for other types of cancer.
• Delivering direct cancer support services to people affected by cancer through the LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare network.
• Investing $28.9 million last year alone in cancer survivorship programs and initiatives to make cancer a national priority.
We know that 1/3 of all cancer deaths could be prevented. That means that 500 lives would be spared today, 3,500 this week and 182,000 lives this year alone. We also know that early screenings for cancers such as prostate and skin cancers will decrease diagnosis and mortality rates. Despite this knowledge, 560,000 people will die in 2007 from cancer. 182,000 of those will die needlessly because they didn't have access to screenings and the right kind of treatments.
We can no longer sit back and allow people to die needlessly. We face a historic opportunity—but only if we unite with a singular goal of getting rid of cancer forever.
Please unite with the Lance Armstrong Foundation with a tax-deductible donation.
Together we can make history.
LIVESTRONG,
Doug Ulman
President, Lance Armstrong Foundation
Anyway... here's the email I received yesterday about the LAF donations....
It is so exciting to me every day to unite with citizens, cancer survivors, organizations and leaders across the country to write a history for our generation that does not include cancer.
Thirty years since President Nixon declared war on cancer, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the LIVESTRONG Army are securing real commitments and advancements to eliminate cancer as the number one killer of Americans under 85.
Together, we are taking bold and historic steps. But our voices alone aren't enough. We need your financial support to help change the course of cancer in our country.
Your donation today will help the Lance Armstrong Foundation continue our research and community grants, cancer support services and public policy programs that are closing the gaps between what we know and what we do about cancer, including:
• Making cancer a national priority among elected officials.
• Hosting the historic LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum to renew national leadership in fighting cancer.
• Promoting legislation to increase access to screenings, make screenings available earlier and develop screenings for other types of cancer.
• Delivering direct cancer support services to people affected by cancer through the LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare network.
• Investing $28.9 million last year alone in cancer survivorship programs and initiatives to make cancer a national priority.
We know that 1/3 of all cancer deaths could be prevented. That means that 500 lives would be spared today, 3,500 this week and 182,000 lives this year alone. We also know that early screenings for cancers such as prostate and skin cancers will decrease diagnosis and mortality rates. Despite this knowledge, 560,000 people will die in 2007 from cancer. 182,000 of those will die needlessly because they didn't have access to screenings and the right kind of treatments.
We can no longer sit back and allow people to die needlessly. We face a historic opportunity—but only if we unite with a singular goal of getting rid of cancer forever.
Please unite with the Lance Armstrong Foundation with a tax-deductible donation.
Together we can make history.
LIVESTRONG,
Doug Ulman
President, Lance Armstrong Foundation
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Three More Weeks...
I have 3 more weeks before all donations have to be in and counted. This gives me 3 more weeks to raise as much money as possible for the LAF! At the moment, I'm hovering at $11,345, which I must say is one hell of a response from everyone. I honestly didn't think I would get over $10,000 when I first started the blog and decided to do this ride. So, for all of you that have committed to donating, but still haven't sent anything in, please do so as soon as possible. I'm counting on you all to help me fight this disease! In addition to the ride on Sunday 14 October, I'm doing the 5k run/walk on the Saturday before as a little extra event. I'm not a runner, so its more then likely that I'll walk the 5k. Don't forget to donate!!!
As for my continuing training.... I'll be doing the Raven Ride 61 mile route in Huntsville, Tx this Saturday. For those of you that are local and want to join, it starts at 0800. Follow the link for more information and directions to the starting sight.
As for my continuing training.... I'll be doing the Raven Ride 61 mile route in Huntsville, Tx this Saturday. For those of you that are local and want to join, it starts at 0800. Follow the link for more information and directions to the starting sight.
Cycling News....
Arbitrators find Landis guilty of doping, rule he must forfeit 2006 Tour title
By EDDIE PELLS, AP National WriterSeptember 20, 2007
AP - Sep 20, 1:36 pm EDT
PARIS (AP) -- Floyd Landis lost his expensive and explosive doping case Thursday when arbitrators upheld the results of a test that showed the 2006 Tour de France champion used synthetic testosterone to fuel his spectacular comeback victory, The Associated Press has learned.
The decision means Landis, who repeatedly has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, must forfeit his Tour de France title and is subject to a two-year ban, retroactive to Jan. 30, 2007.
The ruling, handed down nearly four months after a bizarre and bitterly fought hearing, leaves the American with one final way to possibly salvage his title -- an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
If Landis doesn't appeal, he'll be the first person in the 105-year history of the race to lose the title because of a doping offense.
According to documents obtained by AP, the vote was 2-1 to uphold the results, with lead arbitrator Patrice Brunet and Richard McLaren in the majority and Christopher Campbell dissenting.
"Today's ruling is a victory for all clean athletes and everyone who values fair and honest competition," U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said.
It's a devastating loss for Landis, who has steadfastly insisted that cheating went against everything he was all about and said he was merely a pawn in the anti-doping system's all-consuming effort to find cheaters and keep money flowing to its labs and agencies.
Landis didn't hide from the scrutiny -- invited it, in fact -- and now has been found guilty by the closest thing to a fair trial any accused athlete will get.
Landis, who has a month to file his appeal, is still weighing his legal options, according to a statement released by his legal team.
"This ruling is a blow to athletes and cyclists everywhere" Landis said. "For the Panel to find in favor of USADA when, with respect to so many issues, USADA did not manage to prove even the most basic parts of their case shows that this system is fundamentally flawed. I am innocent, and we proved I am innocent."
Despite the result, it's hard to see this as a total victory for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which prosecuted the case. This was a costly affair for the agency, and it exposed flaws in the system.
In its 84-page decision, the majority found the initial screening test to measure Landis' testosterone levels -- the testosterone-to-epitestosterone test -- was not done according to World Anti-Doping Agency rules.
But the more precise and expensive carbon-isotope ration analysis (IRMS), performed after a positive T-E test is recorded, was accurate, the arbitrators said, meaning "an anti-doping rule violation is established."
"As has been held in several cases, even where the T-E ratio has been held to be unreliable ... the IRMS analysis may still be applied," the majority wrote. "It has also been held that the IRMS analysis may stand alone as the basis" of a positive test for steroids.
The decision comes more than a year after Landis' stunning comeback in Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour, one that many people said couldn't be done without some kind of outside help. Flying to the lead near the start of a grueling Alpine stage, Landis regained nearly eight minutes against the leader, and went on to win the three-week race.
"Well, all I can say is that justice has been done, and that this is what the UCI felt was correct all along," Pat McQuaid, leader of cycling's world governing body, told The Associated Press by telephone. "We now await and see if he does appeal to CAS.
"It's not a great surprise considering how events have evolved. He got a highly qualified legal team who tried to baffle everybody with science and public relations. And in the end the facts stood up."
Spanish rider Oscar Pereiro, who finished second to Landis in the 2006 Tour, said he hadn't officially heard the news yet.
"You never want to win a competition like that," he said. "But after a year and a half of all of this I'm just glad it's over."
Landis insisted on a public hearing not only to prove his innocence, but to shine a spotlight on USADA and the rules it enforces and also establish a pattern of incompetence at the French lab where his urine was tested.
Although the panel rejected Landis' argument of a "conspiracy" at the Chatenay-Malabry lab, it did find areas of concern. They dealt with chain of command in controlling the urine sample, the way the tests were run on the machine, the way the machine was prepared and the "forensic corrections" done on the lab paperwork.
"... the Panel finds that the practises of the Lab in training its employees appears to lack the vigor the Panel would expect in the circumstances given the enormous consequences to athletes" of an adverse analytical finding, the decision said.
The majority repeatedly wrote that any mistakes made at the lab were not enough to dismiss the positive test, but also sent a warning.
"If such practises continue, it may well be that in the future, an error like this could result in the dismissal" of a positive finding by the lab.
In Campbell's opinion, Landis' case should have been one of those cases.
"In many instances, Mr. Landis sustained his burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt," Campbell wrote. "The documents supplied by LNDD are so filled with errors that they do not support an Adverse Analytical Finding. Mr. Landis should be found innocent."
And in at least one respect, Landis, who spent an estimated $2 million on his defense, was exonerated because the panel dismissed the T-E test. But in the arbitration process, a procedural flaw in the first test doesn't negate a positive result in follow-up tests.
"An arbitration panel is entitled to rely entirely on the IRMS analysis as an independent and sufficient basis for finding that an anti-doping rule violation has occurred," the decision said.
In his dissent, Campbell latched onto the T-E ratio test, among other things, as proof that the French lab couldn't be trusted.
"Also, the T-E ratio test is acknowledged as a simple test to run. The IRMS test is universally acknowledged as a very complicated test to run, requiring much skill. If the LNDD couldn't get the T-E ratio test right, how can a person have any confidence that LNDD got the much more complicated IRMS test correct?"
It was confusion like this that led to the system receiving the harsh review Landis was hoping for during a nine-day hearing in Malibu, Calif., in May.
But Landis also took his share of abuse, and ultimately, USADA still improved to 35-0 in cases it has brought before arbitration panels since it was founded in 2000.
This was a nasty contest waged on both sides, with USADA attorneys going after Landis' character and taking liberties in evidence discovery that wouldn't be permitted in a regular court of law. And Landis accused USADA of using a win-at-all-costs strategy and prosecuting him only to get him to turn on seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, who has long fought doping allegations that have never been proven.
Addressing "problematic behavior on the part of both parties," the panel wrote it would not revisit the conduct of either side.
"They are just part of the litigation war games the parties counsel engaged in between themselves," the decision said.
More than the complex, turgid scientific evidence, the hearing will be remembered for the Greg LeMond brouhaha.
The hearing turned into a soap opera when the former Tour de France winner showed up and told of being sexually abused as a child, confiding that to Landis, then receiving a call from Landis' manager the night before his testimony threatening to disclose LeMond's secret to the world if LeMond showed up.
LeMond not only showed up, he also claimed Landis had admitted to him that he doped. That was the only aspect of the LeMond testimony the panel cared about.
"The panel concludes that the respondent's comment to Mr. LeMond did not amount to an admission of guilt or doping," the majority wrote.
This year's Tour began without the official defending champion, and the traditional "No. 1" jersey wasn't handed out when the race began in London. It only got worse as doping allegations and suspicions devastated the 2007 Tour. Three riders, including former overall leader Michael Rasmussen, and two teams were expelled during the three-week race.
At 31, Landis has vowed he hadn't given up on cycling -- he raced in small, nonsanctioned events in Colorado this summer -- even hoping to some day wear the yellow jersey again.
Updated on Thursday, Sep 20, 2007 2:43 pm, EDT
By EDDIE PELLS, AP National WriterSeptember 20, 2007
AP - Sep 20, 1:36 pm EDT
PARIS (AP) -- Floyd Landis lost his expensive and explosive doping case Thursday when arbitrators upheld the results of a test that showed the 2006 Tour de France champion used synthetic testosterone to fuel his spectacular comeback victory, The Associated Press has learned.
The decision means Landis, who repeatedly has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, must forfeit his Tour de France title and is subject to a two-year ban, retroactive to Jan. 30, 2007.
The ruling, handed down nearly four months after a bizarre and bitterly fought hearing, leaves the American with one final way to possibly salvage his title -- an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
If Landis doesn't appeal, he'll be the first person in the 105-year history of the race to lose the title because of a doping offense.
According to documents obtained by AP, the vote was 2-1 to uphold the results, with lead arbitrator Patrice Brunet and Richard McLaren in the majority and Christopher Campbell dissenting.
"Today's ruling is a victory for all clean athletes and everyone who values fair and honest competition," U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said.
It's a devastating loss for Landis, who has steadfastly insisted that cheating went against everything he was all about and said he was merely a pawn in the anti-doping system's all-consuming effort to find cheaters and keep money flowing to its labs and agencies.
Landis didn't hide from the scrutiny -- invited it, in fact -- and now has been found guilty by the closest thing to a fair trial any accused athlete will get.
Landis, who has a month to file his appeal, is still weighing his legal options, according to a statement released by his legal team.
"This ruling is a blow to athletes and cyclists everywhere" Landis said. "For the Panel to find in favor of USADA when, with respect to so many issues, USADA did not manage to prove even the most basic parts of their case shows that this system is fundamentally flawed. I am innocent, and we proved I am innocent."
Despite the result, it's hard to see this as a total victory for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which prosecuted the case. This was a costly affair for the agency, and it exposed flaws in the system.
In its 84-page decision, the majority found the initial screening test to measure Landis' testosterone levels -- the testosterone-to-epitestosterone test -- was not done according to World Anti-Doping Agency rules.
But the more precise and expensive carbon-isotope ration analysis (IRMS), performed after a positive T-E test is recorded, was accurate, the arbitrators said, meaning "an anti-doping rule violation is established."
"As has been held in several cases, even where the T-E ratio has been held to be unreliable ... the IRMS analysis may still be applied," the majority wrote. "It has also been held that the IRMS analysis may stand alone as the basis" of a positive test for steroids.
The decision comes more than a year after Landis' stunning comeback in Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour, one that many people said couldn't be done without some kind of outside help. Flying to the lead near the start of a grueling Alpine stage, Landis regained nearly eight minutes against the leader, and went on to win the three-week race.
"Well, all I can say is that justice has been done, and that this is what the UCI felt was correct all along," Pat McQuaid, leader of cycling's world governing body, told The Associated Press by telephone. "We now await and see if he does appeal to CAS.
"It's not a great surprise considering how events have evolved. He got a highly qualified legal team who tried to baffle everybody with science and public relations. And in the end the facts stood up."
Spanish rider Oscar Pereiro, who finished second to Landis in the 2006 Tour, said he hadn't officially heard the news yet.
"You never want to win a competition like that," he said. "But after a year and a half of all of this I'm just glad it's over."
Landis insisted on a public hearing not only to prove his innocence, but to shine a spotlight on USADA and the rules it enforces and also establish a pattern of incompetence at the French lab where his urine was tested.
Although the panel rejected Landis' argument of a "conspiracy" at the Chatenay-Malabry lab, it did find areas of concern. They dealt with chain of command in controlling the urine sample, the way the tests were run on the machine, the way the machine was prepared and the "forensic corrections" done on the lab paperwork.
"... the Panel finds that the practises of the Lab in training its employees appears to lack the vigor the Panel would expect in the circumstances given the enormous consequences to athletes" of an adverse analytical finding, the decision said.
The majority repeatedly wrote that any mistakes made at the lab were not enough to dismiss the positive test, but also sent a warning.
"If such practises continue, it may well be that in the future, an error like this could result in the dismissal" of a positive finding by the lab.
In Campbell's opinion, Landis' case should have been one of those cases.
"In many instances, Mr. Landis sustained his burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt," Campbell wrote. "The documents supplied by LNDD are so filled with errors that they do not support an Adverse Analytical Finding. Mr. Landis should be found innocent."
And in at least one respect, Landis, who spent an estimated $2 million on his defense, was exonerated because the panel dismissed the T-E test. But in the arbitration process, a procedural flaw in the first test doesn't negate a positive result in follow-up tests.
"An arbitration panel is entitled to rely entirely on the IRMS analysis as an independent and sufficient basis for finding that an anti-doping rule violation has occurred," the decision said.
In his dissent, Campbell latched onto the T-E ratio test, among other things, as proof that the French lab couldn't be trusted.
"Also, the T-E ratio test is acknowledged as a simple test to run. The IRMS test is universally acknowledged as a very complicated test to run, requiring much skill. If the LNDD couldn't get the T-E ratio test right, how can a person have any confidence that LNDD got the much more complicated IRMS test correct?"
It was confusion like this that led to the system receiving the harsh review Landis was hoping for during a nine-day hearing in Malibu, Calif., in May.
But Landis also took his share of abuse, and ultimately, USADA still improved to 35-0 in cases it has brought before arbitration panels since it was founded in 2000.
This was a nasty contest waged on both sides, with USADA attorneys going after Landis' character and taking liberties in evidence discovery that wouldn't be permitted in a regular court of law. And Landis accused USADA of using a win-at-all-costs strategy and prosecuting him only to get him to turn on seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, who has long fought doping allegations that have never been proven.
Addressing "problematic behavior on the part of both parties," the panel wrote it would not revisit the conduct of either side.
"They are just part of the litigation war games the parties counsel engaged in between themselves," the decision said.
More than the complex, turgid scientific evidence, the hearing will be remembered for the Greg LeMond brouhaha.
The hearing turned into a soap opera when the former Tour de France winner showed up and told of being sexually abused as a child, confiding that to Landis, then receiving a call from Landis' manager the night before his testimony threatening to disclose LeMond's secret to the world if LeMond showed up.
LeMond not only showed up, he also claimed Landis had admitted to him that he doped. That was the only aspect of the LeMond testimony the panel cared about.
"The panel concludes that the respondent's comment to Mr. LeMond did not amount to an admission of guilt or doping," the majority wrote.
This year's Tour began without the official defending champion, and the traditional "No. 1" jersey wasn't handed out when the race began in London. It only got worse as doping allegations and suspicions devastated the 2007 Tour. Three riders, including former overall leader Michael Rasmussen, and two teams were expelled during the three-week race.
At 31, Landis has vowed he hadn't given up on cycling -- he raced in small, nonsanctioned events in Colorado this summer -- even hoping to some day wear the yellow jersey again.
Updated on Thursday, Sep 20, 2007 2:43 pm, EDT
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Today I'm in Connecticut. I flew up last night for a quick trip, and will be heading back tomorrow. I did get a good workout in this morning, but no cycling, obviously. I have been very alarmed today on two separate occasions. I found out today that 2 more people I know have been either diagnosed or have been affected by a relapse. The second one especially took me by surprise. I nearly burst in tears when I was told and in fact, I’m having a bit of trouble keeping composure while typing this in the hotel lobby. That said, I think I will keep this entry short. I’m devastated and I have to meet some people in about 30 minutes for dinner; don’t want to be all puffy-eyed. My prayers go out to the families and close friends of these people.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Massive Donation made to a local hospital...
I was just sent this article... a good read!
McNair, wife to donate $100 million to medical school
Associated Press
Updated: September 12, 2007, 1:31 PM ET
HOUSTON -- Houston Texans owner Robert McNair and his wife are giving $100 million to the Baylor College of Medicine, according to a newspaper report.
The gift equals the largest donation ever made to the school, the Houston Chronicle reported in Wednesday editions.
The funds, made through the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, will fund research into breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, juvenile diabetes and the neurosciences.
"We're pleased to be able to do this," McNair, a Baylor trustee, said Tuesday. "I hope it has a significant impact on not just Baylor and researchers throughout the Texas Medical Center but people in Houston and everywhere who suffer from these diseases."
Baylor officials were scheduled to announce the gift Wednesday.
The donation comes about a year and a half after Baylor trustee and energy magnate Dan Duncan gave Baylor $100 million for its cancer center. The two gifts are the largest ever given to facilities in Houston's Texas Medical Center.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
McNair, wife to donate $100 million to medical school
Associated Press
Updated: September 12, 2007, 1:31 PM ET
HOUSTON -- Houston Texans owner Robert McNair and his wife are giving $100 million to the Baylor College of Medicine, according to a newspaper report.
The gift equals the largest donation ever made to the school, the Houston Chronicle reported in Wednesday editions.
The funds, made through the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, will fund research into breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, juvenile diabetes and the neurosciences.
"We're pleased to be able to do this," McNair, a Baylor trustee, said Tuesday. "I hope it has a significant impact on not just Baylor and researchers throughout the Texas Medical Center but people in Houston and everywhere who suffer from these diseases."
Baylor officials were scheduled to announce the gift Wednesday.
The donation comes about a year and a half after Baylor trustee and energy magnate Dan Duncan gave Baylor $100 million for its cancer center. The two gifts are the largest ever given to facilities in Houston's Texas Medical Center.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Luciano Pavarotti 1935-2007
Luciano Pavarotti died this past week. It’s been all over the news. He was a legend in music world having a celebrated tenor voice. It has taken me a little while to be able to write about this mainly because he died of pancreatic cancer, and if anyone has been paying attention to my blog, pancreatic cancer is a bit of a tough subject for me to discuss. I wish really that the news programs would have concentrated more on his life in music then on the fact that he died of this disease. I’m sure many would have rather listened to him sing rather then listening to a reporter repeat statistics of how many people a year die of pancreatic cancer, or how horrible a cancer it is to treat and live with. Most do not survive this cancer. Pavorotti lasted 14 months after diagnosis, he did well relatively speaking. Mom lasted 3 ½ weeks. In my hotel room last Thursday morning watching CNN report on the death of Pavarotti, I was once again smacked in the face with a reminder of what happened to my mother. Reminded of what I lost, what my family lost, what so many people are dealing with on a daily basis.
Pancreatic cancer statistics are not anything that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Not a good blog topic normally, but after all, this is one of the reasons I’m doing this blog. Sometimes the hard, disturbing truths about cancer are needed to remind us that it affects everyone, everyday and it needs to be dealt with urgently. Pancreatic cancer, or adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is diagnosed each year more then 30,000 times alone in the US. Most of the people who are diagnosed will lose their lives within the first year. The survival rate, if left untreated, is on average about 3 ½ months; and with treatment is approximately 6 months. This is a difficult cancer to catch early. Symptoms are loss of appetite, nausea, pain and discomfort in the abdomen, and weight loss, all of which are not feelings that would ordinarily make you think you have a cancer. People might just feel as if they are coming down with a stomach virus. I know my mother complained for a few weeks of stomach discomfort, but she wrote it off to working too much and not eating properly. She had always had a history of stomach problems anyway. Yellowing of the skin or jaundice is probably the most common physical sign of pancreatic cancer. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in men and women, and most likely has the worst median survival period of any cancer. It’s painful too; very, very painful. I have said this before to some of my close friends, in a way, I’m happy that my mother did not have to endure the chemotherapy. I didn’t want her to have to suffer not only the pain from the cancer, but the horrible effects of the drugs being pumped through her system. Those drugs, in all likelihood would have only prolonged her life a few months.
I guess this is enough for one entry. I’m still having issues thinking about what has happened. I would much rather think about what can be done to help find a cure, or be a part of a support system to someone who has survived cancer. I would rather write about a success story. Maybe by being a part of this fundraiser, I’ll be a part of someone’s.
Pancreatic cancer statistics are not anything that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Not a good blog topic normally, but after all, this is one of the reasons I’m doing this blog. Sometimes the hard, disturbing truths about cancer are needed to remind us that it affects everyone, everyday and it needs to be dealt with urgently. Pancreatic cancer, or adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is diagnosed each year more then 30,000 times alone in the US. Most of the people who are diagnosed will lose their lives within the first year. The survival rate, if left untreated, is on average about 3 ½ months; and with treatment is approximately 6 months. This is a difficult cancer to catch early. Symptoms are loss of appetite, nausea, pain and discomfort in the abdomen, and weight loss, all of which are not feelings that would ordinarily make you think you have a cancer. People might just feel as if they are coming down with a stomach virus. I know my mother complained for a few weeks of stomach discomfort, but she wrote it off to working too much and not eating properly. She had always had a history of stomach problems anyway. Yellowing of the skin or jaundice is probably the most common physical sign of pancreatic cancer. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in men and women, and most likely has the worst median survival period of any cancer. It’s painful too; very, very painful. I have said this before to some of my close friends, in a way, I’m happy that my mother did not have to endure the chemotherapy. I didn’t want her to have to suffer not only the pain from the cancer, but the horrible effects of the drugs being pumped through her system. Those drugs, in all likelihood would have only prolonged her life a few months.
I guess this is enough for one entry. I’m still having issues thinking about what has happened. I would much rather think about what can be done to help find a cure, or be a part of a support system to someone who has survived cancer. I would rather write about a success story. Maybe by being a part of this fundraiser, I’ll be a part of someone’s.
Monday, September 10, 2007
$10,000 and counting!!!!
Well, I have finally done it; I have reached the $10,000 fundraising goal today. I’m so pleased with everyone’s support and encouragement! Thank you Robin for getting me through that number! I do believe I have slacked on the blog entries as of late, but honestly, I have been training. Here’s a quick summary: Sunday, 2 September I rode a flat 54 miles out west of Houston. Thankfully it was overcast, not too hot, good company. I got in a very short jog in Chicago on Thursday morning, and played golf on Friday, (but don’t think golfing counts really). Yesterday, after returning from a few days away, I rode a sponsored ride starting at the Prairie View A&M University campus, 63 miles for the Tour de Pink. This was a Pink Ribbons project fundraiser for breast cancer, this small but lively ride has raised over $225,000 for breast cancer research. Originally, I had intended to ride 80 miles, but I was too late to the start, and by the time I reached the turn off it had been closed. I rode strong for the first ¾ of the ride, keeping pace between 21-23mph, but slacked off the last ¼ due to being tired and having a few mechanical issues. Also, the pouring rain that I had encountered caused me to slow up a bit although the cool rain was very, very refreshing! Final stats for the ride, averaged 18.6mph, burned 2200 calories, and my heart rate average was 157. Not too shabby....
Here are some sponsored rides that I will likely do before my big event October 14th, in combination with my own personal rides with my “teammates.”
Ride the Coast, September 16, (distance uncertain)
The Raven Ride, September 22, 61 miles
Cy-Fair Lion’s Club Bike for Sight, September 30, 62 miles
This one is the weekend after the Ride for the Roses, but looks like it would be fun.
Bike Around the Bay, October 20-21, 170 miles total over 2 days,
One last thing, even though I have reached my goal, I will still be accepting donations up until the deadline set by the LAF. So please continue to forward the links and sending in the contributions. All donations have to be in by October 11, 2007. Let's see how much I can get the final tally too, I'm so very excited about this event!
Here are some sponsored rides that I will likely do before my big event October 14th, in combination with my own personal rides with my “teammates.”
Ride the Coast, September 16, (distance uncertain)
The Raven Ride, September 22, 61 miles
Cy-Fair Lion’s Club Bike for Sight, September 30, 62 miles
This one is the weekend after the Ride for the Roses, but looks like it would be fun.
Bike Around the Bay, October 20-21, 170 miles total over 2 days,
One last thing, even though I have reached my goal, I will still be accepting donations up until the deadline set by the LAF. So please continue to forward the links and sending in the contributions. All donations have to be in by October 11, 2007. Let's see how much I can get the final tally too, I'm so very excited about this event!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Presidential campaigning...
Here's the lastest email from the LIVESTRONG Army...
Cancer enters the '08 political race.
Dear Andrea,
The LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum puts critical questions about fighting cancer on a national platform. Please join me in making history by raising awareness for the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum.
Cancer enters the '08 political race.
Dear Andrea,
Four years ago cancer was not mentioned during the presidential election campaign. Today, the LIVESTRONG Army has made fighting cancer part of the national dialogue. For the next five days leading media, presidential candidates and citizens across the country will discuss how to stop the number one killer of all Americans under the age of 85.
Next Monday, August 27, and Tuesday, August 28, I will walk onto the stage at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to ask the presidential hopefuls to share their ideas and strategies on how to fight cancer in the first-ever LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum. This historic event will be discussed on NBC's Meet the Press with Tim Russert, webcast live on MSNBC.com and featured on Hardball with Chris Matthews.
As a member of the LIVESTRONG Army, I need your help to make sure Americans across the country are tuned in, asking questions and demanding answers from the presidential candidates.
Watch Meet the Press with Tim Russert. I will be a guest on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, August 26, talking about the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum. Check local listings for times and channels.
Watch the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum. MSNBC will webcast the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum live at 10:00 am CT on August 27 and 28. MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews will be broadcast live from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, each night.
>> Click this link on Monday, August 27, and Tuesday, August 28, to load MSNBC.com's video player to watch the Forum.>> Check MSNBC's local listings for times and channels to view Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC on Monday and Tuesday evening.
Spread the word. Click here to forward this email to friends encouraging them to tune into the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum.
Download and post the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum posters in offices, gyms, coffee shops and other places with high traffic.
The LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum puts critical questions about fighting cancer on a national platform. Please join me in making history by raising awareness for the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum.
Another great story...
I received another link today from my friend Chris. I have posted the Houston Chronicle article in its entirety, but go to the link below to read the rest of the story and see the pictures that have been posted.... Definitely a tear jerker, but its so nice to see people coming together to battle cancer. All the little things really do help!
http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/Forum2/HTML/014506.shtml
Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: Sun 08/05/2007
Section: Star
Page: 1Edition: 2 STAR
A NEIGHBORHOOD COMES TOGETHER / A COMMUNITY RUNNING ON HOPE
By JEANNIE KEVER Staff
STEPHANIE Johnson has the slim body of a long-distance runner, but that's deceptive. She's no athlete.
When she runs, it's often with her 7-year-old daughter trailing on a scooter. She swims the backstroke so she doesn't have to put her face in the water.
She even rides a Huffy, the ultimate mom-around-the-'hood bike.
But Johnson has inspired her neighbors and, along the way, she's given herself a bit of hope.
Right now, though, she's doing a slow jog on the sidewalks around her house in Spring, daughter Briannah trotting alongside as they talk about the family's new puppy, a 9-week-old chewing machine named Toby.
It hardly seems the stuff from which legacies are made, but that, too, is deceptive.
The Stephanie Johnson Triathlon will involve the entire family: Husband Greg is producing the race, and he'll compete, too, as will Stephanie and their three children: Greyson, 11; Spencer, 9, and Briannah.
They are creating a memory that, in all likelihood, will outlive Stephanie.
"It's been good for us to do something that's bigger than us," Greg Johnson says.
Triathlons have boomed in popularity during the 33 years since the sport began, and the Johnsons' has become something of a neighborhood cause in Gleannloch Farms, a stylish master-planned community off Spring-Cypress Road, designed around baseball fields, parks, swimming pools, a golf course and even an elementary school.
About 70 percent of the people competing in the Aug. 26 race are first-timers.
"You can see people out riding their bikes, and you know that's what they're doing it for," says Connie Santiago, a friend who will do her first triathlon in order to be at Stephanie's side. "People wouldn't be doing this if they didn't know the Johnsons."
But they do know the Johnsons, and they also know the story behind the triathlon.
A jolt of reality
"We were just very normal. Very average," Stephanie Johnson says of the days when it seemed that normality would last forever. "Kids. Work."
They had busy lives in a Dallas suburb - Greg had started his own company with two partners, and Stephanie had launched a business as a personal organizer - but both were careful planners, and things were unfolding just as they intended.
That changed in February 2004, when Stephanie began to have trouble swallowing. Her doctor suspected gastric reflux but ran more tests just to be sure.
Ten days later, the Johnsons had an answer.
Stephanie had stomach cancer, a disease most commonly diagnosed in people older than 65. She was 35.
Within a month, she was recovering from surgery to remove her stomach and part of her esophagus, along with 19 lymph nodes. She had four months of chemotherapy and radiation, treatments so debilitating that she spent most of her time in bed.
By the end of the year, her cancer was in remission and she was once more able to spend time with her husband and children, although she had to give up her business.
The Johnsons lived in Frisco; their earlier plans to move near Greg's business partners in Houston had been put on hold while she was treated at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. But when doctors there said they would refer her to Houston's University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center if the disease recurred - M.D. Anderson enrolls more patients in clinical trials than any other cancer program in the United States - the family headed south.
They arrived in Spring in March 2005, while Johnson's cancer remained in remission.
A routine scan five months later detected spots on her lung, and doctors later confirmed a recurrence, classified an incurable Stage IV cancer.
Johnson has exhausted conventional treatments, and doctors now hope to prolong her life and keep her symptoms from disrupting daily activities, says Jaffer Ajani, professor of gastrointestinal medical oncology at M.D. Anderson.
She is enrolled in her fourth clinical trial - one drug seemed to work for about nine months; two others apparently did not - and will find out later this month whether the latest, a drug made by Merck Pharmaceuticals known as MK-2461, has helped.
Ajani says it is "not impossible" that an experimental drug will prolong her life significantly. The odds, however, aren't good. The American Cancer Society says the five-year survival rate for people with Stage IV stomach cancer is just 3 percent.
"I think she's surpassed the odds anyway," Ajani says. "In that way, she has benefited from the previous therapy, but that is not enough."
Until the late 1930s, stomach cancer was the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, but the number of diagnosed cases dropped dramatically over the next 70 years. Researchers link the drop to people eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and fewer salted and smoked foods, along with the increased use of antibiotics, which can kill the Helicobacter pylori bacteria suspected as another cause.
Current research focuses on turning the cancer into a chronic illness that can be managed much as diabetes or high blood pressure is, Ajani says.
Through all of these treatments, the Johnsons, who met at Louisiana Tech University and married after graduation in 1990, have been sure of a couple of things.
First, cancer drew them closer as a couple and taught them to be spontaneous. "We try to treasure everything we're doing," says Johnson, who is now 38.
She updated the family scrapbooks and considered making a video in case she doesn't live to see her children grow up.
That wasn't her style, but she didn't want the milestones - a 16th birthday, prom night, graduation - to pass without her. Instead, she has written letters to each child, filled with her memories of their early lives and her hopes and advice for their futures.
The children know cancer can kill, but for now the Johnsons try not to dwell on her prognosis.
"Nobody knows when their time is," she tells her children.
The second thing the Johnsons knew was, they were not jocks.
A cause to rally around
At least, they didn't used to be.
But life in limbo is almost unbearably stressful, and a friend suggested Greg Johnson join him at a triathlon last year just for fun.
He loved it.
Triathlons give weekend athletes a tremendous sense of accomplishment, says Andy Stewart, owner of Finish Line Sports in Sugar Land.
"In the beginning, people see it as almost undoable," he says. Would-be triathletes think of the Ironman - a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride and 26.2-mile run - and not the more-common shorter distances.
"When first-timers come across the finish line, they're generally hooked." Stewart says.
He sponsors the Try Andy's Tri in October, drawing 750 people to Sugar Land, but says the shorter distances of the Stephanie Johnson Triathlon - a 200-yard swim, six-mile bike ride and two-mile run - make it a perfect introduction to the sport.
Most participants will be first-timers, and more than half will be women. That mirrors the surging number of women triathletes of the past decade, something Stewart attributes in part to women-only events such as the Danskin series, which launched in 1990.
"The camaraderie of the women's events takes away the fear factor," he says. "They really encourage each other."
The Johnson triathlon is all about encouragement, drawing people through personal connection and support for the cause.
Greg Johnson says they hope to raise $40,000, to be given to M.D. Anderson for research and as stipends to cover incidental expenses for six families battling cancer.
"I figure if Stephanie can do it, I can do it," says Santiago, a stay-at-home mom whose husband, Jerry, also will participate.
Santiago is no athlete - at one point, she considered trying to swim using only her arms, in order to save her leg strength for the cycling and running portions.
Needless to say, she does not expect to win.
"My goal is to not come in last."
Rebecca McGarr is more ambitious.
She runs regularly and has ridden in the MS 150, although this is her first triathlon.
"I wanted to do something with my husband, so I signed us up," she says. "I didn't even ask him."
McGarr, 33, says her only concern is the swimming.
"That's harder to train for, particularly with all the rain," she says. "But I'm a tall person, so if worst comes to worst, I'm just going to put my feet down and walk."
After all, there's a dinner riding on it: McGarr, who works in human resources for Shell Oil Co., challenged friends who also live in Gleannloch Farms to "a neighborly duel."
She doesn't know the Johnsons, but she thought the triathlon would be a fun way to support a worthy cause.
For Johnson's closest friends, the race is more personal.
"Every time I'm exerting myself, I feel like not only am I helping with cancer research, but my body is getting stronger," says Alice Vance, who met Johnson when their sons became friends. "Watching Stephanie go through her treatments, I knew I needed to do everything I could to keep myself healthy."
Vance's husband, Mark, will volunteer at the race, and her children, Maverick, who is 11, Grayson, 10 and Nicole, 8, will compete.
Vance, 35 and a stay-at-home mom, feels changed by the challenge. More than that, she has seen Johnson change.
"I noticed about nine months ago that she started not having as much hope," Vance says. "And since this triathlon, her head's been higher. She feels stronger. You can tell there's a difference in her spirit."
A means to achieve a goal
Johnson herself is reserved, reluctant to share her most personal secrets with strangers. But she agrees that the training has given her a goal.
Eating is a struggle, and Johnson can consume only small amounts of food at a time. Fearful of burning too many calories, she had tried to avoid aerobic activities.
Now she's running, biking and swimming, determined to enjoy this period of relatively good health while the growths on her lung have not affected her breathing.
Her husband, meanwhile, is working out more than ever, preparing not only for this race but a half-Ironman in October.
"Training is my sanity," he says.
For Stephanie, it may be even more important.
"She sees that this may be the ticket," he says. "It's given her a lot of hope, getting healthier, getting physically stronger."
The triathlon is about hope, as well as making memories.
"If the doctors are right and she's got another year, we're going to cherish this," Greg Johnson says. "And even if she has more time, we're still going to cherish it."
STEPHANIE JOHNSON TRIATHLON
When: 7 a.m. Aug. 26
Where: Gleannloch Farms Competition Pool, 19828 Gleannbury Pointe Drive, Spring
Main sponsor: Tomball Cancer Hospital
Volunteer: Registration for athletes is complete, but volunteers are needed
Proceeds: University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for research and individual grants to families fighting cancer
More information: www.signmeup.com/57370
Also check out: www.youngcancerspouses.org, an on-line support group for people whose spouses have been diagnosed with cancer at a young age. Greg Johnson is a board member.
http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/Forum2/HTML/014506.shtml
Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: Sun 08/05/2007
Section: Star
Page: 1Edition: 2 STAR
A NEIGHBORHOOD COMES TOGETHER / A COMMUNITY RUNNING ON HOPE
By JEANNIE KEVER Staff
STEPHANIE Johnson has the slim body of a long-distance runner, but that's deceptive. She's no athlete.
When she runs, it's often with her 7-year-old daughter trailing on a scooter. She swims the backstroke so she doesn't have to put her face in the water.
She even rides a Huffy, the ultimate mom-around-the-'hood bike.
But Johnson has inspired her neighbors and, along the way, she's given herself a bit of hope.
Right now, though, she's doing a slow jog on the sidewalks around her house in Spring, daughter Briannah trotting alongside as they talk about the family's new puppy, a 9-week-old chewing machine named Toby.
It hardly seems the stuff from which legacies are made, but that, too, is deceptive.
The Stephanie Johnson Triathlon will involve the entire family: Husband Greg is producing the race, and he'll compete, too, as will Stephanie and their three children: Greyson, 11; Spencer, 9, and Briannah.
They are creating a memory that, in all likelihood, will outlive Stephanie.
"It's been good for us to do something that's bigger than us," Greg Johnson says.
Triathlons have boomed in popularity during the 33 years since the sport began, and the Johnsons' has become something of a neighborhood cause in Gleannloch Farms, a stylish master-planned community off Spring-Cypress Road, designed around baseball fields, parks, swimming pools, a golf course and even an elementary school.
About 70 percent of the people competing in the Aug. 26 race are first-timers.
"You can see people out riding their bikes, and you know that's what they're doing it for," says Connie Santiago, a friend who will do her first triathlon in order to be at Stephanie's side. "People wouldn't be doing this if they didn't know the Johnsons."
But they do know the Johnsons, and they also know the story behind the triathlon.
A jolt of reality
"We were just very normal. Very average," Stephanie Johnson says of the days when it seemed that normality would last forever. "Kids. Work."
They had busy lives in a Dallas suburb - Greg had started his own company with two partners, and Stephanie had launched a business as a personal organizer - but both were careful planners, and things were unfolding just as they intended.
That changed in February 2004, when Stephanie began to have trouble swallowing. Her doctor suspected gastric reflux but ran more tests just to be sure.
Ten days later, the Johnsons had an answer.
Stephanie had stomach cancer, a disease most commonly diagnosed in people older than 65. She was 35.
Within a month, she was recovering from surgery to remove her stomach and part of her esophagus, along with 19 lymph nodes. She had four months of chemotherapy and radiation, treatments so debilitating that she spent most of her time in bed.
By the end of the year, her cancer was in remission and she was once more able to spend time with her husband and children, although she had to give up her business.
The Johnsons lived in Frisco; their earlier plans to move near Greg's business partners in Houston had been put on hold while she was treated at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. But when doctors there said they would refer her to Houston's University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center if the disease recurred - M.D. Anderson enrolls more patients in clinical trials than any other cancer program in the United States - the family headed south.
They arrived in Spring in March 2005, while Johnson's cancer remained in remission.
A routine scan five months later detected spots on her lung, and doctors later confirmed a recurrence, classified an incurable Stage IV cancer.
Johnson has exhausted conventional treatments, and doctors now hope to prolong her life and keep her symptoms from disrupting daily activities, says Jaffer Ajani, professor of gastrointestinal medical oncology at M.D. Anderson.
She is enrolled in her fourth clinical trial - one drug seemed to work for about nine months; two others apparently did not - and will find out later this month whether the latest, a drug made by Merck Pharmaceuticals known as MK-2461, has helped.
Ajani says it is "not impossible" that an experimental drug will prolong her life significantly. The odds, however, aren't good. The American Cancer Society says the five-year survival rate for people with Stage IV stomach cancer is just 3 percent.
"I think she's surpassed the odds anyway," Ajani says. "In that way, she has benefited from the previous therapy, but that is not enough."
Until the late 1930s, stomach cancer was the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, but the number of diagnosed cases dropped dramatically over the next 70 years. Researchers link the drop to people eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and fewer salted and smoked foods, along with the increased use of antibiotics, which can kill the Helicobacter pylori bacteria suspected as another cause.
Current research focuses on turning the cancer into a chronic illness that can be managed much as diabetes or high blood pressure is, Ajani says.
Through all of these treatments, the Johnsons, who met at Louisiana Tech University and married after graduation in 1990, have been sure of a couple of things.
First, cancer drew them closer as a couple and taught them to be spontaneous. "We try to treasure everything we're doing," says Johnson, who is now 38.
She updated the family scrapbooks and considered making a video in case she doesn't live to see her children grow up.
That wasn't her style, but she didn't want the milestones - a 16th birthday, prom night, graduation - to pass without her. Instead, she has written letters to each child, filled with her memories of their early lives and her hopes and advice for their futures.
The children know cancer can kill, but for now the Johnsons try not to dwell on her prognosis.
"Nobody knows when their time is," she tells her children.
The second thing the Johnsons knew was, they were not jocks.
A cause to rally around
At least, they didn't used to be.
But life in limbo is almost unbearably stressful, and a friend suggested Greg Johnson join him at a triathlon last year just for fun.
He loved it.
Triathlons give weekend athletes a tremendous sense of accomplishment, says Andy Stewart, owner of Finish Line Sports in Sugar Land.
"In the beginning, people see it as almost undoable," he says. Would-be triathletes think of the Ironman - a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride and 26.2-mile run - and not the more-common shorter distances.
"When first-timers come across the finish line, they're generally hooked." Stewart says.
He sponsors the Try Andy's Tri in October, drawing 750 people to Sugar Land, but says the shorter distances of the Stephanie Johnson Triathlon - a 200-yard swim, six-mile bike ride and two-mile run - make it a perfect introduction to the sport.
Most participants will be first-timers, and more than half will be women. That mirrors the surging number of women triathletes of the past decade, something Stewart attributes in part to women-only events such as the Danskin series, which launched in 1990.
"The camaraderie of the women's events takes away the fear factor," he says. "They really encourage each other."
The Johnson triathlon is all about encouragement, drawing people through personal connection and support for the cause.
Greg Johnson says they hope to raise $40,000, to be given to M.D. Anderson for research and as stipends to cover incidental expenses for six families battling cancer.
"I figure if Stephanie can do it, I can do it," says Santiago, a stay-at-home mom whose husband, Jerry, also will participate.
Santiago is no athlete - at one point, she considered trying to swim using only her arms, in order to save her leg strength for the cycling and running portions.
Needless to say, she does not expect to win.
"My goal is to not come in last."
Rebecca McGarr is more ambitious.
She runs regularly and has ridden in the MS 150, although this is her first triathlon.
"I wanted to do something with my husband, so I signed us up," she says. "I didn't even ask him."
McGarr, 33, says her only concern is the swimming.
"That's harder to train for, particularly with all the rain," she says. "But I'm a tall person, so if worst comes to worst, I'm just going to put my feet down and walk."
After all, there's a dinner riding on it: McGarr, who works in human resources for Shell Oil Co., challenged friends who also live in Gleannloch Farms to "a neighborly duel."
She doesn't know the Johnsons, but she thought the triathlon would be a fun way to support a worthy cause.
For Johnson's closest friends, the race is more personal.
"Every time I'm exerting myself, I feel like not only am I helping with cancer research, but my body is getting stronger," says Alice Vance, who met Johnson when their sons became friends. "Watching Stephanie go through her treatments, I knew I needed to do everything I could to keep myself healthy."
Vance's husband, Mark, will volunteer at the race, and her children, Maverick, who is 11, Grayson, 10 and Nicole, 8, will compete.
Vance, 35 and a stay-at-home mom, feels changed by the challenge. More than that, she has seen Johnson change.
"I noticed about nine months ago that she started not having as much hope," Vance says. "And since this triathlon, her head's been higher. She feels stronger. You can tell there's a difference in her spirit."
A means to achieve a goal
Johnson herself is reserved, reluctant to share her most personal secrets with strangers. But she agrees that the training has given her a goal.
Eating is a struggle, and Johnson can consume only small amounts of food at a time. Fearful of burning too many calories, she had tried to avoid aerobic activities.
Now she's running, biking and swimming, determined to enjoy this period of relatively good health while the growths on her lung have not affected her breathing.
Her husband, meanwhile, is working out more than ever, preparing not only for this race but a half-Ironman in October.
"Training is my sanity," he says.
For Stephanie, it may be even more important.
"She sees that this may be the ticket," he says. "It's given her a lot of hope, getting healthier, getting physically stronger."
The triathlon is about hope, as well as making memories.
"If the doctors are right and she's got another year, we're going to cherish this," Greg Johnson says. "And even if she has more time, we're still going to cherish it."
STEPHANIE JOHNSON TRIATHLON
When: 7 a.m. Aug. 26
Where: Gleannloch Farms Competition Pool, 19828 Gleannbury Pointe Drive, Spring
Main sponsor: Tomball Cancer Hospital
Volunteer: Registration for athletes is complete, but volunteers are needed
Proceeds: University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for research and individual grants to families fighting cancer
More information: www.signmeup.com/57370
Also check out: www.youngcancerspouses.org, an on-line support group for people whose spouses have been diagnosed with cancer at a young age. Greg Johnson is a board member.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
TDF attacks....
Call him what you will, but this is a good example of how much of a bad ass Lance Armstrong really is when he's riding. Its such a shame that procycling has developed a horrible image in so many eyes. I love this sport.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Chappell Hill Pictures Part 1:
I had a great ride yesterday, and I remembered to bring the camera and food for snacking afterward! The weather was much much cooler then the previous Sunday, but it was a little bit more windy. I think after the heat that we dealt with the previous week, I welcomed the wind, even if it was blowing straight at me.
Here we are, waiting for the others to arrive...
"Ironman" Haycraft getting ready 0645 Sunday morning!
Gomez, always smiling even though he knows the pain he will experience very shortly....
Here we are, waiting for the others to arrive...
"Refueling" at the state park, Haycraft decided he was too fast for the rest of us, and I'm sure at the point when we arrived here, he was already finished....
On the way to the half way point, Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park....
I took a bunch more and I will post them tomorrow. I have an affection for cows, they have really cute faces. So, there will be cow pictures, and more country side pictures, and some of us stuffing our faces afterward. I have kept the pictures of people small... well, because the pictures of the outdoors turned out better!
I have a grand total of... (get ready).... $9545 raised, it's not reflected to the right, because I still have a few checks that need to clear. I am sooooooooo close to reaching my goal of $10000. I just need a few more donations. Maybe by the end of this week, I can reach the total. Don't be shy.... donate donate donate!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Another hilly ride....
Well, the weather report for Sunday in Chappell Hill is much cooler then last Sunday! We are also expecting scattered showers. You know what that means??? CLOUDS = SHADE! The group is once again meeting on Sunday morning, but we are starting 30 minutes earlier. I was a bad organizer last weekend, I promised to bring sandwiches for following the ride, and forgot. So this week, I have to pony up and feed the boys. We will have few newbies to the group this week too, yippee! One, more thing... I will bring my camera, so guys... wear your favorite jersey!
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