Monday, January 25, 2010

Day 1: Blood, sweat, and tears

     Okay, okay... there was no blood but the sweat and tears did occur. The first training ride for the Ovarian Cycle took place yesterday. The ride lasted an hour and a half and was roughly 22 miles. This was the reason for the sweat. There was no glistening taking place, just gross, soaking-through-the-shirt sweat. It went great and it was actually a lot of fun. I finished feeling very encouraged. Of course the thought that I would have to double that time and then double that again set in, so needless to say, I am still nervous about the six hour final ride.
    
     The tears, however, came at the start of the ride. The Executive Director of the event was in from Atlanta and shared some letters from participants. I immediately cried. There were also 5 survivors training yesterday. Though this ride is specific to ovarian cancer, I have watched so many women in my life battle with cancer and it is very empowering to be a part of this event. Both of my grandmothers and one aunt have been affected by cancer in the past 5 years. My maternal grandmother and my aunt have both battled with breast cancer which is very closely related to ovarian cancer so there is a part of me that is riding for them as well.

     So it was an overall good kickoff to the ride and I am looking forward to training. Thank you so much to those of you that have already donated. I will do my best to keep everyone updated on the training.  Oh, that bum knee I mentioned in the first post is acting up a bit so please send positive thoughts its way. I really regret ever thinking mud football sounded like a good idea (sorry Mom).

     Please check out my page at http://www.ovariancycle.org/getinv/showPart.php?partID=1096

First things first....after all, we must maintain order here

     I have decided to join the blogging world in order to keep friends and family updated...wait, is that the typical opening line on a blog? Crap. I was hoping to avoid the clichés. Let's face it though; blogs are mainly for the same purpose. I will say that I do not have hopes of this blog being turned into a book or a movie nor do I expect for it to be read by thousands. I do hope to keep everyone updated and use this blog as a sort of accountability tool for my goals.... which I am already slacking on so we better get this thing going.

      I will not post all of my new year's resolutions today. I mainly want to get an "intro blog" written so I can post about an event I am training for. The event actually started off as a new year's resolution: train and complete some sort of fitness event that does not involve running. Ha. I have had three knee surgeries and I am honestly hoping to avoid any more so that rules out the marathon trend....not to mention that running 26 miles sounds like something the devil decided would be fun (but kudos for all of you that like that sort of hell fun). I have chosen to participate in my own fun cycling event. I signed up for an event held at my gym called the Ovarian Cycle. The name was a good enough reason but the cause is also really awesome. The event raises money for ovarian cancer and I am lucky enough to have a wonderful friend who is also an ovarian cancer survivor. I am very excited about completing the event as a part of that resolution but it has quickly become more. I am really passionate about the cause which you can read more about at http://www.ovariancycle.org/getinv/showPart.php?partID=1096 

     I will go ahead and ask for patience. This blog thing is new to me (second cliché line, thank you) I will try and update often and attempt to make it semi-interesting. Thanks for reading.