Pelotonia

As you can see by the banner on the right side of this blog, I'm riding in a fund-raising ride for cancer research in August called Pelotonia.  It's a big event here in Columbus.  It has raised almost $3 million so far this year and has raised over $61 million in its five years.  I've committed to ride 100 miles and raise $1,800 but because all of you are so generous, I've already raised $3,500.

The finish line for the ride will symbolize that I've left behind the impact of the disease and treatment, and that I've regained the physical performance status I had before I got sick.  I'll be riding with my husband Alan and my oncologist's nurse practitioner Tammy Lamb.  Those two have been key in getting me back to normal and I'm so happy I'll be able to cross that finish line with them.

The cool thing about Pelotonia is that every dollar donated to support a rider goes directly to cancer research at The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Center.  Local businesses and corporations fund all the administrative costs.  And the research they do there is really making progress.  Here's an article about a new pill developed at Ohio State that helps chronic lymphoctytic leukemia (http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/new-pill-helps-leukemia-patients-live-longer-n118566)  Some of the foundational work for this promising new Multiple Myeloma treatment, Elotuzumab, (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bristol-myers-squibb-abbvie-receive-120000568.html), was funded by Pelotonia and completed in the lab of one of the physician researchers who rides on the Ride MMORE team, Don Benson, MD, PhD  These are just two advancements coming out of Ohio State that I'm aware of in the last month.

I was fortunate enough to get Shelley Meyer, wife of Urban Meyer the football coach for Ohio State, to hold a fund-raising spin class for my peloton--my riding team--Ride MMORE on May 18.  That raised $1,000.  Shelley and I both tweeted about it a lot and one of the local sportscasters came out and did a story on it. Here's a link to the story http://vimeo.com/95812325 recorded off of my TV (apologies for the quality.)  Shelley was so supportive and gracious.

Yesterday, I went on a training ride with about 200 other Pelotonia participants.  Here's a picture as we were lining up to leave.

There were options for 19, 39 or 57 miles.  I wanted to do the 57 mile route as a prep for the 100 miles I'm riding in August.  I made arrangements to meet up with a woman, Tanya Knauss, who joins us for our Ride MMORE training rides on Tuesday evening.  Her husband of 8 years was 33 years old when he died from brain cancer in 2013.  Her spunk, spirit and sense of humor make her a blast to hang out with.  Tanya's sister and a few friends were with her at the start of the ride.  We took off a little bit after 8 and about 15 minutes into the ride, I was feeling really strong and just wanted to ride for speed to make myself stronger.  I've ridden close to 350 miles so far this year (not counting a few hours on the trainer in the basement in the winter) but I'm still nervous about riding the 100 miles on August 9.  I want to use the training rides I have to push myself so I'll be ready for that and can finish strong.  Between vacations and work travel, I only have 4 more weekends available for training.

So, I took off and rode what I'd call comfortably hard.  Turned out it was between 15-17mph and I was by myself for about 20 minutes (it seemed).  I came on a group of two men and one woman who looked about my age and were riding at about my pace so I thought I'd hang with them for a while.  It was nice to be in a group and the pace was good so I just tagged along.  We chit chatted a little bit while we rode along.

When we got to the first rest stop, we took off our helmets and sunglasses and started introducing ourselves.  Turns out I had crashed the group with the CEO of The James Cancer Center, Michael Caligiuri, MD.  Also riding with the group was Christine Scarcello, Director of Research Operations at The James.  I told them my story, incessantly praised the care I've received from Yvonne Efebera, MD and her team, and shared how thankful I am to have The James available locally to provide my care.

Now, those of you who know what a die-hard Gator I am and remember how poorly the Ohio State football and basketball fans treated me when I first moved up here will find my affection for Ohio State a bit surprising.  At some point in this fundraising adventure, I will be donning a cycling jersey with this Team Buckeye logo on it.  I now have lots of love and respect for Ohio State for creating such an incredible health system--The James Cancer Center, Dodd Hall Rehab Hospital, The Wexner Medical Center and all the physicians and care givers that I've encountered.  If you've been reading this blog for a while, you've seen my praise for these physicians--Dr. Efebera, Dr. Levin, Dr. Blum (the doctor who cared for me during most of my transplant), Dr. Parikh, Dr. Benson--and their teams...especially Tammy Lamb, Dr Efebara's nurse practitioner.  All incredibly smart and incredibly caring.

I rode most of the day with Christine and Giorgio whose last name, according to my internet stalking skills, is Bittoni.  We talked a lot about The James, cancer research, Pelotonia, our families and interests.  It was great to get to know some new folks who are committed to ending cancer by riding in Pelotonia.

If you haven't given to Pelotonia yet, consider a donation to my ride or to Alan's  You would be so impressed with the commitment of so many people to create a cancer free world.  I got to know three more of them on Saturday and rode with another couple hundred.  Watch this video and hear my riding partner from Saturday explain how the money is used and then please give a gift.

I'm raised $3,500 now.  $5,000 sounds like a nice, round financial finish to go with my 100 miles of riding.

How 'bout it?!?!?

Here's the link for those of you on mobile-- http://youtu.be/Y8t7y1umCNs