Burlington - July 2017
2017 is Year 12 for me and the Pan-Mass Challenge. Your support has put 2400 PMC miles on my bike, and $60,000 for cancer research to the Dana Farber. No stopping until cancer is in the rear view mirror! You know the PMC sends 100% of all donations to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute ($47M in 2016, and $500+ million in 37 years). Enough to make a difference! (www.pmc.org). You know the horrible stats about cancer, but for me the PMC is about cherishing the past, and then committing to a better future.
2006 was PMC Year #1 for me, carrying the memories of my mom Ruth,(age 42), and my brother-in-law, Kip, (age 45). Along the years, so many times, your contributions to fighting cancer, came to me with wrenching stories of loss to cancer, mothers, fathers, brothers, children. Names, memories, pictures, that I was honored to carry, pinned to my shirt or carried in a letters. I shared those stories on the road from Sturbridge to P-town, at water stops, first aid tents, even while pedaling along with other PMCers. Each year has had more names and more stories - and the battle goes on. In past PMC letters, I’ve written about Scott Miller(Army sergeant and Iraq vet), Mike Cronin, (my boss of 10 years, friend, and person who taught me how to tell a story), Jane Campbell(my stepmother), Tim Rees (friend and coach to Amanda's soccer team for several years) (I miss Tim's awesome English humor each time I think of him) and many more. This year, one of our closest family friends (since college days) was diagnosed with breast cancer. Our hearts skipped a beat.
What keeps me coming back to the PMC (and to you!) is that the PMC is a testament to joy in living and persistence that we can make a better world. When I look at the other PMC-ers, I see awesome, happy people, riders and volunteers, telling stories, sharing a goal, doing something important. Each and every one shares and honors the memories of who they ride for. Each name, each memory, even each spirit, each story we carry makes it easier to go on; easier to train in the spring cold and wet, easier to push up the hills despite summer heat, injuries, worn out knees, and aching bodies, and (hardest of all) easier to ask for your help in the fight. I wish you all could be there riding the 200 miles from Sturbridge to Provincetown. It’s two days of rolling joy, and just ‘being with’ the spirits of those who ride no more. While it’s no easy thing to cycle 200 miles in two days, the memories lift the pedals and the miles fly.
In January I reset the training clock and made my commitment to this year's challenge. The spin classes happened on schedule and eventually the roads started to clear. I got my first pre-season ride in late March. Soon the outdoor 25 mile rides, had to take a break to squeeze in a knee surgery. After the rehab was manageable the miles on each ride started ratcheting up. The miles per ride hit their peak when 6,000 of us gather at the PMC starting gates the first weekend in August.
Closer by the mile is what PMC-ers say -- Closer to the day when cancer is history -- Closer when the news that cancer is dead will be delivered on a bicycle! Page 1 will be the PMC -- how we all got together, didn’t wait for a government to do something, and made a difference ourselves. The truth is -- The difference won’t be for you or me or Tim. It will be for Amanda, K2, and McCoy (grandson #1) and his soon to arrive new sister, and their kid’s kids. They'll be the benefactors of what we all do now. But, I can also tell you, that on August 5-6, 2017, TIm, Mike, Kip, my mom and all who've passed will be alive in my heart, making me smile, and helping me up the hills, telling me as Tim would, “Well played, Kevin. Now let’s get on with it, and get to the finish for a cold glass!”
Best wishes, good health, happy days, and Thanks for your support!
Ride on!
-Kevin
