Hi, everyone! This is my first year participating in the Pan-Mass Challenge. I am doing it with my long time friend, Elise Ahearn. This is something new for Elise and me - we have run together for many years, but thought it might be fun to switch gears and do something different - maybe something a little easier on our joints! Our goal is to finish the two-day ride, meet some great people along the way, and do something hopeful and good for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and their patients!

Elise and I have a lot of ties to Massachusetts - so doing the Pan-Mass ride through towns we know will be fun for us! (I went to college in MA; my family through the years used to go to the Cape on vacation; my husband, Tim, went to Sandwich HIgh and grew up on the Cape; my mother-in-law, Jean, lived on Cape Cod for most of her life; and so did my great aunt, Edith. And Elise's family has vacationed in Eastham over the years, too!)

Not sure how much you know about the Pan-Mass Challenge. It's a bike-a-thon - about 190 miles - that raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country - to bring us Closer by the Mile to a cure for cancer. Since its founding in 1980, PMC riders like me have raised more than $1 billion for lifesaving cancer research, treatment and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the country's top cancer care hospitals. PMC is making a difference in the lives of patients at Dana-Farber and around the world. Any funds I raise support the innovative work of doctors, nurses, and scientists in their search for cures for cancers and related diseases.

I am doing the Ride in memory of Ed Battistelli, my Uncle Eddie, who was a great guy and got me into running in the first place. Ed was a very funny, engaging person. He was into scuba diving, boating and the Coast Guard, among other things, and he could always make everyone in my family laugh. And, I am also running in memory of my friend, Meg McEttrick, who was a wonderful person who I got to know from golfing at Brooklawn Country Club and on our girl trips to South Carolina. Meg had a knack for making friends - and I count myself lucky to have been one of them. She had so much spirit and warmth! Ed and Meg valiantly battled different types of cancer - liver and pancreatic, respectively.

Check out some of the photos of Ed, Meg, Elise and me in the photo gallery!

I have already met my initial personal fundraising goal - but thought I would reach out to see if I could get together a few more dollars for a good cause! 100 percent of every dollar I raise goes directly to Dana-Farber, meaning that your donation has a real impact! I hope you will join me in contributing to Dana-Farber and the great work they do! We all have family and friends who have experienced cancer - and it's so important to support all of the great professionals and caring people who we rely on so heavily for their help and expertise.

Thanks SO MUCH for considering a donation of any size to Dana-Farber - the amount is unimportant! Note that you can give in various ways - by bank account, credit card, venmo, etc. Just click on the Donate buttons on this Profile Page.

Take care - and hope to see you all soon. Have a great summer!

Cathy - catherinebirch1@gmail.com - 203-216-5166