We Ride for Diane.
Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother, Friend, Inspiration.
This year we lost an amazing woman.
It's not the way that she battled lung cancer for twenty years. It's not the $5.8 million that she raised as the leader of Team LUNGSTRONG. It's the way she made every one of us feel a million bucks.
Every winter I would find a way to add some miles to my bike as I got ready for the remarkable two-day ride across Massachusetts for cancer. It would be the same thought...'I gotta get ready'. In the spring I would get an email from Diane with an update. In the summer I would travel to David and Diane's house to join a few team members for some laughs.
On the first weekend in August, it was go time. We ride. Register on Friday. Early to bed. Up before the sun to roll with 6,000 riders, 3,000 volunteers, and countless kind people lining the streets of Massachusetts to say 'thank you for riding'.
I got to do ten rides with Diane. As a whole, the Pan Mass was the highlight of my year. One piece of it was certainly my favorite.
Each year, I didn't know when, but at some point, I would bump into Diane. A few years it was at the lunch stop under the tent on Day 1. Most years it was on the grounds of Mass Maritime as all riders converged at the end of the first day, team photos were taken, and the members of Living Proof (actively fighting or beaten caner) were honored.
Each year when I bumped into Diane for the first time, she made me feel like a million bucks. Her electric smile flashed a history back to our years at GE. Her greeting was full of excitement for another year together on Team LUNGSTRONG. Diane had a unique way of letting you know that you were special. It was right back at her on the ride after my father passed away from cancer. 'Diane, we are lucky to know a few special people in our lives. My Dad was one of them. You're right there with him Diane'. She was humble and spirited in her own way.
This year we don't get to ride with Diane, but we will ride for her. More than once this year, I thought about the next time I would bump into Diane during the Pan Mass weekend. Obviously, that thought quickly became a reminder that I don't get that chance anymore. For a minute it was sad. Then I told myself 'This year we ride for you Diane' and I'm a thankful for those ten summers ... when I felt like a million bucks.
Thank you for being part of the Pan Mass Challenge and making this possible.
I appreciate your support.
Kevin
