"Gorge"ous Bike Ride

(photo left: My crazy teammate and friend, Eluta... check out that view up at our aid station at the Women's Forum!)

What an amazing way to spend a Saturday morning! Today, we did a very long, very hilly ride. Well, at least relatively speaking. 28 miles. We started at Edgefield and rode across the Sandy river and up through Corbett. We had an amazingly beautiful aid station stop at the Women's Forum. WOW! The view was spectacular! Looking out over the Columbia River Gorge, at the seemingly endless beauty and awesomeness of my Pacific Northwest, I can't help but feel so incredibly fortunate to be healthy enough to make this journey. We were graced with the presence of our honored teammate, Darlene this morning. This is such a wonderful occasion, as she has been struggling lately with her health, problems with the bone marrow transplant, which is sadly quite common. I am so glad she felt up to joining us. She brought with her some wonderful beaded bracelets that say "HOPE" that we all wore on our ride, and I now keep in a place where I can see it often and grab it to wear when I need some extra encouragement... and hope. Remembering the encouraging words that Darlene said, and her humble giving of such an appropriate and thoughtful gift, helped me make my way up the hills. The most challenging aspect of the ride was probably the final 4 mile ascent up Larch Mountain. Woah! I repeatedly went through my collection of encouraging mantras: "Yes, I can!" "I can do it!" "I am amazing!" "Healthy body, Strong mind." And more! Guess what!? I never had to get off my bike and walk it (not that the idea of walking uphill for a few miles was attractive!) I am frankly AMAZED at how far I have come... how far the entire team has come. I even got lost on the way back... took the wrong bridge... had to go up yet another hill not on the agenda. I don't see how I can make any excuses for not being able to do anything now... I believe I can do anything I put my heart and mind to! YOU CAN TOO!!!

Fundraising Update... you all ROCK!!

I thought you all might like to know how the fundraising effort is going! So far, at the halfway point, my supportive friends and family have helped me to raise $1736.50!! What a great start!!! We have a ways to go to my goal of $6500, but I know we can do it! I will be having a yard sale with another team mate in August that I will tell you all about! It should be a good assortment of several families worth of treasures. Speaking of which, if you have any items and boxes of things you've been "meaning to take to the GoodWill" that you would like to contribute to the cause, let me know and we'll figure out a way to get that from you! And there is still time to donate... and any amount helps! Go to www.RalynTNT.com to monitor the donation thermometer and contribute to this worthy cause, and help stamp out cancer! We are "Saving Lives, One Mille at a Time!"

As I have been mailing out letters, sending emails and generally telling everyone I know about what I am doing and the mission of TNT and LLS, I am finding out just how widespread these blood cancers are. It's amazing, though, to see the outpouring of love and support out there. And I believe that in my lifetime, we will see an end to blood cancers and other cancers as well. Individually, it may not seem like we can make a difference... but put a bunch of individuals together and we are MIGHTY!!!

Much Love!

It's been too long!

Wow, I have not been keeping up with my blogging! I am new to this blogging world. And, to be honest, I was never a great journaler or diary keeper. I am constantly inspired by the blogs of other people in my life. One of my very favorite blogs is Jen Polo, she is one of Trek's Featured "Women Who Ride!" She's amazing... an inspiring triathlete and mom, and hilarious woman, as well as a strong woman fighting Lymphoma. You should check out her blog at http://www.womenwhoride.typepad.com/jen/

As for my world... the training expectations are increasing and I am happy to say that I am rising to the occasion. We have been doing those bricks (Bike, Run... ICK) almost every weekend. Slowly but surely, I am actually getting all of my "away from the group" workouts in. I even went for a run a week or two ago and ran to the running store and bought new shoes! Yay! They make me faster... well, not really, but at least my run is more efficient and comfortable!

On July 12th we had an amazing workout and event! We ran an hour at Willamette park and followed that with a celebration with the other Team in Training groups as well as our honored teammates. Sadly, Darlene, our team's honored teammate was unable to attend. She is having some problems with her recovery from the bone marrow transplant she had. So, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers for a complete & speedy recovery. It was a fantastic potluck, nonetheless, as it was amazing to see how large a group we are! It's amazing to see that there are so many of us fighting to find a cure for blood cancers. And this is happening all over the US and even abroad. We actually just got a teammate transplant from the San Francisco TNT Tri team. How cool is that!? It's like a baseball trade!!

That's all for now... I'll give you all some more recaps from the last couple weeks a little later!

GO TEAM!