2009 Philly LiveStrong Challenge

Today I registered for the 100 mile course in Philly. I came so close to completing it last year that I just had to go back and give it another try.

http://philly09.livestrong.org/jasond

2009 LiveStrong Challenge Dates Announced

The dates and locations for the 2009 LIVESTRONG Challenge series have been announced.

• Seattle, WA: June 20-21, 2009
• San Jose, CA: July 11-12, 2009
• Philadelphia, PA: August 22-23, 2009
• Austin, TX: October 23-25, 2009

Registration will open in December 1st of this year.

http://www.livestrongchallenge.org

LiveStrong Challange Ride Report

First I want to say Thank You to all of you that supported me in this fight against cancer. Together we raised $3251 that will go directly towards helping others win their fight. The team I am part of raised a combined total of $50,517. The LiveStrong Challenge Philadelphia was a huge success. Roughly 5000 participants raised over 3 million dollars.

I kicked off my weekend with a warm-up ride through Valley Forge National Park. Nothing much just about 10 miles with a few friends but it was a great opportunity to see the Valley Forge National Park. Later that night I attended the fundraiser awards dinner. Because I reached the fundraising goal of $3000 I was invited to the fundraising awards dinner hosted by Lance Armstrong. The dinner was very inspirational and motivating especially when you heard all of the stories. Like the group of fundraisers from Calgary Canada that not only raised huge amounts of money for the cause, they also paid for many current cancer patients to be flown to Philly so they could attend the challenge. As if that wasn’t enough they rode their bikes from Calgary to Philadelphia to participate in the challenge. Yes you read that right; they rode their bikes all the way from Canada to Philadelphia. There was also this story about a dedicated doctor in Harlem, Dr. Freeman that has dedicated his life to helping the poor get the proper care and treatment so they too can have a chance to win their fight against cancer. And the list goes on.

Ride day. I had the honor of riding with so many great people. Some cancer survivors, some care givers, some riding for their brother, mother, father, whoever but all were riding for the cause. Many shared their story with me as we rode and some cheered me on when they saw the survivor tag on my back.

By now most of you are probably thinking well did he finish the ride or not? I did NOT complete the 100 miles. I was true to my word though and rode until I could no longer pedal. Here is the short story. At around mile 60 I started to develop pain in my left knee. I continued to push until around mile 75 when the pain on each stroke became unbearable. I finished the last hill with pretty much my right leg only. I was really disappointed because other than my knee hurting I felt pretty good and knew that I could make it all the way if I were not injured. The LiveStrong organizers put all of the riders that didn’t make the course cut off in time or were hurting on a bus and drove us within 2 miles of the finish so we could ride across the finish line and complete the ride. Of course this was optional, you didn’t have to finish if you didn’t want to or were hurt. I chose to ride the last 2 miles and don’t even want to go into how bad it hurt but in the end I did finish my ride. Not the full 100 miles I had planned but I did ride about 80 miles and climbed 6000 feet.

Thank You once again for everything.

LiveStrong,
Jason

Training Update for June

June was a great month for both my training and fundraising efforts. I reached my goal of 300 miles for the month of June. I almost didn’t make it. I was in NY for the weekend and had to take my bike along with me so I could get in one more ride for the month and reach my goal. Luckily the weather cooperated and I took a nice ride to Jones beach. For July I will be shooting for 400 miles and will be trying to average 100 miles a week. With a little less than 2 months left to go it is time to really step up my training.

On the fundraising front. With the help of so many wonderful people my goal of raising $2500 was reached. I have since raised my fundraising goal to $3000. If I reach $3000 I will get to attend the pasta dinner the night before the ride. The dinner is hosted by Lance Armstrong himself and I would be quite honored to attend.

Thank You for your continued support.

Training update for May

Training is going well but the weather seems to get in the way sometimes. I hoped to ride well into the 200 mile range in May but ended the month with only 175 miles. It seemed like evertime I wanted to ride it started to rain. I actually went for two rides in the rain out of frustration. For June I have set a goal of 250-300 miles. On a positive note I did manage to get in 10,000 feet of climbing for the month of May.

The miles are getting easier and I have started to lose some weight. I have lost 7 lbs since I started my training in April. I have 15 lbs to go to reach the goal I set for August.

On Saturday May 10th I organized a ride in honor of LiveStrong Day. LiveStrong Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s one day incentive to raise awareness and funds for the fight against cancer. With the help of 40 other cyclists I raised $400 that day.

With the help of friends and family I have now raised $1495 towards my goal of $2500 for the LiveStrong Challenge in August. I would like to thank everyone for their continued support. I really means a lot to me and helps to motivate me in my training.

LiveStrong
Jason

April training update

The Philly LiveStrong challenge is just 4 months away and I continue to train for the 100 mile course. Due to a long winter and cold temps in March, April is my first real month of training. I logged over 150 miles on my bike so far this month and should come close to 200 miles in the remaining days. Over the past few weeks I have been averaging 50-55 miles a week. This is done with two weekday rides of about 12-15 miles and a Saturday ride of 25+ miles. The weekday rides are my climbing rides and on average I climb 1000-1500 feet. For those not familiar with the word climbing, it's simple biking uphill. Climbing still remains my weak point but I will continue to work on that. For May I plan to add a 3rd weekday ride and increase my Saturday mileage. My goal is to reach 300 miles in the month of May.

On Saturday May 10 I organized a LiveStrong Day ride. LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's one-day initiative to raise awareness and funds for the cancer fight. This ride is meant to raise cancer awareness in my own community.

I would like to thank everyone for their continued support as I ride to make a difference.
Live Strong,
Jason

Training Update

The weather has improved over the past 2 weeks. Still not the nicest of weather but plenty good to train. I have been getting out 2 - 3 times a week now and averaging about 10 miles a ride. I've racked up 30 miles so far this week and have plans for another 10 mile ride on Thursday and a 20 mile ride on Saturday weather permitting. Over the coming weeks I will continue to up my daily mileage. Just about 4 1/2 months until the challenge.

LiveSTRONG
Jason

Training for Philly 2008 has begun.

Finally got a few breaks in the weather last week and jumped on the bike for some training rides. It’s been a long winter and it felt great to get outdoors and ride. After my last ride I noticed that my tulips were starting to peek out of the ground. Spring is finally on its way. There are just 5 months until the challenge so I have a lot of work to do if I am going to make my goal of 100 miles. I am confident in meeting that goal.

On a side note, I organized a LiveStrong Day event. With help from Tom of Around Town Bicycles in Wilkes-Barre we put together a 25 mile ride to support the Lance Armstrong Foundation and spread cancer awareness in our community. The ride will take place on 5/10.

Today Registration for the 2008 LIVESTRONG Challenge Opened

With registration opening today I can't help be get excited about taking part in Philly. I registered for the 100 mile ride and have a lot of training to do if I want to show up prepared. Good thing is I have plenty of time to train before this event.

To register visit http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/


Anyone wishing to sponser me on my ride can do so clicking here http://philly08.livestrong.org/jasond