
I’ve joked that since this year I’d done an obstacle race
and become a Spartan, done 26.2 miles and become a marathoner and now I would
go out and ride 100 miles and become a Centurion. These were all soldiers of
old battles and ancient empires but in the end they fought for life as they
best saw fit. So, I for a guy who commutes on a bicycle, I’ve actually only
done 3 organized rides all 100 milers for Livestrong.

Centurions were the top of the ancient army and they became
that way in many fashions. But this weekend, it was a privilege to be
surrounded by Centurions. There is no great way to compare the ancient
centurions with any modern army because in the Roman empire, Centurions could
gain their position for a feat of valor like being the first over a wall, they
could be elected, or appointed. They could also be promoted from the ranks for
a variety of reason but most of them were significant acts of valor. And that’s
what this weekend was like, a variety of valiant men and women some strong
connections, some looser ones but with a common enemy of cancer and it’s side
effects and the need/comfort of being part of a community that was focused just
as much about living strong right now as they were about avoiding death.Some were there as all but full time volunteers, some as staff, some as enthusiastic cheerleaders.


I got to attend some Livestrong events and like the honest
folks I’ve always known them to be they acknowledged the difficulties of the
last year but showed that their strength and resolve is about moving forward.
There were men there who cried tears as manly as they came to terms dealing
with the fact that even as they celebrated an anniversary of their cancer
defeat their wife had just been diagnosed. There was a young man with brain
cancer that I had met at the first century that with all that was going on was
not attending school this semester because of growth and treatment. His parents
were optimistic and hopeful, open about their hurt. At the Livestrong dinner,
they were selling shirts that said Jimmy Strong and appropriately enough, he
was the one that started the ride on Sunday. I got to be part of the dinner by having
been invited to be on the team that had raised the most money. I raised a few
hundred dollars for this event since I mostly focus on the running events since
that’s my forte but I tried to have some humor about it and like my first
century shaved my legs like a true cyclist. Between that and the Hawktober
Mohawk, I couldn’t ask to be more aero dynamic. The simple truth is even on my
best fundraising day I can’t hang with some of those guys and their connections
for fundraising and on Sunday… well I couldn’t hang keeping up with them on the
bike. But it was a privilege to be a foot soldiers even if they were the
Centurions of that army.
here were nods and tears for those who had passed in the
last year, some who had fallen too quick, and others who well outlived their prognosis
but still passed away much too young. There was one of the staff who was
gearing up to do her first marathon in honor of someone who had passed away
from brain cancer much much too young in their early twenties.

The ride itself was about perfect. I rode with some people
who it was not more than a bike ride because they wanted a century in every
state or one every month that year. I rode with someone who was witty enough on
a steep hill to shout out to his friends as he passed me and them standing on
his bike as he pedaled up on a hill: “See I still stand for Livestrong.” I rode and chatted with people honoring their father,
their mother, their friend, their child, some their own triumphs. Because I’m
not that great of a rider and because it doesn’t take as much lungs as running
does, some people who were my speed were doing shorter or longer distance or
stopping but I got to chat with more people than usual, thus why I like the
cycling events because I meet more people during the event. They have several
water and food stops along the way but the weather was cold enough to where I
only took one in the 100 miles and did the ride at about 18 miles an hour in
just under 5:30 minutes, fastest one yet. Best part was that cancer finishers at the end of events get a special rose and mine was given to me from a lady who is a saint so much so that even her name means that. I'd met her at my first century ride last year and it made the finish that much sweeter.

Two friends who I’ve made along this journey brought a gift
for Kiana, someone they’ve never met. And yet seem to take in as their own
nice/granddaughter. And that’s the beauty of Livestrong and organizations like
it… even as nods and tears were given to those who had passed, those recently
diagnosed, we were sharing the frustrations of the side effects of this
medication or this insurance problem or the horribleness of a disease that
comes so randomly and sometimes so mean and pathetically aggressively. And even
for people like me who are getting a break from treatment or who it’s stable or
in remission or achieve full removal, there is a nervous worry about that those
screwed up cells which have taken time, energy, emotion and worry are just
being passive aggressive. But rather than mope with those worries, these
centurions, these leaders of the fight against cancer’s current effects besides
just the medical ones, they fight. They fight sometimes with money, sometimes
with long rides, sometimes with jokes and sometimes with drinks and dancing and
we know that even in the midst of those silences or not talking about it, that
there is a comfort to standing in the presence of those who get it a little bit
more than most people.

Until/unless science gets better, I will have a cancer that
has no known dietary, lifestyle, genetic or environmental components but I am
grateful to Livestrong because they’ve given me tools, directions, inspiration
to fight back with each of those elements. It was certainly acknowledged that
because of a cyclists cancelled wins, it’s been a rough year but they aren’t
anywhere near done doing good and being good at it. And I was proud to have
ridden 100 miles for and with them because of the hundreds of people they have
helped in hundreds of ways.
Hi, I am a Brazilian runner and journalist and I would like to interview you for Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil`s largest circulation newspaper. Please get in touch. My e-mail is rodolfo.lucena@grupofolha.com.br; my facebook profile: facebook.com/rodolfolucena or twitter.com/rrlucena
ReplyDelete