"Sunset Reflection" - A peaceful walk to reflect on a long day of riding to raise money for cancer research.
Today I biked 86 miles in 5 Hours at roughly 19mph avg. across south east Massachusetts in The Pan-Mass Challenge in order to raise money for cancer research. I raised roughly $10k for the cause and with the help of over 6000 riders we raised 46 Millions Dollars!
The Pan-Mass Challenge raises money for life-saving cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through an annual bike-a-thon that crosses the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Since its founding in 1980, the PMC has successfully melded support from committed cyclists, volunteers, corporate sponsors and individual contributors. All are essential to the PMC's goal and model: to attain maximum fundraising efficiency while increasing its annual gift. Our hope and aspiration is to provide Dana-Farber's doctors and researchers with the necessary resources to discover cures for all cancers. Read More at The PMC Website!
It was a very emotional ride for me because I have known several people that have passed away from cancer (as I'm sure most you have sadly) and also have a family friend struggling with it as we speak (any thoughts out to her would be awesome!). During the ride you couldn't help but me motivated and blessed by the the amount of support on the road sides but people so thankful for what we were doing. I could't help but get teary eyed as kids that were both survivors and in treatment now thank us personally. There was also many many signs with pictures of all the kids we were helping by riding and rising this money. So besides being exhausted physically, I was mentally as well. I really don't want to make this a sad story or a post to pull at peoples heart strings, I just wanted to share my experience and follow up by showing a photograph I took while reflecting on my day, with a walk along the beach, at sunset. I hadn't actually planned to take a photo while on my walk but the reflection in the thin layer of water on the sand beach really stood out to me as a way to express how I felt at the moment and still feel now.
Photo taken with
Pano Mode on Apple iPhone 6 Plus
Phone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2
With attached wide angle lens
Blue
This story and photo really moved me....might be the raw emotion that permeates the writing, might be the photo? But it did.
Good job, friend.
Wow, I'm amazed by your dedication and the success of the fundraising! From all of us who has lost a friend or family member to cancer you have my most sincere appreciation. Thank you.
Thank you so much , means a lot! To be honest however I still don't feel like I really did that much, yes I raised the money , yes it was a challenging day or riding but I feel like I can do so much more. These kids calling me there hero when all I did was get on a bike and ride a few miles. that's why I was hesitant to share this and why I didn't want to make it a big deal. I love the fundraising and love the kids but I know if I tried harder I can do a lot more. Giving back is a great feeling and hopefully with the help of Steemit I can have more free time in the future to do so and I suggest others do as well , trust me.
Thanks your appreciation @smooth and others on this post , didn't mean to go on like that in this comment but had it on my mind
Great post. I have a friend that recently did something similar to raise money for a PTSD foundation. It's a great way to raise money for good causes.
Oh very nice, what was the name of the ride? I am always looking for great new organizations to get involved with especially if thy have a great bike ride.
@blueorgy The organization is called The Mighty Oaks Warrior Program. He and another guy did a cross country bike ride and then we had a fundraising event at a local restaurant .
I'll look into it and may have heard of it before
thanks!
That's a real big deed, @blueorgy! Thank you! So many useless posts here, but posts like this - a rarity. Inspiring and uplifting! Please, go on.
Thank You of the kind words! To me this is actually a very big deal and didn't want to play it down but also didn't want to make this out to be sort of ploy to get attention. I really had an amazing day and what I didn't mention is it was my 7th year straight riding :) Every year just seeing those kids and knowing I did something, even if little, to help them out is beyond touching.
I still say make a "Cure Whale Cancer" steemit code thing..... Proceeds from post go to same cause! Awesome what you did. Not trying to downplay it at all.
Reread that. I won't delete.... But do want to acknowledge it reads insensitive, but is not intended that way. Sorry if it comes across as such.
Hi! This post has a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of 9.9 and reading ease of 68%. This puts the writing level on par with Michael Crichton and Mitt Romney.
Great job!
thank you!
Beautiful Sunset !
Shooting same Canon 5D Mark III, Iphone Camera is number one.
Much Love!