As I read Dustin’s statement that he is not only a cancer survivor but a CANCER FIGHTER I could not stop crying……I just LOVE that! So we all are now cancer fighters since we took this journey to hopefully save people from this dreaded disease!!!! So I will look into getting EVERYONE capes for next year!

The cape got many comments during the LAF run and ride over the weekend! Many people asked me why I was wearing it which gave me time to tell them what the Challenge to Conquer Cancer was all about which was GREAT! Other people would run or ride by me (notice that I was getting passed ALOT!) and say…”Love the cape”, or “great cape”! On the ride I answered that with “I had hoped it would give me super hero powers but it wasn’t working that day!” But their fun comments spurned me on!

On Saturday I did the 5K…thinking I would walk/run it since I haven’t been able to train much in the last couple of months. But I hooked up with Kim and Chasse and they kept me going! I ended up hand in hand with Chasse, who I so love and admire, sprinting and laughing crossing the finish line! A very special moment for me!

On Sunday I decided to shoot for the 45 mile ride. The longest ride I have ever done was only 31….but the 10 and 20 mile seemed too short so I wanted to do the 45. Well….at the second sag stop, which came AFTER the turn off to the 20 miler, I realized that I bit off more than I could chew. My lungs were burning and huffing/puffing, my legs were already feeling like jelly……maybe trying 45 only 2 months after the hysterectomy was too ambitious. I was very upset and considered asking a sag van to carry me back to the 20 mile turn, or ahead to the sag stop closest to the finish so I could ride across the finish line (cheater!)……I really wanted to quit and I was about to cry and throw in the towel. Chasse and Jessica urged me to get food to feel better. Just then I got a text on my cell phone and looked down to read that a man, whose name was on an “In Honor Of” magnet on our van had died that morning. Another person lost to cancer. I really wanted to kick something, punch something….but instead I decided to get my butt back on the bike and finish the 45 miles even if it killed me. I’ve never met the man that died but I rode for Woody Koonce and so many others. I finished with the help of Annette (who had only ridden 20 something miles before this!) and the last 5 miles with Will Flanagan pulling me! But I finished.

I am home now, back with my husband Kevin, who let me go on this journey and who was my ROCK thru everything I’ve been thru in the past year….double mastectomy, reconstruction, chemo, total hysterectomy…etc etc. Cancer sucks and we have to continue to do all that we can to help each other and others get thru it.

To my polka dot team and the P3C3 TEAM, I send huge hugs, tears of admiration and love and hope…….and I hope that the vulnerability that so many of us discovered along the way stays open so that we all can help anyone heal, learn, love………thanks for such an inspiring trip!

Sally

As we passed thru the dark, wet, fog in the freezing cold on Monday I saw it…..”come on…I will pull you….you stay on my wheel and I will get you there…..don’t give in let me help you….I will come back for you and keep you going…..don’t go to far ahead of us……we will pull you back into the pocket to keep you safe…..if you are shivering we will get your warm….” T-E-A-M……I have been shown over and over in the past 2 days what that REALLY means! It touches my heart. It makes me realize that it may take a village to raise a child as they say……but it takes a TEAM to get to get thru 20 degree weather and up huge mountains……it takes a team to get you to Austin, TX ….it takes a TEAM to get you thru Cancer. So far so WONDERFUL!

Being a support person is WORK, but it is a labor of love for the riders that punish their bodies to raise money for this cause! I feel so so lucky to be here!
Nite!

sally
Polka Dots

While I am support this year, I WILL RIDE NEXT YEAR!  This year I hope to take good care of my Polka Dot team…making sure to have them at transitions on time, and keep them happy while in the van (I’ll try not to sing too much!), etc etc.

I had a tough time deciding on what to have added to my arm warmers.  I could’ve put  Jane Pate on my arm warmers…but people wouldn’t quite get that….so I simply put   “My MoM”, “My Sis”, “My Sis in Law”……I think people will then understand how cancer has affected my life.  Simply put…I am going on this trip  for them, and for me….for the breasts, lymph nodes, ovaries that have been lost in my family alone!

I cry when I think of leaving Sunday!  Thank you to all that have donated and I hope everyone will send messages along the way.  If the blogs affect you even half as much as they affected me last year….we will see YOU next year as support or as a rider!!!!!

With dedication,

sally dunn