This past Saturday Chris participated in a 12 hour cycle marathon benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). It was an incredible event entirely organized and executed by our spin instructor extraordinaire, Mistress Monica. Juvenile Diabetes is a cause very near and dear to her heart. Her 9 year old, Ethan, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 21 months and has lived every day of his life since then coping with this disease.
50 teams of anywhere from 1 to 12 cyclists participated in the event. In all, there were 300+ riders. 8 riders completed the ENTIRE 12 HOURS! (Just thinking of that makes my butt hurt!) And, BTW, Monica also rode all 12 hours! XM provided the DJ for the event - flown in all the way from Washington - and all 12 hours of music ROCKED! Monica busted her butt for months pulling together sponsors, riders, cash donations, and prizes for the riders - lots of incredible prizes. Each hour, she had goodies to give away to that hour's participants. At the end of the night, she drew for several grand prizes the most grand of which was a weekend spa package for 2 to Lake Austin Spa (a $3500 value).
The energy of the entire day was phenomenal, but nothing compared to the emotion at 11:30pm (just 30 minutes to the end of the event) when Monica received and announced the final total raised for JDRF. Her goal was $30,000. Let's just say that when Monica does it, she does it big … the total was $66,000+! More than double her goal! And, we knew that donations would continue trickle in for a week or so. The final total will likely top $70,000!
For my part, I wasn't actually even supposed to be there. I was originally scheduled to be leaving Saturday for the Keller Williams Family Reunion (convention) in Atlanta. Of course, that was all scheduled prior to me finding out I was pregnant last fall. About 2 weeks ago, I made the final decision to forgo that trip in the interest of energy management and conservation. Since I wasn't scheduled to ride, I told Monica that I was hers to use for the day. She had done an incredible job of scheduling a slew of volunteers for the event, but it turned out that the one person who had no backup was her hubby, Andy, who was in charge of registration. So, that became my job - do whatever I could to help Andy. And, it turned out that it was a welcome assignment. I was able to free up Andy to act as the host-by-proxy that he was and to also take care of all the little things that cropped up during the day. I have to admit that while I wasn't on a bike for 12 hours, it was a pretty long day, but incredibly satisfying to know that I could help with such an amazing event.
On a final note - I have no firsthand experience with juvenile diabetes. Sometimes we help with and participate in events like these because it's a good thing to do, and, more importantly, because it's important to someone we care about. That was very much the case here. Or, at least it was until Saturday. Monica's son, Ethan, was there most of the day. From my vantage point at the registration desk, I watched him as he ran and played with his friends, checked his blood sugar, adjusted his pump, had a juice box, then played some more, had to stop because he didn't feel good, then back to it again. That cycle repeated itself several times during the day. It was heartbreaking to see that he couldn't just be a kid and not have to worry about anything more than his parents getting after him for running indoors (or something equally trivial like that). The hardest part came around 11:00pm. It was obvious he had had a long day and it was getting to him. (BTW, did I mention the trip to the ER the night before this because of a seizure? Yeah. And, he was back up and at 'em the next day … as were Monica & Andy. Wow.) It was so obvious that he felt horrible. And, honestly, he looked beyond pathetic. He just sat in Andy's arms. I really can't describe the picture adequately other than to say that I wanted to cry at how bad he felt (okay - maybe I did cry a little - damn material instincts kicking in). The original intent was for Ethan to be there for the kick off and the countdown at midnight, but that just wasn't in the cards for the little man. He ended up going home with one of his grandparents a few minutes later. Watching Ethan go through all of that Saturday (which in truth was just a normal day for him) really brought the entire day into focus for me. When I went up to the cycle studio a few minutes later to hear the final totals announced, I had a new appreciation for what everyone in that room had contributed to and what Monica had accomplished with all of her blood, sweat, and tears.
You can check out some snapshots of the event here: http://blog.audreyreed.info/photos/jdrf_cycle_marathon/.
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