Same 13 mile course to Poppy Ride Golf course and back. Beat yesterday's time by 2 minutes. It got cold and windy on the way back and eyes were streaming coming down the hill. May need some sport glasses for the big trip planned for PKD. I'm going to try contacting the SF Chapter for PKD pretty soon.
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Day 1 of training.
Last night was a bit tough, as I got a bit down after some of the reading I did, but today I feel like I got a good start. First, I had some notes of encouragement from the last post. One from a friend and another from a complete stranger who found my post. How cool is that? Second, I did my first ride of the year on my usual daily ride. I used my new Christmas present, a Garmin Edge 500 cycling computer, and mapped my route. When I got home I uploaded the ride and created a course of it for future rides. Which means I can do cool things like race against my logged time to see if I can beat it. The Garmin will put a virtual competitor on the route and tell me if I'm ahead or behind him using the times and positions that I logged from today's ride. Pretty cool.
I also tried planning a route last night. That route, subject to change, takes me from Santa Cruz to the Oregon border all along the coast. Wouldn't that be cool?
On today's ride I thought about the trip and did some mental planning. Will need some more bike tools, some long cycling pants, etc. It will be June during the ride yes, but the coast in the mornings even in summer can at times be colder than our winter days in Livermore so I'll need to be prepared.
Jesus, thank you for the words of encouragement you sent me from the aether :-) I hope to please you with my efforts come June, and ask that you come for a ride with me that week.
Finding the courage
The new year is here and I am currently struggling with an idea and trying to drum up some courage. I have told a few people of a plan I have been brewing in the back of my head to do a big ride in the summer. Something like 500 miles over 7 days. I intend to raise money for the PKD foundation, a charitable foundation representing the disease I have: Polycystic Kidney Disease. Right now, it is a real struggle. Tonight I started doing some research into planning the trip, and what it would take to represent PKD on the ride. I segued into some personal PKD stories, and now am a little on the sad side: I realize I haven't even admitted to myself I have the disease. You see, I read a few things tonight about some of the bad possibilities. I feel so close to backing down cause I feel like I can't even deal with it. I've shielded myself from that by only acknowledging the best possible outcomes. I pray now: God please give me courage. Help me start this thing off and not back down.
Harsch Family at Stepping Out to Cure Scleroderma 2010
The walk itself was great. The kids and I walked the 2mi together (I mistakenly called it a 2K earlier). Cole, who had just beat a virus he had for the three days prior, walked about a half mile and then wanted in the stroller. Mason, dragged a little in the middle, but then got really excited at the end and couldn’t wait to cross the line. I was so proud of her. Lori was already at the finish line waiting for us and helped see us through!
Lori enjoyed the 10K run, and it turns out it proved to be her fastest yet. Several of the middle miles were under 10 minutes for her, so she achieved a pretty major milestone during the run. She never ceases to amaze me.
We really wanted this to be a memorable event in memory of my mother so we designed shirts that you can see in the photos. They had the heart graphic you see here which we put on the back, it says “Stepping Out In Loving Memory Of Betty Harsch”. On the front they say “Stepping Out to Cure Scleroderma May, 16 2010”. I really feel we did a good thing to help those struggling with this horrid disease. Scleroderma, being a rare disease has not received much public support, which means your contributions were direly needed. There were a lot of things we learned about doing fund raisers, and you can bet that next year we will be back at it.
The Chile Enchiladas auction was a big hit. As it turned out we had a three way tie for the Red Chile dish, so we've decided to make a third. So, in total the Red Chile dish brough in $150 and the Green Chile brought in $81.12!
This really was a growing experience for us all and we were very happy to be a part of the event. See you next year!
"A Million Thanks to All Our Sponsors!!"
Harsch Family First Goal Achieved!
Wow! We've been really blessed with an outpouring of support. As it stands as of this writing, we've met our first goal of $400, and then some, to total $510! There is one week left, and we're hoping to rally support from a few others so we're setting a second goal of $800! Hopefully, if we get some more bids on the enchiladas and a few more donations we can really help the fight against Scleroderma. Come on friends and colleagues won't you please help out?
Also, our daughter Mason has really taken an inkling to running... she runs with Mom on practice runs and last week she ran 1.75 miles. She's going to kick my butt on this 2K!!
Red Chile Enchiladas - Auction for Scleroderma
Any of you lucky enough to have had Lori's Red Chile Enchiladas know they are worth their weight in gold! You, however, only have to be top bidder or second top bidder to get this tasty dish delivered right to your door. Here's how it works:
* Check out the Harsch Family fund raiser page for Scleroderma for details about our walk, taking place Sunday May 16th.
* Bidding is easy - To bid just add a comment to this blog post with your name and amount. Starting bid = $10.00.
* Top two highest bidders win yummy Red Chile Enchiladas, that feeds four.
* Winners get the dish delivered to their door (must live within 25 miles of Livermore, or be otherwise capable of arranging to get the dish from us) on Sunday May 23rd (or later by arrangement).
* Auction ends Friday May 14th at midnight. Winners must donate to our fund raiser page by the next day.
You'll help a worthy cause, support families dealing with a dreadful disease, raise awareness and research a cure.... AND enjoy a fine meal. So, please bid on...
(those not living close enough to participate in the auction, your kind donations to the fund raiser are still appreciated)
[Click here to go to Green Chile Enchilada Auction]
==> Bid in Comments <==
( NOTE: If you do not use an account capable of posting comments below just send me email and I will post your bid for you).
Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casseroles - Auction For Scleroderma
Any of you lucky enough to have had Lori's Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas know they are worth their weight in gold! You, however, only have to be top bidder or second top bidder to get this tasty dish delivered right to your door. Here's how it works:
* Check out the Harsch Family fund raiser page for Scleroderma for details about our walk, taking place Sunday May 16th.
* Bidding is easy - To bid just add a comment to this blog post with your name and amount. Starting bid = $10.00.
* Top two highest bidders win a yummy Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole, that feeds four to six.
* Winners get the dish delivered to their door (must live within 25 miles of Livermore, or be otherwise capable of arranging to get the dish from us) on Sunday May 23rd (or later by arrangement).
* Auction ends Friday May 14th at midnight. Winners must donate to our fund raiser page by the next day.
You'll help a worthy cause, support families dealing with a dreadful disease, raise awareness and research a cure.... AND enjoy a fine meal. So, please bid on...
(those not living close enough to participate in the auction, your kind donations to the fund raiser are still appreciated)
[Click Here to go to Red Chile Enchilada Auction]
==> Bid in Comments <==
( NOTE: If you do not use an account capable of posting comments below just send me email and I will post your bid for you).
My Life Forever Changed
I was only about eight. Mom (Betty Harsch) had noticed dryness, chafing and tightness around the webs of her fingers. I remember her looking scared at my father when they discussed it. She saw our family doctor about it, and he, being a small town general practitioner had difficulty recognizing it for what it was. It was 6 months later that she was diagnosed with Scleroderma. She was told by one doctor she had 6 months to one year to live. She lived with it for fifteen years (longer than most) before it finally took her. She had a heart attack. The disease can be systemic and can affect the organs of the body as well, and I guess her heart was the first to go… though she had major problems in her other organs too.
Any disease as crippling as Scleroderma, of course, is horrible and really shouldn’t have to be endured by anyone. But, what some people don’t realize is what it does to families. My father and mother had come from hard working families and had worked hard during their lives, in order to give to their children a better future and to ensure for themselves a decent situation for their retirement years. One would probably consider them upper middle class. Dad was a timber faller specializing in falling trees in hard to get at places or in hazardous situations. Together they owned a retirement home and operated that for 20 years. They had done all the right things in the ways of insuring and protecting themselves with life insurance, home insurance and health insurance. Within 2-3 years, thinking they were well protected, her expensive health care needs would soon hit the cap of what the insurance would cover and that was it, just a letter in the mail. Thank you for 20 years of payments, but you’re on your own now. They would spend the next four years tapping savings, selling the business, selling the assets and finally our home. We ended up in an apartment and on a variety of social welfare programs to get by.
Her suffering and these events forever changed who I am. It has been fifteen years since she died, and I can honestly say there hasn’t been a day gone by I haven’t thought of the disease or the horrible sadness it brought us all.
In this photo you can see her hands, she had no ability to make a fist and could only get thumb and forefinger about an inch from touching, they were little more than useless paddles really. I recall walking in a clothing store with her one year and a woman approaching us stopped some 15-20 feet away, looked at her with her mouth opened and asked quite loudly “My God! What happened to your hands?” My mom replied rather hotly and with even more volume: “The pressure cooker blew up on me!” It would have been hilarious if only we could have forgotten the demon responsible for that interchange. A minute later we left, with her crying softly.
I’ve kept this recollection short and well haven’t divulged too much, you see there are memories for me that are too painful to share here… all I can say is that I wouldn’t wish something like Scleroderma on to my worst enemy. I pray that some day there will be a cure and that no one and no family will ever endure living with this crippling, slowly life draining disease again.
This year, my family and I will participate in the first annual “Stepping Out To Cure Scleroderma.” My four year old daughter and two year old son will walk with me in the 2K fun run. My wife, Lori will run in the 10K timed run. We are asking that our friends, family and contacts find it in their hearts to give as generously as they can by sponsoring us in the event (under my name: http://www.firstgiving.com/timharsch)
My children will never get to meet the spit fire that was their grandmother. But they will learn the spirit of giving by participating in events like these… and hopefully Mom will be with us on that day.
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