Courage Classic Day 3 - We did it!

Today's ride was about 33 miles. The little red dot was the finish line. You can see how the first 12 miles is all uphill. Jeremy was wonderful and stayed with me and we rode for a while - rested for a while - then rode some more. The only part that is wrong is the fact that on the map it shows it going downhill into the finish. It was NOT downhill - uphill all the way for last 6 miles - at this point I am not a big fan of uphill bike riding! :)

We did reach the Summit at mile 12 - I tell you the added 2000 feet really did make a difference. My legs felt great - my lungs however, were a different story.

It was very emotional for me today and I was trying to figure out why. I will apologize right at the beginning - I don't really like thinking super deep - but I think that over the past year there was so many things I wanted to do for Samantha. I wanted to take her cancer for her, I wanted to take away her pain - I wanted to help her walk and heal and not be sick. I couldn't do any of that, but I could ride my bike for 3 days for her. When we hit the summit (of the ride that I didn't think I could do) it was like I could finally do something for her. She is probably thinking - my mom is a freak - but that is it. Jeremy was very patient with me and was such a great support all day. It was a hard but really fun weekend.
Here we are crossing the finish line - Jeremy with his mom and me with Isabella. Almost immediately after I crossed the finish line - Daniel handed me Isabella. She was crying and I barely had time to grab my medal....

It was fantastic to see Samantha, Daniel and Isabella as we crossed the finish line.

We finished up rather quickly - got back to the condo to do a quick clean up and pack the van and then a drive back to Denver in the pouring rain.

Damian (Jeremy's brother) came up and made us a fabulous dinner while I drank some wine and Jeremy drank some beer and we relaxed. All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

Tomorrow is back to work for me but Jeremy is taking the whole week off. I will write more then - tonight I believe I am ready for bed.

Love to everyone!