Why We Race

It's the Thursday before the biggest spring race, and I am really excited. It has been a great spring, with some solid efforts and good races under our belts. We feel prepared and ready to set some personal bests at White Lake. The Wilts are making their way to NC today, and tomorrow we will head down east for the weekends events.

Rumor has it the third member of P11 is tackling an event this weekend. That's right P11's self proclaimed 'tech geek' is cranking the pedals in the character counts mid-shore metric this weekend. Here's hoping for some adversity and cold ones at the finish line, rock their faces off man!

I wanted to take a second to remind folks why we are participating in Project 11.

Project 11 is dedicated to raising funds and increasing awareness for the fight against cancer. The effort honors my father Thomas John Smith, a long time cyclist and endurance athlete. Dad battled Metastatic Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer for 11 years and inspired many first time riders, and more experienced riders to pedal a little harder. Please take a moment to read the Our Story section of the web page to learn more about Dad's fight.

Thank you,

-E

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It Begins

My father fought Cancer (the big C) from March of 1997 until July 2008. In honor of his eleven year battle, my uncle and I will compete in 11 different endurance events in an effort to raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and encourage others to ride, run, and tri with us. Just like Dad did for us. Our goal, as you may have guessed is to raise $11,000 dollars by the last event in February 2010.

It all started with a bike. Had it not been for Dad's commitment to cycling, the doctors and our family believe the fight would not have lasted as long. The events begin in March and will include duathlons, triathlons, centuries, a double assault on Mount Mitchell, The Savageman for Melanoma Research, and marathons.

We'll use this space to keep folks updated along the way, and look forward to hearing from folks during the process.

More posts to come, as momentum begins to build. More about Dad, more about Cancer, more about the events, more about why...Tonight it simply begins.

Please visit

http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/11yearsstrong

to make a donation.
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