WOW. JUST WOW! MY WEEKEND-THE MS 150

I am going to try not to forget to thank the many people that made this weekend truly one of the best weekends of my life. If I do, please forgive me. I am still kinda high from an amazing experience. Also, forgive me for the Academy Award acceptance speech tone of this post. This all needs to be said. First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you to Calvin Pollard, Mindy LeBlanc, Debbie Pope and every single person with the NMSS for creating a SPECTACULAR event involving the coordination of a mind boggling number of people and services in too many counties to count from Houston to Austin. Coordination of the seemingly flawless ride was nothing short of Herculean. I am a lawyer. If they don’t give you at least 2 months of paid vacation after this call me. We will talk. Seriously, you are amazing and as both a rider and a person with MS, there is no way to adequately thank you. Thanks also to everyone involved with the Bubble Bistro, a series of tents set up at the finish line in Austin where patients can comfortably watch their supporters cross the finish line. Our patients from Houston enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the Bubble Bistro and I thank you so much for that. Thanks to Kimberly Cutchall and Accendo International, Mush Khan and O’Rourke Petroleum and Shell for sponsoring Team Inspiration, not only our riders, but our patients’ experience as well. That is what put this weekend over the top for me. A special thanks to Mush for, well, everything you do for me. For arranging the tandem and for constantly validating me. Thanks to Cara Baez and the entire team at HP for letting our little rag tag team join your group and for making us all feel so welcomed, particularly in the tent in LaGrange. I can not imagine being made to feel more at home and we were so proud to wear the HP jersey. To Kimberly and Emerson Cutchall (the most amazing sister and niece in the history of mankind), Bob Meyer and Lynn Maki, our Team Inspiration volunteer core for making this work for both riders and patients and for taking such amazing care of me every step of the way. Lastly and importantly to our riders – Nathan Beedle, Jim Harrington, Igor Cherches (my neurologist), and my super jocks – Brandon Loughridge, Travis Wells and Joe Trainor. You all made the ride absolutely amazing. Yesterday morning when I encouraged my super jocks to ride ahead and finish they insisted on staying with me. They said “we started this together. We are finishing it together.” These are truly amazing young men. I want to especially thank Nathan for keeping me steady as the captain of our tandem. There were many times that I think he was worried my stability would be our end, particularly when negotiating a downhill on a narrow course going over 30 miles an hour. He kept The Beast in line and kept us safe. You are my hero, Nathan. Once I get them all collected and get my act together, I will post pictures from the whole weekend. They are pretty amazing.

Boys and girls, this weekend was a vivid reminder of the importance of dreaming out loud. Since I was diagnosed with MS in 1999, I have always wanted to ride the MS 150. I did not share that dream with others until last year around the time of the triathlon. Jim shared a dream of involving patients in our experience and as a result, 20 patients and their family members were taken to Austin from Houston on a Team Inspiration bus and were able to experience some of what we, as riders, experienced. So, I guess what I am telling you is to KEEP DREAMING OUT LOUD! -Trace