Where Have I Been?
by Wendy at 9/16/2004 10:55:00 PM
Lately, if you've needed to find me on an evening or weekend, the best place to look would be on the river running through downtown Philadelphia. I've been in training because for the second year in a row, I will be paddling in the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon boat racing is an ancient sport that can be traced back thousands of years to early China. In this modern version, along with a team of 19 other people and one drummer, I will be paddling down the Schuykill River in a thrilling race against more than 100 other teams.
While Dragon Boating is great exercise and a heck of a lot of fun, I am doing this for one simple reason - to fight cancer. According to the CDC, cancer is the second leading cause of death among Americans, causing 1 in every 4 of the deaths in this country. In 2004, over 1500 people per day - that's about 1 person every minute - are expected to die in this country due to cancer.
The Dragon Boat Festival benefits the Fox Chase Cancer Center . Not only has Fox Chase established a 100 bed cancer treatment facility near Philadelphia, it has also benefited cancer patients worldwide through an almost 70-year history of innovative cancer research which continues to this day. The money raised from the festival will go to support Fox Chase in all its efforts to fight cancer in the wide-reaching areas of education, prevention, and treatment.
Please stop and think for just one moment. Without a doubt, you know personally someone whose life has been touched by this devastating disease. Please show your support to them by visiting my personal pledge site and pledging your support. My personal target is to reach $200 in pledges. Even a donation of $5 will help me reach that goal. If you wish, you can make anonymous pledges (though I won't be able to thank you personally for them) or contribute offline by check (please contact me for my mailing address).
Lastly - if you, like me, believe that fighting cancer is of utmost importance, please pass the link on to others you think might be interested in supporting the cause.
Thank you!
That's so cool Wendy! Amy and i dragon boat also. We took part in the Portland race this last summer. Amy rows up front and I'm in back in the engine room. We are on hiatus for the winter (it is already getting darn cold on lake washington), but we plan to start up again in the spring. We are on the Starbucks sponsored Club Sake team, Sakeccino. Good luck with your race!
Isn't Dragon Boat racing a blast? I tried to get John to join the team this year, but he was having no part of it. We'll have to work on him for next year. Hey, maybe you can give me a dragon boat racing tip - how do you avoid butt bruises from rocking back and forth from seatbone to seatbone as you turn, reach and pull? You'd think that my back and arms might hurt the most after a good practice, but its always the butt.
Thanks for your support!
Hi Wendy, It's Amy. Well, my first tip for avoiding butt bruises would be gallons of high fat food to make your butt bigger!! Oh ha ha..No really, a woman on our team invested in some heavy duty biking shorts this summer that had padding on the butt. She claimed that it really helped with the soreness. Might be worth a try! Good luck this weekend. We'll be pulling for you and hollering, "Paddles Up!" as often as we can!
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