Welcome to Team Iwamoto's 2009 PMC Blog

Welcome back! For those of you who are new here, let me explain the Pan Mass Challenge (or PMC, as it's known).

The PMC is a bicycle-a-thon. In fact, it's the original bike-a-thon. It started 30 years ago, and since then, has raised some $239 Million for cancer care and research for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute by contributing to it's Jimmy Fund. In 2008, some 5,000 riders from 36 states and 8 countries raised $35 Million that went directly to the Jimmy Fund, which is half of the Jimmy Fund's annual revenue. The PMC runs at an amazing 100% efficiency - every single rider-raised cent went to the Jimmy Fund - nothing goes to overhead. Nothing goes to jerseys, cups of coffee, photocopying fees, salaries, or anything. Any money you choose to donate go directly to cancer care & research. All of it. Every Single Last Cent. It's something to be proud of, and it's a very important point that shouldn't be overlooked.

This year, the PMC will be held on August 1 & 2, 2009.

There are several different routes. Last year, for the first time, Ken & I ("Team Iwamoto") did the easiest & shortest route - a 47-mile route - from our house (a 112-mile day), which involved leaving our house at some ungodly dark hour (4:30 am? 5 am? something like that - it was dark out, foggy, and very, very quiet. We were lit up like Christmas trees just to be safe).

Turns out I was pregnant for the grueling day. Little did we know that Team Iwamoto was actually a team of 3 at that point - but just barely.

This year, we've chosen the same 47-mile route, only we'll be driving to start line. I'll be giving birth in late April, and don't expect to get any bike training time before June 1 or so. After that, I don't expect to have a whole lot of training time, either - at least not until our wee one can hold it's own head up and I can put it in the trailer. Which might not be until after the PMC.

Our Team fundraising goal for 2009 is a $5,000 - almost exactly what we raised last year. Only this year I'll have to start fundraising even earlier than last year. I don't think I'll have much of a brain for a while after the baby is born. But the PMC is important enough to make sure that it gets done, despite the economy, despite the baby. Or maybe because of the Baby. We all need a little hope, and now that Team Iwamoto's eyes are firmly fixed to the future, finding a cure for cancer - finding a way to treat cancer as a chronic disease instead of a terminal disease is even more important. We both have cancer on both sides of our family. It's no joke, as almost everyone knows.

If you care to donate to Team Iwamoto's fundraising efforts, please visit our on-line donation page. All donations are tax-deductible, and 100% of donations go directly to cancer care & research - nothing goes to overhead. Please help us if you can.