Hopkins 4K for Cancer

June 13, 2005

Taylorville, IL
After a night at Clinton Community High School, we were greeted by a surprise this morning. The people from church the previous night had brought us a fabulous breakfast including the absolute best homemade cinnamon rolls I have ever had. We had them for breakfast and even had some left for the first water break, which was definitely something to look forward to. Thank you to members of the Clinton United Church for sending us off to a short, but still mentally difficult day!

Our destination today was Taylorville. The distance was only less than half of what we did yesterday, 51 miles. Everyone was looking forward to a short day and we didn’t even plan to have a lunch break. Two water breaks later, we were in Taylorville and we could just have lunch there. After we set off around 9 AM, it was seen early on that it was not going to be easy day because of the riding conditions. The headwind was strong for the entire duration of the ride, the roads were incredibly bumpy and the shoulder was narrow and unpaved. There were also a surprisingly large amount of trucks that passed by and it was hard to stay balanced when the tailwind from these trucks were so strong. Physically, it was hard to push through the wind when so many people are nursing injuries, but mentally, it was even more difficult to encourage yourself to keep pushing even though those first few pedals after a stop seemed impossible. But motivation was definitely not lacking in this team. We remind ourselves of who we are riding for as well as so many of the inspiring stories that we hear on the way and we support each other to make it through the day and the rest of the journey.

The long day ended at Community Christ Church, which hosted an excellent dinner for us. Thanks to their amazing hospitality! Right before dinner, we were already hearing bouts of thunder and seeing sporadic flashes of lightening and we feared that a tornado might be coming. But it turned out to just be a thunderstorm that will hopefully alleviate the wind on our ride to St. Louis tomorrow. After the storm diminished to just a drizzle, we went outside in preparation to pack the vans and a gorgeous view greeted us. The rain had produced a double rainbow across the entire sky. It was a perfect way to end the day. The rainbow could be seen in its entirety and the primary rainbow distinctly displayed all of its colors. Standing out there and looking at the sky was incredibly serene and allowed me to finally have a moment to myself and reflect on the important things on the trip. Aside from the logistics and the daily chores that is necessary for everyone to complete in order for the trip to run smoothly is a very personal reason for being part of the Hopkins 4k for Cancer. Moments like seeing this rainbow overwhelmed me with emotion to finally realize how far we have come in the past two weeks: all the people we’ve met, the lives we’ve touched, and the stories that have touched our lives. It was a good day to be motivated again to forge on in our journey as we look forward to another century tomorrow!

-Cheng