2006-03-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

Hola, I apologize for not blogging yesterday, I am going to blog about my experiences every day, so check back here often.

Yesterday I went for a run, it was nice, I miss running, sweating, being insanely warm, its such a great feeling.

Today Josh and I went on the same bike ride as on Monday and wow it was so much better. I was kicking butt, going up hills, not being out of breath, feeling great; its like Im an official Coloradoian. But ok there is this one massive hill, its dirt and its sooooo steep, well on the way up josh and I tried to make it up, and we made it about 80 percent then we would crash because we were going too slow. So we get to the top and we wait and another biker comes up and we watch him and he makes it up the hill, something inside me woke up and said this is possible lets do it again. After some convincing Josh decided to join me and we rode down this hill for a second attempt, we failed again, but we got so close this time. I was still feeling good so I declared Im not giving up and I committed to a third attempt, josh was unwilling to join me. Wow the third time was hard, I was struggling at the beginning, and I didn't make it all the way up the hill. But wow it was such a great experience. Im glad I tried a third time, I will become stronger from each attempt.

The cool thing I keep thinking about is that I have only been training for 3 days and I am so much better condition. With additional training I am going to keep getting better at attacking hills, which is very cool. What is even cooler is that this hill is going to stay the same size.

Have a great day!

2006-03-27T21:53:00.000-08:00

Training for the Yes Ride began today. Yeah ive been slacking on training, but i have been busy recruiting riders, and organizing this whole thing. So today, Josh Ryan and I went on a mountain bike ride, it was about 25 miles and it kicked my butt. Man hills are so stupid hard, it was a massive reality check that I must commit to riding or running 6 days a week. 2 monthes until the start of the ride, its going to be hard, but i am committed 100%, this blog will help me stay accountable. Im using this blog not so much to write inspirational thoughts, I attempt to do that on the Yes Ride blog, but this blog is all about recording my training and fundraising over the next two monthes.

Im doing the same ride tomorrow, so hopefully it should be easier.

2006-03-15T21:01:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll. This is my blog for The Yes Ride. I've been writing on the yes ride site the last couple of weeks and its been pretty cool to hear stories of how people were inspired by my writing. To be honest I'm a pretty horrible writer, I misuse words all the time and I have poor grammar skills. But when I write on there I feel every word I write. Its funny organizing this ride I sort of feel like my idol Dan Pallotta. On his site he has video clips of speeches he has given and they always sound so amazing, he came to Olympia high school last year and my students were blown away with what he had to say and I was blown away with his speeches. Actually I have this tape of the 2000 Alaskan AIDS vaccine ride, man that ride changed my life. Seriously, a 20 minute tape changed my life. I have shown the tape to hundreds of people, I love it, come watch it with me sometime I have it memorized basically. Well towards the end of the tape Dan Pallotta gives a talk, which is at the end of the closing ceremonies and he says some of the most amazing stuff. Man that speech it rings throughout my soul, Ill throw a portion of it below. But anyways I get to talk with potential riders all the time, but I feel like I get to give speeches that will change peoples lives. I talk about possibilities with people, I talk about pursuing your dreams, and I talk about solutions for poverty. Its cool the people I talk with don't normally hear this stuff, but I get so excited because the person I'm talking to is someone amazing; they are someone who wants to end poverty, they are someone who wants to fulfill their dreams.

I will update this blog often. Anyways right now I miss Florida, sweet tea, warm weather, and coming home late to find my mom baked me some cookies.

Have a great night.

Dan Pallotta at the 2000 Alaskan AIDS Vaccine Ride

Some of you who are in your 20's and in your 30's, you're going to have children. You're going to have grandchildren. You're going to have great grandchildren. Those children will say, "My Mom rode across Alaska to help find a vaccine for AIDS." Fifty years from now they'll say, "my grandfather rode across Alaska to find a cure for this thing that was called AIDS." And they'll say, "my great grandfather rode across Alaska." And for those of us who are gay or lesbian, who may not have children of our own, they will say, "my father had a friend." They will say, "I had an uncle that rode across Alaska to find a vaccine for AIDS." They will be inspired by that.

I was turning the corner of the last few miles and you saw all the little children along the route. When I saw, first saw them, I noticed one of the Washington, D.C. riders talking to four or five of them. A 6-foot tall guy with these 2-foot and 3-foot tall little kids. And you know we are in these costumes that are not unlike superhero costumes -- Spandex -- and the Washington, D.C.'s are red and white and blue.

And it looked like Superman talking to little kids and they were looking up to him. They were talking to a powerful human being who believes in dreams and is not willing to be limited only by what is reasonable, but who is willing to live his life to the fullest -- give it everything he's got because this is the only chance he's going to get to go around.
So many kids are surrounded by influences that will limit them. It was a powerful moment for those kids to be around a superhero. So to those who would talk to us over satellites about family values and about morality, you tell them to come to Anchorage where one of the things we value is the value of humanity. Where there were 1,498 people, 500 crew and 70 staff who exercised real moral courage.

You tell them to come here with their hands frozen and their feet frozen. You tell them to ride 68 miles in the cold and in the snow and in the rain. And then they can talk about moral courage. That's my way of saying, "welcome to Anchorage."
I want to congratulate all of you who did this who had great doubt. This doubt about ourselves ... is perhaps the greatest enemy that confronts humanity. We look outside ourselves for the great danger, when in fact, it resides within. The voice within -- the punishing voice, that each of us knows, that says we are not good enough, not strong enough, not good-looking enough, not smart enough. Well today, my friends, you're good enough. Today, let yourself be good enough.

Over the last three days, it is our hope that you saw within yourself a person worth loving. A person who is kind, who is compassionate, and who is doing their best to make the world a better place for all to live in. A person who deserves your respect. A person who doesn't need to be limited or unloved anymore by the cynical voices within and without.
And we hope that you saw in those around you, how much more like you they are than different from you. How much they want to be treated kindly, and how much they want to treat others the same. How much they have suffered in their own lives. The loss they have endured. The courage they have tried, with all their hearts, to muster in the hope that they might see a glimpse of the greater promise within them.

We built the Vaccine Ride so that people might see a new strength within, and that the experience what the world could be like if people were simply kind to one another. We hope we have done our job for you. We hope that we delivered and that you take something important away with you today.

Chris Markl's Yes Ride Site