I've mentioned to a couple of friends that I might like to try to qualify as a rider for the 2005 Tour of Hope coast-to-coast ride. I've been doing research in order to see the qualifications of the riders that have already been chosen, and it's looking like it could be extremely difficult to get chosen.

One of the riders on the 2004 National Team is Kristen Adelman from Elkridge, Maryland. She is a three-time survivor of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and a two time stem-cell transplant recipient. Through her illness she continued to train for endurance events, including running on a treadmill while she recovered from a stem-cell transplant at Johns Hopkins.

This isn't the first time she's been chosen out of thousands of applicants to participate in a coast-to-coast sports event. She participated in the Olympic Torch Relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Running a leg of the Olympic Torch Relay is much less demanding than riding the Tour of Hope, but being chosen as one of the 11,500 participants is a recognition of her will to overcome her illness.

I'm glad to be able to point readers of Operation Gadget to Kristen's amazing story. It's great that she has regained her health to the extent that she can ride the Tour of Hope. Hopefully, I'll have the opportunity to meet her in Washington on October 9.