Remembering Jim Owens

Yesterday was the 2-year anniversary of the passing of my very good friend Jim Owens after a 10 year battle with brain cancer.  I was honored to get to speak at his memorial, here's some excerpts from that important day in my life...

In 1983, the writer Beryl Markham said, “That’s what makes death so hard, unsatisfied curiosity.”

I wonder:

-          What would Jim have accomplished had he another 40 years?

-          What advice would he have given us?

-          Who else would he inspire, had he had more time?

Regrettably, these are questions that will go unanswered.  But one thing I do know is that my friend, my teammate – my brother – Jim Owens defined what it means to “live strong.”

You know, I still can’t recall the first time I met Jim.  To be honest I feel like I’ve known him my entire life.  And as it is with the loss of my younger brother Robin, I can’t believe I’m not going to be able to get his counsel, or have yet another very long phone call as we talked about ways we could change the word, or cool places to ride our bikes…

I made a conscious decision that yesterday I would mourn the loss of my friend, and today I would champion him.  That in no way means my grieving process is over – far, far from it my friends.  But I feel it’s equally important to celebrate the man’s life we are honoring today, as well as to acknowledge our loss.

I hope you one day take the time to read the entire “Manifesto of the Lance Armstrong Foundation,” but today I want to share a passage that I think describe the Jim Owens that I know.  It starts off:

We believe in life. Your life.

We believe in living every minute of it, with every ounce of your being –

And that you must not let cancer take control of it…

That was the way I recalled Jim living his life.  Lance Armstrong recalled, "He was down at our LIVESTRONG ride a couple of weeks ago, and now it looks like this is the end as they’ve decided to stop treatment and enter hospice.  This guy has fought literally for the better part of a decade.  That kind of strength, to fight for five or ten years, you can’t compare that to anything else, not athletically, politically, or socially – it’s really inspiring.”

...In cycling there’s a term called “sitting up”.  It’s used to describe when a rider has given his all in a race, his energy is gone, he knows his day is done – and so he relaxes…

He left everything on the road and he gave it his best shot – no regrets whatsoever, and he is admired by his competitors for his effort.

My friends, Jim Owens has sat up, and what a fine race he had!