I have the deepest admiration for terminal breast cancer survivor Jane Tomlinson. In fact, you could rightly say I am in awe of her. This summer, I followed her epic journey across the US, as she left from San Francisco to ride across this country on a bicycle. Cycling 4,200 miles for cancer charity, she intended to end her ride at Battery Park in New York City, and she has arrived.

Why does Jane inspire me? It is her spirit. In times of any challenge or crisis, we all need heroes. People who inspire by sheer determination and resilience of will. Someone to look to as a reminder to keep going as long as we can. Jane is one of my heroes.

At the beginning of May, four skateboarders -- Rob Lewis, 26, of Winnipeg, Aaron Jackson, 25, of Summerside, P.E.I., Benjamin Jordan, 25, of Toronto and Carlos Koppen, 26, of Halifax -- left Halifax, Nova Scotia to skateboard across Canada to benefit breast cancer.

Traveling the Trans-Canada Highway, the group is averaging 100 kilometers (about 60 miles) a day, and has raised over $26,000 dollars for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The ultimate goal is to raise one million dollars -- one dollar at a time.

They are hoping to reach Vancouver, British Columbia in September or October. You can learn more about the skateboarders and keep up with the young men at the Push for the Cure website. They publish updates of the journey and excellent photography of their travels.

Preston Barden, the father of nine and grandfather of eight, told his family he will be back home at Christmas.

On June 20th, Barden began his walking odyssey to break the Guinness World Book Record for the fastest time crossing the US on foot for a round trip total of 5,900 miles. While he is doing this, he is asking for donations to benefit the National Children's Cancer Society -- and he hopes to raise $30 million dollars with his effort.

Barden, who began in New York City, said, "If I do the round trip I will be the first person to do the round trip, and then it will also be America's longest walk-a-thon."

Barden, a welder by trade and a martial arts instructor with four black belts, totes a 55-pound backpack with tokens of inspiration from those who have died of cancer. You can watch WGEM's video of the television interview they did with Barden here. For information on how to donate to the National Children's Cancer Society call Barden at 1-888-411-KIDS. For more information about Barden visit World Walkers.

In celebration of his 50th birthday, fitness enthusiast Patrick Thompson and his over-sized inflatable penguin Percy start the epic journey to cycle across Australia to raise funds for child cancer research today.

His fundraiser was inspired by the loss of three friends to cancer. Thompson estimates it will take 80 days to finish the journey from Margaret River in WA to the Manning River at Taree in NSW. He hopes to raise more than $50,000 for the Children's Leukemia and Cancer Research Foundation.

According to if it's bloody easy, everybody would be doing it Thompson, he has been training most of his life for this unusual and challenging event. The Pedalling Penguin Appeal website has been launched where you can learn more about Thompson, Percy the Penguin, check his progress at Where is Patrick? and donate a few dollars to a worthy cause.

Phil Goddard is blogging Coast to Coast as he walks over 4,000 miles across America in memory of his wife Jayne, who died of cancer in January 2006. He is raising money for the Association for International Cancer Research as he walks. He started in New York on June 25 and has met with sweltering triple-digit heat, shin pain and as he describes them -- people of extraordinary hospitality.

In a solo foot journey that will take him up to nine months to complete, Goddard has made it as far as Pennsylvania. There are no vehicles following him and no official support awaiting him on the road ahead. Goddard goes it alone.

According to his sister Jacqui Goddard, "This grueling odyssey is his idea of a healing experience, an off-beat form of bereavement therapy by which he can make life without Jayne meaningful, rather than filling his days with the pain of her loss. It will also raise more than £10,000 in sponsorship for the Association for International Cancer Research."

Goodard believes that if it had been him who died, his wife Jayne would have found a way to turn it into something positive too. Jayne was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer but it wasn't discovered in time to save her. Jayne, who used her maiden name Comins, was a speech therapist and psychotherapist, and held the professional status as a leading expert on the human voice, writing books and articles, making regular TV and radio appearances and lecturing throughout Britain.

Join Goddard on his walk across America as he blogs Coast to Coast.

In a 45-day bike tour, and over halfway through, six international college students have been cycling across America to raise money for cancer research and blogging the daily journey at Cross Country for Cancer. There are three reasons I have been following the blog posts: one, these young men are spectacular for the undertaking of raising money for cancer research by pedaling coast-to-coast; two, some of the posts and photos with captions are Monty Python-esque hilarious (which I compared them to in the first post I blogged about them); and three, it has been interesting to see this country at pavement level through the eyes of a group not normally residents.

They have blogged gorgeous scenery seen and generous people met. They have also discovered where the Grinch works his summer job. In case you don't know, because I didn't, the Grinch is running the tram somewhere near Cotopaxi, Colorado.

Cancer ... it's kind of a big deal. That is the tagline for the Cross Country for Cancer blog. In a benefit to raise awareness and funds for cancer research at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center of Johns Hopkins University and for the American Cancer Society, six international college students are spending 45 days of summer cycling across America. The Cross Country for Cancer cycling team, who began their 4,000 mile journey in San Francisco, California, 13 days ago, plan to finish in Baltimore, Maryland.

Cross Country for Cancer is blogging the daily challenges and adventures of the cycling journey across America where this group of college students -- John Lian of Amherst; Ezra Pierce of Oxford; Jacob Pierce of UC Santa Barbara; Patrick Garfjeld Roberts of Oxford; Max Capener of Oxford; and David Lauterbach of Wheaton -- basically came up with a big idea and without any self-admittedly realistic sense of what is possible, simply agreed to go for it.

Lori is driving across the country trying to raise money -- $9,490 to be exact -- for breast cancer research. One dollar for every day that her mother battled breast cancer. And she is close. She has already raised $8,629.40 through sponsors and donations and has traveled a whopping 6,874 miles since she first hit the road in May. She's been through California and Nevada and North Dakota and Utah and Wyoming -- among other places. She camps and hikes and canoes and stops to see friends along the way. Like the friend she will visit today in Minnesota -- a friend who is surviving breast cancer. She stops at roadside attractions and restaurants and charming little overnight resorts. She stops for photos and to write on her blog -- and through it all, she reflects on the mother she lost almost one year ago. And she raises hope for others fighting breast cancer by giving 100 percent of her donations to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. I am impressed. I am honored. I am in awe of what Lori is doing. Because I know I could never do it.

I don't like to travel -- and anything more than a three-hour trek in any direction, by any mode of transportation, is too much for me. And while I have traveled in my life to faraway places -- England, France, Germany, Italy, and more -- I do not enjoy any part of the process that gets me to and from my destinations. I'm not sure why. I just don't like it. But I admire those who venture to distant lands. And those who find excitement in a spontaneous trip. And those who tackle the long road across state lines for the pure thrill of it. And those -- like Lori -- who do it so others can benefit. So others can survive the disease that takes so many lives. The disease that took Lori's mom.

Back in May, we told you about Jane Tomlinson's plan to pedal across America, beginning in San Francisco and ending in New York, in a fundraising campaign for cancer charity. She planned to begin the epic ride, named Jane's Ride Across America, as soon as she finished chemotherapy for advanced metastatic breast cancer -- a terminal cancer diagnosis she received almost six years ago and was told at that time she only had six months to live. Her plan is to arrive in New York on August 31st, which will mark the six year anniversary of her cancer survivorship.

Still in back and hip pain from the chemotherapy she just finished two weeks ago, Tomlinson, 42, began her ride yesterday, leaving San Francisco. During her 4,200-mile journey she will endure temperatures of 100F and altitudes of more than 11,000 ft. Accompanying her on the trip are two friends - Leeds Metropolitan University lecturer Ryan Bowd, 27, of Calgary, Canada, and 40-year-old Martyn Hollingworth, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire; her husband Mike, nine-year-old son Steven and 18 year-old daughter Rebecca. To learn more about the remarkable Tomlinson and read her ride diary, visit her website Jane's Appeal.

Six years ago, when Jane Tomlinson was diagnosed with advanced metastatic breast cancer, the doctors said she had six months to live. Instead of dying, she has gone on to compete in a number of triathlons --including a 2,500-mile bike ride, from Rome to Leeds and last year the New York Marathon -- all to raise money for breast cancer charity. At the end of the year, after raising £1.25m total for cancer charity, the mother of three took a break.

Tomlinson is back. On June 29, she will begin cycling 4,200 miles across America for cancer charity. Beginning at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and ending in New York, Tomlinson's Ride Across America will bring her charity fundraising to a £2m total or better. Tomlinson is currently undergoing chemotherapy, but will have five weeks to recover from that before she begins her ride. Tomlinson, 42, will have the company of Leeds Metropolitan University lecturer Ryan Bowd, 27, of Calgary, Canada, and 40-year-old Martyn Hollingworth, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire on her 62 day challenge. You can learn more about this inspiring breast cancer survivor, her remarkable adventures of accomplishments in living and upcoming progress at Jane's Appeal. Jane Tomlinson has also written a book called The Luxury of Time. I am on my way over to Amazon right now.