When the temp hits 40, a girl's thoughts turn to ...
Walking 39.3 miles in a weekend to raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer!
As you may recall, four years ago I set out to do the Avon Breast Cancer Walk in NYC, walking 26.2 miles on Saturday, sleeping in a tent under the Triborough Bridge, and then walking another 13.1 miles on Sunday. Blisters aside, it was an amazing experience!
I met and was inspired by so many men and women that weekend, who were walking for loved ones, or who were breast cancer survivors themselves. I walked with two of my best friends from college. We laughed at all the breast puns decorating shirts, hats, and pins ("39.3 Miles For Bust!"). We bawled at the touching closing ceremony after two long days. And we were each touched when we were randomly picked to symbolically represent a breast cancer diagnosis that occurs every three minutes in the US.
(Volunteers randomly pass out around 700 large pink ribbons over the duration of the walk, representing the "new diagnosis every three minutes". One of us was ribboned the first morning. Two more of us were ribboned in out sleep. While, statistically, the chance of developing invasive breast cancer at some time in a woman's life is about 1 in 8, it was really poignant that all three of us were ribboned that weekend...)
When my mother was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer the following year, it hit even closer to home.
This year, I'm walking for my mom. I'm walking for my friends and family who haven't been directly impacted but know someone who has been. And, I'm walking for you! Because breast cancer can impact all of us and it is only by better diagnosis and treatment - and hopefully a cure - that we can beat this disease!
If you can, please support me in this huge undertaking. I need to raise a significant chunk of change for the walk, and I need to log a lot of miles between now and then to get ready (thank goodness I can do it during a Maine summer this time, and not a Houston summer!!!).
As you may recall, four years ago I set out to do the Avon Breast Cancer Walk in NYC, walking 26.2 miles on Saturday, sleeping in a tent under the Triborough Bridge, and then walking another 13.1 miles on Sunday. Blisters aside, it was an amazing experience!
I met and was inspired by so many men and women that weekend, who were walking for loved ones, or who were breast cancer survivors themselves. I walked with two of my best friends from college. We laughed at all the breast puns decorating shirts, hats, and pins ("39.3 Miles For Bust!"). We bawled at the touching closing ceremony after two long days. And we were each touched when we were randomly picked to symbolically represent a breast cancer diagnosis that occurs every three minutes in the US.
(Volunteers randomly pass out around 700 large pink ribbons over the duration of the walk, representing the "new diagnosis every three minutes". One of us was ribboned the first morning. Two more of us were ribboned in out sleep. While, statistically, the chance of developing invasive breast cancer at some time in a woman's life is about 1 in 8, it was really poignant that all three of us were ribboned that weekend...)
When my mother was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer the following year, it hit even closer to home.
This year, I'm walking for my mom. I'm walking for my friends and family who haven't been directly impacted but know someone who has been. And, I'm walking for you! Because breast cancer can impact all of us and it is only by better diagnosis and treatment - and hopefully a cure - that we can beat this disease!
If you can, please support me in this huge undertaking. I need to raise a significant chunk of change for the walk, and I need to log a lot of miles between now and then to get ready (thank goodness I can do it during a Maine summer this time, and not a Houston summer!!!).