Monthly Archives: October 2009
Flag bearer!
Great news today! I got a call from the 3-Day coordinators here in San Diego, and they want me to be part of the ceremonies. For those who don’t know, during both the Opening and Closing ceremonies, they have flag-bearers come on stage. It’s pretty damn emotional, I remember seeing them last year and wondering how you get selected, and now I get to be up there!
For those who don’t know, Opening Ceremony, and especially Closing Ceremony are both tear-jerkers and a very emotional beginning to our journey. The rest of the walk is riddled with talks about boobs, outrageous outfits and camaraderie, but we start and end on a very emotional note.
I’m not even going to lie-I cried a lot of tears, before, after, and even during the walk last year. Tears of sadness, tears of joy-hell, probably even tears of pain. I’m man enough to admit that. Not only does it bring tears to my eyes that my sister is battling this disease, but it also brings tears to my eyes at the thought of having to go through this with either of my daughters-Justyce and Colbi Lyn.
I’m not doing this once, just to feel good about myself or prove I can do it (which is fine for those who are, I applaud them for making the contribution, it’s not something that can be jumped into lightly), I’m doing this for as long as I can. This is a lifestyle for me, not just an event.
I will be walking carrying the “My Sister” flag, but I may as well be walking carrying the “My Daughter” or “Best Friends” flag because it’s that important to me to eradicate this disease and not have anyone else close to me be affected by it.
A note from my 10 year old niece
I got that in the mail yesterday, Selena wrote it for a school project. It’s rough that such a little girl felt the need to write something like that.
I am making what I hope is my final fundraising plea: I’m only $600 away from surpassing my $4600 minimum to participate in each walk. If 400 people give me a donation of $1.50 each, I will have surpassed my goal.
All you have to do is help by giving up $1.50 (or more). I’m walking 120 miles in 10 days, sandwiched around a work week, and putting my body through a lot of pain (but nowhere near what those battling cancer go through). But, you know what? I’d walk 1000 miles in those 10 days if it meant my sister (and others) didn’t have to go through this fight.
Again, I’m not walking for me. I’m walking for my sister and for the future. As the years pass, it gets more and more evident that my sister may not have much time left, and she’s got two daughters she’ll be leaving behind if that time comes. I want to do everything I can, while I can, to try to delay that and help give her a fighting chance at survival. And, if the time comes that she is no longer with us, I will keep going so that hopefully some day no one else will have to put up this fight.
I’m sorry if I’m a bit emotional right now, this letter from Selena and my step-mom Diane’s status (the story of Shayna) have got me a bit teary-eyed. I lost my dad at the age of 30, I’m trying not to lose my little sister as well.
Not Just a Woman’s Disease
I just wanted to put a couple of links out there, in case anyone didn’t know. BREAST CANCER IS NOT JUST A WOMAN’S DISEASE-Men can (and do) get it too! Ok, so the numbers are significantly less in men than in women, but that doesn’t mean it can’t affect us, not to mention it typically has a higher mortality rate because men don’t think to get checked for Breast Cancer, and tend to do so when it’s too late.
Peter Criss from KISS has Breast Cancer and has been trying to inform the masses that “even tough rocker guys like him can suffer from a disease usually associated with women — breast cancer.” You can read the article here.
If you want to know more about male breast cancer, you can read about it on the American Cancer Society (ACS) site.
Not just for women...
Training and Fundraising update 10/21
Ok, well, I’m now only 23 days out from the Arizona Breast Cancer 3-day. I have a lot to do in this 23 days, such as raise another $969 and train until my feet (and knees, and back, and shins, etc.) hurt!
Fundraising-$969 in 23 days is do-able. At least I plan for it to be. I’m doing the walk regardless, I’ll pay whatever I’m missing if need be. This is $42.17/day, which isn’t outrageous if I can get a couple of generous donations (of which I’ve received several, and I thank all of you!) I still hopefully have some money coming from the calendar, and I have about $60 on-hand I have to send in (but…don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched!). I feel very confident.
Training-Although I haven’t done as much training as I would have liked, I’m already doing better than I had last year. It wasn’t until after this time last year that I finally got close enough to the fundraising minimum that I realized I was actually going to walk. I did a few walks, the longest one being 10 miles, and called it a day. I’m much more prepared this year, and I’m even doing 18 miles Saturday and then 15 miles Sunday, in accordance with our training plan. It’s much easier to train when you have a huge team.
Speaking of-I’m on San Diego’s most prolific team-We have about 50 members and have raised nearly $120,000 (with more coming in every day) for our efforts. I can’t wait! It should be a lot more fun than I had last year, that’s for sure. Not that you’re ever alone when you’re walking with 4,000 of your new best friends, but knowing more people this year can’t be bad.
Ok, another plea for donations…drum-roll please…..! http://www.the3day.org/goto/lukesarizonawalk
I promise, once I do these walks, I won’t ask anyone for money for next year (Michigan, HOO YA!) until at least January!
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
So, Mary, Devin & I did the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk today. It was, well, OK.
Devin was in a good mood, he did well in his stroller for the 4 miles, it was good to see all the outfits and it was good to see people out for such a good cause. Mary and I had fun making fun of people, so that kept us entertained.
So, why was it just “OK”? Because it was also a bit annoying. The walk, because it’s relatively short and there’s no fundraising requirement, attracts a lot of people who can’t or won’t do the 3-day. I actually found that annoying, particularly the endless, mindless, chattering Sorority girls*, who we could not seem to get away from, no matter how hard we tried.
The most difficult thing about the walk, however, was the pace. During the 3-day, you try to keep a 3-4 mile per hour pace, that way, with pit stops and lunch (along with stretching), you should finish the 20 miles that day in 7 hours or so max (note: Day 1 last year took me nearly 10 hours-far too long-because I stopped too frequently and bogged myself down with too many calories at each pit stop). Today’s 4-mile walk took us over 2 hours, due to the size of the crowd and the route. What was supposed to be our training walk for today ended up being at half the pace we’re supposed to walk. So, it wasn’t particularly beneficial in that regard.
Also annoying were the throngs of “cheerleaders” sprinkled throughout the route-for a 4-mile course, I found this to be completely unnecessary. They are welcome and greatly appreciated during the 3-Day, because, honestly, 20 miles is a lot and you need encouragement, but I felt that the were out of place on such a small walk.
Maybe the 3-Day has ruined me for smaller events like this? I hope not. Non 3-Day walkers, does 4 miles seem like something difficult to walk, or am I just such an elitist in that I’m used to such longer distances, that I’ve de-valued 4 miles?
Also, I forgot my business cards, meaning I had nothing to hand out, so I didn’t bother wearing my sash. Since Making Strides is an American Cancer Society event, not a Susan G. Komen event, I could not bring or sell my calendars, so I was going to pass out business cards in hopes I made some contact and sold some calendars after the walk ended. But, no calendar sales for Mr. December.
Overall, it was pretty good and I’m glad we got to do it. Hopefully next year the girls will get to join me on it again, this year it was just Mary, Devin and I (see the pics below).
Next up is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on November 1st. I am actually going to run that one though, and by run I mean jog, because it’s only 5K.
*for those who don’t know, I was in a Fraternity in college (ΔΣΦ), so I know and respect a lot of women from Sororities-I am not trying to make a gross generalization, all I’m saying is that the girls from a particular Sorority out here, who had a strong presence at the walk today, did not blow me away with any display of intelligence. Please don’t think I’m calling all Sorority girls mindless, I’m strictly referring to the ones from today.
