The End of the Line
Sunday I returned home exhausted from the 3-day for the Cure 60 mile walk. I, along with the other three members of my team, the Pink Me Out team, walked every inch of the course, and yes, we have the sore feet to prove it.
According to The Dallas Morning News, there were more than 2,700 walkers who participated in the Susan G. Komen walk to battle cancer. Organizers told us that Dallas alone raised $7 million. All in all, I suppose you can put a big check mark in the win-win column.
In my three-day journey, I discovered lots of things, including "Thing One", whom I found amusing and is pictured here. However, really the other things that were more interesting and/or surprising included:
•How well an event like this runs. It's a well-orchestrated, and well-planned event, except for the extra steps that were thrown in the last day.
•The large number of participants who don't actually walk the entire course, instead opting for a ride in the sweep van to the next pit stop or a bus back to camp. No judgments here. I do understand why some cannot complete the course. It was difficult to do. We just figured our level of being uncomfortable didn't come close to what cancer patients face.
•The sheer generosity of some people. The people who I least expected to donate for us to walk donated a lot. The people who I thought would donate substantial amounts, did not. I'm still surprised that our team did not get one donation from anyone on the Internet as a result of this or any other blog posting made. (But then, I'm still waiting for Oprah to read my book and "discover" me. Ah, if only wishes were horses, beggars would ride…")
•I learned I can technically "rough" it. I survived frigid temperatures in a tent with wet hair (no electricity for blow dryers). I succumbed to three days of portable toilets (except for that one incident when I hobbled into a Starbucks for coffee and running water).
But most importantly, I learned firsthand that life as a participant beats life as a spectator. Hands...make that feet...down.
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