Prior to receiving the comments I was thinking about that very topic while I did my 7 mile walk where the "feels like" temperature was 7 degrees when I left the house. I flipped my weekend walk, 7 miles yesterday, 13 today, to try and have the longer walk be in better weather.We'll know in a few hours how that worked out for me. But, for now, I want to write a little bit about why I'm doing this event.
Honestly, it started because I wanted the physical challenge. I completed two 10ks last year, both about 90% walking, 10% jogging. It seemed like the next step would be to run a 5k but... I've tried the Couch to 5k program and discovered running just isn't for me. When I set out I thought it would be the inability to breath that stopped me, but it's actually major foot/leg pains. And yes, before you ask, I do have the fancy shoes from the running store where they examine your gait and everything. And still, major pain after about 3-5 minutes.
So, with running out, the idea of a walking challenge like this seemed appealing. Incredibly daunting and overwhelming, but appealing no less.
And while I'm sure there are other organizations that do long walking events, as soon as I had the idea to do it my mind was set when I thought about the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
When I try to count how many women in my life have battled this disease it's pretty astonishing. Family members, friends, colleagues, It's in the double digits. And honestly, those are the ones that quickly come to mind. Luckily many of them won their battles and are doing well. Or, in the case of both my grandmothers, beat breast cancer but ultimately passed away from a different type of cancer. I know a few people currently going through treatment and fighting their battle right now.
So when I thought about how miserable I was out in the cold yesterday, dodging icy sidewalks and climbing over snow mounds, I thought about how I made the choice to be out there, to be training for this event even in crappy conditions and how the women (and men) battling this disease don't get to make a choice. They have to keep fighting, even when they don't want to do it, so I needed to keep walking and raising money and awareness for this disease.
A woman has a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer in her lifetime.*
Every 3 minutes, there is a new diagnosis of invasive breast cancer.*
Approximately 230,480 women and 2,140 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.*
So there is my why.
I'm doing this walk for me - to prove I can meet this incredible challenge of walking 39.3 miles in two days. But I'm also doing it to raise funds and awareness to help end this horrible disease that impacts so many.
I'm pretty close to the halfway point on my fundraising goal $78.40 will get me to that 50% mark. Please donate if you can.
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