Here's the deal. My best friend Alicia is turning 40 this year. She wants to do something monumental to celebrate. She also felt a strong desire to do something to commemorate the too-short life of her aunt, who died from breast cancer when she was 39 years old. At dinner club a few weeks ago, as we discussed this milestone, we tossed around the idea of doing the Komen 3-Day walk or something similar. This kind of event has been something that I've had in the back of my mind to do as well, although I've been lucky enough to not have had anyone on my side of the family be affected by breast cancer.
The more we started investigating the possibility, the more exciting it became. We wanted to find something that will be memorable for us as participants, because we will be part of something bigger than us. Once we started looking around at the dates and such, we found the Avon Foundation Walk, which while similar to the Komen, has a strong focus on underserved populations, and has helped provide access to care for minority women and low-income women. This aspect of the Avon Foundation's work resonated with us, as there are so many women in our families and in our lives for whom a breast cancer diagnosis would not just be devastating physically and emotionally, but financially as well. And so, we have made the commitment.
On July 12 and 13, my friend of 20 years and I will be walking through San Francisco with thousands of other Avon Walk participants. We will walk 26.2 miles the first day, and 13.1 miles the second day. We have committed to raising at least $1,800 each, although we certainly will be trying to raise as much as possible. We will carry with us a memory list of the names of all of our friends and family (and their friends and family) who have been affected by breast cancer. We will celebrate our lives and my friend's birthday in the most life-affirming way we know how.
After I run the Oklahoma City Marathon in April, I will turn my attention to walking training to prepare for this adventure. I'll still do some swimming and cycling, as I still want to do a couple of triathlons this summer, but this will be the focus for the summer. Pretty cool, huh?
My personal webpage for donations and such through the Avon Foundation is here. It will also be on the upper right sidebar through the date of the walk. I'll also have my training schedule and such posted as the date nears.
Again, pretty cool, huh?
2 comments:
Too cool! That is outstanding! Hey it's great to have fun but life is so much more meaningful helping out others. And what a great adventure and memory to add to your collection.
That's very cool. Ironically enough, I will be in San Francisco the July 12 and 13th as well for my sister's wedding!
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