Physical activity has always been apart of my life ever since I was young. Being in all the activities was just something we did. Combined that with my other character trait of thinking I can do anything, especially when I am told that I cannot and you tend to get a strong willed woman who you should watch out for. It is a blessing and a curse. Without it, I would not own my company and continue on ideas of what I can do next to keep it going. Yet, I also wouldn't be the PTO vice president, Team Manager for my daughter's softball team, Co-captain of our Team Wolverine non profit team, and so on. I tell you all this to explain who I am and how my body runs. I want to understand that part of me so I can tell you how I became a marathon walker and how it has changed me forever. Let me start from the how
My best friend's husband has just been diagnosed with Glioblastoma (Brain Cancer). He did not want to sit around. He wanted to help himself and others. And when a best friend asks for something this important, you jump right in. We signed up to walk our first marathon a specific one for the Dana Farber Cancer institute in Boston, which is called the Jimmy Fund walk. He picked this specific one because all of the money goes for cancer research and if you are able to reach a certain amount, you get to pick the cancer research project (along with the doctor) that you fund. So here we go!
When the idea of marathon walking first approached me, I laughed. Walking isn't hard, you just do it. I will tell you this, this walk is NOTHING like I thought it would be. To compare it with anything else is impossible. Your body hurts in ways to you cannot explain; it's on auto pilot by the end to just finish. But none of that matters. Part of it is because you think of all the training and hard work you put into the walk itself. For me, it's the emotional aspect of it all. It just carries you to finish, no matter the pain and exhaustion you are feeling. It doesn't make any sense and yet makes all the sense in the world. On this beautiful day, Here are some things that I experienced in the years we have walked to date:
I watched a man walk a marathon in a kilt when the day before he had chemotherapy. I watched as he stood at that finish line and waited for his wife to finish that walk just to thank her for doing this for him.
We worked together to push that same man in a wheelchair the next year because he wanted to be apart of that race.
We walked in his honor the following year just months after he passed.
Now we are blessed by his little girl at the finish line every year where her mom lifts her up high and tells her how much she loves her and how proud her daddy would be of her.
It is hard for me to explain that I walk a marathon for cancer research because in my brain when I say that, it feels like the two things are not connected. However, in my heart and with my own eyes, I see the importance of raising money for cancer research. So lives can be saved. So families can one day be together.
Is walking hard, yes. But it is nothing compared to the impact we have by helping others each and every year. This year, make a difference for someone who needs it. Donate what you think life is worth or join us and walk for those who can't.
Together I hope we can stop this disease so families can have the chance to be together on their own terms.