For the last 6 months, I've been getting ready for the 3 Day/60-mile Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure. I'm coming up under the wire...the walk is right around the corner, this weekend: Sept 23--25th.
Am I ready? I wish!! I've earned my required $2300...no small feat (pun intended). My team of 5 "Green Chicks 4 Pink" has earned over the required $11,500. ($11,692... to be exact.) Definitely no small feat!!
Do I feel proud of that monetary fundraising goal? You better believe it.
Other emotions are surfacing as we're here, right up under the wire. It feels a little scary...a little awesome. One of my 3rd graders the other day said there's a word for that: "Scawesome!" Yes, it's a bit "scawesome!"
1. $20 Shoes from Target can be your best friend...until the treads are gone.
2. Target rotates their shoes too quickly....The shoes I love and long for no longer exist. Very sad but true! (Yes, there was a moment of wanting to scream at the tops of my lungs in the Tar-ghzay shoe section!)
3. Expensive shoes can still hurt your feet, even if you do all the proper analytics to get you the "good" and "right" shoes.
4. A new pair of shoes that don't work can jack up your knees in a matter of days. This is bad...very bad!
5. Numb toes are NOT a good thing.
6. Sometimes it takes 6 pairs of shoes to get to the right pair of shoes (or at least the "right enough" pair of shoes)....even after 3 months of perfect training in cheap Tar-ghzay shoes. (Add in, you need 2 operable pairs of shoes for THE Walk!) I opted for the New Balance 860s which were designed for the walk, and truly wish that I would have gone that route mid-June to avoid the quest I embarked on instead.
7. Shoes only have an odometer of 400-500 miles before you need to get a new pair. For the price, it's sometimes mind-boggling.
8. Blisters hurt like a son-of-a-gun. Avoid them at all costs. When you feel that hot spot coming on, stop then and there to take care of it!
9. Walking is good therapy when someone you love is sick.
10. Walking is good therapy when someone you love goes on to heaven. (Well...sort of...is there ever good-enough therapy for that?)
11. Walking with buddies makes the time go quicker.
12. It takes a very long time to walk 10 or 20 miles. Patience most certainly becomes a virtue.
13. Fundraising is easy when the cause is good, but equally hard. I don't like asking for money.
14. People are so incredibly generous. I am soo incredibly thankful!15. Doing something bigger than yourself feels good, even when the flip flops and cute sandals no longer do.
16. Cancer is an overwhelming, horrible disease that mutates into so many forms. Whether breast or bladder...I hate it.
17. Walking most certainly slows you down to make you better able to "smell the roses" and gain greater perspective.
18. It's easier to walk in the springtime breezes or amidst the cool fall air than it is during the summer humidity.
19. Teaching in tennis shoes to save my feet for the walk is sooo against my aesthetic sensibilities, yet so necessary an evil. So you learn to color coordinate.
20. Having your family and friends behind you is worth its weight in gold!!
I normally have a tendency to get caught up in my work, and the hustle and bustle of all that needs to be done. I have a feeling that during these 3 upcoming days, I'll get a grand opportunity to live in the moment. Regardless of what the weather holds. I have a feeling the ripeness of the moment will be easily in reach. I think it'll be a pretty phenomenal experience.
(Hopefully, the feet are functional on that side!!)
Pic from our "Green Chicks 4 Pink" T-shirts graphics (names & logo listing for all of our team's $100+ donors), http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3651/3416001461_1e41d2ea26.jpg and
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