Getting Back On The Road

Check Back in the next few weeks as the training start up again with a bit of a twist .... intrigued?

C.

The Walk 2008!

Hi All,

Well the walk happened last weekend and I have to say it was truly an amazing experience. Some people say it is life changing, for me it was more of an awakening to what we can do to fight a disease that has taken to many of our friends, family and co-workers.

On the walk I was talking with a nurse and she made a statement I had heard a thousand times but she phrased it in a different way, “do you know 9 women? Then you know someone with breast cancer”. It is a startling statistic to think of it this way.

As we walked you could easily identify the brave women whom had fought and won over this terrible disease, those in treatment and those walking to find a cure – If you were a survivor of breast cancer or in treatment surviving breast cancer then you wore a pink lanyard around your neck with your ID badge, the rest of us wore a blue lanyard with our ID badges. I have to say seeing the multitude of women wearing the pink lanyards was emotional to say the least. We go through our daily lives responding to people with “Great thanks and how are you?” When what we are not hearing is: “you may not know this yet but I just started treatment for breast cancer or some other terrible disease and I am scared to death”. As we walked in the blazing heat you could see the hairless heads, so brave and so telling. I was walking next to one such woman and we started talking, at one point I asked her if she was done with treatment and she hung her head and simply said “no” – she was out there in blistering heat walking 60km (37.28 miles) while still in treatment, that kind of determination, spirit and strength is both humbling and inspiring.

The walk was extremely well organized, you could not walk more than 5km without seeing a “pit stop” stocked with water, Gatorade, snacks, medics and the like, we also were blessed with cheering stations, strategic spots along the walk where friends and family could congregate to cheer on loved ones, giving them encouragement to continue – even if you knew no one at a cheering station the encouragement was welcome. The temperature hit 40 degrees Celsius with the humidity (105 degrees Fahrenheit) and thankfully people were kind enough to use their garden hoses on us as we passed by to help keep us cool and moving forward!

For those of you who live in Montreal we walked from the Olympic Stadium in Montreal East to Queen of Angels Academy in Dorval, for those of you who are not familiar with the landscape of Montreal trust me it is quite impressive. Towards the end of day 1 I was close to the end of our 33.3km (20.69 miles) and there was a man, his son and their dog standing by the side of the road –not at a cheering station just by themselves. Their dog wore a sign that simply said thank you for walking; there was something in his eyes that told me he was not supporting one walker in particular but that he had lost someone to breast cancer. His eyes were filled with both sorrow and gratitude as I walked past him and we shared a look he silently mouthed “thank you”, he put his arm around his son and instinctively tucked into that familiar spot that each child has at their parent’s side. Even a week away it still brings a tear to my eyes.

At the end of the day we were 2250 walkers and with your help and support we raised over 6 million dollars to end cancer! Thank you, your donations and support helped to get us closer to a cure.

The good news, I will be hitting the pavement restarting my training once again as I have just signed up for the walk next year – and so has the hubby! So wish us luck and stay tuned as we do something bold for breast cancer!

C.

Back on the Blog

Well I am back on the blog! For all of you loyal and faithful readers (the 2 of you) I have been walking all the while – at least 4 times per week – it has just been a bit of a struggle to get it all together to blog about my training as well. I have recently become a “Walk Leader” giving me further accountability to get out there and walk – I am officially on the website for a Tuesday and Thursday 5:30am walk – yup it is all a little crazy but so far it is working. Fundraising is at a bit of a lull so any ideas are welcome – Hey have you heard the lilacs are I bloom and the rumour is summer is just around the corner!

Talk Thursday,

C.

Back on the Blog

Well I am back on the blog! For all of you loyal and faithful readers (the 2 of you) I have been walking all the while – at least 4 times per week – it has just been a bit of a struggle to get it all together to blog about my training as well. I have recently become a “Walk Leader” giving me further accountability to get out there and walk – I am officially on the website for a Tuesday and Thursday 5:30am walk – yup it is all a little crazy but so far it is working. Fundraising is at a bit of a lull so any ideas are welcome – Hey have you heard the lilacs are I bloom and the rumour is summer is just around the corner!

Talk Thursday,

C.

Walk 38

As I headed out on my walk this evening, prepared for a cold rainy few kilometres I started to think back and reflect – since 2005 both of my kids have been born at this time of year, two of the past three years. My baby girl will be three tomorrow. As I started out on my walk I was thinking back to what I would have been doing at that time three years ago - I was actually in labour, in pain, worried and determined. Most of you know our sweetheart made a very early arrival – 5 weeks early to be exact and my goodness it has been an amazing three years since that night what feels like so long ago.

Our little one is growing into such an amazing, beautiful, smart, generous of spirit and mind and curious little girl. Parenting is such a privilege and at the same time such a challenge, we are given this amazing opportunity to Sheppard these amazing little beings into the world, to give them confidence, courage, intellect, instinct, motivation, respect, responsibility, thoughtfulness and the list goes on and on, an endless roster of all of the good our children represent in this world, all the good they represent in us. At her birth I was given a lovely card by our neighbours with a poem that took my breath away:

Someday she’ll be a famous pianist or a high school science teacher.
She’ll settle down, marry, have a couple of kids. Maybe she won’t
Someday, she’ll help millions of people all over the world.
Or maybe she’ll travel, send letters from Africa, or phone you from Rome.
Someday, she’ll be a strong confident woman ... but you will always remember the first time you held her in your arms.
Someday she’ll have her own hopes and dreams, not knowing that once upon a quiet time; you closed your eyes and dreamed to have her in your life.

You are my dream come true baby girl

Happy Birthday my love – Mommy loves you so much, to the moon, and back.

C.

Walk 37

Thieves in the night. I am back on the 5am schedule and happy to report the company of a best friend can make those early morning hours much easier. Thanks to WL I am getting back on the a.m. schedule and I walked further than I normally would have this morning. I have to say, humour abound when WL came to the stark realization that the sun will only be coming up about 45 minutes after we finished our walk- not sure if she will be joining me again in the early morning hours but thanks for this morning, you are a great friend, and joining me this morning meant more than I think you realized.

So I ask you, what have your friends done for you that has touched you? I would love to hear.

Still sore,

C.

Walk 21 - 36

I am back and back with a vengeance! Life is settling back into a routine as the kids are both in daycare three days a week. I have still been walking but as I have been adapting to our new reality it has been hard to find my rhythm with the blog – however we are back in the saddle once again.

Not only have I been walking but I have included additional workouts to my schedule as well, as this just started yesterday I am not only sore but quite frankly questioning exactly why I am doing all of this .... Oh yea the health thing.

Walking has not produced any significant weight loss so I am eager to see how the pounds start melting away now that I have upped the activity. Much to my surprise I have started to sincerely look forward to my walks, spring is in the air folks, can you feel it?

C.