3-Day Breast Cancer Walk Recap

I’ve written before about my experiences last year in the 2009 Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure and also talked about my recent involvement with the 60-Mile Men.

I walked in the Michigan 3-Day again this year and I think there’s one initial word that can summarize the whole thing: HOT. I don’t think I’ve ever felt heat like that, although, how often are you walking 20 miles a day continuously in it? If I had to bet, I was probably drinking about 3 gallons of water a day, and needed every ounce of it.

But, regardless of that little issue, it was another great experience.

Last year was the first year I walked in it and I’ll admit that I found the whole thing intimidating. Didn’t know what to expect. Was nervous about whether I’d actually be able to walk on average, 20 miles a day. I also had my cousin on my mind a lot. Thinking about what she was going through and overall just hoping everything else went okay as she was coming down the finish line of her treatments.

This year was a little different though. My cousin is free and clear, I had a better idea what to expect out of the walk, and overall was just more comfortable and relaxed.

I spent a lot of time on this walk talking to a lot of people while walking. It’s interesting but you tend to make “pit stop to pit stop” friends on this walk. You leave a pit stop (that’s a rest station where you can fill up your water, use the porta john, get medical treatment, etc), and you start walking again and you end up more than likely walking around some other people and just start talking. You do this for about an hour until the next pit stop and then pretty much find someone else to talk with after you leave the next pit stop.

When talking with people, you talk about why you’re walking and what it means to each person. Thinking back, I really don’t think there was one story that was the same between two people. Some were walking for a friend, or a relative, a mother, a sister, a daughter, and even a lot of people walking for no particular person, just walking because they wanted to do something for the cause.

But the one similarity that I found, and I saw this last year too, was just the positive energy that people had while on this walk. It’s not a walk where people are all frowns and sad.

Sure, there are sad moments. But for the most part, people are looking at this walk with determination to not let breast cancer take their spirit. Everyone seems to have the attitude of taking something bad and wanting to make a positive out of it.

The 3-Day is definitely designed around that: A true showing of what a small little group can do together when they focus on one goal and walk towards it.

I can’t say enough about this walk and how I think it really establishes a true sense of the concept of "community." When looking at what part each person is doing, and doing it because they have such passion for it, it gives you such a huge uplift in how strong the human spirit really is.

Everyone from the walkers doing the walking, to the crew that is doing their jobs at the medical stations, the food serving areas, to the safety crews out on the streets, to the personal and corporate donors who graciously gave to get people the money they needed to do the walk to the Susan G. Komen organizers who push through doing this weekend after weekend, city to city.

And then you have the support on the streets. The neighbors and people at the cheering stations leaving food out on tables and neighbors setting their sprinklers out for us to walk through. Maybe the most heartfelt are the little kids out there spraying you with water and handing you food and clapping with big smiles on their faces all while decked out in pink outfits.

All of these people, just doing their individual parts when put together makes for just an amazing community that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced in any other setting.

That sense of community got me to put together a short little video using of my video camera while on the walk.

I wanted to put something together to kind of try and give a sense of what this incredible community looks like through the eyes of a walker. To give a feel for what you see for three days out on the streets, in camp, and at the opening and closing ceremonies.

Hopefully those that have done the walk can relate and I hope for those that haven’t done the walk it’ll give you a little insight into what it’s all about and hopefully give you the motivation to be a part of the 3-Day community over the coming years. It’s a great adventure, and through all the fundraising, training preparation, doing the actual walk and everything else that’s involved, it’s worth it in the end.

Okay, enough talk. Take a look and make sure you have your sound turned on:



For a direct link to this YouTube video, you can go to the link below:

Breast Cancer 3 Day

3 Day Breast Cancer Walk

I'm in the middle of reading a great book called The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life. It's a book that talks about people that have survived anything from a plane crash, to the Holocaust or even cancer.

One story that has stood out to me was a situation where a woman was getting together with some of her friends for their weekly knitting club. As the woman was walking up the stairs to the house that they were meeting at, she fell and landed on her knitting bag. She stood up, noticed a little scrape on her knee and that was about it. But when she got into the house, she started feeling a little pain in her chest. She looked down and noticed something was sticking out of her blouse. Then she realized, that when she landed on her knitting bag, a wooden knitting needle had punctured her chest.

Some of the other people in the room had the initial reaction of pulling it out. Then they thought they should rush her to the hospital. They decided (correctly) that the best thing to do was to call 911 and let the ambulance come to her.

One thing that the woman noticed that she thought was strange was that there was very little bleeding from the wound. This ends up being a very very bad sign.

She got to the hospital and the doctors did x-rays and discovered that there was a lot of internal bleeding and that she had punctured one side of her heart. They had to go into surgery immediately.

They patched her up, and after a few days, she went home and rested. About a week after the surgery, she felt very out of breath and started getting chest pains. They rushed to the hospital and the doctors did more x-rays with the concern that maybe the wound had re-opened or a blood clot had formed. But nothing showed up. The doctors didn't know what to think so they gave her some meds and sent her back home.

The next day, a radiologist called her and said she had to come back down to the hospital immediately. When she got there, the radiologist informed her that he found on the x-rays that they had taken the day before a fairly large lump on the side of one of her breasts. So they did some more tests, and determined that it was cancerous. She was informed though that it was treatable and she spent the next year going through surgeries, chemo, and radiation.

The doctors said that if she wouldn't have been screened with all those tests, the tumor probably wouldn't have been detected until it was too late. Which means in essence, her falling on the knitting needle, actually saved her life.

Which leads me to the adventure that I took a few weeks ago by tackling the Susan Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer walk.



The walk entails walking 60 miles in 3 days.

The first day it started with a wonderful opening ceremony that got you not only a little emotional, but also excited to be starting on this journey.

I trekked through the first day and did actually very well. After I had reached the end point for the day back at camp, I felt pretty energized still.

During the walk, it was just amazing to see the support that was given at every turn. People sitting out on chairs on street corners or even in front of their houses, cheering you on, offering you water and food to keep you going. Leaving their sprinklers on so you could walk through it and cool off if you needed. You had the smiles and high fives from the safety biker guys at busy intersections giving you more encouragement (and yes, one of the bikers was actually wearing these boots...).



The next day started early and it was brutally hot out. Legs were a little sore from the day before but, not bad. Again we had some great supporters out there. I mean a lot. In some areas probably hundreds. In a way it made me feel a little guilty. I'm getting cheered on for walking. But that is very very small when you think about the victims of this disease and what they have to go through.

With the heat and a longer walk during the second day, I definitely started to feel some drag and tiredness and your feet start to feel like this:



But, that encouragement from so many people, all that positive energy, just kept me going.

Made it back to camp at a decent time and relaxed.

The next day, got up early again, took a short bus ride and then on to more walking. At this point, I'm tired because of not sleeping well, but, my adrenaline kicks in and that's what I'm using all day.

Still hot outside, but there's still all those people out there clapping as you walk by, patting you on the shoulders, telling you "You can do this." To see all that support out there, really warms my heart and I really start to appreciate every single one of those supporters.

I get down to the last half mile and it's uphill. Not the greatest course design I think to myself but, I walk up it. I crossed the finished line, grabbed a shirt, got some water, and relaxed for a couple of hours before the closing ceremonies.

While laying under a tree, I started thinking about how the walk is structured. I'm not sure if the organizers designed it this way, but thinking back to day one, you are sitting there before the start thinking about how intimidating it is to walk 60 miles. But then after the first day is over, you feel okay and don't think it's all that bad. But then the next day you start to get tired. But you feel that positive energy from the hundreds of people out cheering you on, giving you encouragement, and it helps push you forward. Then on the last day, you're running solely on adrenaline but you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The last half mile is uphill but after that, you're done.

It struck me as to how similar it must be to having to actually go through breast cancer treatments. You first are scared thinking about what lies ahead of you. But then after surgeries and treatments start, you think it's not too bad. But then as it goes on, it starts to wear on you, but the thing that keeps you going is the encouragement, support, laughter, and positive thoughts and prayers from your friends and family. Then you get to the point where you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. You've got one last trek up a hill, and then you're done.

That support is the key to this walk, and the key to beating this fast-paced disease. No matter what is going on in the world, how bad the media may display the horrible things that go on and that people do, in the end, when someone needs help, people rally around them. No matter what anyone says, there are still vastly more good, positive, helpful people in this world then there are bad.

Although I think support was key in doing this walk and in fighting this disease for people who are succumbed by it, there may be one exception of someone being able to do it almost all by themselves. That's where my story of why I did this walk comes into play.

My cousin Terry Bona was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year and was told that she would have to have a full double mastectomy. Although Terry has a whirlwind of support from her family and friends, Terry was never about to lose her independence. She looked this disease straight in the eye and said "No way, Not me." Terry pushed through like a trooper and is at the last uphill part of treatment and surgeries, and is going to make it.

Terry, that will and determination that you showed is what inspired me to do this walk and to pursue doing even more to help combat this fast acting cancer. The thought of you while on this walk is what kept me going.

Thank you Terry. You not only helped inspire me to do this walk, learn about this disease more, but by doing this walk, I was able to learn a little something new about myself. I am so very happy that you're going to be with us for a long long time. You are a true survivor.


"Everyone Deserves a Lifetime."

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Rethinking Walking for Fat Loss

Over the last couple of weekends, I've been including some very long walks in order to get myself prepared for the 60 miles of walking over the 3-day Breast Cancer walk that I'll be doing in a little over a month.

I've talked in the past about the best ways for fat loss are with a combination of strength training and intervals. But what I noticed is that after my walks, I finding that they can be a good addition to your fat loss program. But, let me stress that again: IN ADDITION to my strength and interval routines. I'm not making it my only form of exercise.

How well would it work if it was less than 10 miles? I'm not sure. I'm not even sure if I would experiment with it after I've finished the walk. If you've got a good pair of walking/running shoes, try it out on one of your off days and see how it goes. Should take you between 3-4 hours to complete.

Oh, and Scarlett the Doberman is going on these walks with me and well, let's just say she's pretty much done for the day afterwards.



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