Pondering a long walk.

[saxikath]

So, I've been thinking about doing the Avon 2-day breast cancer walk.

Pros:

• It's an issue I care about; my grandmother and great-aunt both died of breast cancer, and I know several other people who've had to fight it.
  
• Walking is good. It'd be a good preliminary test of what I'd have to do to walk to Santiago.
  
• It'd be motivation to keep at my regular workouts.
  
• It could be fun.
  

Cons:

• I'm not convinced that even by May I'll really be in shape to walk a marathon one day and a half-marathon the next.
  
• I'd have to hit up people I know for money, which always makes me feel oogy. (You have to raise a minimum of $1800 to participate.)
  
• It'd eat up the one weekend in May that isn't currently occupied.
  

Comments? Thoughts? Encouragement? Discouragement?

Comments

Go for it!

[timrhodes.livejournal.com]

I never really thought about how very important events like this are until it hit close to home last week when they discovered a lump in my wife's breast. I'm in the waiting room now while she has an ultra-sound and biopsy to determine if its anything to worry about.

Hopefully, this will help encourage you to go for it! Regardless, thanks for even considering dedicating your time and energy to such a needy cause. I'll pledge $20.00 through paypal to get you started. Just let me know where to send it (tim at vsi-hou dot com).

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I'm of mixed feelings about events like that.
One has to get up very early in the morning, and if the weather is bad you're still committed.
Plus, what percentage of the funds raised go to overhead vs. fighting breast cancer?
For me the "wow, I'm one of hundreds of people doing this thing" isn't really a bonus.

All of that being said, I like the idea of having a goal like that.
Would you be interested in doing a non-organized thing (maybe ten miles a day for three days some long weekend-ish thing?) together?

And if you do end up doing the Avon walk let me know and maybe I'll want to do that with you despite my reservations.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the training walks are available whether or not you sign up for event:

There's one tomorrow in Cambridge.

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

I'd also pledge some money—probably $50 or so. You might test the waters with a straw poll on your main journal; that'd give you a feel for how close you could get to the (actually pretty darn high) minimum pledge. (Also bear in mind that co-workers are considered fair game to hit up for pledges these days.)

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

D'oh! So I just now realized this is on your main journal, and not rawr_comm. Carry on.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Encouragement here. And promise to pledge. And suggestion that you chat with qarylla, who I believe has participated in similar events.

[qarylla.livejournal.com]

I did the Breast Cancer 3 Day a few years back. During the event (held in May that year), we had two beautiful days. Saturday (Day 2) was full of freezing rain, hail, ice and, umm, sunshine. It was kind of surreal.

There is a special comraderie for doing something this large and group oriented. The walking isn't really that bad. The mileage is something that you can just slowly keep going with, and there are usually 'rescue' vans for people who have walked and walked and just don't feel like they can walk anymore. A lot of us used it when the weather was such that we were feeling hypothermic despite our constant movement.

[stellavision.livejournal.com]

If you're worried about the mileage, how about Race for the Cure? I'm pretty sure there's usually a walk as well as a 5K run.

[toonhead-npl.livejournal.com]

In the past Avon was getting a lot of flak for the low percentage of the proceeds that actually went to the cause itself. You may want to do some research there, including the Think Before You Pink website.

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

I think it's ludicrous that you have to get $1800 in pledges to be *allowed* to walk and raise money for breast cancer. You should do your own walk on the same weekend, tell folks why you're doing it, and either collect money from them or cut a check to a breast cancer research fund yourself.

Damn the Man!

[meranthi.livejournal.com]

I have a co-worker who helps run the event every year. If you like, I can ask him to email you if you have questions...