The 5K

I have heard it said that the journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step. Well, last Saturday I felt like I had completed all 1,000 of those miles in one day. We started with the 5K walk for Susan G. Komen. By “we” I mean me, FH and my daughter who is 5.

The walk started off well. Everyone was happy, energetic and excited to be a part of the big event. Almost 30,000 people were milling about and the walk got off to a very slow start. About a mile into the walk, people were more spread out and the walking got a little easier. Then we hit the half way point and the whining began. “My feet hurt, I’m bored, I’m tired” are the comments from several around us. My daughter sensed the opportunity to put in her two cents as well, so I had to teach her a life lesson.

Me: Do you know why we are here?
Her: Yes, to walk for the people with cancer.
Me: Do you know how sick those people are and that they can’t walk with us here today?
Her: You mean really sick, like throwing up and everything?
Me: Yes, throwing up, can’t get out of bed. It would be like when you had the stomach flu but about a hundred times worse.
Her: Worse than throwing up spaghetti out your nose?
Me: Yes, way worse than that. (I had to try really hard not to break out laughing at that one)
Her: I guess I can walk some more if it means those people will get better.

I am very proud of my daughter for making this journey. I am even prouder that she spent the last mile and a half of our walk asking me all about what happens to people when they have cancer. Needless to say this walk made a bigger impact on her this year than it did last year. I think it made a bigger impact on me as well.

Now, I won’t lie and say there wasn’t any more complaining from our camp about sore feet, tired backs and weary legs, but there certainly weren't any further requests to stop walking.