Taking the Dog for a Very Long Walk
Walkies for a Cause!
We’ve all had that conversation. The one where you learn a friend has cancer. The conversation heads in any number of directions; offers of support, congratulations on a positive outcome, making plans to say goodbye. But the common thread, for me, has always been “starting today, I swear I’ll live every day as though it could be the last”. Often that good intention lasts…about a day.
Friends facing cancer don’t have the luxury of letting a good intention slide. Their days are filled with diagnosis, prognosis or the state of their remission. And some, like little Maya, never had a chance to comprehend that there wouldn’t be many days at all.
Today I’m applying my good health to climb that mountain of unrealized good intentions while doing something for the fight against cancer: I’m training for the Nike Women’s Marathon with Team In Training. My goal (besides finishing on my feet) is to raise $3,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Always the skeptic, I checked it out: at least 75% of the funds I raise will go directly to Bay Area cancer centers, including UCSF and Stanford; places where people I care about have found their answers and faced their fears.
Because I’m a professional procrastinator with impressive credentials, I’ve made a pact with my friend Jen to do this together -- much to the delight of three happy dogs, Darby, Buddha and Stella.
Between now and October 21st, I’ll take care of the training, the whining, the limping and the groaning. I promise not to whine in your direction, show you my blisters or sweat on you if you will support this worthy cause. Please consider making a donation – of any size. With your help, the money we raise will make a difference.
If I can do one small thing to help in the cause to find a cure, then it’s worth every stinky sock and every tube of Arnica. And here’s something I offer to you: if you would like my steps to honor someone in your life, please tell me a little bit about them; I’ll add them to my personal honorees. Somehow, it feels like sending those good intentions out there into the world is a better thing to do than let another day go by not lived to its fullest.
Thanks for your support!
