Walk: Wed. June 11 @ Shoppers (and applause!)

Wednesday walkers, are you ready for a big 5K? Yes! Then see you at 7 pm at Shoppers.

And, to whet your appetite, here's a report from Michelle about her amazing experience in Ottawa. You might want to sit down for this:

Hi everyone:
WARNING – VERY LONG REPORT FOLLOWS

Back safe and sound in Toronto after participating in the third annual Weekend to End Breast Cancer 60 km walk in Ottawa. My daughter, Suzanne, has completed all three. This was my first.

I left here Friday morning hoping we wouldn’t get as much rain as they were forecasting. The good news is we didn’t get any rain. The bad news is we didn’t get any rain.

Saturday’s highs were 31.2 actual, 38 humidex. Sunday, 32.5 and 41. Brutal, but the sun was worse. You just get so sick of it. Literally for my poor daughter, unfortunately, who ended yesterday with nausea and chills. She’s a little better today.

Suzanne wasn’t the only one affected by the weather. One thousand women started out Saturday at 7:40 am; about 600 made it back to base camp that afternoon. On Sunday, approximately 750 started out; just under 350 completed. A few were picked up by ambulances. The rest were “swept up” by Guardian Angels, the name given to the volunteers who patrol the course in vans watching out for walkers in distress. I don’t know how many vans they had, but they passed by every 2 to 3 minutes. So probably several.

Now back to the beginning. Our tears—which were shed frequently—started with the Opening Ceremony at 7 am Saturday.

While we were waiting for it to start, I was overwhelmed by the large number of names the walkers around me were wearing. Such a startling display of how devastating this disease is! I carried ten names on behalf of my Shore Things supporters. The people they honoured are: Barb, Marg, Charlotte, Kate, Bunty, Diane, Sandy, Susan and Mina.

As we were listening to the speeches, I noticed that several women around me were wearing pink lanyards, not blue like ours. They are breast cancer survivors. Then I noticed that some of them were bald... so still undergoing treatment. Having gone through chemo myself 34 years ago, I was dumbstruck that they were setting out to walk 60 km in that condition.

Next, the ceremony moved on to a procession of five breast cancer survivors carrying the running shoes of women who did the walk last year but have since passed away. Each of the survivors read a message from the families of the women whose shoes they carried.

The young woman who was the highest fundraiser this year passed last Sunday. She had walked the first two years side by side with a woman she met in hospital during their first rounds of chemotherapy 8 years ago. Her friend, who was using a walker because she is in the midst of more treatment, led us out of the staging area.

Then it was one step at a time for 35K, and then another 25K on Sunday. There were pit stops every 3 to 4 km. Each is sponsored and staffed by groups. At one, a CIBC branch treated us like princesses – and gave us popsicles! At another, we were hosted by an entire street that lost a neighbour to breast cancer four years ago. They’ve been mounting their Hawaii themed pit stop every year in her honour. Each stop was special in its own way.

Then there are the unofficial hospitality stops. For example, on Saturday, a Guardian drug store put out tables stocked with goodies like energy bars, SPF lip balm and lotions... even calcium chews. On Sunday, a fire station hosted a Koolaid stand staffed by the cutest firefighters you can imagine (male and female, by the way).

Also on Sunday, we walked past the Prime Minister’s residence which was totally bedecked with big handwritten banners, pink balloons and streamers (Laureen Harper was doing the walk with us), then through the beautiful grounds surrounding Rideau Hall, the Governor General’s residence. This was the only stretch all weekend where the trees formed a canopy and gave us much-welcomed shade. The following pit stop was the RCMP Musical Ride stables. There we were welcomed by two gorgeous mounted Mounties (which is not redundant). Oh Canada!

The Last Walker stepped onto the 250-metre pink carpet that leads to the finish line at 2:40 pm on Sunday. She was the youngest of a team of eight women who are orthodox Muslims, all wearing hijab in various shades of pink. The reason they were last is that the teen had sprained her ankle. After it was wrapped by a medic, she insisted on finishing... which she did thanks to her teammates who took turns supporting her as she walked the last 10K. We were positioned at the very end of the carpet. We really lost it (our composure) watching her hobble in supported on either side by two older women.

By the way, everyone who is ambulatory finishes because the people who couldn’t complete the full 60K do walk down the pink carpet with the band, volunteers and their family cheering them on, just before the lead walker comes in on Sunday.

The Last Walker was followed by the bikers who volunteered all the security services for the event. They rode in single file along the pink carpet to wild applause. They were incredible, cheerfully staffing every single intersection we crossed. Most of them had boom boxes playing rock n roll. Some danced to the music. After the last walker crossed an intersection, the biker jumped on his or her motorcycle and rode to an intersection just ahead of the lead walker. They leap-frogged like this all day long. One of the bikers we met is from Vancouver. Her goal is to provide security at one 60K walk a year until she covers every one in Canada.

From the Guardian Angels, to the bikers, to the Spirit Ladies (which is self-explanatory), to every single person who helped us... all amazing. The organization and execution of this event are so impressive. It is so well staffed, and almost every one is a volunteer. And we were exceptionally well-provisioned. We were all happy campers, including apparently the 500 or so walkers who slept overnight in pup tents in that blasted heat. (Not me, thanks to the Goddess who invented beds.) A couple of them told me it was “really fun”. (?)

The other people who helped motivate us were the civilians who cheered us on at the Cheering Stations and along the route, as well as all the people in cars who honked joyously as they passed us.

One last observation: Mid-life women may have accounted for 70 to 80% of the completers (yea!!!), even though we were outnumbered by young women (under 40s) when everyone started off on Saturday. Mustn’t forget the men: about two dozen did the walk, but several dozen were volunteers.

I really encourage you to experience the power of this event first-hand. It’s not about the walking; it’s about the hoping. Or as one big walker team in Ottawa puts it: “Saving our ta-tas”. We raised $2.1 million for the Ottawa Regional Breast Cancer Centre.

The Toronto Weekend to End Breast Cancer will take place September 5-7, 2008. Crew (i.e. volunteers) registration is already closed except for “specialty crew” (don’t know what that means), but walker registration is still open. You have to raise $2,000 to qualify as a walker. If you are interested, go to www.endcancer.ca and click on Toronto.

Perhaps we could put together a Shore Things cheering section along the route? Or maybe we could dream big and sponsor a pit stop next year. There are enough of us to do it.

I don’t have many photos. It was so darned humid. I was worried about damaging my camera with sweat. And I didn’t want to pass up sprinklers. So I left the camera in the car. Luckily James took a few. I have attached one of Suzanne and I starting off, and a photo of my feet, taken Saturday afternoon. At our lunchtime pit stop Saturday, the medic who tended to them told me the base of the nails on each baby toe was already detached, so I will lose them. Happily the damage was contained to my baby toes, but you wouldn’t want to se a photo of them taken after the second day of walking. Trust me on this.

That’s all for now. Thank you again to all the dear Shore Things who donated to my Walk and others who sent their good wishes.

Hugs, Michelle.

P.S. We completed every single one of the 60 kilometres. Finished strong too, in the first 20-25% of the walkers. Very grateful.

Michelle and Suzanne, you are incredible!