Our New Best Friend and The Enemy

*Gulp*

94 days to go.  93 days until we get on a plane to Baltimore.  That's like... a week less than 100.  Which means the walk is getting closer and closer.  So much to do it's overwhelming.  Not overwhelming like staring down a radiation session... insurance battles... watching your hair fall out from chemo.  Just a lot to do.  As long as we keep it in perspective, it will all be ok.

As we've discussed, there are two components to this event.  Walking.  And raising money.

Walking isn't the overwhelming part really.  It's just one foot in front of another.  For miles and miles and miles.  Julie has a scientifically unproven theory that walking is made easier by cute shoes.  It can't hurt.  She walks in her Tabbie shoes in honor of her and Annette's mom.

Our training is up to 10 miles on Saturday mornings.  One thing we're learning is that we all walk at different paces, and with different accessories.  Annette can do 10 miles and never take a sip of water.  Bridget carries her water bottle in her hand.  Joyce has to have her water ice cold and Bridget likes it room temperature.  Julie and Annette would do five miles an hour if Joyce wasn't quite certain she'd die at that pace. Bridget's the shortest, and she takes 3 steps for every 2 Julie and Joyce take. 

Shade has become our new best friend.  I mean come on... if we'd wanted to walk in this kind of weather we'd have signed up for a July walk.  By October, things should be much more manageable.  There are a lot of miles between here and fall, so for now, we love shade.  Our favorite routes involve parking at the Brentwood YMCA and not coming back to the parking lot until we've met our goal.  This plan has a couple of hidden benefits.  Our friends Jeff and Jennie live at the perfect 4 mile water stop.  And Joyce has been known to sneak off into the Y's hot tub after a long walk.  But most of all, there's lots of shade.

Time seems to be the enemy.  We never have enough of it.  Especially with summer travel and vacations in the way.  All the activities that tick off the hours on the clock, and before you know it, another day, week, month has gone by, and the To Do List is getting longer and the walk is getting closer.

The enemy is working against us on fundraising.  Each walker has to raise a minimum of $2300 in order to participate.  We're over half way there, but that's still a long way to go.  Pretty soon we'll post all the details on our Crop for the Cure.  Now just in case, like one of our team mates, you think that somehow involves a farmer's market, let me just tell you it's a scrapbooking event.  And it's gonna be awesome.

Mark your calendar for Saturday August 7th and watch this space as we continue to battle the enemy and find more best friends.

Because EVERYONE Deserves a Lifetime!