Relay For Life

This weekend, I participated in my third Relay For Life of San Lorenzo (my hometown) with my team, the Purple People Eaters. I took Saber, Tsunami, my crutches, and Bumblebee... I don't think I've introduced Bumblebee yet, that's my FreeWheel, the extra wheel you can see on the front of Saber in the picture above. Quite a few times on the track, other participants made the comment that I brought many manners of moving with me. My response was at least I was more prepared than previous years.

2012: I was in a boot.. little did I know, my leg was already breaking down at this point, but at the time I just thought my foot was complaining. I walked my first 7 miles in the boot with some rides in the wagon (until we went too fast, especially with my weight in it, and broke an axle), then went barefoot and made it another 10 miles through the night before calling it at 17 in the early, early morning. I then walked one more mile in the morning in honor of my inspirations.

2013: I brought Saber and my cane. I hadn't built up my endurance enough to push Saber the whole time, and ended up finishing more miles with my cane. This time, I made it to 19 miles plus my extra mile.

2014: This year, my goal was to make it to at least 20 miles, so I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to do that... especially since I haven't been able to train much lately since spraining my fingers. And so I brought my menagerie of wheels with me. Bumblebee made pushing Saber on the new track much easier, Tsunami didn't entirely like the texture of the track (but worked pretty well), and I usually walked in the grass when I used my crutches (of course I was barefoot!). And I did make my 20 mile goal... plus my extra mile!

I was on the committee for the 2nd year and we've been planning this event since the beginning of the year, but it never really hits me how special this event is until we're right on top of it. That feeling is always there, it just seems to get pushed back a bit in the planning so that it can jump out to full attention right when I need it. The month of planning gets pretty chaotic as everything comes together... add in my hospital visit a couple weeks before (while I was working projects for the event!) and subsequently losing that week entirely, and it got to be a little extra for me.

I was lucky to have plenty of help and managed to get everything done, so as I sat down and made my Luminaria bags, I decided I was walking for two special people currently fighting the fight; my uncle and my friend. I always wear my hat emblazoned with all the people I'm walking for, but I chose to focus on those two as I stopped for my bead during each lap. My pattern was purple (for general cancer awareness), different colors of strength and support, black with sparkles (for my friend.. there wasn't any teal as she has requested her awareness color should be, so I went with sparkles), and silver (for my uncle, for brain tumor awareness).

Many races and events I go to, people tell me what an inspiration I am.. merely for being out there. While I'm happy to encourage people to get/stay active for any reason, I look forward to the day that seeing someone in a wheelchair or on crutches or whatever different mode of transportation is just someone else that wants to get/stay moving. I got a bit of that feeling this weekend. The true inspirations were anyone that hit that track; the survivors, the caregivers, the friends and family, the supporters.. anyone that came out to the event to help along the dream of having a world without cancer. And for 24 hours (or more), I was the same as everyone else.

I was walking for loved ones.

I was walking for hope.

I did it a bit differently, sometimes each lap was different, but that didn't matter. I was just out there, getting in as many laps as I could. Just like everyone else.

And on that note, I leave with you with two fun moments...

Master of Hopscotch!!

No one was really playing, so my friend said we should play... I was sitting in one of my chairs at the time, so I laughed at first, then got my crutches and went to play! I'm not entirely fast, but I don't miss any of the spaces ;)

Aaaaand there was a Super Hero lap... by Team Super Heroes, and they had a super hero mask craft at their booth, so I made one just in time for the lap.. but while stopped I had made the comment that I couldn't do the super hero pose with my hands on my hips and still be able to go anywhere. When my friend and I were about to pass our own booth, I pulled my mask down and gave a good push so I could pass by with my super hero pose...