Monday, October 17, 2011

Avon Walk


Thanks you to everyone who donated to my Avon Walk! 
The walk took place this past weekend and was a phenomenal event. 

The opening ceremony was held on pier 84 at 44th street on Saturday morning. It was cold, windy, and offensively early for a weekend morning. But somewhere between the 12 year old speaker who raised $20,000 in memory of her mom, and finding out that the NYC Avon Walk raised 8.4 million dollars, the hour, the temperature and daunting task ahead of us became very trivial details. 8.4 million dollars. That's a shit load of money.

Joey, Melissa, Me & Martha @ the Opening Ceremony

I walked with my two of my best friends, Joey and Melissa. Melissa's mom, Martha, was our inspiration for participating in the walk. She came to NYC to cheer us on and support us throughout the big weekend. Over the 40 miles that we walked, we had tons of visitors, lots of laughs, a few blisters, a couple cranky meltdowns, but mostly great conversation.

Diana and Martha, our first visitors, met us in Chelsea with posters :)

James, our logistics man/life simplifier,
dared to carry the sail sign across the windy BK bridge
Avon sent out emails throughout the summer urging the participants to train. Every time I received one, I thought, Oh please, this is a walk. A WALK PEOPLE. But if you are fat and out of shape, I suppose you should train. Delete. I didn't train. Today, I am hobbling like a peg legged pirate. Or a three legged dog. Or someone who was too arrogant to listen to someone who was offering some advice. Walking 40 miles in two days was a huge physical undertaking that was lots of fun, but also quite challenging.

Day 2 Crossing the footbridge from Randall's Island to East Harlem 

Weekend Highs:
The PERFECT weather
Saturating the BK bridge with pink
Hearing "thank you" from festive strangers lining the streets from Harlem to Soho to Brooklyn to the UES
Laying on the floor of Melissa's apartment and eating Lasagna after Saturday's 26.2 miles
Dipping into Two Little Red Hens for a Brooklyn Blackout cupcake 
(and bit of 2008 era nostalgia) at 8:00 Sunday morning
The man with the "Titty Titty Bang Bang" poster




Only an event for women, put on by a make up company,
would have flowers on the port a potty doors.

 
The bra-mobile. This guy drove laps around the city,
honking and cheering.

Butts in DUMBO

Lows:
Bottle necks at the beginning of each morning
The last 2 miles on Saturday. They were the hardest two of the weekend 
Blisters and stiff hip flexors on Day 2
Navigating Soho during the high brunching hour
Walking behind a teenage girl with a t-shirt that said, "In It To End It For... the memory of my mom"



The vibe was incredibly positive. Survivors. Celebrating memories. Teams and togetherness. But damn. A couple times each day something would get me. I can't even imagine. I don't want to. I just hope they figure this thing out already.


Love at the Finish Line

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing your experience and participating in this walk for a cure! Inspirational story to motivate more people to join you next year!
    Sharon(friend of Martha and Melissa)

    ReplyDelete