Walk for the Cause

This morning, Mark and I participated in Solivita's Fourth Annual Walk for the Cause for the American Cancer Society. The man who started this four years ago announced today that there were 340 walkers and runners. The first year, he only had about 50 people. Last year, Mark and I also participated and there were about 250. I wrote about last year's walk on March 18, 2011 blog entry.

The course is supposed to be a two mile walk or a three mile run. Last year I did this in the middle of my radiation therapy, and I know I was sluggish. I was third to last, just barely coming in ahead of two octogenarians, and it took me 48 minutes. I had walked two miles on Wednesday with Mark in 50 minutes. My goal today was to beat that time, so I really felt like I was walking faster than ever. Even so, when I hit the finish line and Mark announced a 31 minute time, I could hardly believe it. He had finished in about 25 minutes. Hm...that just didn't seem right. We got in the car and drove the track. Nope! It was not two miles, just about 1.4, maybe one and a half. Still, a mile and a half in 31 minutes is faster than my usual, so I'm happy about that.

Last year when we went up for the walk, we did not know a single person there. Today I was excited to meet and greet about a dozen people that we know from Starliters, my neighbors, and the cancer support group. This community is just amazing!

Afterwards, we did some shopping and then went to the Palms to do our weight machines. All in all, it has been a good morning.

Now we are doing some things around the house. Mark is making our Shabbat dinner. I'm doing emails, blogging, Facebooking, reading, and working on my new jigsaw puzzle. Oh, yeah, I should mention napping, too.

At 4:30 we are heading back up to the Village to attend a Billy Joel tribute artist performance. I hope it's great! Rudy is here now and will be going with us. When we come back, we'll eat the delicious pot roast dinner that Mark is working so hard on right now. Oh, it smells GOOD in this kitchen!

Enjoy the pictures. I included one from last year's race, just so you could see how much my hair has changed!