Walk for the Cure (Shot through the heart and 50,000 of you're to blame...)

Walking down 7th Street from Gallery Place towards the walk start of the Race for the Cure, I started welling up. My voice caught even when I told myself (I know, I know, muttering while I storm along, not a good sign) I could not cry when I met up with my fellow DC Metro Mom bloggers, some of them for the first time. But somehow, the sight of the chattering groups of really young (early twenties? I am so far away from my teaching days that I can no longer nail the age of babes in the woods on sight) women and men wearing eclectic pink and black outfits as they hoofed it towards the race, just caught me in the heart.

Woman with the pink flip flops and black legwarmers with hot pink satin running shorts? Man with baby-pink cape? Woman with rose-colored feather boa wrapped six times around your neck? I'm so grateful to you for your support of those who have fought breast cancer. I'm so grateful to you for reminding me that doing good doesn't have to be like eating your broccoli. Holy Bay to Breakers in DC, Batman!

This weekend, thanks to the organizing efforts of a woman who's, oh, eight months pregnant, I witnessed the Race for the Cure for the first time. I didn't run in the 105 degree heat and humidity; a group of us simply meandered and yakked it up for the 3.2 miles. And yes, when the turnoff for the cheater one-mile walk neared, I looked longingly at that hard left towards a frosty bloody mary, but when there's a family of five (one parent holding a needy baby on her hip), aforementioned nearly to-term expecting blogger, and a mother to a 400 degree Ergo-contained, softly sighing, two month-old humanoid of lava breathing on her chest forging ahead, it's time to keep to the path. Race organizers? You're responsible for the fact that Jess from A Bushel and A Peck's going to get a mister installed in her new backyard pergola. Really! Yup, it felt that good.

We all have women near and dear to us who've battled breast cancer, right? Some multiple times. A and C, I love you. You know I walked for you. And I'm intently interested in the environmental factors that may be implicated in increasing breast cancer risk, so I love the work that Komen's doing on that front. I just didn't know how powerful it would be to see 50,000 other people waving their pink flags of love for their folks. I didn't know they'd have massive teams dedicated to the memory of someone they loved. I didn't know we'd see laminated posters and lanyards with pictures of someone's mom, someone's sister, someone's daughter. Some of them survivors, some of them lost to breast cancer.

If you've never walked (or run! I know some of you can do it!), I encourage you to head down to the Mall next year (or your local race) to check it out and join the throngs.

I've mused before about how lucky I am to be part of such a smart and committed community of online bloggers. Thanks again to the DC Metro Moms and to those who wore their hearts on their sleeves, their feet, and their heads for the cure.



(Loved our time together, Andrea, Julie, Sandie, Devra, Jessica, Robin, Leticia, Jodi, Jean, Nancy aka infant holder extraordinaire, Linda, and Jess -- Sarah! thanks for all the directions when I really needed them, at the bar-- and finally, kudos to Mary, Suzie, and Susan for doing the Sleep for the Cure).

*An actual MamaBird photo original. Not a person in sight I know in the picture but I WAS THERE and I FINISHED that warm trek.