I walked 39.3 miles (my RunKeeper app said it was even more) with the Affiliate Marketers Give Back team in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in New York City this past weekend.
I ended up at the #6 overall individual fundraiser with $17,157.92, and our Affiliate Marketers Give Back team raised and donated $40,406.61, which will fund research to find a cure or prevention, as well as programs that enable all patients to access quality care. A key priority is the medically underserved, including low-income, elderly, and minority individuals.
The first day was Saturday, October 18, and we got together before sunrise on the west side of Manhattan.
The early start kicked off a marathon walk that was supposed to be 26.2 miles, but the route was mis-marked, so we ended up walking some bonus miles. It was a really neat way to see New York.
We finished the first day of walking on Randall’s Island, and I was really happy to make it the whole way without any blisters, but I did manage to mess something up in my right knee.
The second day, Sunday, October 20, started before sunrise with a breakfast in the dark morning. We loaded up on some carbs and protein before setting out for the remaining 13.1 miles.
I hit the medical tent to get my knee wrapped and to gobble some painkillers before we set off. That was a little tough to leg out the final day, but I did manage to escape without a single blister – my strategy of Injinji toe socks, as well as Body Glide and Blister Shield, kept my feet in good shape the whole time.
Unfortunately, the blister goblin was not as kind to Tricia Meyer.
I figured our miles would be longer the first day, because the route was not labeled correctly, but RunKeeper tallied more than 13.1 miles for us on the second day, too. Whatever the total was, it felt like a lot of miles.
In the late morning of the second day, we hit the finish line, and that was such a satisfying and emotional moment. All of the training and fundraising and everything lead up to that happy moment at the end.
We didn’t get to enjoy it too long, though. We had to race back to the hotel and clean up for a flight to Charlotte, NC to go to ShareASale ThinkTank.
Before we left the finish line, I stepped back over to get a shot of my hat at the finish line. It was a hat my mother-in-law, Maria Sanchez, gave me a few years before breast cancer stole her away. I wore it for the whole walk to keep her with me as I walked in her memory.
In the end, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in NYC raised $7 million dollars, and I was proud to play a role in that.
Thank you so much to everybody who supported me through donations, positive thoughts, texts, etc. Also, I’d like to give a big thank you to the Affiliate Marketers Give Back team.
It was a lot of fun to spend all that time getting to know the folks on the team better.
And a big thanks to Avon and all of the volunteers who made this all happen. What a giant undertaking, and it ran so well, and they took such great care of us.
What an inspiring, humbling, wonderful, emotional, and transformative weekend.
All money raised by the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is managed by the Avon Foundation for Women, a 501(C)(3) public charity that funds a comprehensive network of programs and services dedicated to serving breast cancer patients and their families through five areas of the breast cancer cause: awareness and education, screening and diagnosis, access to treatment, support services, and scientific research.
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