My Beef with the 3 Day

I think everyone who walks 60 miles for any disease is a hero. Seriously. 60 miles is a looooong way and to do it in 3 days...well, that just takes a special kind of person. My mom did it and my friend, Melissa, has done it 3 times. They're amazing women in my book.

My beef with the walk isn't the walk itself or what they're raising money to fight. My issue with it is the "if you don't raise enough money (i.e. - at least $2300) you can't walk OR you can charge the rest yourself and pay the amount you didn't raise." Super big kudos to those men and women who DO raise the money. That's a lot of money - especially in these times.

But for those who have trained and raised money, but have not raised enough money...how disheartening. I received an email from a woman I barely know asking for funds. She had raised $1800, but it wasn't enough. So, here she was, a week before the event, trying desparately to raise hundreds of dollars so that she would be allowed to walk 60 miles. Allowed to walk 60 miles. Is $1800 too little of an amount? Really?

I'm ALL for using fitness to make a difference, but when a charity says that an almost $2K donation is not enough....it turns me off.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Meet Melissa - May's "Gym Mama of the Month"

The "Gym Mama of the Month" for May is a woman who I am proud to call a friend. I met Melissa while training for The 3Day two years ago. She walked it that year (as did my mom!), but I wasn't able to be there. We've kept in touch and I'm so excited that she's our first "Gym Mama of the Month"!

I remember the first time we met (after numerous emails trying to coordinate a time!) for a training walk. Through a cemetery. A cemetery that didn't seem like it was very hilly. Until I started pushing a double stroller with about 80 pounds of child weight in it. Melissa was so sweet to my boys and was observant enough to realize that I could barely breathe, let alone hold a conversation!, as we trudged up one hill after another. She must have had a million thoughts running through her mind that day! I had one - "Don't stop breathing."

Melissa has personally raised over $5,000 in the fight against breast cancer in 3 years. She walks in honor of her Aunt Lana who is fighting the disease and so that the rest of her family never has to suffer through it.

Who says one person-one amazing woman-one awesome mom, can't make a difference?