Hello everyone,
It is now Saturday night and we have just finished dinner and are now back at the hotel. We walked 36 KMS today in hot and humid weather. It took us a little longer to walk today partly due to the heat and my friends were good enough to walk with me at a slower pace because I am having a bit of a problem with my feet. We will be good to go bright and early tomorrow morning though. We are starting off again at 7 am.
They had 1100 people walking in the 2nd Annual Walk to End Breast Cancer in Ottawa. They have raised 2.6m for breast cancer and the Ottawa hospital. It was an absolutely faboulous way to see our nation's capital. It really is a beautiful city. Our walk began along the canal at a nice leisurely pace. We all commented on how "civilized" this walk is. One of the reasons is because the number of walkers is not as large as Toronto. In Toronto, you have to make sure you are at the start of the walk and are constantly fighting for "sidewalk space". In Ottawa we had nice paved bikepaths to walk along and spread out. It was a great way to walk the 36 kms. I wish I could tell you the route but I can't. Ottawa is a very confusing city. Our great crew got lost many times trying to find us. There may have been one or two u-turns by our crew which was "morally" hard for our crew driver to do. Again, we will not name names to protect the innocent?
Around the 20 Km mark one my friends was having a bit of a "hamstring" issue and we just kept saying to her remember...."you had a nine pound baby with no medication. You can do this." Sure enough, as we are kidding her about this we walk past a house that has a clothes line across the street with pink baby clothes hanging from it. Some ladies with their kids are on the front lawn holding a sign "Go Centurians". It was the perfect thing we needed to keep going.
So after the walk we went out for dinner and I got to spend some time with my best friend in public school and high school who now lives in Ottawa with her husband and three girls. It was great to see her again and she has not changed a bit. Her husband was diagnosed last year with breast cancer and has gone through the exact same thing I did. So to all of you who are reading this and are not aware please tell everyone you know. Men do get breast cancer. One of the ladies in our office lost her brother-in-law to it ten years ago. This unfortunately is not just a disease for women anymore. He is doing well now and looks great.
Well, Ottawa is winning 4-3 now and I should be going to bed. More stories tomorrow. Good night.
With love and thanks,
M.J.