Jimmy Fund Walk

Last Sunday, 9/21/08, I participated in the twentieth annual Jimmy Fund Marathon Walk.
(http://www.jimmyfundwalk.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=265752). The Jimmy fund is part of the Dana Farber Cancer center and is dedicated to eradicating cancer in children. I had always wanted to walk the Boston Marathon route (http://www.bostonmarathon.org/) and the Jimmy Fund walk gave me the motivation I needed to do so.

The walk started out perfectly. It was nice and cool, the registration people were super helpful, and I didn't even get lost in Hopkinton. I've never walked 26 miles and change before, but I figured if eight thousand other people could do it I could too.

I started off great. I was walking at a nice even pace. The ipod was fully charged. The Patriots hadn't gotten smooshed by the Dolphins yet. I fell in with a group of kids from Wellesley College. One of the girls had a button on her backpack that said "I'm living proof!" which was pretty inspirational. We walked along for a while and then I realized we weren't even close to Boston yet and had my first "oh crap" moment of the day. As in, "oh crap, how the hell am I going to walk to Copley Square?!" I think we were in Natick at the time.

I would like to take this opportunity to mention that Framingham is the biggest city in North America. I walked into Framingham feeling pretty good. When I left Framingham I felt like fire ants were eating my calves while evil little leprechauns were hitting the balls of my feet with very small iron hammers. I never really thought of stopping though, mostly due to the gentleman I met who was pushing his obviously ill child in a carriage. He looked pretty winded, but if he could do it so could I.

Wellesley is the mid-point of the Walk. I collapsed on a bench near the Red Cross tent and just zoned for a little bit. I drank lots of water and then got back to it after a lovely stranger gave me a couple of Motrin. I walked by a sporting goods store and bought a nice pair of soft socks and that was my fifth and final wind.

I was pretty much in last place at this point so I picked up the pace and breezed through most of Newton. Boston College was a tough place to walk by because if I took a left I would have been home in about ten minutes. By now I had a blister the size of a UFO on one of my feet. Six miles to go.

I seriously considered quitting in Cleveland Circle with only five miles to go. Every step felt a little bit worse than the last. I was sitting on a rock trying to psych myself up for the final push to the finish when I made eye contact with a couple in their fifties. The wife gave me a thumbs up and mouthed, "you can make it." to me. I'd like to thank her for that because I was done if I didn't see her. I painfully got up and started walking again.

Near Kenmore Square I met a couple of women who worked for a jewelry design firm who were nice enough to let me latch onto their little group for some moral support. One of them mentioned her friend decided to run the thing so he could watch the Patriots game while he waited for her at the finish. I was secretly glad they got pummeled when she told me this. They were great though and the three of us sort of ambled, limped, and scuffled toward the finish line. It's funny, but after walking 26 miles I figured the last three blocks would be a piece of cake. Like every other part of the walk I badly misjudged that. Every step was absolute torture. In no particular order my back, shoulders, calves, ankles, feet, and head hurt. I also had a sunburn.

The finish line was like a mirage. I thought I saw it twice before I actually did. It was getting closer. A detail cop stopped traffic and let us cross the street. I was actually going to finish. As I crossed the finish line I felt terrible. Truly and completely terrible. They gave me a turkey sub and sent me on my way.

I called my wife for a ride, ate my sub, and promptly threw up all over my new Jimmy Fund Walk t-shirt. At least they gave us a hat too. It only took three days for me to be able to walk without pain. At the end of the first day I was certain I would never do this again. At the end of the second I was pretty sure I wouldn't. By day three I was pretty sure I would.

Special thanks to all the folks that donated money to the Walk:
Maureen Kelly, Paula Vernon, Trish Wright, Elaine Thorpe, Amanda Mercier (I'll learn your married name soon I promise!, Nancy Adams, Mark Haigh, Tina Gosselin, Cheryl Wright, I know there is one more and as soon as I get home I'll find my book and write you in. Thanks Guys!!!