The day Cavin wore pink

As many of you know a couple weeks ago, my mom and I walked the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. We each raised $1800 for the cause, strapped on our tennis shoes, and joined thousands of other people on the weekend of July 11 -12th, by walking all across the bay area to raise awareness for this horrible disease.

The motivation behind my mom and I doing this race is two-fold. My mom lost her mom, Grace Hanley, to breast cancer at a very young age. We talked along the race how she still thinks about her own mom - who she was, who she would have been, and how this disease affected her and her siblings who grew up without their biological mother. Secondly, my dear friend Liz Kirk, was diagnosed with breast cancer just months prior to the Avon Walk. Liz is a fighter. And with her energy, stamina, determination, and contagious positive attitude, I have no doubt she will over come this difficult time.

So we walked in memory of my grandmother and in celebration of Liz!

So how did we do??? Well, we finished! (in our own way) Between my mom and her cardiologist's wishes that she take it easy that weekend and me being just 11 weeks postpardum (and having only 5 weeks since I got the green light to start training), I'd say we did pretty well! We walked 16 miles (of the 26) the first day and 8 (of the 13) the next. Next year our goal is to finish the entire thing.

Part of our problem was finding a suitable place for me to pump. Since I am still breastfeeding and was away from Cavin for most of the day I carried my breastpump with me and had to find a private place to do my thing every 4 hours. That set us behind the race a bit so we had to get a ride to catch up. It was very interesting figuring out how to logistically pump at an outdoor race amongst thousands of other people. But it was a walk for breast cancer. I found people very accomodating to me when it came to breast feeding. Go figure.

Avon Walk: Day One

The race started out in Golden Gate park and winded up towards the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a cold morning (low 50s) and the higher in elevation we got, the more fog we encountered, and the colder it became. As we approached the bridge we had to go up some step hills and got pretty deep into the fog. I was under the mentality of getting up the hill as fast as I could then waiting for mom to mosey on up there. So as I was waiting for mom to come up the first hill, I took this picture:

Look at that fog!

Here's mom and I as we are about to enter Golden Gate bridge:

At the entrance of the bridge:

Mom "stretching" (aka an excuse to lay down with her cap over her face and take a little cat-nap) at Mile 12 in Marin County:



Mom and I made it to the half marathon sign on the first day!

Me at Mile 16!


Mom at Mile 16!

Mike and Cavin picked us up shortly after taking these pictures. We were pretty tired and I was missing my baby. If you look closely, you'll see Cavin is sporting a onesie with a breast cancer pink ribbon on it. This was the ONE day that Mike approved my son to wear pink!

Avon Walk: Day Two

We were late to the walk on the second day b/c our friend Dorothy was in town visiting. I really wanted to meet Dorothy's new boyfriend Joshua so we met up with them in the morning so I could meet Joshua and Dorothy could meet Cavin.

Sy, Karen, and Cavin - After taking this picture, Karen asked "Does Cavin look like our kid?" Funny Karen!

Mom and I met up with the race somewhere during Mile 3...and just before the biggest hill that day. Day two of the race is 13 miles all around the city of San Francisco. There were some beautiful views, crazy people cheering us on, and some helpers available to drag mom up the hills...

Some of the cheerleaders motivating the walkers to make it to the top of Potrero hill...

Mom and I made it to the top to take a picture with the city in the back...

Mile 12! One mile to the big finish!! You may remember from my post last year what an awesome job the San Jose policemen do. They ride their bikes along the race, guide traffic, keep everyone safe, and generally entertain us walkers. They even wear pink! Well, move over Mike b/c momma found me a policeman in pink!

Picturesque views along the way....

Approaching the finish line!!!

We made it!!!

And Cavin was there to greet us...

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the words of encouragement, good thoughts, and support from all of you! A special thanks goes to those of you who made monetary contributions to our cause so that we can raise awareness for this awful disease and so that my mom and I could spend a fun weekend together walking the streets of the bay area.

Thank you to my contributors:

Karen Almonte

April and Kurt Andres

Adrienne and David Bash
Jennifer Bentley

Stacy, Jim, and Izzy Butler
Suzanne and Wade Clerkin

Alison and Brandyn Coleman

Kim Dobson

Amy, Andy, and Grace Galbraith

Marissa Ghiglieri

Katie and Scott Goodwin

Uncle Bill, Aunt Teresa, and Chico Hanley

Craig and Amanda Harwerth

Meredith Jamail

Jonna, Tod, and Porter Janet

Greg Jimenez

Joan Ludlam

Calvin Martin

Eileen Murphy

Elizabeth Pena
Amy and Chris Ratterree

Amy Spruiell

John and Melinda Spruiell

Michael and Cavin Spruiell

Sarah and Aaron "Superfly" Stai

Lina Taing

Erin, Chris, and Tyler Terjesen

Melissa Williams

We are definitely looking forward to it next year. And we've recruiting someone else to walk with us too....here's a clue: he's 6'2", loves his doggie, and has the cutest baby boy you've ever seen.