Very Nearly There

(from left to right) Ursula Nadolny, Liz Gardner, Angie Murphy, Damon Reed, Jeanne Rees Liz is in fruit and sugar’s I Love Boobies! shirt.

July 20, 2009

Dear Blue Footed Booby Supporters,

Well, we are very nearly there. With just four days (!) to go until Opening Ceremonies on the 24^th, the Blue-Foots are gearing up for Boston: packing our gear (including awesome I love Boobies team shirts and hoodies), trying to stay healthy and limber, getting in those final training walks, and finalizing a preposterously long list of logistics. After all, we’re all mothers, and we’re all going to be away from our families for three nights and four days, three of which we’ll be chasing pavement. We’ve laughed that for some of us the 3-Day just might feel like a mini-vacation: no cooking, no cleaning, no driving back and forth a zillion times a day. And instead: just walking, eating, staying hydrated, stretching, talking, walking some more, and ah, using those porta-potties (something else we have had to train for). Plus, it is rumored that there are massage therapists available at camp. If it weren’t for having to walk those 60 miles and sleep in pink tents on a turf field with thousands of other people, it might just feel like a mini-spa vacation.

Did you know there are 2.5 million breast survivors in the U.S. today? (Two of them are Blue Footed Boobies).

This past weekend, in between taking in awesome music, food, friends & family, weather (blue skies!), gorgeous hot air balloons, and the serendipitous harmonious vibe that filled the fields with good Juju for the masses at the Green River Festival, I completed my own half-3-Day, walking 10+ miles Fri-Sat-Sun. Just yesterday, all the Boobies gathered together for our final official team training walk, a lovely 10+ mile walk through the bucolic back roads of Guilford, Vermont, where our teammate Ursula lives. Today, we “rest” (though telling the Boobies to rest is a bit like trying to get a pack of 6-month old puppies to lay low after they’ve been fixed). Tomorrow, our virtual trainers have us down for an easy 5. We’ll pack. Make last minute arrangements with our families. Do some last minute weeding. A few of us will be henna tattooed by henna artist Kelly Flaherty, who has very generously given her time on several fundraising occasions. Thank you, Kelly! Her beautiful designs have emboldened us throughout our journey, and we are grateful. On Wednesday, we’ll put the recommended 30 minutes worth of cross-training through our own interpretations: gardening, cleaning the house, bicycling, playing tennis, stacking wood, packing for the 3-Day! And on Thursday, we’ll leave for Boston, yahoo!, spend the night at a hotel in Natick, and wake up way too early in order to be at the start by 5:30 am. I feel a bit like a racehorse, frothing and chewing at the gate, ready to bust out and do my thing. Must lay off the caffeine!

Nancy G. Brinker founded the Susan G. Komen for the Cure 25 years ago, in honor of her sister, Susan, who died at the age of 36 of breast cancer. Since then, Komen for the Cure has become the world’s largest source of not-for-profit fund dedicated to curing breast cancer at every stage.

Fundraising update: we have surpassed $22K and are now closing in on the $23K mark! Thanks to some last minute reminders, the highly effectiveness of those instant status updates on Facebook, and the spirited generosity of friends and neighbors and family members both near and far, we’ve been able to raise a couple more thousand dollars over the past ten days. I am proud of my Blue Footed Boobies, and I have been touched by the big heartedness and munificence of our supporters. Thank you so much!

It is important to remember just how critical this fundraising piece is: thanks to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and the millions raised by 3-Day walkers, the 5 year survival rate of breast cancer, when the cancer is caught before it has spread beyond the breast, now stands at 98%. Compare that to 74% in 1982, and you understand just how dollars raised really do = lives saved. As well, 75% of all women over 40 now receive regular mammograms. In 1982, less than 30% of women even received a clinical exam (!). Early detection through my annual mammogram quite possibly saved my life. The $1.2 billion invested by Komen for the Cure ensures that all women have access to the advances in early screening and treatment options that I had.

Over 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the U.S. 40,000 will die, that’s one woman dying of breast cancer every 13 minutes in the U.S. alone. Over 1500 men are diagnosed each year, and 400 of them will die. Isn’t it time to make those statistics history?

A few links to share with you:

☼ BFB Team Gear: If you’d like to deepen your support of the Boobies, and enjoy some wonderfully-designed I Love (heart) Boobies gear, please visit http://www.cafepress.com/fruitandsugar/5560906 Or, go to www.fruitandsugar.com>swag. Once there, you can click again on the Blue Footed Boobies 3-Day Team to specifically order merchandise (Sigg water bottles! Thongs! Organic t-shirts! Big comfy hoodies!) with not only the I (heart) Boobies! design but the BFB 3-Day Team bit on the back as well. The whimsical image of the pair of Blue Footed Boobies—blue feet raised, taking their first steps, no doubt, towards doing great things--is truly wonderful, and we are so grateful to local graphic designer, Anja Shutz and partner Jamie Berger, who very generously donated the image to our cause. Thank you Anja and Jamie! Our team gear is super-fabuloso!

☼ We’ll be crossing the finish line on Sunday, July 26 together in I love Boobies! BFB team gear. If you have any interest in joining us at the Closing Ceremonies, or along the route at specially designated cheering sections, I welcome you to check out the Spectator Page on the 3-Day site: http://www.the3day.org/site/R?i=yLTlvTFyZ-ccK_4xng_96w It’d be great to see you somewhere along the route! If you decide to come, please let me know so I can look for you.

☼ We just received a rough outline of the 3-Day route, a journey map of sorts that has us starting at Framingham, walking east and camping somewhere near Waltham (Bentley? Brandeis?), spending the second day in and around Lexington (hurray! I was hoping we might take in some history), and finishing up with a walk through Cambridge and Boston, where we’ll enjoy the Closing Ceremonies at UMASS, Dorchester. Here’s the map: http://www.the3day.org/site/R?i=SUaBk1pZuxL-hN6rEMLbkA

☼ A few of us will be trying to update our supporters on Facebook during the walk. Of course, the safety monitors will be making sure that we won’t be using our cell phones while we walk (three strikes and you’re out!) so we’ll be sure to follow the rules and step off the route every now and then to make our calls. Feel free to send us a hello or word of encouragement via email or on FB or cell phone. We’d love to hear from you!

☼ We’ll be in touch after the Walk to recap some of the highlights for you. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather—especially since it looks as if summer has finally arrived, with all its wretched heat and humidity, just in time for our Walk!

A friend reminded me that 60 miles equals 316,800 feet. That’s 11 times the distance of Mount Everest. We’re ready. And we are most grateful for your support.

Love to you and thanks on behalf of all the Boobies, blue-footed and otherwise!,

Liz