Blogs

It rained. Not just rain, but wind, hail, cold.  A storm San Diego, ca hadn't seen in decades. It was mid November 2010 and I was the local ABC morning weather caster. I saw the monster coming. I studied the models the days leading up praying for any change that would spare us.  Instead it just got worse. My colleagues at ABC donned foul weather gear and attacked the flood waters catching the swift water rescues, the babies being evacuated by makeshift boats, the unlucky motorists stranded on top of their sinking cars. I donned well-worn tennis shoes and started walking.

This was my first year walking the 60 mile Susan G Komen for the cure breast cancer walk.  For years I joined my beach community in supporting these amazing walkers.  I watched the thousands of happy men and women dance past my house in a sea of pink each November and was immediately moved to tears by their determination, their pain and their unexplainable joy.  How could they be so happy in so much physical pain?  I knew breast cancer survivors but I never felt the cause was personal enough to put my body through that torture, let alone ask all my friends and family and strangers to donate money.  But I always felt that I belonged with those walkers.  I had a healthy body, and a heart for giving; the Lord wanted me to use both. Then in 2009 my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I signed up for the walk three days later.  This was now personal. 

The Lord had different plans and two months later I became pregnant after years of infertility and my due date was the third day of the walk.  I spent another November watching from my deck, holding my first born baby girl, huge and swollen with my second and supporting the walkers that this year included my best friend.   

A year later I finally got my chance to be a part of the cure, during one of the worst storms in Novemeber San Diego history.  If it had only been rain it would have been bearable, but the howling wind that slapped sheets of cold water in your face for 8 hours a day threatened to drive me mad.  

At times, crossing the many bridges around the bay, all we could do was follow the feet in front of you. Single file, head down, the person in front of you blocking the wind while the water poured off your head into your socks. I was lucky,I was prepared.  I had the right shoes, the best socks, foul weather gear and my best defense; a husband in a car not far away that would rush in new clothes, shoes and socks every couple hours.

It was brutal. But, It. Was. Wonderful.  I have never done something in my life so personally rewarding. My girlfriend walked with me and we kept each other sane.  The thousands of walkers around us became our family for three days, and then there was the community.  Each stranger that offered us food, drinks, tissues... was greeted with tears of thankfulness.  Hundreds of San Diegans out in the freezing cold and wind cheering us on.  Many walkers didn't make it.  We lost half the camp that year. No one blamed them.  If you were home watching the news that weekend you would have thought all of San Diego was about to wash into the Pacific Ocean.  How could anyone expect us to walk through this natural disaster?  But we did.  I ignored some of the dirty looks from locals who recognized me as the "weather girl," and thus blamed me for the weather (a phenomena I have never understood, If I had any control over the elements you think I would be spending my days delivering the news at 4:30am every day?) and I found strength in the fathers and children that held signs thanking us for walking for their wives and daughters. 

I heard stories of two, three, four time survivors. I saw pictures of 35 year old women that didn't survive and left behind infants or toddlers and husbands whose worlds had been shattered.  I walked for all of them. I walked for my mom who had beat the cancer  a year before but who likely had permanent neurological damage from the chemotherapy.  And now I walked for my two daughters.  With every soaked step I imagined a cure before they became old enough to go through the pain of breast cancer.  I was still nursing my youngest daughter that year and I would stop in the back seat of my husbands waiting car and strip off the dripping poncho to feed my baby girl from a breast I was still blessed enough to have, a cascade of water falling from my hair onto my little girls face as she ate happily.  Watching so many women walking by me that no longer had the ability to feed a child.  Yes, I was putting myself through the hell of 60 miles in near hurricane force winds, but it wasn't nearly as bad as cancer.  And if I could I would spare my baby girls the pain I saw on the faces of those survivors and those left behind.

I survived that first year.  By the grace of God I didn't loose my toe nails or get a stress fracture of worse like my friends and so many other walkers did.  The worst that happened to me was a couple breaks in sanity where I looked up to the grey and miserable sky and yelled, "please just stop!!!!! "  I also dropped my brand new phone - my lifeline to the dozens of family members that were encouraging me via text along the way - into a full porta potty.  Worse, I went in to get it.  But, none of that was chemotherapy.  It wasn't loosing a mom or a sister or a best friend. 

Everyone called that the worst weather every during a San Diego 3-day walk.  And so I reasoned the next year had to be better and I signed up immediately to do it again.  Despite the destructive storm, the miles of tears and the poo phone (as my friends named the incident,) I had the time of my life during those three days.

This year will be my third year walking.  Last year I added my mother in law to the list of reasons I walked. My mom, my mother in law, both of my grandmothers, they are all cancer survivors.  But that means that my daughter and I are at risk (my other daughter is adopted with no family history, thank the Lord) The fear for her future strong enough that I went into get genetic testing to see if I carried the gene. I do not.  But, that doesn't mean we are safe.  Last year I walked with a man who was walking for his 27-year-old best friend that had just lost his young wife to cancer six months after their first child was born.  The disease doesn't always follow the rules of genetics and age. 

But despite the heartbreak (and intense physical pain) it remains a highlight of my year.  And this year I am so happy to be bringing my new QVC family with me.  Last year I was terrified I would have to skip the walk because I was only a month into my new job.  I never imagined my brand new employer would give me three days off.  But, the Lord had a plan.  QVC happily gave me the time and this year, during one of the most important times for retailers, they are letting me go again.  My first year walking (working for a different company) had to go back to work every day before the walk since they wouldn’t let me have the time off.  No time off in November period. What a welcome change to be here. The heart of QVC is just one more reason I praise God every day that I am a part of this company.  But its not just my working family that is behind me, it is my on line family.  I know from the outpour of compassion you have all showed on this blog and on my facebook page, that you will be virtually cheering me on this November.

Yes, the walk is in mid November. Still four months away but the event is on my heart this month because of a few things.  First its time to stop delaying and start raising money, something I am not good at but the whole point of the walk.  Second, my mom hasn't been doing well and she is the reason I started his journey three years ago. And lastly, its training time.  I hope you have had a chance to read why I walk (or run, or do yoga or just work out period.) Exercise is non negotiable for me.  I believe working out can save your life and I’ve got two little girls and a husband that need me around for a very long time.  I usually run but every year around this time I stop running and start walking.  That first year I was so frustrated during training that I couldn't run.  If I just ran the 60 miles I could do it in half the time right? Not so much.   Running the 3-Day isn’t an option and a runners body is different than a walkers, so its important I spend hours nearly everyday walking.  Part of that means getting up before the rest of the world to walk 10 miles in the dark.  I did that while I was home caring for my mom after her accident.  Thankfully one of my best friends who has walked with me every year was game for meting me at 4:45am.

It also means spending an hour with my kids in the jog stroller in the morning and then another hour with them in the afternoon.

 But, it also means incorporating walking into everything I do every day.  I’ve always tried to work in a few extra spent calories every day by taking the stairs or parking far away but during "training season" I take it to a whole new level.  I wear a pedometer and see if I can top the steps from the day before. I go as far out of my way as possible to walk a few extra steps.  When I am on the phone I get up and circle the room.  I choose the restroom farthest from my desk (at QVC that can mean a 10 min walk.) I walk to the grocery store, the post office, to dinner. I incorporate walking into everything I do.  This is part of the reason why I am head over heels for Orthaheels A221500.  I cant really wear my sneakers everywhere (specifically work) but I can wear a cute pair of Orthaheels A90413 that give me nearly the same support and structure as my tennis shoes. One morning I had to run between sets during a show and I had no problem sprinting in my Honeys A220352   I now own four pairs with a list of six other pairs I hope to try.

The fact that I can keep up my training while looking adorable isn't the only reason I love Orthaheels A214294.  I am a California girl. Flip flops, and thongs are my shoe of choice, but it is hard to find a pair of flip flops that a doctors actually recommends and are attractive.  My feet, knees, hips and back have been paying for my love of thongs for years.  Orthaheels A214278 came into my life with all their orthotic goodness and gave me permission to keep my flip flop love affair alive.  I wear them to meetings at work as easily as I do to a day at the beach. 

There are so many different styles that I don't need to worry about being appropriate for the event.  And, well, I get to keep training. Every time I slip on my Orthaheels A219262 the word walk comes to mind and I am reminded of why I am doing this.  Who I am doing it for. Of course training on the east coast makes it a bit more challenging. Last October I was walking in snow, not quite sure Orthaheels A221660 can help me there.

But you never know what they have up their sleeve for fall. And come to think of it flip flops in the snow would actually be preferable to the three days in 2010 of wadding through flood waters in soggy tennis shoes. I think. Okay, maybe it could be worse this year than it was in 2010.  When was the last time San Diego saw snow anyway? Maybe Ill ask the new weather girl.

You can see me with some of my favorite Orthoheels on my show 1am on July 18^th.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and subscribe to my blog below.

Blessings,

Kerstin