60 miles leaves sore feet and a healing heart

Anne Hays | Oct 01, 20140

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TUTU TIME – Yes, Rob Hays of Shelter Bay wore this getup in public. In Seattle, even. With his beard dyed pink to match, he kept his promise to his wife, Anne, and dressed up to walk the five miles of the Susan G Komen three-day walk with her.

On a leisurely cruise back to Alaska to attend our youngest son’s wedding, we were notified that our middle son’s wife, Bree, had taken a turn for the worse in her 16-year battle with breast cancer.

Bree was first diagnosed when she was 20, and she spent the next 16 years battling various forms of breast cancer and undergoing just about every treatment available.

She was deemed cancer free twice. She and Zac had two delightful little boys, but in June of 2013, she died. She was 36.

I decided I needed to do something to help find a cure. A friend had walked the Susan G. Komen 60-mile, three-day walk for many years to honor her mother and to raise funds for breast cancer awareness and research.

Using her as my guide, I signed up and started training for the 2014 walk, which was held Sept. 18 through 20. I have walked over 1,350 training miles, and at my usual pace of 3 miles per hour, it adds up to a lot of hours.

I have walked a full 20 miles twice in my preparation, 18 miles a few times, and a lot of 14-mile trips.

I usually managed to walk 20 to 35 miles per week this past couple of months. When boating, I walk Lopez Island, Blake Island, or wherever we find ourselves.

I started fundraising around January. In order to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure, you have to raise $2,300.

I set my goal at $5,000 and sent emails to all of my friends and neighbors in Shelter Bay.

I surpassed the $5,000 mark in May and decided to go for $10,000.

I finished my fundraising with a total of $10,001 — probably 95 percent of that was raised within the Shelter Bay Community. Again, thanks to my friends and neighbors here in Skagit County.

The actual walk experience has been one of the most emotional and fulfilling things I have ever attempted. It is a physical challenge — 60 miles in three days in Seattle.

My first day went well, until I took my shoes off and discovered a number of raw, ugly blisters.

...Read more of this compelling story in the Oct. 1 issue