Have Hope, Will Travel

After John Shinar lost Martha, his wife of 30 years, to breast cancer, he got involved with the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® in a big way. He decided that walking in one Komen 3-Day event in the Twin Cities, where he lives, wasn’t enough for him, so John made the extraordinary commitment to raise funds and walk in all fourteen 3-Day® events in 2013. He traveled coast to coast, logging 840 miles in memory of Martha.

John’s undertaking—essentially becoming a full-time 3-Day walker for the summer—was exceptional, but every year, hundreds of other 3-Day walkers pack up their sneakers and sleeping bags and travel to an out-of-town 3-Day destination as well. What a wonderful world it would be if we could bring a 3-Day walk in every city in America. Alas, that just isn’t possible, so for many walkers, a “destination 3-Day” is the only option.

I live in the Los Angeles area, a location that doesn’t currently have a 3-Day event, so I’ve pretty much always had to travel to walk. At first, my teammates and I stayed as local as we could—we traveled a couple hours south to San Diego, then a couple more hours north to San Francisco, and one year, we even ventured all the way up to Seattle. Then in 2010, we decided to make the destination part of the whole experience, and registered for Washington, DC. In the years following, we’ve made the choice to travel to walk in Philadelphia, Boston and the Twin Cities. This year, we’re Atlanta-bound.

Traveling to the 3-Day is not easy. I have to budget additional time (an extra day before and after the walk for flying, and sometimes more days, if I decide to do some extra visiting) and money (plane tickets, hotels, cabs). Packing a duffle bag with everything I need for the event, plus extra travel days, is an exercise in creativity and patience. Then there are the additional logistics that go with leaving my family for several days and making all the arrangements for the kids’ carpools, after school activities, meals, etc. But I truly look at those sacrifices as an investment in something bigger. If I travel, I walk, and the funds that I raise for the 3-Day go toward my goal of seeing an end to breast cancer in my lifetime.

The investment is also in what I get out of walking. In my “Insider’s Guide to the 3-Day” blog posts, I’ve been sharing my perspective on some of the incredible experiences of being a 3-Day walker. Day to day life moves so fast (fast technology, fast paced job, fast cars…well, except in L.A. traffic), and walking forces me to slow down and take in every moment. Seeing another corner of the world, sometimes a place that I’ve never been to before, and experiencing what it has to offer from two feet instead of 4 wheels is such a gift.

I know that some of you reading this may be saying, “That’s great for you, but I just can’t do that.” I get it. I respect that making the trip to walk somewhere far from home is not feasible for everyone. It’s a choice I make—and a personal choice for each person—to give up some other things throughout the year so I can do this thing for 3 days. They’re 3 days that fulfill me in an immeasurable way, so for me, the choice is simple, even if getting there will be difficult.

This year, with the 3-Day visiting 7 cities instead of last year’s 14, even more participants will be traveling to their events. It was a tough decision for the 3-Day to exit from cities where we had established deep ties over the years, but it has been inspiring to see so many walkers and teams from those cities accept and embrace the change and look forward to representing their hometowns in a new location this year. Look for big contingents of Tampa Bay walkers taking on Atlanta, Boston and DC walkers descending on Philadelphia, and Chicago and Cleveland folks greeting their Midwest neighbors in Michigan and the Twin Cities.

John and his Miles for Martha teammates will return to a few cities to walk this year, and in the meantime, there are 7 other incredible people (so far!), who are registered to walk in all 7 Komen 3-Day events. If you live in one of those cities, we hope you will welcome them and all of the traveling 3-Day participants to the place that will be their home for the weekend. And if you’re thinking about making the trip to a distant 3-Day destination in 2014, I encourage you to do it. Make it happen! Like with everything 3-Day related, you won’t regret it, and there’s no question that a warm welcome awaits you, too.

3 Ways to Talk a Friend Into Walking With You

Making the commitment to raise money and walk 60 miles in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® is huge, and the majority of Komen 3-Day participants sign up to walk and share the experience with someone they know. But even though you may be certain that the 3-Day® is something you want to do, sometimes it’s a little harder to talk a friend or relative into joining you. Here are a few suggestions for persuading someone to be your 3-Day buddy:

1. Share Your “Why” – What motivated you to pick up the phone, or to click that “Register” button on the website? Perhaps you want to walk in the 3-Day to honor the memory of a loved one. Maybe you’ll walk to celebrate someone’s survival of breast cancer (maybe even your own). Or it might be that you just want to face down the immense challenge of walking 60 miles. Whatever it is, you have a reason, and it must be a strong one to have made such a big commitment. Look your friend in the eyes and tell her why this is so important to you. Don’t do it by phone, text or email. You’re asking her to share in a very personal journey, and it will mean a lot to her if you ask her in a personal way to be part of it with you.

2. Offer to help. Then actually help. – The most common reasons people give for hesitating to register for the 3-Day have to do with fear: I’m afraid I can’t walk that far; I don’t think I can raise that much money; I’ve never done anything like this before. If your friend is nervous about the demands of the 3-Day, tell her you’ll help. Then take it a step further and work out a plan. Take her out to coffee and brainstorm some fundraising ideas. Go for a short walk together and talk about a training schedule that starts small and builds slowly. Ask people who have done the 3-Day before to tell you about the fun and amazing things you won’t want to miss. (Shameless plug: invite her to subscribe to the 3-Day blog and see things for herself!) Then, for goodness sake, follow through! Promise your friend that if she registers, you will help her get her first donation within 24 hours. Then do it! She will start off with a good burst of confidence, and that will inspire and motivate her to start running with it herself (so to speak… I mean, there’s no running on the 3-Day, but, well, you get my point).

3. Register Yourself First! – In my experience, one of the single most effective ways to motivate someone else to register for the 3-Day is to register yourself first. Don’t say to your friend, “I’m thinking about doing the 3-Day.” Instead, say, “This is important enough to me that I’m going to do it no matter what. But I’d rather do it with you.” Aside from that, registering gets you access to a personalized online Participant Center—your treasure trove of 3-Day fundraising tools, training tips, and event information—so if you sign yourself up first, instead of telling your reluctant friend about all the outstanding support and information she will get, you can sit down with her at your computer, log in and show her first hand.

BONUS TIP! – Share this video with your friend. Sometimes, you just have to see it to get it.

Many of our wonderful walkers will admit that they were hesitant to commit to the 3-Day at first, but I would bet that every one of them who took the plunge and saw the whole thing through would tell you that it was one of the best decisions they’ve ever made. When the chance to do something extraordinary is right in front of you, don’t wait! Say “Yes, I can do that.” You won’t regret it.

The Insider’s Guide to the 3-Day – Pointing, Pacing, and… Motorcycles Wearing Lingerie?

My last “Insider’s Guide to the 3-Day” post got us to Day 1, through the beautiful Opening Ceremony, and out onto the route. And now, we’re walking, we’re walking…

Obvious Statement in 3…2…1… – 60 miles is a long way to walk.

If one strictly had to get from point A to point B, going the 60 mile distance would be physically demanding but logistically uncomplicated. But the 3-Day does so much more than get you from point A to point B. It takes you on a carefully plotted course to make the experience of covering all those miles an unforgettable one. Creating a 60-mile route that is safe, interesting, varied, pit stop-friendly, packed with incredible photo ops, bursting with local landmarks and must-sees, and safe (yes, I said safe twice, because it’s THAT important), is a feat of event-planning wizardry. And the remarkable thing is that it’s done so seamlessly that when you’re walking, you don’t even think twice about it. You marvel at the sights and sounds, you snap pictures (safely, from the side of the path, naturally), you bond and form lifelong memories with your fellow walkers and all the while, you’re just following the arrows.

One foot in front of the other. Repeat x 60 miles.

Walk This Way (Then That Way, Then Keep Going) – Let’s talk about the route arrows. I have a very special place in my heart for those arrows. They don’t just provide me direction as a walker, they provide me strength. On one of my early 3-Days many years ago, I got into the habit of touching each arrow that I passed. Just reaching out and tapping it, like giving it a little high-five to say, “Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, my round friend.” I still do it, all these years later. If there’s an arrow that’s out of my reach, I put my hand out anyway, for an “air five,” or have a teammate touch it for me. It’s kind of a silly tradition, but I’m serious when I say that I get power and motivation from it. It’s 3-Day magic, I tell you.

My arrow-lovin’ ways eventually inspired me to sign up for the Route Marking crew, which I did for the third time this year in Seattle. This crew team is responsible for putting up and taking down hundreds of directional arrows, but you never see them at work. They’re like invisible arrow fairies who leave a perfectly charted course for you to wake up to in the morning. Walkers getting lost? Not on our watch.

Have zip-ties, will travel.

Everyone’s a Winner – One thing I really love about the 3-Day is that it’s not a race. I’ve done a handful of 5K or 10K running races in my years, and I know how demoralizing it can feel to be passed by other runners (and believe me, I get passed a LOT). The 3-Day is different. Your pace is whatever you need it to be. No one is being timed or keeping track of their “personal best,” and there’s no shiny medal waiting for the first person to cross the finish line. On the contrary, we roll out a hero’s welcome for the LAST walker who comes in each day (but more about that in another post). You walk the speed you feel comfortable walking. If someone passes you, it’s usually with a smile and a friendly word of encouragement (unless they’re just really trying to get to the next porta-potty, in which case, we’re okay with letting them stay focused).