Neither blisters nor rain can keep them from the Breast Cancer 3-Day.
By JUDY LUDIN
Published October 9, 2005
Judy Ludin, 47, is one of the thousands walking 60 miles around the Tampa Bay area to fight breast cancer. She is writing a daily diary. The Largo resident raised more than $5,000 for the cause by word of mouth and sending e-mails to family and friends. She was inspired by her sister, Debbie Sokolov, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June. Two years ago, her mother, Marietta Drucker, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Ludin and her husband, Eric, a lawyer, have two sons, Joshua, 16, and Jacob, 14. She is an executive for public relations and communications for Menorah Manor, a geriatric center in St. Petersburg. Here is her account of her second day of the walk.
Something important occurred to me this morning that helped me through this very long day. The Breast Cancer 3-Day isn't just a walk, it's a journey. And there are many things about this journey that are similar to life's journey - there are many ups and downs.
After walking 23 miles Friday, I enjoyed dinner with my husband, son, sister and parents - a Shabbat (Sabbath) dinner away from home. Delicious pasta, garlic bread and the best chocolate cake - the anti-Atkins Diet. After pitching a tent (okay, I admit it, my husband put up the tent), I took a shower in a portable shower truck and I felt good. Before settling into my tent for the night, I looked around at the hundreds of tents and I knew that inside those tents were hundreds of stories. There has to be something important that compels someone to walk 60 miles - mom, sisters, grandmothers, friends.
At 2 a.m., the heavens opened up. For two straight hours it poured. Our cozy tent turned into a soggy mess. All I could think of was my dry, comfortable bed at home. We woke up in a swamp. Packing up a wet tent and a wet air mattress is not easy or pleasurable. What committed people I was surrounded by. Saturday, I walked 20 miles through downtown and the Old Northeast, and then over the Friendship Bridge. I saw so many people nursing sore feet, blisters ... and more blisters. The medical tents at each pit stop were jammed with people who needed medical assistance. These people could just as well have gone on vacation but they didn't. This is no vacation, but at the end of the day, you know you have done something very big. I felt the hugeness of this journey today when I ran into a neighbor. She told me that she saw my column in the St. Petersburg Times and that she wanted to tell me something important. She started crying. She said her friend, Peggy, passed away the night before. She died of breast cancer. She said that she died at 7:30 p.m. That was exactly the time that fireworks went off to celebrate day one of the three-day walk.
THE WALK
To raise money to fight breast cancer, more than 2,000 walkers wearing pink wristbands are covering 60 miles in three days. Participants began walking Friday from Clearwater to St. Petersburg and will finish today in Tampa at Raymond James Stadium. Each walker has raised at least $2,100.
While there have been numerous shorter walks and races, this weekend's Breast Cancer 3-Day is a first for the Tampa Bay area. Money raised will go to the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to fund breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment.
