Pink. It's my new obsession. Pink. It's not even a question.

When husbands go out of town for work for days on end, it's important to make sure you have your own life and activities to occupy your time, particularly when you are unemployed.  Also, given that last little factor, it's important that these activities be free or low-cost.  My Saturday morning was not free and it's not what I would call low-cost ($40 for basically an hour and a half, plus parking and Metro fare), but that gets overlooked because it's an important cause to me.  What was I doing?  The Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure! 

RFTC is something I've actively been a part of for so many years that I actually can't remember when I started.  My mom is a 17 year survivor (woo hoo!!) this year, so at some point along the way- either in high school or college- she and I started doing RFTC together as a way to celebrate each year that has passed.  Luckily she's never had any sign of recurrence!  Fingers are crossed that it stays that way forever.  In addition to my mom, my dad's mother lost her life to breast cancer several years before I was born, as did the mother of one of my aunts.  We always remember them when Mom and I walk together.

About 5 years ago, I found more reasons to support RFTC.  Tiffany (from Life is Glam & Fab) organized a team in Austin- Team Zsa Zsa- to support her mom, who had been newly diagnosed that year and was undergoing treatment.  Along with Champagne and Sprinkles, Pearls (from Chopsticks and Pearls), Liz (from A Joy-Filled Journey), and several others, we walked in support of Tiffany's mom then, and over the years, we've added more names to our list of women we honor and remember at each race.  As I type this, Mrs. Z, the mother of one of my friends from high school, is in surgery to have a double mastectomy.  Mrs. Z was diagnosed right after I moved here and has completed the chemo portion of her treatment.  After she recovers from surgery, she'll wrap up the remaining months of 2010 by going through radiation.  Not a fun way to spend an entire year, but she's one strong lady, both physically and spiritually, and she has such an amazing attitude about life! 

Anyway, the odds of me being able to go back to Austin or Dallas this year for those races is pretty low, so I wanted to be able to make sure I represented Team Zsa Zsa (in spirit- I didn't have time to make shirts for us) by participating here.  I recruited a friend to walk with me since L was still out of town for his work conference, and off we went to the National Mall to walk.

I have to say, this might be my favorite venue for RFTC so far.  Austin's is nice- you walk through downtown and usually around the capitol.  Dallas's has been around Northpark Mall for years and years, which is nice because there's plenty of parking and you can go shopping afterwards (although I don't normally recommend wearing workout gear to shop at that particular mall).   D.C.'s route starts on the eastern end of the Mall, facing the capitol and in between all the Smithsonians, then goes west on Constitution, then doubles back and goes around the Washington Monument to Independence, and then back east toward the capitol.  I gotta say, the nerd in me loved seeing the streets and monuments so empty at that hour (well, except for the 39,999 other walkers and runners) with the sun shining low in the sky.  So pretty.  Also, this race immediately made me wish that every city had a Metro system to take to the race starting points.  SO. MUCH. EASIER.

So here's to the fabulous ladies in my life that I thought of as we walked.  The sign in the picture below was made in 2008 and includes names of the family members who had been diagnosed at that time.  For me, there are actually more names to be added to it, namely Stephanie Z., Carlin G., Nita P., Donna H., Sheron K., Mary Ella G., and my grandmother, Connie C. 

Clearly this something that has affected a lot of women in my life, which is why I am passionate about finding a way to completely erradicate it from our lives.  If you're interested in participating in a race near you, check out this site: http://ww5.komen.org/