The first thing you should know about this whole 40x40 adventure is that I’m starting this endeavor whilst pregnant with my fourth child. Further, I have progressed in my pregnancy past the “glowing, hip-swinging earth mother/goddess” stage and am well into “grouchy and in pain” phase of the game, which I understand that many women never reach, and also those that do get to this, uh, elevated state of pregnancy don’t usually enter it under their third trimester. I’ve been existing--nay, marinating--in this state since about 20 weeks, when I started having to do all the irritating older-preggo tests and simultaneously my hips and pelvic bones started to be angry with me.
And so.
I don’t want to complain (though I’ve been told I’m quite a complainer, though I prefer the term “critically observant”), especially about myself, but I should have picked less physically demanding endeavors for this damn list. I’ve already been working on the 5 million steps thing, but because of the aforementioned hip and pelvic pain, I had slowed waaaaay down on that--from 8k steps/day, to about (on a good day) 5k steps. At about the time my “I’m a waddling mess who can barely move” pity party had set up tables, refreshments, and chosen a caterer (Ben and Jerry’s, natch), my friend Ke’opu posted about putting together a team to do a community walk to raise funds for diabetes awareness, prevention, and treatment. Her late father, whom I had known from work, had had diabetes, and she was walking to honor him. She had done the team organization and all the research; all I had to do is register my family, donate a voluntary amount, and show up with my family.
So I shut my whiny trap and did it, and it was fun, despite my waddling. Of course it was. And mahalo to Ke'opu for the inspiration, motivation, and opportunity!
What I learned:
-Show up early. It’s a good thing it was a walk and not a race, because we couldn’t find parking and so were 20 minutes late and were literally the last people to start.
-You just have to be ahead of the volunteers who are cleaning up in order to still be considered part of the walk.
-It’s nice to walk around Kapi’olani Park on a clear, Saturday morning. Sometimes I forget stuff like that, because Waikiki is starting to be a development wasteland.
-First place and last place both get swag. Last place gets more swag than first because the race organizers don’t have to worry about running out.
-There are lots of different ways to engage with causes and communities, and it’s important to show my family as many as possible.
Would I do it again: Sure!
Status: Success!
