Hike #2

This was the view from the top...

Hiking from Fort Baker, underneath the Golden Gate Bridge on the Marin side, all the way to this zenith, was really not what I wanted to be doing on 9am Saturday. But I did it.

It started at 8am with the TNT group gathering to go over milestones (our team is nearly at $50,000 of fundraising!) and hear from an honoree. This hike Kurt Zimmerman talked. He didn't talk about how cancer has changed him personally. He talked about how cancer has changed his family. As soon as his daughter found out about his cancer, she signed up for a Team In Training marathon. And the whole family got behind her, and Kurt, in an effort to find a cure. In some ways, Kurt says "My cancer has really strengthened and helped my family grow." And he also says that when we're up there, struggling to reach the peak, with knees that hurt and thighs that burn, we're struggling beside him. We're in the fight just as much as he is.

Couldn't have said it better.

Uphill sucks. No doubt about it. But once you're up there (with some help from trekking poles!), your body goes into autopilot. Suddenly, you're not thinking about how your legs feel, you're simply putting one foot in front of the other. You're commenting on how beautiful the trees sound when the leaves get hit with raindrops.

Amelia was a joy to hike with - new friend FTW! - and she let me use her poles almost the entire hike. Then she told me about the American HIking Society and how they have poles for just $60! That's my next purchase. Boots, check. Fleece, check. Poles - time to go shopping!

Doesn't she look cute in her blue rainjacket!

Hike #3 is Saturday the 11th, in Cull Canyon (Castro Valley) - and then on the 12th I'm hosting a Bake Sale! So, hopefully some great fundraising news will come from that!

Time to get baking...