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Toby and Jane
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Getting ready
Toby's Jimmy Fund Walk - 29 September 2002.
First of all, thanks to all of you who have sent in checks (and all of you who are going to;-). And a special thanks to the folks I work with here in England for supporting me in my efforts - both financially and emotionally. It really made a difference.
So here's the story……..
As many of you know, I have a love/hate relationship with the Jimmy Fund walk. It's a very worthy cause and it gives me a great sense of doing something good and of accomplishment. But it takes effort, I hate asking people for money and it makes for a very long damn day. After having done it for 11 years, I thought coming to England was the perfect chance for me to break away from it. Especially since I wouldn't be going to the Jimmy Fund's thank you reception / pep rally for Pacesetters in June. It's where they tell us about the amazing efforts of other walkers, and how important we are as a fundraising group. Where we hear doctors talk about all the progress that is being made with the help of the funds we've raised, and we hear patients tell their terrible tales while praising the care they've been given at the Dana Farber. I am always inspired by their courage and leave practically in tears vowing not only to walk again but also to raise more money than the prior year.
In March I started hearing about the London Marathon which is run every April. As a joke, I said maybe I would walk the London Marathon instead of the Boston Marathon this year. I wasn't serious, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Then Tom heard about the Abingdon Marathon (Abingdon being just south of Oxford and the town where I work) which is actually sponsored by my company, Akzo Nobel. Hmmm. More interesting.
I originally thought about walking on October 20th, the day of the Abingdon Marathon itself, but then decided (with help) that it would be better to walk on the same day as the walkers in Boston - September 29th. I mentioned it to a couple of people at work and before I knew it our PR person (Jane) was asking me about it - thinking it could be an interesting story and good publicity for the marathon (and Akzo). The next thing I knew she wanted to walk with me. All of a sudden I felt committed. And nervous! What was I thinking?????
I emailed my cousin Saul who works in the communications department at the Dana Farber and he said he would do a story on me for Inside the Institute (a Dana Farber publication) and would pass the info on to their PR department to try and get some more publicity (Newton Native Walks Marathon in England .…blah blah blah). He asked me for a blurb about my walk history and why I was doing it, etc. Why indeed? Well, after thinking about it, I realized that I really didn't have a good excuse not to walk after all.
Unfortunately, everything was timed wrong and there was no publicity other than Saul's article which you can read here (pdf file). Pretty cool in and of itself. Thanks Saul!
I registered for the walk and the Dana Farber sent me my shirt, my fanny pack (or bum bag as they are called here because fanny is a naughty word for something different) and my bib (# 112 this year). Got a map of the course and some directions. Picked up some leggings and some Vaseline and I was all set for September 29th - marathon day.
So how was it? Whenever people ask I really want to say something like "it was great". But the truth is it is never really 'great'. It has its moments, but by the end of it I am exhausted, my feet hurt, and the fact that I just spent nine hours doing something really good doesn't really matter. Just fill the tub and leave me alone! Looking back, however, it was actually a pretty cool thing to have done. I had perfect weather, a beautiful route and I have so far raised over $3000. Come on, I'll 'walk' you through the day.
Click here to see a map of the route - as you can see it is circular (or double circular) unlike Boston. I started and ended at Tilsley Park in Abingdon.
Jane, Akzo's PR person, and I met at the park for some stretching and an 8:00am start. (That's one good thing about doing this on my own, I could set the rules. In Boston they begin at 7am.) It was a little chilly in the morning, but turned into a perfect day for a walk. (They had been predicting rain a few days before the walk so I was VERY relieved.) I had Tom's mobile (cell) phone with me in case of emergency and so folks could call and keep me virtual company (thanks Jackie, Carol and Tom!). Here are a couple of pictures from the beginning of the walk.
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Toby and Jane |
Getting ready |
We headed out with water bottles and maps. We had a regular map of the course (general) and then written instructions (2.3 miles turn left towards Radley, etc…) and we needed them both! For comparison sake, the Boston Marathon basically follows 3-4 roads for most of the way and has about 5 turns in total. The Abingdon Marathon route had almost 40 turns. The course, which took us through villages, on bike paths, the wrong way across one way bridges etc.., was not yet marked and there were no marshals and even with two sets of instructions we managed to get lost in the first couple of hours. We missed a turn off the bike path into a business park - but luckily Jane knew the area and how to get us back to where we needed to be. (Although once we got to the town center we did have to ask a guy leaning on a cab where a certain street was - which ended up being about 20 feet from where we were.) Here are some of the things we saw along the way.
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) Happy Thanksgiving! |
) Along the bike path |
) Abingdon Abbey |
) Abingdon |
) Somewhere along the way |
We would frequently stop and look at the map to make sure we knew where we were going. We passed all sorts of things on the way - turkeys, Radley College, hunting dogs, rivers, an old abbey, a thatched roof house - it was just beautiful. And quiet! You wouldn't believe how totally silent it was in some of the small villages we passed through. Wow. I thought there would be church bells ringing all morning like there are where we live but I don't remember hearing any. It was a very odd feeling.
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4 hours into the walk we met up with my boss, Sharon, at the 12 mile mark - our office, Akzo Nobel. A quick stop for the loo and a candy bar and Sharon and I were off. (Jane had decided earlier to just do the first 12 miles with me and I am very grateful to have had her company. Thanks Jane - for the company and the directions.) Sharon had promised two hours which took us 6 miles to the 18 mile mark. Again, good to have someone who was familiar with the area. I hardly had to think about directions the whole time she was with me.
Sharon was with me for the part of the route that went back through Abingdon where we saw the same guy we had asked directions from earlier, still leaning against the same cab. He didn't ask any questions, but he must have been wondering what was up the 2nd time we (or at least I) went by. We also stopped in on another co-worker, Annette, whose house was right on the route. It was the Abingdon version or our usual McNally stop in Newton (an indoor bathroom). Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Annette but she still gets a big thank you for the water refill and the clean toilet. She's got a great dog too. Annette was going to come and walk with us a little bit in the morning but I am not very good with mobile phones and when she called to see where we were I managed to hang up on her (twice!) before she even got to say hello. Go ahead, laugh.
At mile 18, Sharon's husband Steve picked her up and pointed me in the right direction as I set off to do the last 8 miles alone. The scenery at the end was less interesting - there was a long stretch of road with no sidewalks and I had to walk by a Ministry of Defense base or something (lots of jeeps and military guys in camouflage suits carrying guns - lots of movement going on). Kinda creepy.
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) 18 mile mark. Sharon goes home |
) On my own - with map! |
) Taking the scenic route |
) Thatched roof house |
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) Having a better time than I was! |
) What can I say? |
) I made it - phew! |
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It was hard too because most of the territory was unfamiliar and the directions weren't great. Not all signs matched the directions. At one point (while I was talking to Carol who called me from Vegas to cheer me on!) the directions said to turn left towards Gozzards Ford. Well, there were signs at the intersection but the one pointing left made no mention of Gozzards Ford. "I'm going left anyway" I said, and somehow I made it back. There were a few times when I wasn't really sure if I had made the right turn or not which is an odd feeling. Not really a good one after you've been walking for 8 hours.
The 3 hours on my own were generally pretty good. I did realize that if I had tried to do the whole thing alone, without having gone over the route before hand, it would have been a disaster. Who knows where I would have ended up or how long it would have taken me. Plus I think I would have felt pretty alone all day. I really did miss the camraderie and the energy of the Boston walk. Dad commented on the fact that I had a lot of time to myself to think about things. He was right. And here's what I was thinking for most of those three hours: Why am I doing this? I'm not doing this again next year. Is this where I'm supposed to turn? I'm tired. What are those pigs doing? Why am I doing this? I wonder if Tom cleaned the tub. I can't believe I'm doing this.
I finished at 5pm - a perfect 9 hour walk. It took a little less time than it usually does in Boston but not as much less time as I had hoped. Although given the fact that I did stop fairly often to check directions and to take pictures I'm pretty pleased with the time. Next year I hope - woops, did I say 'next year'? What am I thinking!!!!!!! Only if dad comes to walk with me……..
Ok. Confession time: Truth be told, I didn't actually do the track loop in the morning (gate was closed) or in the afternoon (I like symmetry) which were part of the marathon route. But given the fact that we got lost in the morning and veered off course a little, it's possible that I still walked all 26.2 miles. Really, I'm not sure how far I actually walked. Could be 25.6, could be 26.8. Dunno. Don't care. Do you?
As a side note, the friend who is mentioned in Saul's article is Mayer Wantman. He died about a week after the walk. Really a nice guy, and a big loss. I'm at least glad to have been able to spend some time with him since we've been here. We mentioned having dinner with his family in our May 25th website entry. Click here to see his picture (from our May 25 update) - he's in the back row on the right.
As for the actual Akzo Nobel Abingdon Marathon, I joined some of the Akzo staff (and their friends) in handing out water to the runners outside our office at the 12 mile marker. Unfortunately, there weren't that many runners, maybe around 200. It was a cold and slightly rainy day but they came through with great spirit. (Thank goodness I walked when I did!) Here are a few pictures from that day too.
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) I did it for the sweatshirt! |
) Not quite Heartbreak Hill |
) Notice the green rubber gloves - it was cold |
) Paul, an Akzo employee who recently visited Boston |
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) Barry (next to him his wife Kay who was helping too) is another Akzo employee. He finished in 5 hrs 25 mins and will NEVER do it again. We went to Barry and Kay's party in Aug. (see Sept. 4th update). |
) Apparently these guys are French. Superman stopped to kiss us all |
) A blind runner and his guide |
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That's it for the marathon. I'm getting tired reliving the whole thing.
Bits & Bobs:
And there you have it for this special report.
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