The Walk

On Sunday I organized a 5K in honor of Jeff.  I did this through the Chelsea Hutchinson Foundation on their annual "Chelsea's Walk" day with the proceeds going to the foundation to provide monitors and seizure response dogs to those in need. 

http://www.chelseahutchisonfoundation.org/

I've been working on it all year.  I should just say that I had no idea what I was doing or what I got myself into.  It has been a year of trials and triumphs.

First I had to get a permit from the county to hold the event.  But my county won't even look at your permit until 4 weeks prior.  What???  How can you advertise and plan a FUNDRAISING event in 4 weeks?  Then the county sat on my permit for another 2 weeks before approving it.  In the end, I had 3 weeks to advertise and get sponsors/donations. To say I was scrambling is to put it mildly.

Then four days before the event, I discover I needed 350 3-foot orange traffic cones to line the course because we were on public roads.  I had arranged for police officers at intersections but the cones were a new twist.  My permit only said "permitee responsible for providing 3-foot traffic cones".  It didn't specify how many.  Stupidly, I asked when I was confirming my officers for the event.  That is when I discovered you need a cone every 50 feet.  Holy Moly!  I scrambled and asked and begged.  By Thursday afternoon I was able to borrow half the cones needed from local firefighters and rented the other half.  Then, I needed a road crew the day of the event to set up and break down the cones.  These four family members didn't get to walk/run in the event instead they hung out in a pick-up truck for 5 hours hauling orange cones.  Without them, the walk would never have happened.

I had 88 people pre-registered and had another 35 walk-up to register the day of add in the 10 to 15 volunteers and I had a good crowd.  I am proud of what I did, even if the Type- A personality in me is disappointed in the "no-frills" event it ended up being.

We started 15 minutes late so that the road crew could finish up laying out the cones, but no one got lost (I did a 5K where that happened once because the course wasn't well marked).

I had a ton of food donated by Panera Bread and raffle items generously donated by friends.

Humor was brought to this somber occasion when a friend's 2 year old asked to speak as I got on the microphone to make my pre-race speech.  What did I do?  I let him talk!  He gave us a run-down on the police officers out front and a few other things I don't remember.  It was cute, it was funny, it was just what I needed.

Just prior to the start of the race we released white doves in honor of those lost: Chelsea, Jeff, Joshua, and Eric.  I did my best not to cry.

There is a strange sort of let-down after an event like this is over.  I cried off and on the rest of Sunday.  I've cried over pictures and compliments from friends.  I cried because I did an event like this and the reason why.  I cried because of those we have lost to SUDEP. 

I cry, but I've already made notes for improvements on next year.  And yes, there will be a next year.

Sincerely,

Jeff's Wife