3:10 pm, 96 degrees & Melting Chocolate

Last night from 6 pm until 6 am this morning was our Duluth Relay For Life Event. The temperature Thursday and Friday in Duluth was in the 90’s. I came home Wednesday night at 7 pm and my car temp said the outside temp was 90, it went higher on Thursday and Friday! The heat made it really hard to walk the track but the track was walked all night by close to 40 dedicated teams! There were 15 members plus supporters on our HOPE UMC Team. One of the members went to bed at usual time and came to the track at 4 am and walked till the opening ceremony at 5:30, steady. So she was fresh when the rest of us were pretty worn. (Thank you Becca!). Peggy and Jim, who were instrumental and dedicated in our team sales for team money, went home, showered and came right back! Peggy and Jim took on team sales all by themselves at the downtown Sidewalk Days Sale, Wednesday through yesterday afternoon, selling items for our team, and encouraging people to sign our WALL of HOPE Banner that they will be taking to Washington, DC in September, as part of the National Relay there. The heat was brutal for them sitting outside. (Thank you Peggy and Jim).

I can’t take the heat and humidity. By midnight I was feeling sick. I went home, took a shower, set the alarm for 5 am, to go back for the last hour. I had a hard time getting to sleep, thinking of the relay I was missing, I have always stayed all night. The reason we call it a relay and have teams is to have one person on the track all night, so if we aren’t walking all the time, we don’t feel guilty, that’s why it’s a team event. So I rested for awhile, got dressed and went back to the relay! My son pointed out to me, when I came back, that the relay has been “my baby for 15 years”, I couldn’t just walk away from it! He knows that I was on the first planning committee for the first Relay For Life event 15 years ago (as a volunteer). He's right...it is very close to my heart. It was great to see the sun rise, and to walk the final lap with my friend Becca. Thank you to Jeff, Joe for providing us our tent, and to Joe, Rosemary and Doug for putting it up and taking it down.

I came home at 7, took my morning medicines, along with some Tylenol, and went back to bed. I awoke about 9 with a terrible “charley horse” in my thigh. Read the paper and went back to bed. I couldn’t believe it, the next thing I knew it was 3:10 in the afternoon! I think the 96 degree heat woke me. Today is the hottest of the week and of our summer! The first thing I had to do, was put all of the candy that was left from our candy sales into the refrigerator! Two flavors were especially vulnerable to the heat and were melting fast - (don’t want to lose our profits!).

I know some of my team members read my blog, so I want to take this opportunity to thank each one for their help, their support and their fundraising. Through everyone’s effort, our team raised over $5,000… double what we made last year! The final figure isn’t in, as we were raising money at our tent all night, with selling cute little knick knacks that kids like, relay related items, chocolate bars and pop and water. Can't believe how those sales added up. The preliminary figure for the amount the whole event raised is $100,000! Awesome!!! I also want to thank all those that weren’t on the team, that came out and supported us, our pastor, Michelle, many friends from church, my husband, the cancer survivors from Hope that came to be honored (the ones for who we walked). The luminaries were lit all night, in honor and in memory of those loved ones touched by cancer. The luminary and the Survivors First Lap ceremonies were inspirational!

I especially enjoyed this year’s relay because it’s the first one in the 8 years that I worked at ACS, that I did not have to work as an ACS Staff person at the event. I was allowed this year, to only function as a team captain, allowing me to be with my team all night. (Thank you Suzanne!).

One disappointment for us, two dear friends Blanche and Bill, who were determined to come and particpate in the Survivor's ceremony and lap, did not make it. I'm sure it was because of the heat. I need to give them a call this evening and let them know they were missed! I was thrilled though that two of my friends, one a year survivor of Breast Cancer and another a 10 month survivor of Breast Cancer were on our team, for the first time they experienced Relay For Life. Especially
thankful that they are well again. Barbara, another friend from Hope, is in the middle of her treatments for Breast Cancer, and I know she will be part of our team next year! Celebrating Cancer Survivors, that's what The American Cancer Society's
Relay For Life is all about!

Its to be cooler tomorrow, (yea!) The relay is over for another year, it was a successful relay thanks to the Co/chairs, committee and volunteers. By the end of next week, after wrapping up 4 area relays, I should be able to relax more at my job. Life is good!