Pennies and a Tutu

Please accept my apologies for my absence from blogging.  Work is always a challenge, plus I went on a vacation, celebrated an anniversary, and enjoyed the height of softball season for my daughter (my first as a sport parent).  Oh, and there was this little thing called the 4th AnnualAmanda Wall – Corey Haddon Memorial Walk…also known as the Miles for Melanoma – Raleigh Walk.  (Whew…that’s a long name!)

This is the third year that I’ve been associated with this walk and it’s greatly rewarding every time.  Admittedly, those that founded this walk do a lot more than I, but I still try to pitch in when I can.  For me personally, this was the most successful walk yet!  Here’s why:

Over $22,000 raised!  This is lower than our goal, but considering that the committee cut back on some raffle items, we did pretty damn good!

One of our top fund-raising (nearly $3000) and entertaining teams...The Sun Block-ade 

Blue Lizard!  The awesome sunscreen company became a corporate partner with the walk this year and made their presence known with some samples at the walk.  It was nice to know that Blue Lizard is now available locally at Harris Teeter supermarkets (although…pssst…it’s cheaper to order online).

Blue Lizard...Corporate Sponsor!

Skin screening!  For the first time, we had a dermatologist (from Sanford Dermatology) performing free skin screenings.  The doc pointed out two spots that should be looked at more closely.  I have my annual appointment in about a month, so you can bet that my dermatologist will be made aware of these spots!

Family and friend support!  While I would promote the walk at my workplace in previous years, there seemed to be a greater interest this year.  This was partly due to the Amanda-Corey group’s presence at my company’s health fair in August.  Also, I decided to be a bit more aggressive in urging people to attend or donate.  And they did!  Plus, my family joined me at the walk for the first time.  There had always been some conflict in the past, but this year I got to have my wife and two kids walk along side…even though they seemed a little wary of my attire.

Co-workers Phung and Marcie, Marcie's kids Max and Connor, Me, my kids and my wife Kim  (missing from photo are co-worker spouse Jon Bailey and son Joshua)

Pennies!  I decided to start a campaign called #CARRYMYPENNY in which I would carry a penny for every dollar donated.  While my unofficial total was $860, I went ahead a carried an even 1,000 pennies just in case I missed a few.  That’s 6 ¼ pounds worth of pennies.  Admittedly, that’s not a lot, but I can tell you that it feels quite a bit heavier after 3 miles of walking.  Although as you can see in the next photo, I had a bit of help from one of my co-worker’s sons.

Connor toting my pennies!

Tutu!  I was very proud to wear the black tutu as the East Coast Division of Men in Black.  There was talk among the Amanda-Corey group that perhaps others would don the tutus next year for certain donation amounts.  I know this method works…I had a rush of donations once I announced I’d wear the tutu after I hit the $500 mark.  Perhaps next year I’ll offer other humiliating incentives for higher amounts.  I need to ponder that for a while.

Man in Black...East Coast Division

My friends at the Amanda-Corey Walk deserve a nice long rest and a celebration dinner.  I know they’ll start planning again in a couple months, and I have no doubt that next year’s event will be spectacular!

Denny's Challenge

This past Saturday, I participated in my first Miles for Melanoma event.  Denny’s Challenge is a 5K run/walk to raise money for melanoma research, donated to the Melanoma Research Foundation.  This year’s event raised around $6500, beating last year’s inaugural amount of $5000.  This is an incredible accomplishment from a small, but growing event.

The origin of this event is a pretty neat story.  Let me share it directly from the event website, as written by her daughter Jodi:

At the age of 59, my father-Denny Neely, lost his valiant battle against cancer.  In January 2008 he was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic melanoma.  An eight centimeter tumor was found situated between his aorta, stomach and pancreas- survival on average with this diagnosis is 3 months. My father began clinical trials with some of the best doctors at the Hillman Cancer Institute in Pittsburgh, PA.  An uphill battle from the start and through many setbacks; my father remained optimistic, never gave up hope and promised to fight this disease all the way to the end. 

On July 3rd of 2009, 18 months into the fight, the tumor had grown, multiplied, attached, and attacked his vital organs. As he lay in his hospice bed, seeing in all of our faces that he was near the end, he challenged all of us in the room to a fifty mile race. The room laughed because we knew he was serious. Here’s a man that at this point could barely walk, could barely talk calling his shot like a thin, frail, Babe Ruth.

My dad was always challenging us to dig a little deeper in the storehouse, in the gut, in the desire to achieve. Today we extend that challenge to you.  The 1^st sixteen individuals to finish the Denny’s Challenge 5k, together will have totaled fifty miles fulfilling the last goal of a fighting man.  So call your shot, dig deep and run, walk or give toward Denny’s fifty mile goal in his memory and to raise money so we will one day find a cure for melanoma.

So, I took that challenge…knowing I had no chance whatsoever to finish in the top 16.  But I showed up this past Saturday morning with my BITNP T-shirt (the new white colored version considering the heat of the day) and my best pair of walking shoes. 



Sportin' the new shirt



One thing you might not know about me is that I’m quite shy.  I’m much more outspoken with fingertips to keyboard than I am face-to-face.  So I was basically a wall-flower as I watched everyone else stretch and prepare for the run.  Wait, this is a walk too, right?  I was a little intimidated by groups of people obviously from the same running clubs, and by pulse-measuring, ostrich-waltzing runners going through their pre-race routine.  Yet, when it was time to start, I still took my place on the field, heard the horn blow to start the race, and started hoofing.

This was my view within seconds:

Almost last...and yes, that's a toddler beating me!

Oh, I wasn’t last…just in the bottom 1%.  But you know what?  I didn’t care and I had an incredible time.  I caught up with a lady named Sue that works with the aforementioned Jodi.  I learned a lot about Jodi’s cause, and was very impressed with her drive to get the word out about melanoma.  A couple of other folks came up behind us…they turned out to be Denny’s brother Rich and his wife Rose.  I was impressed that they flew all the way from New Mexico to enter this event.  I learned a little more about Denny…and all during an incredible, healthy walk through a wonderful tree-lined course with good company and conversation.  It didn’t feel like a race at all, but I felt like I was on a winning team.

We finished in just under an hour…in time to see the 16 medals given to the top finishers, and to hear Jodi give her final thanks to all that participated, along with one final reminder about sun-safety and melanoma. 



Jodi Neely Wiley - Denny's Daughter



Yeah, there were runners there that were there for the times and medals, but the real winner was Jodi who continues her father’s wish and message.

I encourage everyone to participate in a Miles for Melanoma event.  There’s another in the Raleigh area in October…I’ll definitely be attending and perhaps it will be a little cooler.  I’m sure there will be one near you.