Community Corner
Dakota Coach Trains for 60-Mile Breast Cancer Walk
Karen Peck will join thousands of other participants Aug. 12-14 in the annual Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure breast cancer fund-raiser.
Walking six miles one week and 10 the next, local teacher and coach Karen Peck is working to build her stamina as she trains for her first 60-mile Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.
The 2011 Michigan 3-Day for the Cure will take place August 12-14, when Peck will walk as a member of the eight-person Bust’n Miles team.
“You always hear about it and read about it and you never actually do it,” said Peck, an International Academy of Macomb teacher and Dakota coach. “It’s a challenge in itself, doing the 60 miles in two days. It’s an experience, the feeling you have when you finish that last day. It’s a feeling no one can imagine unless they actually take that step and walk it.”
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Admittedly leery of the event’s demands, Peck said she attributes her decision to participate to the encouragement of friend and Bust’n Miles team captain Gina Skeltis.
“My friend Gina did it last year and she had us jump on board,” Peck said. “I was kind of leery at first because I didn’t know what it was all about. I didn’t have a personal experience with a family or friend (being diagnosed) with cancer, so I didn’t know if it was right for me to do or if I had a right to participate in it.”
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Peck added that as she learned more about the event and talked to past participants, she realized the importance of the event’s cause outweighed the lack of a personal connection.
“You don’t have to know someone personally who has cancer, but knowing you’re helping someone raise this money–being a friend, donating, being on a team, being on our team–anything you can do to show support will help fight breast cancer,” Peck said.
Only a few weeks after making the decision to participate in the walk, Peck did find that personal connection, learning a close family friend had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
She will now walk and raise her $2,650 personal fund-raising goal in honor of that friend. Overall, team Bust’n Miles has set its fund-raising goal at $26,000. Each team member has a personal page on the 3-Day website where supporters can track that member’s progress and donate to the cause. Peck’s page can be found here.
To aid the fund-raising process, Bust’n Miles will host several events throughout the spring and summer months. The first event is scheduled for May 19 at Rosie O’Grady’s in Sterling Heights and includes a dinner of pizza, pop, salad and wings as well as a 50/50 raffle, silent auction, beer pong tournament and more. Tickets can be bought in advance for $10.
The second of what Peck calls the “Big 3 Fund-raisers” is a June 5 bowling event at Sunnybrook Lanes in Sterling Heights. A $20 ticket covers the cost of bowling and food and, like Rosie O’Grady’s, games, prizes and a 50/50 raffle will also be available.
The team’s biggest fund-raiser will be a June 26 golf outing at in Macomb. A $100 ticket includes 18 holes of golf with a cart, five drink tickets and a buffet dinner. Games and prizes donated by local sponsors will also be awarded at the event.
“(The event) is something that’s new to me, so I’m still learning the whole process,” Peck said. “Not a lot of people know about it around here. We hear it on the radio and see it on TV, but no one actually takes the initiative. No one actually understands the meaning behind it. It’s not all about money, it’s about showing support.”
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