The Longest Day 2014
What a fabulous way to spend the longest day of the year – by running/walking laps on a track in Appleton, Wisconsin, from 5:00 am – 9:00 pm, in honor of those facing Alzheimer’s.
4:58 am group pic before we start!
When Rachel first told me about The Longest Day, I immediately thought, “what a cool idea!” The concept is that you create a team of people, and spend the sixteen hours of daylight on the summer solstice doing an activity you love, or an favorite activity of someone you know who is facing the disease. Leading up to the event (and during/after) you raise funds to further the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association. Then you spend the day doing the chosen activity, and celebrate when it’s over.
If you were going to participate in an event like this, what activity would you choose to do all day?
We all walked the first lap together.
Rachel and her bestie Kim formed the team in 2012 to honor loved ones they had lost to the disease, and spent the day doing what they love – running! Each of them switched from running one hour on, and one hour off, for the entire day, and the two of them got in 76 miles combined! They used the same one hour on, one off, technique in 2013, and got in 90 miles between the two of them, and a total of 300+ team miles! You are NOT going to believe how many miles we got in this year!
So foggy when we started! Really… it was overcast until 5:30 (that was a good thing – humidity is better for me than sun, when running!). We kept our drinks, a few snacks, and jelly bracelets (see below) on this table.
That’s right – I got to be on the team this year! I had been in awe of their efforts for this event – with fundraising, coordination and outreach – ever since I heard about it, and was so stoked I was able to join the team, raise funds, and participate at the event.
Kim and Kim!
This is the second time I have raised funds for a cause, and I have to say, I am blown away by people’s generosity and kindness. I started with a $300 fundraising goal, and had to keep raising it! Eventually, I set my goal as $1,100 and am only $25 away from meeting it! Thank you so much to everyone who donated! My donation page will be open for a bit in to July if you still want to donate!
Getting some laps in with Alicia and Kathy!
And beyond people’s generosity, a huge reason people donate is probably because they know someone affected by Alzheimer’s or dementia. That is one of the reasons this event really spoke to me – my paternal grandfather had Lewy Body Dementia, and, without a better way of putting this, it’s frustrating to see something take over a loved one like that. It’s selfish, but it made me feel better to participate in this event, and feel like I was helping out, somehow.
Walk break! We typically ran 3 laps and walked the fourth.
It was so incredible, when thanking people for donating, to ask them if they wanted us to put up a sign in honor of a loved one, then hear their stories about those people! A friend of Rachel and Kim’s made these signs (below, and then there were many more) and it was so encouraging to run/walk by them each lap and think about why we were there.
Grandpa Tiger is what we called my dad’s dad
So, logistically, how did this whole thing work? Did we really move for sixteen hours straight?
Bake Sale at the event! Special thanks to Maria’s Oven who donated some The Longest Day cookies!
Ha ha! It kind of felt like it, but no! We always made sure there was someone on the track from the team, either running, or walking. We all started the first lap as a team, and ended the last lap as a team, but other than that, people put in the laps they wanted – either running or walking!
Raffle!!!!
I ended up with a run/walk total of 35 miles. Steven, who came to be our photographer, walked 10 miles! I also walked 3 miles with our friend, Jessica!
Rachel, Jessica and me
Funny story! Jessica sent me and Rachel a Facebook chat the day before, saying she would be in Appleton with her husband, who was teaching a marching band camp. We said it would be great to see her, and she said she would come walk a few laps and wondered where we were… turns out we were at the SAME school her husband was going to be at! What are the odds? So we all REALLY enjoyed it when the marching band came and marched a lap!!!
My strategy for the day was to try to get 20 miles in before the half way mark (1:00 pm) and 20 after. I think I got the 20 in by 1:00, then took a glorious short nap, then went back out for more.
The team takes a jumping photo when you get to 26.2! Fun!
I kept pushing at it, doing a lot more walking than earlier in the day, and decided to just try to get 15 in for my second half. None of my muscles hurt, but the bottom of my feet were killing me! I had already changed shoes at 15 miles, and nothing helped after that. A few other people said their feet were killing them too. I tried to turn my focus to why we were there at all, and the struggles of those with Alzheimer’s and dementia. But… I definitely slowed down. Ha ha.
After it being foggy, and humid in the 60s for most of the day, the sun came out at 5:30. And then I was very grateful it hadn’t been like that all day. The first year they participated, it was really hot, and the second year it poured rain most of the day… I felt lucky we didn’t have it that bad!
You would think that sixteen hours would seem to crawl by, but it really didn’t. Other than the two short naps I took, I was always doing something. It wasn’t long until we had less than 10 minutes on the clock!
Our team walked the last lap together,
and after some touching words from Rachel,
we released our balloons and the day was over.
After a long day, it seemed like “whoa, this is over?!” I had so many emotions. I felt so proud to be a part of team Running to Remember. There was so much family there, and friends that are family, supporting one another, and I felt lucky that I got to be a part of that. I felt sad that it was over. I felt relieved I could go get some rest (ha ha).
And! Guess how many miles our team put in this year?!
700!
How cool is that?! I am honored I got to participate! I can’t wait to hear what our final team amount is for fund raised!
And… a few randoms! Nap time!
You picked up a jelly bracelet for every 4 laps to remind you of how many you completed!
Watch out for tiny frogs on the track!
Sweet relief at the hotel!
And a few other things:
- It was so nice of this school to let us use their track… and bathrooms! YAY! Real bathrooms!
- People on the team were so generous in sharing everything they brought (food, water, foam rollers). And I really appreciated the donations from local businesses!
- I had a hard time wrapping my head around the meaning of what we were doing. I felt unusually quiet for parts of the day.
- It was cool to see SO MANY people come out to support Team Running to Remember! I wonder how many people ran/walked the entire day! A lot, I bet, since we got to 700 miles! And I don’t think there were ever fewer than 3-5 people on the track… and sometimes there were many more!
- We switched direction every two hours on the track.
- It didn’t make me crazy running laps all day. Maybe cause there was always someone “new” to talk to? The cool thing about this is that with all the different people stopping by, you are seeing lots of different faces! And lots of new faces, for me!
- Rachel, Kim and the team put SO much work in organizing the details of this event. They rock. I just… raised funds, brought cookies, and came and moved. And helped with a few things there.
- I was so happy to have Steven there with me! He was excited about the event and happy to participate, and that meant a lot to me.
Themocracy
I know you limit the use of “inspire” but I think what you did was inspirational and aspirational. Thank you for participating in the event, not only raising money but awareness.
Aww, thank you for your sweet comment!!! 🙂 (Ha, and you totally know me, I so limit the use of that word about myself!)
This is awesome and insane! It’s such a wonderful cause but holey moley 35 miles is a lot! Well done 🙂
That is so many miles! It sounds like an amazing group of people doing an amazing thing for an amazing cause. I thank you for doing something to help fight against the disease that took my grandma from me,
Thank YOU for donating!
I’m glad you all had a great event!! I used to participate in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life, which is similar, just multiply it by like 100 teams at one track. Basically, the event lasted from 6pm-6am, and teams were supposed to have someone out on the track at all times (pretty much everyone walked though). Teams had names and themes, set up tents, there was a joint raffle, a bake sale, and lots of other stuff going on. I chaired the event for two years in a row, so it has an extra special place in my heart 🙂
I have heard people ask if our event was like Relay for Life but I didn’t know exactly what that was! Thanks for explaining! Sounds really fun!!!
I think this is such a cool event and was really happy I got to participate in part of the day. My grandpa and great aunt both died with Alzheimer’s. This is something I would like to be more involved with in the future.
It is! I am so happy we got to see you! And that you brought the band!!! Are you going to be on the team next year?!
This was the first time I could partake in the entire day and it was insane. I was honestly losing my mind by the end and laughing hysterically at night. Matt would say something and I’d die laughing and I didn’t know why. It was wonderful having you and Steven out there! You’ve got a great guy there! After we let the balloons go, it felt odd to me too. Such a journey and then we all started to pack up to leave right away. I wanted to hug everyone and I am not even a hugger!
Ha ha ha! I love that it affected you by making you giggly! And huggy! And that you could be there all day!
It’s such a special event, and we were happy to be there. You are right – it does feel odd when it’s all over!!!
This sounds like it was such a wonderful event! Thanks again for running for my grandfather, and for the great fundraising your team did – and the 700 miles – wow!!!
You are welcome! Thank YOU for donating!!!! 🙂
What an amazing thing to be a part of. Inspirational!
I obviously could write forever about how happy I was to have you on the team this year and that Steven came too!
You did an amazing job fundraising too! It seemed like everyday your total jumped up and up.
I can’t wait to see what next year will bring.
Thank you! 🙂
I am excited to see what next year brings too. You guys are constantly tweaking it and making it more and more awesome each year… when it’s already so great!!! 🙂
Steven actually had a few fun ideas. Of course I can only remember one, now. He said to have a running coach volunteer his time and give tips on form! I said that would DEFINITELY have to be in the beginning of the day. And did someone mention getting a masseuse to volunteer?! LOL!
My beloved Gram suffers from this devil. Thank you (thank you thank you thank you) for all the fundraising you did.
You are welcome! And sorry to hear that about your Gram! How is she doing?
Well, she’s doing as much as she can, which is pretty much smile. She hasn’t lost her smile.
I probably have a more realist view (as I am generally a realist) but I know I lost my Gram a long time ago. Sure, I visit with her, but it isn’t her. It is a shadow of what once was her.
She knows she knows me…but she doesn’t have a clue who I am. I was her first grandchild, and it’s been hard. My gram is actually in the same nursing home as she was the Head RN of not too many years ago. It is a cruel twist of fate and I get angry about her disease a lot.
That is probably the most I have every said/written about it. Thanks for letting me vent a little.
Thank you for feeling like sharing with me! It sounds like you have a very special relationship with her, being the oldest grandkid, and that it’s been especially hard on you. 🙁 That’s great you still go visit and make the effort. It’s can be a really hard thing to do for some people.
Such a cool event! Looks like a lot of fun!
I love everything about this post. The event looked like a total blast! It looked like you guys had so much fun racking up the miles & raising funds for a great cause. I’m so inspired by you and your friends to do this. I found out a few months ago my grandfather has dementia or Alzheimer’s. I’ve never met him, but felt compelled to donate to your team because of his illness.
Ps. I love your taanks! And the jumping photo. Just awesome.
Thank YOU for donating cause of your grandpa! Do you think you will ever meet him?
And thanks for all your nice comments 🙂 I am so impressed by how hard Rachel and Kim work on this! They are inspirational! Even though none of us like to use that word. HA!
The amount of time, effort, and work that go into this event amaze me! All of you did something incredible and it’s so awesome to read about how much it’s grown over the years. I also had no idea that people could come and go throughout the day so that’s a neat aspect of it, too.
Congrats to all of you and thank you for doing such a great thing.
Thanks! 🙂
I thought it was so cool how many people showed up during the day to participate! And I got to run or walk with a lot of them! It was fun to talk to people and see how they knew Rachel or Kim 🙂
dude. that sounds awesome. seriously. 35 miles is so impressive. i can’t even imagine.
what activity would i do for 16 hours? maybe run…but probably jazzercise. i seriously love it so much. i wouldn’t be able to go full-on for the whole time, but i could do it in between naps 🙂 unless i spent the day napping, that could be my activity, right?
Jazzercise would be so cool! Can you imagine a group doing that on and off all day! Ha! A 16 hour nap sounds nice, too 🙂