Challenged by Make-A-Wish

Challenged by an adventure,  Rich (my husband) & I made a commitment to Make a Wish . Our commitment began as a personal challenge to an adventure, a 28.3 mile hike in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. After several months of training and lots of miles under our belts, t's hard to believe that it has been a month since our hike.  Our hike, a mental, emotional a physical experience we will always treasure with a reminder that no matter how hard you train, there will always be a surprise.

It's Showtime!

With much anticipation, the big weekend finally arrived. Our weekend began with a pep rally and a group dinner, a reminder to our group of 120 hikers as to WHY we were all there. Our special reminder came in the form of Henry, his story and HIS wish. At that moment we decided to dedicate our hike to Henry and his family.

Saturday, May 21st 2016

Our day began with a meeting in the hotel lobby ready for our 4 am departure to our destination. With head lights in place, sleepy yet anxious  we began out trek. Hiking at a steady pace with our group of six and our much younger cohorts, we watched every step around the slippery rocks and crossed each creek carefully as we maintained a brisk pace in the dark.

 We reached our 10.7 mile check point as the sun started peeking through the trees. After several hours of hiking and eating as we hiked, we realized our next check point was at 22 miles. Realizing this would be the toughest part of our hike we pushed through. 

An absolutely beautiful hike

The last 6 plus miles of the walk were the most demanding both physically and emotionally. Physically from the standpoint that Rosa's left knee was hurting with every step, emotionally because the end was near but it was taking twice as long due to her injury.

Those feelings all vanished as we heard the clapping and cheering from the volunteers and staff of Make a Wish at the finish line. After the celebratory pictures and high fives an ice cold beer awaited us.

Our journey this day is complete, but Make a Wish journey of granting wishes to children with life altering conditions continues thanks to your donations.

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!

Rosa and Rich

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