A Global Walk

Polly Letofsky is my kind of woman. She's a walker and she's from Colorado. I love walking -- my dog and I do a couple of miles every day. When I was younger I discovered I got shin splints while running, and since I wasn't very fast anyway, I decided I'd be the fastest walker I knew.

Polly did 15 miles a day, around the world, by herself, and she's the first woman to have done it. She got the idea of a global walk when she was 12 -- it's funny how things like walking around the world (or medical school) get started. People no doubt chuckled when she mentioned it or said, "little girls don't do things like that."

Well, the dreams of childhood have a nasty habit of not going away and at 37, she was working part-time in a hotel and happened to notice the following quote on a piece of paper: "'Definition of commitment: When you find a way over every hurdle in your path and nothing but success is an option." That changed everything.

It took her two years to find sponsors but once she'd gotten them, she packed her bags, broke up with her boyfriend, rented her condo and took off -- on foot, raising money for breast cancer research. There was more to it than that, of course, but this is the short version. You can get more details at her website: www.globalwalk.org. Her brother made a film of her journey (www.pollysglobalwalk.com/Gallery.htm) and you can see clips online.

I've mentioned a beloved aunt in previous posts -- she died from breast cancer and I wear a Livestrong bracelet for her. She'd have liked Polly, and I think you will, too.


(Image via Wikipedia)