Wellness Walk for Charity
On Sunday I had the opportunity to spend the day with over a thousand other people at the Wellness Walk and Research Run walking to raise money for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre. Everyone has been touched by cancer in one way or another and this is just one small way of helping... I may not have raised as much as others but every little bit counts and I'm just glad to have had the opportunity. Visit my page to see how I went with donations: Janelle aka Smiley And if you're feeling generous donations are still accepted until the end of September! This is the fifth year the event has been run and this was the biggest year yet, I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to join in. The event was held at the La Trobe University Bundoora Campus and the weather was incredible for it! The scenery in this location is beautiful, fortunately I work there and get to experience this on a regular basis but the atmosphere of this event brought another element and was fantastic to experience.
I first heard about the event through work where I was asked to join a team and walk with colleagues. To get right into the spirit of it all I also decked myself out with some of the Wellness Walk gear a T-Shirt and. Cap, plus I brought a Clapper for the noise factor and for a bit of fun!
After some before the walk entertainment Olivia got up on stage for a little pre-walk chat, during this time the owners of the gym Curves got on stage with Olivia and presented her with a check for a 250,000 donation, which was pretty amazing!
The walk was then started of by Olivia herself who unfortunately was unable to complete the entire walk this year due to her current cancer battle. Olivia was still there to cheer everyone on as they made their way around the 5km track, seeing her there clapper in one hand and bubble maker in the other definitely but a smile on my face and many other faces too I'm sure.
Olivia is an inspiration, she's a fighter and she has done so much for the cancer community. Almost everyone has been touched by cancer in some way be it themselves, a family member or friend. You have to appreciate and respect the work Olivia has done with her Wellness Centre and also the research they do. It's amazing what one person can do for such a large community and to see so many people come out on Sunday in support of Olivia and other cancer suffers was amazing. As you walk through the university grounds there is a statue of three rhinoceros' and there were people getting photos on and with the Rhino's so of course I had to join in on the fun... and so did some police officers who were also doing the walk with us - this was definitely entertaining and a great bit of fun along the walk.
It was the first time I had ever done anything like this before, walking for charity and I'm so glad that I got the chance. On a personal note this walk is what pushed me into get back to walking again, which I had to stop after a recent injury to my foot... unfortunately it is still not 100% but I managed to walk the 5km without too much pain so it's a start and now I'm going to push myself to walk a little bit every day... and hopefully I can join in the walk again next year!
As I mentioned at the start of this post this is something a little different to my usual posts but it was such a great event and experience to be apart of I just wanted to share it with you. I also want to take a moment to thank all those who sponsors me on this walk, your donations mean a lot and all of to helping this amazing charity.
If you would like to learn more about this event you can visit the website here. You can also read more about the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre here.
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