I’ll just slap this on my backside, and I’m good to go! I walked two miles today between rainy spells, singing along to my playlist. Thunder rumbled in the clouds above me just as I was headed for home, so I had good timing. I’m hoping the weather clears up so that I’ll be able to walk tomorrow morning.

Ten years ago, when I was walking in the Avon 3-Day Walk, I had trained in cool weather. The weekend of the walk was the first hot weather we had, and we just weren’t used to it. During the end of an exhausting second day, I remember walking along a bike path, alone. This song ran through my head as my feet pounded the ground:

I barely knew the words, but the words I did know were “I’m a survivor.” Those words played over and over in my head, keeping me going. I felt empowered. I was beating breast cancer. I was going to finish walking those twenty-some miles, no matter what. And I did.

Watching this video made me laugh. It’s so campy! But the strong words are still there; words to keep me going ten years later:

(No bumper stickers were harmed in the writing of this blog post, thanks to Photoshop Elements.)