1st Climb for Clean Air meeting

On Tuesday the 16th we had our first Climb for Clean Air meeting. We went not knowing what to expect. There were a few speakers. Lou Whittaker was there, its always great to hear him talk. He is always so encouraging and loves to joke around.  The thing that was the worst for me to hear at the meeting was that there are 70 people signed up this year and only 45 get to go. You don't get to choose your climb date till you get all your money in! I'm going to be honest, I'm a little worried about it! We have to have all our money in by May so that I can request the time off of work. I guess one good thing we heard was that if we raise all the money but don't make it before all the other people that they would sign us up for the 2011 climb. There were some climbers from last year that spoke, they were encouraging however all of them kept saying that it was the hardest thing they had ever done. haha They all gave suggestions on how to train but Lou said the most important thing to do is just keep walking and hiking. He said stairs were great! The other really encouraging thing was to hear all the reasons why people were wanting to raise money for the ALA. It is amazing how many people around us are affected by lung issues such as asthma and lung cancer. I bet everyone reading this knows of at least one person that has been affected by lung disease. More people die from lung cancer than any other cancer but I find that its not as well known. Breast cancer affects me personally so I notice all the breast cancer research but before my mom was diagnosed I heard of all the walks and fundraisers. Same with heart disease and prostate cancer but we rarely hear about lung disease and it affects so many more! My encouragement to you is, think of somone you know that has been affected by tobacco use, asthsma, lung cancer, CF or any other lung disease. It is for them that we do this climb.
~Naisha