Relay for Life is right around the corner

Relay for Life kickoff meeting
When: 7 p.m., Jan. 15
Where: Our Lady of
Sorrows Church hall,
39025 S.E. Alpha in
Snoqualmie.
Information: Call Lisa
at (425) 888-4440 or
Sue at (425) 888-9666
or visit www.acs.org.

I’ll be the first to admit that the Valley Record staff’s first time out to the Relay for Life event last spring at Mount Si High School didn’t come close to challenging the grandness of some of the other squads hitting the track that day and night.

Sure, we had a tent. Our advertising manager Todd Warren culled it from his garage, wiped the dust from the cover and ensured us it wouldn’t take long to set up. Sure, we had a cooler. Turns out everybody basically brought the same type of soda – enough for a team of 60. Sure, we had folding chairs. I think I broke mine, which probably was a sign that I should’ve been hitting the track more prior to the event. Sure, we had entertainment. Todd brought a couple of baseball gloves and a baseball along with a wiffle-ball bat to play once the event hit the wee hours of the night. We thought we had all the bases covered when our group of 10 hit the Wildcats’ home turf.

Little did we know teams would show up with what seemed like circus-sized tents complete with lights, decorations, items to sell and food spreads that are to this day making weight-loss gurus squirm.

As it turned out, team “Off the Record and on the Track” (our own Leesa McKay crafted that one for us) was a small fish in a big pond.

It took us about an hour to set up our tent. (“We don’t need the directions,” was our mantra.) The team setting up next to us had a tent they used in Alpine Days or something that set up in about five minutes. My pledge to drink as much soda as possible had me off the track and in the bathroom more than I’d liked. And, as it turns out, they turned the lights out on the field about five minutes after Todd and I started playing catch. (Which was good for Todd because I had him running all over the place with errant throws.)

Sure, we were lacking when it came to our base camp, but we shared something in common with the other teams: We had fun and we helped a great cause.

For 18 hours, somebody from our team was on the track in the name of finding a cure for cancer. The DJ played music – I’m still not sure when, why or how “YMCA” by the Village People became a staple at such events – and the teams mingled, cajoled, bonded and set forth a friendly rivalry that made the event truly unique. They even gave out prizes every hour for the member of your team on the track. I ended up winning a Game Boy, thanks to the good people at Nintendo.

For the Valley Record team, the event was special for many reasons, but in particular because we received the chance to see our copy editor, and cancer survivor, Sue Randall walk the Survivor’s Lap to open the event.

Sure, we didn’t have the best scheduling or organizational skills, but we’re already looking forward to making a better showing next year.

On Jan. 15 the first meeting for the 2004 Relay for Life will be held at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Sorrows Church hall, located at 39025 S.E. Alpha in Snoqualmie. It might seem like it’s a little early to start thinking about an event that will take place June 5-6, but it’s not. Get out to the meeting and get involved, you’ll thank yourself for it. If you can’t make the meeting, and you’re hoping to start a team, send one representative from your group and work from there.

Don’t feel like walking around a track for 18 hours? Well, not many people do, so don’t let that stop you. The bigger your team – now, this is a lesson we learned the hard way – the less you have to walk. Find a team, sign up for a couple of hours and enjoy yourself.

If you think hard enough, you’ll find that you know more people that have been touched by cancer than you realize, so let’s get out there and help find a cure.

I’m off to practice setting up that tent. I’ll see you on the track.

Travis Peterson can be reached at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail at travis.peterson@valleyrecord.com.