When I started this journey, I was bound and determined to walk every single mile laid out in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure 24-week training guide. Looking back, that wasn’t entirely realistic — not for lack of commitment, determination, ability or effort. Well, maybe a slight lack of ability and effort. But the real obstacle, for lack of a better word, has been life.

Yes, life. It comes in the form of stress fractures, kids’ recitals, bronchitis, a night at the carnival with your son, infected blisters, a romantic getaway with your husband or wife, a stressful time at work, a new baby on the way, family drama, family celebrations.

Life can certainly get in the way of training, eat up some of those training miles. I’ve talked before about life getting in the way and making the time for training. Sometimes it’s just not possible. Sometimes we choose something else over our training.

But here’s the thing. These hitches in training — be they for good reasons or not-so-pleasant ones — are the things of life, which makes them the ultimate reminder of why we’re walking in the first place. We’re walking because everybody deserves a lifetime. It’s not just a tagline.

Take my recent bout of bronchitis, which, by the way, seems to have resurfaced for second round. While I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, I’ll bet there are cancer patients out there who would almost rejoice to have such a mundane, fixable illness.

A few pills, some cough syrup, plenty of fluids and a few days of rest. Not fun to be sure, but definitely better than what breast cancer patients go through on a daily basis.

Most people think a Z-Pak is potent stuff, and they’re right. Sure it can cause some fairly unpleasant side effects — diarrhea, chest pain, palpitations, fever, nausea, sore throat, headache. The usual suspects, really.

A Z-Pak does not require a lead-lined room, a nuclear monitor, or a haz-mat notification. It does not require you to drink 10 ounces of fluid every hour for 72 hours. (Yes, that’s around the clock. You think you pee a lot during the 3-Day? After the first few hours, my kidneys yelled “Incoming!” every time I even looked at water.) A Z-Pak does not require you to stay in isolation while it works its way through your system. It’s not going to damage or destroy other parts of your body. Yes, I’m talking about the radioactive iodine treatments — RAI or I-131 — that have been all over the news lately. That, however, is another story for another time.

Thyroid cancer is the “easy” cancer — the “good” cancer. (I hate that term, by the way.) It sucked. Big time. There’s no denying that. I totally would rather have had the worst case of bronchitis imaginable. If I feel that way about the “good” cancer — the imminently treatable one — how must a breast cancer patient feel?

So, life. Yes, it gets in the way of training, but that makes me happy because the alternative is, well, I can’t even put it into words. I am here. I am healthy. I can walk, even if I haven’t done all the training I had hoped.

Embrace your life — the good, the bad and the ugly — even if it means you miss out on some training miles. And don’t beat yourself up about it. Life is meant to be lived. You only regret the things  you miss out on, and life should never be one of those things.

As Beth K. pointed out in her brilliantly lovely blog back at the start of The 3-Day season and as Jay F. has stated point-blank in his blog, it doesn’t matter whether you (or I) walk one mile or all 60.  It’s not the walking that’s going to cure breast cancer or give hundreds of thousands of women back their lives. It’s the money we raise. As Beth put it, finding a cure means funding a cure, and research isn’t cheap.

It’s the money and the awareness we raise that’s important. Those are what save lives. The walking is the fun part — at least so I’ve been told. I’ll let you know.

You’ve stepped up and made a difference. I’ve stepped up and made a difference. The event itself is icing on the cake.

So, for those of you struggling with training — and I’m right there with you — breathe in, breathe out, and enjoy what you’ve already accomplished. It’s more than many. And just think, the dollars you raised just might be the ones that tip the scale and make the dream of a world without breast cancer a reality. How’s that for a heady feeling?