Thousands walk, run Race for the Cure

Even though I talk about doing them every year, we did our first community walk on Sunday, and I was glad that our first one was such an inspiration. More than 30,000 -- and by some counts 40,000 -- people turned out on a nice spring Mother's Day to walk and run the Susan G. Komen Pittsburgh Race for the Cure for breast cancer awareness.

We ended up walking a total of six miles rather than the 3.1 of the 5K, which included steps from the parking lot and around the exhibitions, but it went by painlessly. Since a cancer diagnosis can be so isolating, it was heartwarming to spend more time with so many others who had been touched in some way by breast cancer.

There was definitely a party-atmosphere during the event, and this made it even more fun, as people remembered and celebrated. There were sad moments, too, when you could see an "in memory of" plaque on a young person's back, listing her Mom as her inspiration for entering the walk.

My mother died almost 37 years ago of breast cancer. Those were early days, I remember, in the fight. I didn't wear her name on my pinney Sunday, but she was definitely on my mind most of the day and would have been thrilled to see so many people supporting the cause.

Walking with a friend who is a survivor made me even happier.

Here's to a cure for all cancers that take moms, dads, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, friends away too soon.