A year had passed and it was that time again. Our family now looks forward to this momentous day. It’s almost like another holiday for us. It’s an evening where we all come out and spend time with each other. The fact that we get to do it for a good cause makes it all the more better. It was time for us to begin the American Cancer Society Relay for Life 2011.
PER THE WEBSITE:
The American Cancer Society Relay For Life is a life-changing event that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. At Relay, teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Because cancer never sleeps, Relays are overnight events up to 24 hours in length. Although every Relay For Life is different, there are certain traditions at all Relays, no matter where they are held. These traditions help participants celebrate, remember, and fight back.
This year was a bit different. For the past few years, the American Cancer Society and its walkers took over the War Memorial Stadium for 12 hours of non stop fun. Unfortunately, due to the County renovating the stadium, the Relay for Life was moved down the street to a soccer field. The field is nowhere near the size of War and it wasn’t necessarily a track but as they say, we made lemonade. There were fewer families, tents, and vendors but everyone that was there still represented to the fullest. The theme for this year’s Relay was “Beach Luau”. Our family was in full effect; we were dressed in yellow to resemble “Relay for Life”guards. Last year we were running ourselves so ragged to raise money; several of our team members didn’t get a chance to fully appreciate the evening because they were so busy. This year we still tried to raise money but chose to stop after a certain time to rest, relax, and roam. The ACS crew held several activities which are always fun. Being a true competitor, I always love when our family goes to battle. This year, the Relay for Life and its vendors had a pie eating contest, a tug of war contest, a volleyball tournament, and a geta 3 man challenge. 
Throughout the evening we walked around the field 2 at a time; sometimes one, sometimes 3, sometimes more. We were all getting in some mileage. At 8:30pm the ACS volunteers came around and passed out the candles for the lumenaria ceremony. At 9 o’clock the lights dimmed as several hundred lumenaria bags now illuminated the sky. Everyone came off the track and gathered on the field to watch the slideshow. It lasted over a half hour with photos of those whose lives were impacted by this monster we call cancer. Every year the slideshow brings tears to the eyes of the crowd, and like years past, this year’s show didn’t disappoint.After such a great tear jerker, the activities began to lighten up the mood. At 10 o’clock the pie eating contest began. REFER TO THIS STORY. For those that want to continue finishing this post, I’ll summarize the pie eating contest in two words: YOU KNOW! Also, while the contest was happening, our team was playing in the first round of the volleyball tournament. After the pie eating contest and a quick breather, we headed back to the volleyball field to challenge the Kaiser Permanente team in the second round. They put up a great fight but luckily we pulled through and beat them. It was onto the championship round against a very worthy adversary who I’ll identify as the Blue Team. We took the first set only to start choking and lose the second. Our errors followed us into the third set but as everyone started buckling down, we again pulled through for the victory.
Immediately after the volleyball tournament we were now ready for battle against the same Blue Team in tug of war. This is what we were waiting for more than anything. We were the defending champions and were determined not to lose our throne. There was simply no way we were gonna lose. We has almost the same team as we did last year; with the exception of one person. Without hesitation we got back into the same order as we did last year and awaited the whistle. The 2 girls that were running the tug of war seemed so nervous from what was about to happen. One stood back as the other held the rope and closed her eyes. As the whistle sounded, our team muscled through and claimed victory in very short order. With the victory we were now in the championship match. Because there weren’t very many teams willing to participate, the Blue Team challenged again the Kaiser Permanente Team. This time however the team Blue Team won and were again about to face us.
As we were setting up, we noticed that they had switched out over half of their team. We knew we were in for something different but this battle ended up becoming legendary. As we lined up, and the whistle blew, our entire team was jolted forward by their newly “found” strength. I thought to myself, “Holy (expletive), they might (expletive) win”! “Oh hell no!” After their initial tug, being that I was in front, I almost lost my balance going forward which would have given them a big advantage if not the victory. Luckily as you can see in the video, I regained my balance and we were now in unison. Slowly and valiantly we battled back. At 11 seconds in the video one of our teammates thought that we had won and stopped pulling. Luckily after a quick look he continued pulling and we didn’t lose too much momentum. We scrapped back only to lose our momentum once again. We were just making a lot of mental errors. Fortunately for us, our last error which was the rope slipping through our hands, ended up making the Blue Team slip and fall backwards which inevitably helped us seal the victory. For us, this was a battle for the ages; both teams showed more heart in these 30 or so seconds than we thought we could have. We were so ecstatic that we rode that wave through the weekend. As in the title of the video, it was EPIC.
Finally, after a few hours had passed, as we were hanging out in our tent and still reminiscing our victory, the emcee said that another family is calling us out. From everyone that was still awake (it was almost 3a.m.), only 1 person from our family heard what was going on. After the emcee repeated herself, we all sprung into action and started scanning the tent names looking for this particular family. We didn’t even know what the event was but we sure as hell wasn’t about to get punked.
The challenge was the 6-Man Geta relay. A Geta is a type of Japanese footwear that’s a cross between a clog and a slipper. Growing up in Hawaii, we all know what Geta is. However, what makes this challenge a challenge is that it’s 3 Geta(s) in one. Basically, communication is paramount; if one person moves their foot too fast or too slow, everyone’s balance will be thrown off and everyone will fall. Kristi, Brandi, and Anabelle started us off with Vesi, Zach, and me being the anchors. Once the emcee gave us the go, the girls took a commanding lead. They all worked in unison and got to us in record time. Again, there was a miscommunication which almost ended up costing us the victory. The boys thought that we needed to walk back to the starting point which was wrong. Then with Vesi being a size 13/14, his foot wouldn’t fit in the slipper. He quickly improvised and we were on our way. With us wasting as much time as we did, a few of the other teams had caught up with us. We knew that if we fell, we’d end up losing, however, if we didn’t, it was ours. And as you can see in this video, we didn’t fall and we cruised to victory. We were now undefeated in every event of the evening. We were so proud of ourselves, it was crazy.
As I mentioned, the Relay for Life has become something extremely important to my family and I. It gives you a new perspective on not just cancer, but life. Millions and millions of people around the world are affected by this deadly disease. What makes cancer so deadly is how it doesn’t go for any one demographic, it can strike anyone; young, old, male, female, black, white, yellow, it doesn’t matter. As good as it was for our family to take home the bragging rights to any of the night’s events, no one really wins against cancer. One the upside, with every passing day, cancer WILL one day be curable. Please donate to help make that day sooner.
WE REP HARD
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