Valerie Hitt Takes 3-Day Cancer Walk Off Bucket List

By LIBBY CUDMORE • The Freeman’s Journal

Edition of Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014

Valerie Hitt feels helpless no more.

“I’ve had several personal losses from cancer,” she said. “And you feel so helpless. I wanted to do something different, something for a good cause. It seems like a good thing to do, since I can do it.”

Hitt, the owner of Serenity Fitness, raised $2,300 to walk 60 miles around San Diego, Calif., in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 20-22. Hitt, who had knee surgery earlier this year, chose the city because it was he last walk date of the year. “I wanted to make sure my knee would hold up,” she said. “But I don’t know a soul out there!”

Before her surgery, Hitt was a runner, but she’d never run a competitive race before. When her knee surgery sidelined her running and illness struck several friends and family members, she began researching walking events.

She registered in early June and began walking every day to get herself ready for the event. “I walked three miles from my house on Greenough road into town, then walked around town and back to the house,” she said. “I think the most I’ve walked in one day is 16 miles.”

This weekend, Hitt will rise from her pink tent, dine with other participants and walk 20 miles along the coast and around the city. The walk is often marked by stories, costumes and plenty of laughter. “It’s a ‘follow-the-leader’ situation,” she said. “I’m excited!”

Although hotels were available to walkers, Hitt decided to sleep in one of the two-person pink tents. “I haven’t slept in a tent since I was a teen!” she said. “But they show pictures of this city of pink tents, and I just had to do it. A hotel would take all the fun out of it!”

And with each step she takes, she’ll be thinking of friends and family, both survivors and those who’ve passed on. “Whenever I’m tired, I think of how strong they were, and I tell myself, ‘Don’t wimp out’!” she said. “It keeps me going.”