On Sunday, several of the RYSE members and I participated in the AIDS walk. I’m proud to say we walked 6.2 miles. Although it took us almost all day to finish the walk, I must say it was fun to do something for an important cause and I was glad to be surrounded by positive and energetic people. There were at least 19,000 people out there either: walking for a loved one, trying to help get a cure for a friend or just walking because they wanted to do there part.

Walking in the aids walk does not mean that you have AIDS nor does it mean that you have to participate because someone in your family has the virus. A lot of people there joined out of the kindness of there hearts. Along the way we met some funny people that were trying to have fun on that long walk, just like us. We joked, played around and kept walking. We stopped at various spots to get food and water. Never once did we stop to sit down .We kept pushing all the way through.

Around the last two miles or so, everyone started getting tired and ready to go but in order to leave we had to finish the walk. All of a sudden, we heard free ice cream and everyone’s smiles was at least a mile long. So, we all stopped to get free ice cream, chips, oranges, granola bars etc. That’s one thing you don’t ever do is tell a bunch of teenagers that something they love is free and to take as much as we want. To answer all questions, yes we took like two or three of everything.

The one thing that really sucked was that there wasn’t any bottled water. There were only cups of water so either you had to drink it there or hold your cup until you see another trash can and that wasn’t for another mile or so.

Overall, the walk was very tiring but I felt great after it was all over with. So a few words of advice for everyone that wants to join the walk next year, wear good comfortable walking shoes that support your ankles and bottom of your feet, bring your own cold bottle of Gatorade and after your done walking go home and soak in Epsom salt and hot water, then relax afterwards because the next day you will most likely still be tired from the 6.2 mile walk the day before.