The Walk

Image courtesy of East Lawn photo gallery

On Saturday July 27th 2013 East Lawn Memorial Park at 4300 Folsom Blvd.  Sacramento, California hosted it’s 5th annual 5K Run/Walk along with the Alzheimer’s Association. It was the first time that my wife Penny and I had an opportunity to enter the event and participate. 

The course began upon the hill in front of the main mausoleum building and then meandered through the shady streets of the Fab 40’s residential neighborhood, coming to an end at the finish line right back upon the hill where the race began. The 5K distance is equivalent to approximately 3.2 miles.

Children under the age of five up to seniors as well as those with pets were all welcome participants in this annual event. Preteen children, of course, ran a much shorter race distance.

Participants could either run the course for competitive timing, or, like us, simply  complete it at a leisurely stroll pace. Penny, my cousin Dawn Taylor and I completed the event at 1 hour and 3 minutes.

Each of us walked in memory of one of our three parents that passed away within the past nine months. Beatrice Dodson, Marian Widdifield and Alfred Dodson had each been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

It was a satisfying feeling to enter and complete the event in honor of a departed family member. No doubt, the same feeling being shared by each and every one of the other contestants.

We plan to enter and complete this event next year and every year thereafter that we are able to, until a cure is found for AD. 

For the past couple of years there has been a small but hopeful and vocal number of medical researchers and doctors that have been predicting a cure for the disease by 2020 - 2025. That is not that far away. Just seven to twelve years. Too late for our parents but maybe early enough to save a number of folks in our age group (early sixties).

We look forward to next years’ event.

Jeff Dodson

August 18th 2013