INDIVIDUAL: Agent Jennifer Ann Ogren, Age 28, female, very pale with floppy sun hat.
GROUP SIZE: 4,600 people but only 193 males
NATURE OF GROUP: All walking 60 miles to raise money to find a cure for cancer.
INCIDENCE OF SOCIOMETRY: Humankind. Be Both.

DAY 0: LINES, LINES, & MORE LINES........ Registration day.... My dad was going to drop me off in Santa Barbara but then he decided to carry in my bags for me. He ended up staying the 3.5 hours with me to watch the safety video and register. I knew this was a different place when the bag check in ” consisted of just leaving your bags in a pile without a security guard or tag. The video talked about severe dehydration, comas, deaths, and then said know you are all thinking, what did I sign up for?!?!? ” hahaha....

DAY 1: MAKING NEW FRIENDS....... I woke up at 5 am to be shuttled to the opening ceremony. The sky was an amazing sea of pink clouds, the official color of the fight against breast cancer. There was a poem spoken about why we are doing this. Talking about the sisters, friends, mothers and grandmothers that we will no longer hear their voice, see their face or hold them tight. They played the song I will survive as I started my trek out of the fairgrounds. Many people wore pink feather boas or velvet pink cowboy hats or all out crazy outfits. Me - I was just covered in sunscreen and a floppy hat with a laminated sign on my back explaining that I was walking in memory of my mom with some pictures of her. People would look at each other’s signs and give your shoulder a squeeze. It was interesting to be in the middle of a sea of strangers that were acting more like friends. I met two random boys on the walk, pretty amazing since the ratio was something like 23 girls to 1 boy. One of them (Louie) said he just liked walking and was into the cause while the other one (Ken) was walking in memory of his mom and had pictures on his shirt of her. How sweet, huh? All of us had signed up alone. After getting back into camp, I helped my tent-mate set up our tent after we figured out that our sticks were too short the first time around. Then I took a weird shower in a truck with about 20 other girls, I felt like I was in the herd of cattle and accidentally banged some girls bare butt. Ooops! The shower was the best I had though. Of course I was dirty again in 5 minutes since the dust in the campground was stomped on by the 4600 other walkers and the countless volunteer staff. Then we had dinner and one of the guys had run into another friend Michelle so the 4 of us became a group. we named ourselves For mom plus one

DAY 2: WHAT?!?! WHERE ARE THE REAL BATHROOMS? Woke up at 5:30 am in a wet sleeping bag and said, I MUST be crazy! Then I saw outside my tent that there were thousands of silhouettes in the dark moving around the campsite. I ran to the bathrooms only to discover the outhouses got much worse overnight... I opened 5 different ones and the stench was too much so I decided to wait. As I gagged after closing the 5th door, a lady saw me and said honey, you gotta learn to rough it! I ran to get some hot chocolate only to accidentally sniff the brown powder up my nose in my sleepy stupor. I found my friends and we set off. About 4.5 miles into the day, I started to get really hot and felt a little dizzy. I saw a 7-11 and was excited at the prospect of a flushing toilet. As I stood in line, more people asked me about my sign and one asked me to sign her memory book. That is when I lost it, my vision, my legs, my emotions. I felt like I was about to faint so I sat down. Then before I knew it, I was crying like a crazy woman and missing my mom. I usually talk about it in third person but on this trek with so many other women who lost their moms, it really hit me and I didnt even have the strength to stand up. As random people gave me hugs, water and salty snacks, the medical taxi rushed to my aid and carried me out. At the medical tent the doctor took my blood pressure and asked me about symptoms. I then realized the pounding headache I woke up with that morning and the fact I didnt get up to pee once in the middle of the night meant I was severely dehydrated. After resting for a few hours and drinking 8 gallons of Gatorade I felt better. At camp that night, Jim Belushi performed and then the four of us sat in the 4600 person dining hall all alone till almost midnight chatting it up. The going to bed at 9 pm thing is really not me.

DAY 3: WILL WHEATON (STAND BY ME & STAR TREK) TOOK A PICTURE OF MY ASS! Well ok, actually he asked if he could take a picture of my mom sign that was on my hip pack... I was walking with my friend Michelle who hurt her foot, when I realized a few miles into it that she was REALLY hurt so we called a medical sweep van to bring her to the next stop. She was upset she couldnt go all the way but we told her that her foot was more important and we could meet up with her at the lunch stop. Then a volunteer came over and hugged her and said it was because of her that people were still living and surviving cancer. That just her attempting to do it and pushing her limits was what was important. Michelle got teary eyed but then we knew when she was back in good spirits when she said joked about her crying saying I pulled a Jennifer! I took the picture of her mom she had been carrying to bring on the trail and we bid her good-bye. The 3 of us trekked on. Me and the boys decided to make up for lost time and started picking up the pace, we would try to cheer those we passed up saying things like you can do it! and where is your smile?!?!?! Someone recognized me from the 7-11 the day before and said wow, I guess you recovered! There were many people in vans with signs like Honkers for Knockers or give a shit about a tit along the sidelines. Also many people stood on their front porches waving signs or passing out licorice. Everyone from little babies, to a 7 year old boy entertaining us with his Michael Jackson lip sync and dance moves, to an older lady that was bald from chemotherapy crying as she squeezed out the words, thank you for walking. It was beautiful, a human monument. A sign that we collectively care about mankind. The motto of the trip was humankind - be both. When we were almost at the closing ceremony site, I spotted my dad stuck in traffic and ran down the street yelling dad as about 60 other people yelled with me to get his attention. When we got to the showgrounds, thousands of faces crying and cheering me on, reading peoples signs and just giving you a hug even though I dont know them. It was amazing. We walked in linking arms. At one point of the ceremony, everyone took off one shoe and waved it in the air to the music. It was amazing to see almost 5000 dusty tennis shoes in a victory salute. We raised 6 million dollars with money still pouring in to fight this horrible disease and to prevent more undeserving deaths.

When I got home, I had never been so dirty in my life. I took a shower and fell asleep at 10:30. And can I just say- while I love my clean toilet, I will miss living with 4600 people, instantly bonded through a common cause. This was the last 3-day sixty mile event, but next year there is a 2-day 39 miler in the works. (Boys, you should think about going - you can fill up your little black book with digits in one day with odds like this!) Thank you so much to all of you who supported my efforts. So far, I raised $4000. I bet my mom is looking down so proud of everyones efforts. So now I am back, done with waking up at 7am on weekends for training power walks so if anyone wants to go out, I am back on the party circuit....

SUMATION OF SOCIOMETRIC INCIDENCE:
True to the trip motto, everyone involved was instantly bonded, helpfull to neighbors, cared about others stories and personal purposes for doing the walk. The was a natural division of slow and fast walkers. most people were kind and well mannered, even while trying to get ahead. There were a few people who rushed to the front but most paid them no negative attention. The good walkers encouraged the old, injured, overweight and tired. Everyone cheered on everyone. When we came to the finish line, there was a sea of ecstatic faces, both participants and on-lookers. Everyone had tears in their eyes, gave strangers shoulders a squeeze, and stayed until the very last walker came in the gate. It was a beautiful experience.


[You may still make a tax deductable contribution to Agent Ogren fundraising efforts ~ is]

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POSTSCRIPT: Agent Ogrens friend found this on the message boards.

AUTHOR: Carrie
EMAIL: blister_sisters@yahoo.com
DATE / TIME: 10/23/02 11:26 AM
SUBJECT: Touched by the gal in 7/11 on Day 2

MESSAGE: I had to make a pit stop at the 7/11 on Day 2 and saw a young gal sitting on the floor sobbing. Another walker asked her what was wrong and she said she had lost her mother to cancer 5 years ago and how much she missed her and that she felt she was having an anxiety attack. It broke my heart.

Everyone in the store was crying. I didn't know what to say to her, so I just stood there cried with her. When it was my turn to use the bathroom I sat there and cried and thought about my moms bestfriend (my friend too!) that passed away in May, 2001 after a 7 year battle with breast cancer and our other dear friend (who met us on Day 3!) who will be a 2 year survivor.

My mom was waiting for me outside. I told her what happened. I still could not stop from crying. We stood on someones lawn next to the store and cried for about another 10 minutes. It was overwhelming.

I kept running into the gal from 7/11 the rest of the weekend. On the same day I saw her at the medical tent as I sat in the Medical tent. And on Sunday she was in front of me as we were either getting our victory shirts or going to stand in line for closing ceremonies (cant remember which), but I touched her arm and told her how proud of her I was and was so excited that she made it.

I dont know her name. But she touched me in a way I dont even understand and I will never forget.