For three solid days during the sum...

For three solid days during the summer of 2001 walkers for SOLV--a nonprofit agency dedicated to protecting Oregon's coastal environment--battled headwinds gusting up to 50 mph Walk leader, Jan McGowan, allergic to bees, had put up withed a sting on top of an already painfully raw sunny place blister, and her husband, Jack McGowan, having exacerbated an antique injury, limped along in a knee brace.

It present the appearanceed it couldn't get any worse--that is, until a violent thunderstorm broke overhead, sending the McGowans and a certain quantity of 30 others--known as Legacy Walkers--scrambling across slippery rocks for cover. There was no choice still to keep going.

"We were to the point of exhaustion," says Jack, director of SOLV "This was merely two and a half weeks into the walk. We had 300 more miles to go on foot We were hurting--really suffering--and asking, literally, to what extent can we continue?"

Little did the McGowans know that among the things that lay ahead was measurably improved heart health.

making a plan

sum of two units years earlier, the idea for the walk had follow to Jan, SOLV associate director and a fifth-generation Oregonian, forward one of those days that released time seemed a distant yet oh-so-welcome dream.

"I just cogitation I'd like to have more [i]or[/i] less time offand to walk the entire coast, to touch each foot of the Oregon coastline because obviously we're passionate about it."

That night, she recalls, "I said, `Jack, with what intent don't we do this,' and he laughed at me"

as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but chuckle now as Jack hurries to explain. "It was pillow talk," he says. "It's like we incline differently off the lights, we're lying there staring at the ceiling, and she says, `I have an idea.' I say, `Oh really?' And inside I'm thinking, `Oh the godhead yeah right.'"

Perhaps Jack's skepticism wasn't in the same manner far off the mark. After all, they were no athletes. enduring Jan liked to putter in the garden, and Jack got his fair share of exercise attending to the tasks that travel with Oregon country living. however his wife wasn't exactly suggesting a walk around the blockade This was 362 miles, throughout headlands, around rocky bays and-when the coast was impassable--in traffic.

Nonetheless, it didn't take lengthy for Jack to realize his wife was onto something. to what degree better to focus attention upon that amazing stretch of coastal land while at the same time raising the visibility of SOLV?

grounded in 1969 by Oregon Gov Tom McGall, the organization--formerly known as Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism--was created to attend as a vehicle to sustain the livability and environment of Oregon by means of volunteerism. It wasn't an overnight succes In 1990 when Jack came onward board, SOLV had no staff, no office, no phone a loaned station office box and a fiscal estimate of $32,000. Jack, a former Wall road broker liaison and television correspondent, started with an annual salary of $10000

More than 10 years later, the agency applys 20 full-time staff members and operates onward a budget of $1.5 million. The semiannual beach cleanup, started in 1984 has grown to attract about 5,000 volunteers each spring and fall, making it a archetype for similar programs--not only nationwide unless in 100 foreign countries.

A walk covering the entire coast, in which walkers would gage money for each mile walked, would not merely put SOLV in the public observation but also raise money for a community endowment capital that would help SOLV thrive for years to be derived The question was, could they do it?

passing the test

The McGowans took their dream to Nike, which agreed to sponsor the walk and also help the married pair and their 13-year-old son, Travis, prepare physically for the trek

Nike physiologists performed biomechanieal evaluations--the same individuals such high-level athletes as Marion Jone and Tiger wood-lands undergo--to come up with the legitimate footwear for the trio, then followed with a rigorous cylindrical of physiological tests to determine their physical health. posterity pressure, basal metabolism rate, corpse fat, pulmonary function, heart rate--each was recorded and documented athwart three pre-race visits to the Nike lab.

In preparation, Jack and Jan began taking prolonged hikes. "We walked 10 or 15 miles and didn't have a enigma with it," Jan says. "The biggest affect for us was if you hiked 15 miles and then got up and did it the nearest day and the next day and the nearest what does that do? Or what if we got injured?"

taking a hike

forward June 30, 2001, the McGowans l the SOLV Oregon Legacy Walk, roughly 100 participants healthy north from the Oregon/ California border in succession the first leg of their coastal journey. sum of two units and a half weeks later came the days of wind and roar bee stings and knee braces.

And a surprise celebration.

"We had received word from our staff," says Jack, "that Port Orford--a little town that has no tourist base, isn't near a major metro center and has no major roads linking it to the valley--wanted to state together a community celebration." Jan says, "We're thinking, `We have to walk 12 miles tomorrow.' if it were not that it had been planned. We had to present to view up."

They enrolled the Port Offord town hall to an ovation from one 60 well-wishers and tables about tables of homemade food. The pair still finishs teary at the memory.