Reston Women Ready for Two-Day Walk for Breast Cancer

They walked in sleet and sunshine. They walked in ice and hail and snow.

This weekend, they will still be walking, this time joined by a few thousand like-minded people.

Five women who dub themselves "The Reston Rack Pack" will be taking part in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Washington, DC starting Saturday. They will walk 39 miles (26.1 miles Saturday and 13.1 miles on Sunday) to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research.

The women  - Laurie Levine, Ivette Golinsky, Penny White, Nicole Mendoza and Katherine Wendell - have raised more than $11,000, far exceeding their initial fundraising goals.

All of the women know someone who has battled the disease. Levine, a social worker, says she is walking in honor of a friend, a mother of five young children, who recently was diagnosed.

"We all have connections to breast cancer," says Levine.

The Rack Pack members now all have connections to each other, too.

"We've totally bonded," says Levine. "We have had the most hilarious encounters while training."

Among those encounters: calling animal control for a injured deer on Fairfax County Parkway and aiding an elderly woman on the same road as she attempted to walk home to Loudoun County after being released from Reston Hospital. They got lost in south Reston, took an unexpected trail hike at Lake Fairfax Park and moved fast when they saw a snake.

They are ready, though. The training walks - which began in January - have been as long as 15-20 miles. That is necessary to prepare for the two-day trek from the Washington Monument out to Montgomery County and back.

Levine is an experienced athlete who has completed a half marathon and two sprint triathlons. But walking that far is still a daunting task.

"Walking mileage is using a totally different muscle group," she says.

The Washington Avon Walk, which raised more than $6 million in 2010, is the first of nine such events nationwide in 2011. So if you are downtown and see the thousands of walkers wearing pink this weekend, wave.

And remind them to watch out for deer and snakes.