Crew training, that is. There's the official training session that the chapter just held, but I'm referring to the training that we all do on our own. Here's how I recommend my fellow crew members prepare for the big event:

1. Rest your vocal cords for the next month. Keep talking to an absolute minimum, because you are going to need all your cheering volume when the walk rolls around in September.
2. Toughen your hands by practicing clapping for extended periods of time. Otherwise, your hands will be stinging shortly after you start on the first day, and you will have no feeling in them by the end of the weekend.
3. Give up all pretenses of dignity as you prepare your outfits for the themed rest stops (when I think of some of the things I have worn).
4. Make sure you know what poison ivy looks like (I have sat in it twice now). The pink calamine lotion doesn't look good on anyone.
5. Make sure you practice your picture-taking skills and that you're on the right side of the camera when #3–4 happen.
6. Prepare to have a great weekend!

Jill lives in East Taunton with her husband and a very annoying cat. She was diagnosed with MS a little over 10 years ago when she was 24. She has been participating in the Challenge Walk since the beginning as a crew member and can also be found at many other fundraising events.

The main medical tent is available at the Sea Camps from 6 AM until the last patient leaves, and each rest stop has a medical station with nearly everything you might need on your two-day, 30-mile journey. Should the need arise for more intensive medical treatment, the crew will stabilize you until more advanced care arrives.

As a walker my first year, I was treated with TLC, and I saw all walkers treated that way. As a nurse on medical crew my second year, I treated everyone with the same TLC! But no matter how well you're treated, the best care is preventive. Over the next few Mondays, I'll give some medical advice that you can use to take care of yourself and avoid any medical emergencies. Stay tuned!

Jacqui is a registered nurse working in home dialysis, living in Denver, Colorado. Born and rasied in Gray, Maine, Jacqui was diagnosed with MS in 2003 and has been participating in the MS Challenge Walk since 2007. This year is the first time she's had her own team, Whittaker's Warriors.

Please email Sandra Baldi or call 781-693-5138 no later than Friday, July 30th, to register for the meeting.

Come and meet your fellow crew, have some pizza and snacks, and learn how YOU will help make the 2010 MS Challenge Walk a great event for everyone!

This is the events calendar, featuring official NMSS rallies and meetings as well as volunteer-sponsored fundraisers. Want to see your event listed here? Please submit the details, and we'll add it!

This was my third year doing the MS Challenge Walk, and my third year on the bike crew. Riding support is always a fun time, as I get the chance to ride with some really great bike riders; it felt like we'd been riding together for ages!

The best part of being on the bike crew though is getting to see and meet the wonderful people that walk in the event.  We get a great opportunity as bike crew to frequently check in on the walkers and get to know many of them rather well.

The stalwart Jim Moran, victorious over both heel and wheel. Photo courtesy Sara Wells.

The only down side of walking was I only got to interact with the few walkers that were in the same area that I was in, instead of seeing everyone's smiling faces as I rode up and down the trail. Everyone on the walk is so great, I can't help but want to see them all!

Being on the support crew is a great way to support the walk and be a part of it.  Consider registering as crew for the 2010 event. That's the way I plan to continue doing the walk for as long as I'm "young enough" to do it.  Hopefully the cure we all pray for will be found before I'm "old enough" to have to stop.

Ken, a Worcester resident, joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also on the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

You turn the corner… and tears start streaming down your face. All the cheering? It's for you.

We walkers think we have it tough, walking 50 miles in three days. But at least we can admit it and grumble about it. The crew somehow finds the energy to be optimistic, enthusiastic, and encouraging all day long. They wear goofy costumes, employ noisy noisemakers, and never budge from either their position or disposition. They do it for the walkers, because they know sometimes what we need to keep going can't be found in a bottle of Gatorade.

If you need help in your quest to free the world from MS, the crew is there to help you, whether they be familiar faces or new ones. And if you cross the finish line and find yourself with a reserve of energy, consider giving back:return to the finish line and cheer the folks who come in after you. You needed that boost, and they might, too.

Ken, a Worcester resident, joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also on the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

This is not the walker you're looking for!

I have seen some of the ideas which have come up for suggestion this year, and they are great. But the real point of this post is to ask you, the walkers, what would you like to see? Maybe a movie theme? Gone with the Wind? Maybe a profession? Doctors and nurses? Give us some ideas! Who knows, you may see your suggestion at one of the stops.

Jill lives in East Taunton with her husband and a very annoying cat. She was diagnosed with MS a little over 10 years ago when she was 24. She has been participating in the Challenge Walk since the beginning as a crew member and can also be found at many other fundraising events.

We need to be inventive in how to keep the walkers entertained and give them a few smiles as they go through our rest stop. Who knows what costumes we'll get for this year? Over the years, I have been a pirate, a leprechaun, a Jedi Knight, an evil clown, and the world's largest Munchkin, to name a few. With the little bit of rain we got last year, my Jedi Knight costume, complete with bright yellow Wellington boots, looked more like the Gordon fisherman. I didn't look very professional in any of these costumes — but that wasn't the point. The point was to make the walkers comfortable and happy!

I'll soon be looking through the huge tote of costumes that I have been accumulating and see what I can pull out. After I've made my selections, my luggage will be about four times as much as any walker brings. How else would I fit in a military-sized squirt gun, Wellington boots, cowboy hat, and who knows what else? I'm hoping that someday, my appearance will be that of a person cured of MS — but that it won't be a costume, it will be the real me. That will be one costume that I will be happy to wear for the rest of my life.

Jill lives in East Taunton with her husband and a very annoying cat. She was diagnosed with MS a little over 10 years ago when she was 24. She has been participating in the Challenge Walk since the beginning as a crew member and can also be found at many other fundraising events.

Quite a bit different, it turns out. When I was driving my beloved van (black with a big white smiley face on the side) in high school, I'd have only one passenger in the other bucket seat, in addition to anyone who wanted to sit on the floor in the back. But in the crew van that first year, we were stuffed in like sardines with all our gear for the stops. People and gear there was plenty of. Sense of direction? Not so much, but plenty of back seat driving. I made so many three-point turns in that huge van, it was comical. And I managed to hit only ten curbs in the process!

As I continue driving the crew vans every year, the amount of gear increases, but fewer people means less cramming, and the strangers are now my dear friends. We still don't ever have any sense of direction, we still get lost at least twice each year, and I still hit curbs, though fewer of them. But we get there. What would the walkers do without us? And what would we do without them?

Jill lives in East Taunton with her husband and a very annoying cat. She was diagnosed with MS a little over 10 years ago when she was 24. She has been participating in the Challenge Walk since the beginning as a crew member and can also be found at many other fundraising events.

As a walker in the Challenge Walk, I can tell you that the volunteers truly make a difference to the walkers. Just when my feet and spirits would begin to drag, I'd be motivated and re-energized just by walking into one of the rest stops and hearing a little cheer, or somebody tell me that I was doing great, having a non-judgmental friend urge me to eat more Tootsie Rolls and Peppermint Patties. But I never thought that being that volunteer could be just as rewarding as doing the actual walk. Let me tell you, it is.

If you can't walk 50 miles and you still want to join the movement, be a volunteer! You will be making a difference and will feel amazing. I now know, because I have been on both sides! Many crew spots are already full, but we still have need for a few more. Please see what jobs are available, then email Brenda Barbour or call her at 1-800-344-4867 x135 to sign up. We can't do the walk without you!

Caroline is getting ready to walk her fifth MS Challenge Walk. This is also the anniversary of when she was herself diagnosed with MS. Her walking team is Kranny's Cruisin' Divas. Caroline spoke at last year's last year's August Celebration and is a member of the walk's steering committee.

Looking to mix up your Challenge Walk experience? Consider hopping on a bike!

I rode only 2-3 times a week leading up to the event. I got accustomed to going 10-20 miles at a time, though one Sunday I did drive down to the Cape Cod Rail Trail and ride its length and back, which proved to be about 55 miles. It can be very useful if you have a little onboard computer that calculates your mileage.

The farthest I've ever ridden in a single day is a metric century — that is, 100 km, or 62 miles. Unfortunately, that was the first day I'd been on my bike in two weeks. Was I SORE!! Consistency is the most important quality of training.

Depending on how you handle being on bike crew, you may go as few as 25-30 miles a day, or as many as 50+. Since it's not hard pedaling, you may find the greatest challenge comes just from being in that seat for so long… so make sure it's a comfortable one!

Whether you're a first-time rider like Melody or have done it before like me, every crew member should sign up for the NMSS's crew training session, where you can get all your questions answered… even the ones you haven't thought of yet.

Ken, a Worcester resident, joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also on the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.