No, the snowy rain wasn't ideal for yesterday's 5-mile Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Concord. But the crowds, and at least one dog in a rain slicker, came anyway because their loved ones with breast cancer have endured worse.

And for the third year in a row, Concord's fundraising walk for breast cancer research and support brought in more than a half million dollars.

Kimberly Laro, a spokeswoman for Making Strides, said donations totaled $529,498 yesterday afternoon. But the total will be higher, Laro said, because some teams stayed home due to the weather and still have time to turn in their money.

"We wanted to be over a half million dollars," she said. "And our participants and our teams really came through."

The 20 or so members of Gail's Guardians not only came through but also came quite a distance yesterday. When Gail Woznicki of Cleveland was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago, her sister and niece in Goshen called family

members and put together a team.

"We walked for another team last year, but this year we said, 'We're doing it for her this year,' " said Woznicki's sister Patti Koscielniak.

Those relatives on the team raised more than $3,200 and traveled from Ohio, New York, Maine, Massachusetts and different parts of New Hampshire to walk with Woznicki yesterday. Woznicki has been through chemotherapy and radiation and has three more targeted chemotherapy treatments left.

"They're amazing," Woznicki said of her family. "It's what got me through this last year."

Pam Miller of Pittsfield found the same support from her colleagues at Pittsfield Elementary School after she was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. Miller is the secretary at the school and has been for 34 years.

"The school could not run without its secretary," said Carin Kilar, a third-grade teacher and one of the captains of Pam's Power. But it was clear the affection went deeper than that. "We wanted to do something the whole school could do to be supportive."

The team, which is also captained by teachers Susan Elliott and Jodi Biron, raised more than $3,000. And it kept Miller looking forward.

"I was honored they wanted (to walk for me)," she said. "They gave me rides to my treatments. And they gave me food. I couldn't have done it without their support. They've been great, all of them."

Jill Carlson was 29 when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer about five years ago. She lives in Chicago, but she was very much in the hearts of her family and friends shivering at Memorial Field yesterday.

Her cousin, Julie Gaudette of Salisbury, and Gaudette's 8-year-old daughter, Kinley, co-captained the team, called Just for Jill. They weren't sure yesterday how much money they'd raised. But they did know how many pink ribbons the student council at Andover Elementary/Middle School, where Gaudette is vice principal, made: 4,500.

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