Day 3

See previous 2 posts for Day 1 and Day 2.

After getting a pretty decent night's sleep, we were up early for Day 3. Camp was busy and awake with everyone packing up their gear, breaking down their tents, loading the gear trucks and getting breakfast.

This is a picture of one of the awesome crew members - they dressed up so funny - to keep us motivated. He's standing at the back of a 20 foot truck loaded with gear! I can't imagine loading all those bags on there.

We wanted to get an early start to the day so we would have time to make it into "Holding" without being rushed all day. But first, we had to stop at the blister self-care station so Shannon could take care of those little boogers before our start.

We began our day by taking a big bus to where the route started...Ursuline Academy in North Dallas off Walnut Hill and Inwood Road. I was really looking forward to Day 3's route. I knew we were walking through some really beautiful parts of Dallas and all the way into Fair Park. It just didn't seem possible.

It was pretty quiet in the morning. The sweep vans weren't allowed to blast their stereos for us until 9am....wouldn't want to disturb the Highland Park neighbors on Sunday morning. But several families were out in the yards cheering for us.

It was a peaceful morning and a morning filled with determination and achievement. But, also a little bit overwhelmed that we had 15 miles on our route cards that morning.

The roses were even pink for us.

This was the most amazing front yard. This huge display of pumpkins and mums...and this was only 1 of them. We had to stop for a picture!

We had walked for awhile with 2 Marines. They seemed nice but wouldn't do any cadence yells for us - thought they'd be too inappropriate for us women. I wouldn't have minded at that point. My pace was not as fast on Sunday morning and I needed something to get me moving!

We wound our way all through Highland Park and University Park until we made it to Lemmon Ave and Turtle Creek for lunch.

Lunch was so hard this day...I knew I needed to eat but I could hardly choke down the sandwich. After eating and drinking all weekend I was so full. I now get why they call it the "3 Day Buffet". They keep you well fed and hydrated! But enough was enough.

I had some issue with my big toe on my left foot that morning. It was discovered at lunch that there was a blister UNDER the toenail...ouchy! But, not much I could do about it except not think about it. I was finishing this thing, especially since we had come so far.

We then walked through the Turtle Creek area all the way into Downtown.

Lindsey got to carry the flag of who she was walking for - Julia and her future without breast cancer.

We found ourselves walking on Harry Hines into the West End by the American Airlines Center, Victory Park and Dealey Plaza.

West End had one of the most amazing cheering stations. There were hundreds of people there and it was so overwhelming at that point. Many of these people had been at each and every one of the previous stations all weekend. We were all old friends at this point. We felt like such celebrities and superstars as we received those high fives and "way to go's".

After we made it through Dealey Plaza we found Bryan, Debbie and the boys waiting for us. So good to see them!

We then saw Shannon's family again as we headed up the road.

We ventured further into Downtown, past the old Neiman Marcus and into Deep Ellum. And who would we meet but Kathy and her sister...the lady I met on Day 1 on the bus to Opening Ceremony. I had come full circle at this point. (You can kind of see Kathy in the picture above - she is walking past on the right).

My video camera barely had any room on it....later, I realized I had put it into my backpack with it still taping and so it taped 45 minutes of what it must have been like from inside my water pack. But, that meant there was not much room for me to tape anymore of Day 3...bummer. The camera battery was also dying - so I had to conserve and that is why there are far fewer pictures from Day 3.

Deep Ellum was a bit lonely and drab....it was only 4 more miles but the course was getting hot and the sweep vans were too busy to provide any motivation for us. The conversation was quiet as we concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. The pain was starting to settle in and it almost became too uncomfortable to stop at the crosswalks. My body could no longer stretch any more as it provide no relief to my legs. My toe was aching but I was hanging in there. And then, just as I thought, "seriously, how much further?" A young woman, was bouncing by me. No hair, no eyebrows...clearly trying to beat cancer. I knew I could do it from there on out - if she could do it, I could do it.

As the mileage got shorter the time seemed longer. But we had this. We HAD this.

Fair Park was a glorious thing to see.

We did it. We walked into the Holding Area. Such a relief!!! The cheers from all the walkers who had made it in before us were awesome!

In Holding, we watched as people walked in - barely walking, barely standing. One woman was taken in an ambulance, the ambulance all of us had signed at an earlier pit stop that day.

We realized how well we had done and how we had managed to do this with no injury.

We hung out in holding for awhile before they lined us up to march into the Closing Ceremony. Arm in arm we marched together, all 2900 of us!

As we turned the corner we saw all 400 crew members cheering for us one final time as we made it to the end of our journey. The tears were unstoppable. And nothing hurt at this point!

As we passed through the gates into the Ceremony we saw our family there cheering for us. I was proud my boys could see their mother do something this profound!

Closing Ceremony was inspirational as we raised a shoe in salute of the survivors that were walking in.

DFW Breast Cancer 3 Day had raised $7.5 million dollars that weekend. It's unbelieveable to think our team of 3 raised $13,000 of it. Dedication and hard work does pay off!

I thank Lindsey and Shannon for loving me enough to take this journey with me. I thank my family for all of their support and time to cheer me on in this whole process. I thank all those that donated to me and my cause. I thank you for letting me have this amazing experience!

Thank you!

Day 2

See previous post for Day 1

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep all that well in the tent. Things were flapping around (tent things, that is) and my legs hurt, had to pee, not a good pillow…you name it – I probably complained about it. ANYWAYS, after changing and eating a scrumptious breakfast it was time to hit the trail.

It was nice to leave at our own pace and not be clumped in a big group of people. The safety crew really made sure everyone stayed safe by remaining on the sidewalks and crossing the street safely. Thank God for them – because you really stop paying attention after awhile.

This was some of the crew from camp...these guys sent everyone off in the morning and welcomed us "home" in the afternoon...and yes, we were all a bit chilly that morning, ha!

We walked through Addison, North Dallas, Farmers Branch and back into Brookhaven College. We saw some amazing neighborhoods

and incredible cheering stations. Again, all the people that were cheering for us – unbelieveable! We saw lots of fake boobs, lots of pink, lots of signage, lots of candy, lots of snacks, lots of love and admiration! You really do bounce through those without a pain anywhere.

Family came out to cheer us as well! It gave us something to look forward to on that Day. I know they drove forever to get out to North Dallas and then waited for what seemed like forever for us to walk by.

We found my sis-in-law, Laurie on Meandering Way.

Lindsey's Mom-in-law brought us some much needed cokes - thanks Kathy!

My fam made some posters and brought the kiddos...Reid got tuckered out and fell asleep on Mom...poor guy had had it. Wishing I could do the same.

Leti and Deja brought us some candy goodie bags for the trail - thanks!

Shannon's family and friends brought signs and instruments to inspire us! We wish we could have stayed and chatted some more but we had about several more miles to go before we made it to camp.

Those last miles were really hard – at least for me. We were walking through Addison again and beginning to go over a big bridge. There was no bathroom in sight and after drinking the big coke that Kathy Hurst brought us back at the cheering station – I really had to go. And I was hot and TIRED! Our legs were aching and our feet were going numb. I realized that as I got more and more tired I would take smaller and smaller steps. I made it to a little hotel on the other side of the bridge and they were so nice to let me use the potty – but they really didn’t have a choice.

Heading back to camp that day seemed to take forever….and we had seen these roads before on Day 1. So we had more of a sense of how much further we had to go. Our mile card for that day said we were going 20.1 miles…but there was no way. It had to have been more.

Well, we did make it back to camp.
And my pedometer said we had gone about 23 miles that day. But we were on a high – we had done Day 2.
We quickly headed for the showers so we wouldn’t have to wait in a longer line and wearing our pjs sounds so nice.
We had some time to check out the last walker coming into camp and be part of the flag raising ceremony. One Day Closer!

Shannon had some blisters to tend to in the medical tent, Lindsey had her phone to charge and I got adjusted by the chiropractor. We headed to the dining tent for an evening of food and entertainment. It was the final night of the karaoke contest! Then it was Dance Party time! It was fun to loosen up and stretch out those muscles. We were total goobers but it was a blast! Such memories we were creating together. I slept much better that night in the tent. Maybe because it wasn’t as cold or wasn’t as windy or maybe because I had walked 43 miles in 2 days. Either way – I was out!

Day 1

I've had this post in draft format for some time...needed to find the time to publish it and needed the time to process everything as well....Day 2 and Day 3 will follow.

The 3 Day

It has taken me awhile to actually sit down and write about this event. I haven’t had the words to describe it and I needed some time to process everything we did. But, people keeping asking me how it was and what it was like and how am I doing…so I guess it’s time to update the world through my blog.

The 3 Day is a process that really started back in January. I wanted to do something major big in my life and something that made a difference and something outside of my comfort zone. I had heard about the 3 day (walking 60 miles in 3 days) and knew that this had to be it. I asked 2 of my best girl friends if they wanted to join me on the journey and they jumped on board…God, love ‘em. So, then we were committed to each raising $2300.00, wearing a lot of pink, and endless hours walking and training.

Now, I have posted about all our fundraising and some of our training and you can certainly check it out at www.teamanewday.blogspot.com . Then it was here – just like that – that actual 3 Day event. 60 miles staring me in the face. I was nervous, anxious, excited, ready to walk. It seems like we have been talking about it forever and it’s finally here. I think most people doubted that I would actual do it and/or attempt to complete it.

The week of the walk, my gear was packed early. Sleeping bag, air mattress, pillow, 3 changes of clothes, 6 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of shoes, pajamas, jacket, visor, toiletries, journal, magazine, tent decorations plus my water backpack with first aid, sunglasses, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, gum, Gatorade, camera, flip video camera, phone, travel toilet paper, and bug spray. I didn’t want to forget anything and I don’t think I did. Phew! But I was way over the 35 lb weight limit you are supposed to have….sorry crew members – there was just no way to get it down any.

On Thursday, November 5^th – Bryan drove me, Lindsey, and Shannon out to the Hyatt Regency in Richardson. It was the host hotel for the DFW Breast Cancer 3 Day. There were tons of women (and some men) with their gear bags, and pink attire all over the hotel. We stopped for dinner at an Italian place across the street that had the funniest waiter. The only downer was they were slammed with all the walkers wanting to carb load the night before and they were poorly understaffed for a typical Thursday night. Upside was, we got our meal for free since it seemed to take over an hour to get it cooked. It was delicious and so close to the hotel.

We got back to our rooms and unpacked and repacked our gear. Showers were taken and stuff was set out so we’d have an easy time of it at 4am when our alarm went off. We did wake up – no oversleeping for us and we were in line for the shuttle to Opening Ceremony by 4:45am.

The shuttle ride was uneventful – but I did meet Kathy – I nice lady that had told me all about the event since this was going to be her 3^rd one. She walked for herself – since she was a 9 year survivor and her husband J.D. who had passed away this year from cancer. She was “addicted” to the 3 day, as she put it. I was now aware of what this event meant to some people.

We figured out how to get our gear on the “gear trucks” waiting for us.

It was dark and a bit chilly that morning but we were ready to start moving.

We got in line for the gates to get into the Opening Ceremony area – thank goodness we headed for the front. And then we waited, and waited.

Apparently, parking was a pain in the boobies at the Plano Center where Opening Ceremony was being held. So things got started a bit later than scheduled. The Ceremony was emotional, exciting and energizing.

We made it through the gates and we were on our way.

It was amazing the amount of people that came out to cheer us on! 59 ½ miles to go – read one sign.

“Are you kidding me?”, I thought. I really AM doing this – no turning back now. EXCEPT that we really had to pee. Being up at 4am and then waiting to start walking until 7am…made for a full bladder. And the first Pit Stop was at 2miles. Oh geez…not going to make it. So, luckily there was a Shell station and some other walkers had the same bright idea. We were all standing in line for the Men’s room. Apparently, the Women’s room was unusable…there was a disaster that struck in there and nobody was willing to oversee that…except for “Diarrhea Lady”. That’s what we’ll call her because she is a superhero to me and many other women waiting in line to pee. She willingly volunteered to clean the potty for herself and others. No gloves, no mask, no sanitizer – just paper towels and a gas station sink. God love her. And anytime after that, when I saw her on the trail or at camp, I referred to her as Diarrhea Lady and admired her bravery! Again, the next 3 days was going to be filled with incredible people!

Pit Stops were amazing with loads and loads of food….bagels w/cream cheese, cheese sticks, pb &j, animal crackers, chips, pretzels, apples, bananas. And each Pit Stop had a theme…The Zoo, Harry Potter, Western, etc…it was so neat. Of course, we realized (after the 2^nd pit stop) that it wasn’t such a bright idea to take all the food you could carry. But it was smart to make sure you were drinking plenty of water and Gatorade “Drink, Pee, Avoid the IV”. The PortaPotty scene took a bit to get used to – but eventually they were like a little oasis in the desert and you were really happy to see them.

Day 1 journeyed through Plano, Richardson, and Addison. We saw a couple of Elementary schools that were cheering the walkers on.

It was quite emotional to see that most of a school day was spent “without instruction” but cheering us on and all those kids giving us high fives like we were rockstars.

The sweep vans that you could take to the next pit stop were awesome. They were all decorated so cute and with great themes. They played awesome music that we wish we could have heard more of. But, we never did see the inside of a sweep van…we were doing it….walking all of it.

Lunch stop was great but a bit daunting to know that we still had about 9 more miles to go. But we had it…all under control. We strolled into Brookhaven College at about 5pm.

Again, with the emotional stuff. Crew members were cheering us in, walkers were cheering us in. Perfect strangers giving you high fives and pats on the back that we had done it – walked 20.2 miles!

Camp was beautiful with the sea of pink tents.

Lindsey and I had to set ours up – and it was a bit windy but we managed. Our decorations were up – honoring those for who we were walking.

It was time for some dinner – a great spaghetti dinner with all the fixings! It was great and so much of it.

The showers were an experience. A shower truck…after the first night experience we were definitely going to be better prepared for Day 2’s shower experience. Now we knew how things worked. We listened for a bit at the Karaoke competition that was happening but we mostly just wanted to get organized for Day 2 and hit the sleeping bag. It was a windy night but not too cold. I only fell out of the tent 1 time on my way to the portapotty at 2am.