Monday, August 9, 2010

3 Day Walk

My journey started as soon as I agreed to walk. Once I started sharing with others about my quest I received an overwhelming response from family, friends, and strangers! It was eye opening to see so many people willing to give even when times are hard for most people to give. There were a few reasons I wanted to walk: first for my mom, she never let the cancer slow her down. She is my rock. Second is for all those others in my life that have been exposed to cancer of some kind. I hate that they had to have it but I love that they fought it and continue to fight it! Third is for my girls. My hope is that there is an end to breast cancer so they never have to worry about that fight. My favorite sign during the walk was a little girl sitting by a sign that said "Find a cure before I grow boobies" It was sweet and sad at the same time.



Here are the pictures from the event in somewhat of an order...

This was about 6:30 in the morning at opening ceremony.

We started our walk downtown by the Rock Hall. It was a beautiful morning :)The support on the walk was incredible. These people hung pink bras. When it was hot they had water, candy, and cold paper towels for us. Some even had sprinklers set out so we could cool off. AhhhhhhhThis was our first lunch stop on Friday. We were Rock Stars!This is Maddie waiting for Mom at one of the cheer stations.Yea, our mommy made it! I loved the sign they made for me. It was very sweet. We LOVED to see the Welcome to Westlake sign because they meant we were close to camp and almost done for the day!This is Lisa and I on our firs day. She and I also shared a tent. (no comment)First Day DONE!

You can't see it on our faces but we are in a lot of pain in this picture :(
After we met up with "Lathy"

(that's what we called Liz and Kathy because they walked so much faster than we did so we gave them a nickname. you do a lot of weird things when you walk 60 miles)


They had massage chairs which felt amazing after 22 miles of walking.

This is day 2! The medical tent was very busy. Everyone was tending to their blisters.This was day 2 at a cheer station.This is Jerry! He is all over the route cheering the walkers on. He is never by anyone else (like at a cheer station) and he is always hiding. Its hard to explain: he doesn't hide from you just in places you can't see until your close to him. He was there EVERYDAY about 3 times a day or more, just cheering us on. Lisa gave him a high kick and he called her a show off. It was funny! He was something to look forward to and we always got excited to see Jerry. We had to get a picture with him! What a great supporter, we would love to know his story....Day 2 DONE! another 22 miles When we would get back to camp we would take a picture then crash in the grass for about 20 min. Just enjoying the fact that we didn't have to walk any more! Then we would hobble over to dinner, then hobble over to showers, then hobble back to dinner tent where they would have entertainment for us each night. Here are the girls just hanging out with our feet up.Liz was popping her blisters! Saturday night it was really nice out so we were just hanging out by our tents chatting about what we saw the last couple of days and the "3dayisms" we came up with on our walk.Here we come Day 3! This is the whole team ready to walk on day 3.My mom and my sister came to a cheer station Sunday morning!
Love you guys, thanks for all your support.WE DID IT!
another 16 miles
(that was a piece of cake)After we finish they make you wait until all the walkers come in and then its time for closing ceremonies to begin. This is the team chillin' in the grass.Here we are (with our hands up) walking into the closing ceremony
One of the neatest moments during the ceremony is when they bring out the survivors who walked. All the walkers hold up a shoe for them. It is an amazing feeling to be a part of that!
Mike was my biggest fan and I want to thank him for having confidence in me and supporting me through the whole process. He is my best friend.Time to take my girls and go home! Until next year...