Breast cancer 3 day walk

The walk begins...

Shelly and I with the supporters!

walkers...

our first few pit stops. This is where we eat, drink and pee!

the motivation medics!

all of the crew members rocked!

Lake Michigan

tons of people lined the streets with signs and bells to support us.

day 1 down, two to go!

our home away from home

lunch time at the 3 day diner





the end of day 2! Woo Hoo!

This is usually where I post about my trips to Uganda, but I figured it was a great place to post all of my pictures of the 3 day event for all my supporters to see.

I have to say that this was an exciting, difficult, painful, unforgettable and eye opening experience. Our first day was along the coast of Lake Michigan in a suburb of Winnetka. The streets were lined with mature trees and beautiful homes. We made our way 21 miles south to Des Plaines where our camp was. It was really cool to come around the corner and see a sea of pink tents. My partner in crime, Shelley, was out by the end of day 1 due to the fact the she is weeks away from starting her business as a dance teacher and, regretfully, could not continue walking and risking not being able to dance. She made a good choice. So, I found some new friends to walk with, which was not difficult here. No one walks alone. My tent mate, Andrea, became my new walking partner along with a couple of other ladies. Andrea's mom was also a breast cancer survivor. There were many stories and glimpses of women, of all ages, in tears at times, walking proudly in honor of those lost. It was an emotional experience, and one that made me feel so thankful that I am not one of those very young girls I saw in tears, as they honored their mothers in walking. It is not all women who suffer from this disease though, men are also at risk of breast cancer. I also saw many men walking in honor of their wives and I cant help but say I felt proud.

Day 2 was a difficult day. The outside of my knee started to hurt pretty bad and I was limping by the first pit stop. People really do encourage you not to continue walking if you are in pain, but really, I didn't come this far to stop. I toughed it out and after a while it just began to get numb. At that point it was better to keep walking because stopping only causes you to feel more pain. I finished day 2 and slept like a baby! For some reason you wake up several times in the night to go pee. Oh yeah, it rained on day 2 too!

Day 3 was even harder. I even considered taking a "sweep van" to lunch and waiting for my new friends there. My pride was getting the best of me at this point, so I took a van only to the next pit stop so I could ice my knee again and then I met my friends there. They had several crew members in vans and on bikes along the route to make sure people were ok and could continue walking. We were well taken care of.

This event was so well put together. Everyone down to the people who served our dinner were fantastic! They had medics at every pit stop to help with blisters and pains, they had a crew of encouraging men at every intersection to cross us and men and women dressed up in all kinds of crazy costumes along the way to support us and cheer us on. It was amazing. The police and people who lived in the neighborhoods we walked through showed their support by wearing pink shirts and decorating their houses. They even passed out popsicles and candy all along the way, it was really nice. I don't have one complaint about how this event was run. At night we took showers and hung out around camp. They provided foot massages, physical trainers, chiropractors and even had some vendors selling 3 day gear.

I, unfortunately, don't have pictures yet of the finish because my camera batteries ran out (can you believe that?!?!) but this was the most exciting day! We walked along the lakefront and through the heart of Chicago. It was beautiful! We ended in Soldier Field for closing ceremonies. There, we met all of the breast cancer survivors that walked with us and we also thanked all of the crew who took care of us for 3 days by cheering for them. We found out that we raised $6,000,000 in this event alone!!!!!!!!!!!! This experience has been a great one. From the very beginning of the training walks, which next year I will train better, to meeting some amazing women and hearing some heart wrenching stories. To enduring some pain for the sake of persevering, to learning to swallow my pride and know when to rest. And from the realization that why I am so thankful that my mom is alive and here, that the fight was not an easyone. I felt a lot of emotions over the course of 60 miles and I look forward to doing it all again next year!