Thursday afternoon, my son and I drove up to my sister-in-law's house in Lynnwood to spend the night. Matthew was staying the weekend with his cousins while Edith and I were leaving for our annual "girls weekend away." (You would think we would pick a relaxing place at the beach or in the quiet mountains of Washington but no, we pick a weekend of walking 60 hilly miles in Seattle! haha) After arriving, Edith's hubby (Husband's brother) made us a huge pasta dinner to get us carbed up for the first - and longest - day of the event. We finished organizing, made sure our phones, watches and cameras were charged, and went to bed early. Weekend parking was limited (much more limited than last year!) and was on a first come, first served basis. The lot opened at 4:00 a.m. so our morning started very EARLY.
We arrived at the lot with plenty of spaces still available and hopped on a bus to transport us to Opening Ceremony. This turned out to be a great way to start the day! Once on the bus, we no longer had to worry about our luggage - it went from that parking lot straight to camp! Awesome!
We arrived at CenturyLink Field and immediately took off in search of the closest OPEN coffee shop! Both Edith and I were suffering from lack of sleep and were in serious need of a caffeine fix. Gotta love the caffeine addiction!
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| Amity and I - we met on Facebook in a 3-Day group and actually recognized each other at the event! |
Opening Ceremony started at 6:30. Dr. Sheri Phillips, Susan G. Komen 3-Day's National Spokeswoman (and four year breast cancer survivor), moved us to tears with her emotional speech about those fighting this disease and those that weren't as fortunate and lost the battle. She reminded us why we were there and how we were contributing to the fight against breast cancer, by raising money and awareness. Each one of us has our own personal reason for participating in this event. Each one of us makes a difference.
Survivors took the stage, flags were carried in support of those we're walking for - mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, friends, partners, fathers, etc. - and the Seattle 3-Day flag of dedication was raised. Dr. Phillips then got us pumped up, excited and ready to conquer the next three days! She really is an amazing motivational speaker!
This year's route was very similar to last year's route. We walked through downtown Seattle and across the I-90 floating bridge (one of my favorite parts of the route). We walked across Mercer Island and then into downtown Bellevue. We had lunch in a park downtown and ALREADY my right, already-injured, foot was aching and causing me to limp a bit so as a result, my left knee was bothering me too. I knew then it was going to be a rough three days but I was determined to give it my best effort.
(Fact: Once we turned off the main roadway and headed into camp, it was seven-tenths of a mile to our campground... the LONGEST seven-tenths of a mile EVER! )
We immediately went to the medical table and got ice packs for our aching feet and my knee.
We then showered, ate dinner and signed in at the medical tent. Edith was having some foot pain (she actually needed new shoes!) and my plantar fasciitis was really acting up. I also had two huge blisters on my feet that had to be lanced! It was HOT out and I packed quite a few extra pairs of socks, however, I did not have a dry pair with me to change into at lunch... they were in my luggage! Real smart. Wet sweaty socks equals huge painful heel blisters. The blisters were taken care of in one area and the foot and knee in another area. We are so well taken care of on this event. The medical staff are all volunteers and all pretty awesome! This was my first year to actually need the medical services and man was I happy they were available! The woman I was fortunate enough to have treat my foot and knee, Dr. Faith Doyle, is a chiropractor in Puyallup (check out her long list of volunteering!) who used to live in Vancouver! We had lots to talk about! She talked to me about "active release techniques" for my ongoing plantar fasciitis issues and used some of that technique on my foot - very little though because obviously there was very limited time. (I looked it up when I got home and found a provider in my area so hopefully my insurance will approve it. I would like to put this issue to rest!) Anyway, after working on my foot a bit and checking out my knee, she taped me up to make it through the night (had to let the blisters air dry) and added more precise taping in the morning. Thank you, Dr. Faith! You enabled me to continue walking! I really appreciate your services at the 3-Day. Volunteers like you are what makes the event so successful. :)
After getting all fixed up, we went to the camp post office and retrieved all of our wonderful cards and letters! Thank you to everyone who took the time to write to me. The letters are always a major highlight of the trip. I appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness and kind words. My son wrote me a very special letter this year that brought tears to my eyes! It is so wonderful to know your kids are proud of who you are and believe in you. Thank you, Brittany and Matthew! I love you two so very, very much!
Sleeping the first night proved to be quite difficult - it was FREEZING COLD! I was not prepared for such low temperatures and spent the night with chattering teeth. I packed SHORTS to sleep in! (I am a hot-flashin mama and thought I would make myself comfortable and dress lightly. Once again, not so smart!) Putting on my thin sweat pants and jacket did nothing once I was shivering. Needless to say, it was a long night.
Day 2 started out a little foggy and [a lot] cold. We started out climbing a hill right away and within minutes my jacket was off.
We walked through downtown Redmond and then along the waterfront in Kirkland. Day 2 was FULL of HILLS and a lot harder than Day 1 on my aching foot and knee.
Day 2 was also quite HOT so changing socks at lunch was a must (I didn't make that mistake twice!). The heat and the pain made it a very long, rough day for both Edith and I. We started this year's journey with the idea that we would walk as much as we could and take a sweeper (van/bus) when needed. There is no shame in taking a sweeper; in fact, it's a party itself, but I never have and always set my goal at walking the full 60 miles. This year my outlook was a bit different though. After battling the foot issues for most of the year and spending a great deal of the summer in a cast and then a boot, I knew my training was not at all complete and I probably would NEED to take a sweeper. I was open to it and wanted to do what felt right. Around 1:00, Edith and I made the decision that it was time to catch our first sweeper. I was walking very slowly and in a lot of pain. At Pit Stop 3 there was a bus waiting to take people back to camp so we hopped on and sat down with mixed feelings but knowing we were making the best decision because we both wanted to walk all of Day 3. We sat there for about ten minutes and then heard the bus driver telling another rider that the bus would not be leaving for camp until the last walker made it through this Pit Stop, which could be around 4:45 - 5:00. FOUR HOURS TO WAIT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! No matter how slowly I was moving, we only had five miles left and I knew we would make it back to camp long before that bus did! We got out and traveled on. The mental break did us a lot of good because we felt determined to make it all over again. It took a couple hours but we walked those last five miles and were pretty proud of ourselves for doing so! We iced, ate and showered and then crawled into our sleeping bags (with plenty of extra clothing on!) at 7:00 p.m. We were T-I-R-E-D.
We walked through the beautiful UW campus, walked along Freemont, through the Ballard Locks and up Magnolia Hill. We had lunch at the Centennial Park next to the water and kicked back and relaxed for nearly an hour. The sun was beating down on us and draining what energy we had left.
We only had four miles left of the 60 and knew we were going to make it, even if it took us a very long time. We walked along the waterfront and then up the hill to the Memorial Stadium. Those four miles took us nearly two hours but we enjoyed the walk and reminisced about the miles we had just put under our feet over the three-day period. Through all the heat, pain and exhaustion, we had another fantastic year and were already talking about doing it again.
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| WE DID IT SISTER! 60 MILES LATER... |
Closing Ceremony was just as emotional as Opening and just as beautiful and meaningful. We ended with a dance like no other ("3-Day style"!), hugs, tears, and of course, HOPE. Hope for the future.
As always, the cheering supporters along the route - and there were MANY of them - made the walk so much easier and nicer. They encourage you and thank you for what you are doing. They feed you all the homemade goodies and candy you could possibly want. They mist you with their water bottles to cool you off. They shed tears because of their own battles with breast cancer or for those they have lost. They make signs, decorate and blare the music so you dance by and forget about your own pain. They are nothing short of AWESOME!
The crew and volunteers - the Seattle bicycle police, the paramedics, the traffic safety groups, the medical and food staff, the tent fairies, the van and bus drivers, camp services, etc. etc. etc. ALL make this event what it is. And of course... the wonderful YOUTH CORP! What helpful little angles! We are so blessed to have all of them doing everything they can to make our experience a wonderful one!
Seattle had 1300 walkers this year and raised over 3.4 million dollars.
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| He is one of the many heros of the walk. If HE can walk 60 miles, we ALL can walk 60 miles! |
It took me a couple of days to get through the exhaustion from the weekend and now I am excited and already planning again for another 3-Day walk next September. My fundraising page is already up and moving! ;) I hope to be able to get this foot issue behind me and train like I need to so the event won't be so rough on me.
Edith, thanks so much for being a part of this journey right there with me! I love you mucho and know we'll be doing this event together for years to come! xoxo
To all my friends, family and even some strangers... Thanks again for all of your support! I could not participate in this great event without your help! THANK YOU!
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