It has been a long 10 months since I signed up and registered to walk the Atlanta 3 day for breast cancer. We developed a team early on, of 7 amazing women "The Glo Girls": Leah, Brittany, Mary Anthony, Katy, Megan, Julie and myself. All girls from my church. We had a few fundraisers to help us individually hit our goal of $2,300. We exchanged hundreds of emails (and no I am NOT exaggerating on that!) We trained together, not all of us ever at the same time, but we did train. We prepared and encouraged each other when some thought we wouldn't make our fund raising goal, and talked each other down when we thought our heads were going to spin off the week leading up to the event. Most of all we we finished together!
I cannot explain how amazing this experience was. I hope through this post and pictures I do a good job of giving a glimpse of what walking 60 miles for such a wonderful cause looks like. It's one day after the event and it feels like years ago. I'm doing and feeling great! Besides being a little sleepy, my body is doing wonderful and I'm so glad. Even if it didn't feel so great, I would not mind, because that would be nothing compared to having cancer.
Day 1: I woke up at 4:30 so I could meet the girls at the church and head to Lake Lanier Islands. With my peanut butter toast, apples, and chocolate milk on my tummy I threw my bag in the car and took off for my journey. Mary Anthony got a great deal (basically FREE) on a beautiful limo to the event. Us Glo Girls know how to ride in style! =) We anxiously rode to the opening ceremonies with butterflies in our tummies not knowing what the weekend held for us.
Opening ceremonies was beautiful! Instantly I was reminded why I chose to walk. It was inspiring seeing the beautiful flags that read "for my grandmother" "for my mom" "for my sister"... It was touching seeing the women who were displayed in a circle who have struggled, but are now cancer free. It tugged on your heart seeing bald women who are in the midst of treatment walking! Yes, I said they are walking!!! Needless to say it was emotional. Then, it was time to go! With loud music escorting us out, we were on our way to our journey of 60 miles! We were pumped!!
The 3 day organization was amazing, the way they had it mapped out, the way they thought of every detail blew my mind. We approached our first pit stop at about 4 miles. Pit stops included FOOD, drink, and yes port-a-potties! I have never been so excited to see food in my life and it was good! It was our joke by the end that we ate our way thru the 3 day! =) We made sure to stretch and took care of our feet if needed.
As day 1 went on we laughed, we continued to cry, we DANCED and we kept on going. One thing that really discouraged us the week leading up to the walk was the weather forecast. It was NOT pretty, so the night before the walk we were informed that they were moving our camp to an indoor facility. It was supposed to rain on us that whole day...but it didn't! When it did start to rain it wasn't even that bad, it was while in line waiting for the bus as we finished up our day. How amazing is that!?!!!? By the time we got on that bus we were so tired. We looked like zombies after being up since about 4AM and walking all day. We were so looking forward to a hot shower!
When we got to camp we were instructed to eat and hydrate so there would be no passing out in the hot shower we all were looking forward to. How embarrassing would it be to be pulled out naked from the shower! So, that's just what we did. We ate our spaghetti dinner and even got to have diet coke!!!
Shower experience was interesting to say the least...saw a lot of naked boobs and had to set all modesty aside. I think all my team did great with that and figured out how to dress inside the tiny shower stall. The shower felt amazing and I wanted to stay in there all night. Well, maybe not all night, because I was so tired, but a good portion! =)
After our showers we set up our tents. Megan was my tent mate, and a very good tent mate at that! Setting up tents was fun, something I have never done before. It wasn't hard, and we all did it pretty quick. After setting up "camp" we headed to the big tent outside where they had entertainment and fun. We hung out for a little bit, but decided to call it a night and get some much needed rest.
Day 2: Ouch! I woke up soooo sore, thinking "I can't do this!" but by the time I walked to the sink outside to brush my teeth I warmed up and felt great. We ate a scrambled egg breakfast and got in line again for the bus to take us to our starting point. Since, the camp had to be moved indoors there was a lot of busing back and forth. We got to see our first set of familiar faces that morning at a cheering station. Cheer stations were set up through out the route so friends and family could encourage, and well cheer you on! Again, the 3 day walk people so know what they are doing!! Those cheer stations were so great-even if you didn't have anyone you knew cheering you on! Leah's husband and family came to cheer for us and it was so good to see them!
Lunch came somewhat soon after that, and it was so cold and windy. Thankfully our lovely crew had emergency mylar blankets to keep us warm. After lunch we kept on going...we hit up a gas station and I was in heaven with a purchase of a Dr. Pepper!!
We were getting excited because another cheer station was coming and most of our families we going to be there!! I could not wait to get my hands on my boys! It was there before we knew it. We had to wait at a cross walk and when the crossing guard let us go, we took off running for our loved ones. Oh, how wonderful it was to be hugged, loved on, and encouraged by our dear ones. I could see Owen in Joe's arms across the street before we crossed pointing at me...melt melt. After we left the cheering station we were re-energized and knew we could finish day 2 in a good place.
Another dinner and hot shower flew by and we went to bed after dancing to a few songs. Leah and Julie had to visit the Medical Tent to have some blisters tended to, and I had to visit to have my ankles looked at. Turns out I have tendinitis in both of my ankles. The medical team instructed me to come back in the AM and have them wrapped before walking again. On that note I headed back to my tent and slept like a baby.
Day 3: Creeeeeeeek! I was even more sore that morning. I felt like the tin man who needed to be oiled. Yet again all I need was to get moving again and my body felt like it was good to walk the remaining about that day. I visited the medical tent, got one foot taped, and one foot wrapped and met my team for breakfast. It was realllllly cold that morning. Some of my team were wearing beanies, some were wearing hats, all of of us had hand warmers and gloves! Most were familiar with the route, we started in Dunwoody that morning. I still didn't know where we were as I am not familiar with most of Atlanta, but it did feel more familiar, as we were only about 15 minutes from home (driving of course!) We saw more friends an family on the morning cheering station, they were so sweet for coming before church to cheer us on!
As the morning went on I was hurting a bit. My feet were wrapped and they felt very swollen, and I was over compensating so my knee was feeling it. It also was the longest distance between a pit stop and lunch which made it a little harder on the bladder, tummies, and needing to rest. We pushed through and after making it to lunch I perked up a bit. It felt so good to get those shoes off and let my feet rest and air out! I think we had the best turkey sandwich EVER that day! After much rest, we really rested at this stop, as we didn't want to have too much time back at the finish line to wait for the last walkers to finish.
Lunch was done and we headed back out. We were so happy because we only had 4 more miles to go!! We passed through Georgia Tech's campus, Walked passed the capital building, and then we saw the Olympic rings! We were almost there!! We ended at Turner field, Atlanta's baseball stadium. I cannot even put words into how excited and how overwhelming it was when we were done. I have never done a marathon, never done anything like this. It was a huge accomplishment, something I am proud to say I finished. Something that I did that stood for something so good. Something that I did with some wonderful girls, who I will ALWAYS share this memory with.
It was a great experience and I will do again...I'm not sure when but I will walk again, because I can!
