I JUST WALKED 60 MILES. IN 3 DAYS. FOR A CURE.
Yes, I am in bed, with huge blisters, and the warmest feeling ever. Yesterday, I completed the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk in Tampa Bay to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer. It actually started out by Clearwater Beach and we wandered our way all down through St. Petersburg, ending at the St. Pete Pier yesterday. I would encourage ANYONE AND EVERYONE to consider doing this event once in there life.
For years, doing countless endurance events, I'd heard of this 3 Day Walk and considered doing it, but never found anyone to do it with. My grandmother and aunt are both survivors, so it has touched our family. It's a large commitment- every participant must raise $2300 on top of the $90 entry fee. I was out with my friend Barry one night, about 6 months ago, and after talking, he agreed to do it with me. Great! I now have a partner.
We were slow in our fundraising, we didn't really get momentum with it until August (the event was held over Halloween weekend). We of course sent out emails, posted postings on Facebook, sent out letters, sold baked goods, and even contributed to a garage sale. The day before the event, I raised over 100% of my goal- $2,332! It felt so great...now on to the physical part.
It was very difficult for me to train for this event. As a runner at heart, it's hard to just walk. For hours. Lots of hours. I have to admit, and much to my dismay now, I didn't train like I should have. The Walk organizers were kind enough to send a weekly training schedule. I would follow the Tuesday and Thursday walks, typically between 4-6 miles at a time, but the weekends would call for up to 18 and 15 mile consecutive walks on Saturday and Sunday. I never completed ones those long. One weekend I walked 14 miles on Saturday and 7 miles on Sunday. I was sore on Monday, but I felt good that I accomplished that much. The time commitment on a weekend was the difficult part of the training. They ask you to train at a 3 mile/hour pace. Do the math. That means 12 miles=4 hours. I did most of my training, especially with my long walks, via treadmill so I could at least read magazines and watch tv.
I also did alot of internet research, and followed blogs of people who had completed them in the past. I learned things about packing (like put each day's clothes in a separate ziploc to keep them organized and dry in case of rain at camp), petroleum jelly (to keep you feet moist to avoid unnecessary rubbing), and moleskin (a flannel like bandaid used to protect blisters).
Finally the big day came!
Barry picked me up at 4:30 am and we drove out to Clearwater to begin our adventure. The local news crews were out, so we got on some live shots, stretched, mingled with other walkers, and waited for Opening Ceremony. Opening Ceremony is the event kick-off...with an emotional procession of flag waving survivors, some motivational words, and tears for all. We were there for a common purpose and the journey was about to begin.
We started walking as a large pack up the beach and then over the long causeway over to the city of Clearwater. About every 3 miles or so is a Pit Stop, with snacks (everything from fruit and string cheese to bagels and Uncrustable PB&J sandwiches), drinks (water and Gatorade), and medical crew. You are also encouraged to stop at the Pit Stops to stretch.
Barry and I had lots of conversation leading up to lunch the first day, which was an easy shady walk through beautiful mansion neighborhoods of Bellair. We finally arrived at lunch in a park to chicken sandwiches, chips, apples, etc. From lunch (which was about mile 11 or so), the road got much tougher. We walked down a long stretch of bicycle trail in 91 degree sunny, unforgiving heat. We were miserable. We were going 22 miles the first day to give us less miles the last day, and we were a long way from camp. The worst part of that day, and possibly the worst part of the whole walk, was a stretch of bridge on the trail that crossed the intracoastal. It would be a pretty walk if it wasn't at mile 19-21 and there was shade and some fan support. I will always remember that lonely, miserable moment...
In the meantime of all of this, the public support was so touching. As we would pass houses and street corners, crowds of supporters would gather with sings and decorations of inspiration, cold water, candy, ice pops, cold washcloths, giant fans, etc.! It was so amazing! But this is why the trail and that bridge was also so miserable. Since the trail does not have areas for people to pull cars up and there is limited access, there were miles and miles of nothing but trees and sidewalk. We really needed our Cheer-ios!!
BUT there was nothing better that day than to come to landmarks in chalk on the pavement...150 feet to go...100 feet to go...50 more steps! Crowds cheering! Music blaring! Pink everywhere! All the sudden, we weren't so tired anymore!
Camp was nothing short of amazing. The second we got there, the crew was carrying our bags, and Tent Angels were setting up our tent. From there, we had shopping to do (New Balance and the 3 Day Tents), mail to check (at our camp post office), free massages to get, and all the food you could want. Then at night there was entertainment, like karaoke contests and dance parties! For a somber moment, there was a memorial area. They had white tents that were from every city, with messages written on them lit from underneath at night. Next to this memorial, was a room set up with pictures lining the walls of former Walkers who had lost the battle to breast cancer and the walks listed that they participated in. There was a long table for people to inscribe messages in memory books to those whose lives were lost. And in the middle of the room was the white tent for the Tampa walkers to inscribe their messages. It was a very emotional area.
(the emotional Memorial Tent)
Lights were out at 9pm and we were back to the grind...
(just a few of the hundreds of pink tents)
Day 2 was Halloween and Barry and I had geared up by getting giant pink whoopie cushion costumes. The second we stepped out of our tent, we were instant celebrities. We were even interviewed by the camp radio station that was blaring as we left for our 19 mile walk that day.
Day 2 started with a cheering station about 3 miles into the route. My hubby was there to cheer me on, as well as a co-worker of Barry and I. They brought us Coke and Snickers bars. We stopped to chat for a bit and then we were on again! It was another hot day, and this time it was along the beach. The crowds were out in support again and boy were they appreciated! There was these 2 groups that followed us alot- these 2 girls in pink cowgirl hats driving a white convertible decked out in pink boas. They seemed to be at 4 or 5 different points on the route. There was also a group of guys in jacked up Jeeps and trucks with the slogan "Mudding for a Cure". They would play really loud country music and hoot and holler at us and flash us their bellies with giant pink ribbons painted on them. They were a fun group.
We hit the beach and were ready for St. John's Pass, a shopping/restaurant area, where the next cheering station was at. That was one of the highlights of the walk. There was an overwhelming crowd there and it choked up most of the people walking. To have that many people screaming and cheering you on is amazing. We, dressed as whoopie cushions, were stopped every 4 feet for a photo. I felt bad for the people behind us, but it was a true JLO moment. Also, we had friends who met us there and had cold beers waiting for us. Beyond the Pass, the road got rough. We walked along a stretch of Madeira Beach that was brutally hot. Some people were carted off in an ambulance for dehydration...it was a little scary.
(Us as whoopie cushions at camp)
Through this, I have failed to mention the sweeper vans. These are vans that drive alongside the route, filled with goodies, to pick you up if you need to be driven to the next stop. They each had a different theme, and they played lots of Black Eyed Peas and Britney Spears tunes really loud as they passed. The music really helped. Barry and I vowed to never have to get in one of those vans, and we never did...
(walking through the cheering section of St. John's Pass)
We completed Day 2 finally, after a long boring road with not so many Cheer-ios (I swear I will be there next year people!) and we had a better lay of the land with camp, so we scheduled our massages immediately and got to organizing/packing up what we could for morning when we would need to de-construct the tent. Barry found more letters at the camp post office! We ended the night with a DJ and a dance party. My highlight of that night was dancing on stage to the cha-cha slide in our pajamas, next to 2 crew members dressed as Where's Waldo and another guy walker wearing a sparkly bra. I suddenly forgot my aching pains and shook my tail feathers!
Day 3 began early. It was the last day, so we had to break down camp and say goodbye to our neighbor friends we had made. We left camp and made STEADY PROGRESS. We were on track to finish the day faster than any other. We HAULED butt. The morning was a Sunday, and the day the time changed, so we set out at 6:45 am. What this meant was that there was virtually NOONE out there to cheer us on. BUT the clouds had given us a break and we had a MUCH cooler morning than the rest of the trek. I think the high was 82 that day. We made it to lunch at 10:30 and it wasn't supposed to open until 10:45...they let us eat anyways. We were walkers #120 and #121 out of 1600! Nice pace!
(one of the few groups we saw on Sunday morning, the St. Leo University Swim Team. I was so impressed because St. Leo is at least 1.5 hours north from where we were and this was about 8am, the morning after a time change and Halloween.)
At lunch, I realized things were BAD. My toes were tore up. Blisters everywhere. The medics allowed me to "self medicate", but that didn't do much good. Thank god we had only 5 more miles. At the 3 miles left mark, I was done. DONE. My toes hurt, my feet were swollen, I was miserable, but I had less than a 5k. I hobbled slowly and we managed to make it, with a friend from Atlanta we met along the way. We placed #249, #250, and #251. It was surreal walking up to the finish. People were cheering crazy, dressed in costume, but it was like a daze. We immediately went to go drink some Sangria at a bar about 200 feet from the finish and kill the 3 hours we had to wait for closing ceremony...all in air conditioning!
(I'm almost done, I swear!)
At 4:30, 2 sangrias in, they lined us up to walk to the Closing Ceremonies. The crowd of onlookers awaited us. We marched as a group, up the St. Pete Pier, to Spa Beach where the stage was. They welcomed us, and then came in the SO SUPPORTIVE crew. We went wild over the crew. Those people worked tirelessly, for 4 days to make this event happen. They were AMAZING in spirit and kindness. I'm getting choked up typing about them and I would love to crew the event some day.
THEN walked in the survivors who walked with us, all in pink shirt to differentiate themselves. As they were announced, we all kneeled and raised a shoot to salute them. There was not a dry eye in the crowd. The people chosen to hold flags, were joined by their family members, and finally together, they raised the final flag to signify the ending of the event. SO EMOTIONAL. If you weren't touched by it, then shame on you. I will never, ever forget that moment.
(the shoe salute at closing ceremonies for the survivors)
I finally got to join my hubby, family, and friends that chose to come to the ceremony. We went off, enjoyed an ultra fabulous homecooked meal (yay for stuffing, mac n chese and sweet potatoes!)...life was grand. I was treated as if I was a hero. But THEY were the heros, those survivors that we honored through our walk and at that ceremony.
I'll never forget the people. Like Leora, a young girl from Philly that we met who was not even old enough to drink. Because the Philly walk was cancelled for 2 days due to a Noreaster, she transferred to Tampa, flew by herself, to complete by herself. So brave at that age. Or Allison, our friend from Atlanta that walked with us our last day. She too, walking by herself, this being her 7th walk. Or the lady at camp, that lived across the grass from us...she was hospitalized for dehydration on Friday, and came back out, walking again on Sunday. And finally, the survivor we met who had gone through chemo on Thursday, only to start walking on Friday....
I share this story, in hopes that someone, maybe searching for their next adventure, searching for inspiration, or searching for information (like I was) reads this. Maybe you read this regularly, or maybe you search 3 Day on google and find this entry. I would do this event 100 times over. It was probably the single best thing that I could say I have done in my life towards making a difference in the world, in regards to truly feeling like you are making a real impact.
And I'll finally leave you with this- We met one man, named Barry (ironically the same as my walking partner). He lost his wife to breast cancer. And this event, the Tampa 3 Day, was his 55th event. He walked 55 3 Days in her honor. Well, as he told me, 54 and 1/3 because of the quasi-cancelled Philly event. But I would count that as 55. That was a true love story there. You couldn't help but get emotional when you met the guy. He finished yesterday. On Friday, he will be off in Dallas, walking another 3 Day, again in her honor. He has walked or crewed in every 3 Day event, since his first one in 2006. He is currently 59 years old and is at 3,300-ish miles walked.
I only hope that some day I will have 1 iota of strength that he has.
(walking along the Gulf)
