Michigan raised 5.9 million dollars! The walk was amazing. Ill give you the short summary - Im going to post a long weekend report in my personal blog and Ill link it if anyone is interested in hearing my stories :)
Friday Morning was a little chilly, but it warmed up nicely within a few hours. It was a little hectic getting into opening ceremonies due to the small entrance. But their was police directing traffic, and considering the volume it was handled pretty good. My parents drove me and stayed for opening ceremonies. It was a beautiful ceremony. This year they had these flags that said: Belief, Healing, Commitment, Hope, Optimism, Love, Patience and Courage. These flags were passed along to walkers through the whole weekend and walked 60 miles as well :) This day was very very hilly, well compared to where I live. So 8 hours of hills didnt agree with my knees to much. 3/4 of the way through I put some biofreeze on them and made it to camp. Popped some Motrin, and in the morning they felt better. This day was 18.8 miles. But with all the walking at camp, it ended up being 22 miles. (my friend wore her gps watch all weekend) .
Camping wasnt to bad - I had a hard time sleeping the first night but didnt expect to sleep like a baby anyways.
On Day 2 I woke up feeling pretty good. This day we were walking 20.1 miles. There were less hills and I was thankful! It warmed up quickly and turned out to be a beautiful day. We had tons of cheerers out today, especially through the city, Plymouth. They were awesome. I also got to see my friend Dawn at the cheering station, she is one of the woman I walk for. Shes battling her third time with breast cancer. When we got to camp I felt like we took a stroll. No pain anywhere. I did feel a little lightheaded due to lack of salt, so drank up some Gatorade and ate dinner and felt better. I slept much better this night. I was on the lookout for Jim on this day to. My walking partner, Jen, and I asked everyone guy if they were Jim. lol Still no sign of him.
On Day 2 I woke up feeling pretty good. This day we were walking 20.1 miles. There were less hills and I was thankful! It warmed up quickly and turned out to be a beautiful day. We had tons of cheerers out today, especially through the city, Plymouth. They were awesome. I also got to see my friend Dawn at the cheering station, she is one of the woman I walk for. Shes battling her third time with breast cancer. When we got to camp I felt like we took a stroll. No pain anywhere. I did feel a little lightheaded due to lack of salt, so drank up some Gatorade and ate dinner and felt better. I slept much better this night. I was on the lookout for Jim on this day to. My walking partner, Jen, and I asked everyone guy if they were Jim. lol Still no sign of him.
On Day 3 as we were packing up our tents, wouldn't you know a guy walks by and it looks like Jim. And it was! YAY! I found him. We chatted for a bit and thought we might catch up at the end. Rob was going to come down to the cheering station, but Jim's pace was ahead of mine so I thought I might miss Rob. And I did :( Boohoo! This day was a breeze. We did take longer breaks at each pit stop so we didnt get done to early. And finished right around 3:30. As we came in, there was Jim! Jen snapped a pic of us (see above). You know you like my bunny ears :) So we had just enough time for some more pics, pee, and hydrate and we were off to closing ceremonies. What an emotional closing ceremonies! We lined up in rows of 8, Jim found me so we got to walk in together, which I was hoping we could do :) And we also walked in with a Cleveland walker we met along the route. Clevelands 3 day was about a month ago and their closing ceremonies got rained out, so they were invited to join us :) We walked a silent mile to closing ceremonies to honor all those that we have lost to breast cancer. As we got close to the crowd and we passed the crew and medical they were down on one knee. The crew, medical, and safety really amaze me. They are really awesome. I could feel the tears coming. And than I saw Grant blowing kisses at me, and my parents waving and I lost it. Tears poured down my face. I grabbed jenn and just put my arm around her. WE MADE IT! We piled into an outer circle. Than Crew, Medical, and Safety came in and were part of the inner circle. And last the survivors came in in front of them. We all got down on one knee and took off one shoe to honor the survivors and those that we've lost. After another emotional speech...the 3 day was over. :( One of thee best closing ceremonies Ive been a part of ever. 5.9 million. Awesome.
Some highlights of the weekend:
- This awesome Cleveland cheerer that made a big sign that said: WOOHOO! And he yelled it all day emphasizing the word woohooo!
- The Superior Paramedics! These guys had a trailer attached to the ambulance and had huge speakers and drove along the route while dancing and sang the whole weekend!
- The Romeo High School Football Team: These guys put up our tents, carried our dinner plates to the table, took pictures for us, carried our bags to our tents, and were not physically there but emotionally connect to us. These boys were amazing!
- The camp entertainment - some of the best karaoke Ive ever heard! And quite a dance party. Those paramedics were on top of the tables throwing their shirts off! lol
- The people cheering us along the route! All of them meant so much!
- The 19 year old boy that self delayed his donations by $1400 to do the walk for his friends mother who is a survivor. He shaved his head for donations at camp. A true inspiration.
Okay Im getting long...Ill put an end for now :) I signed up for 08 - Michigan here I come again! Hopefully with Jim and Rob :) Jim...it was great to finally meet you. Im glad we got to share this awesome experience together. You rock!
Here is my pictures if you want to check them out. They are broke down by days, but arent in order. Sorry!
P.S. I met my September goal today - 2 days late but hey I didnt gain any weight on the 3 day. As a matter of fact I lost a pound while on it. go me!
10 comments:
Sounds like a awesome experience Melissa. Thanks for sharing it with us. Thats cool that you got a chance to meet a FAT member. Sounds like such a wonderful cause.
Damn Melissa, you LOST WEIGHT on the 3-Day. Next year, you can show me how to do that. I gained five pounds. :( Just goes to show you though, that it is possible. Good job!! We'll have to work out some training walks for next year for sure!
Nice! Lots of good things in your blog, all good actually.
Also great job on hitting your goal, better late than never right? In the words of the cheerer: "woohooo!!!"
SO proud of you for this. I was there at one of the cheering stations and didn't realize that you were behind Jim. I should have stayed.. you could have asked every guy on the cheering station if they were me :)
I'll be signing up with Jim for '08. I can't wait for this. We'll have to do some fundraising together, the three of us.
Melissa, what you and Jim (and Rob) did this weekend is sooooo awesome. Great fundraising efforts by Michigan, too!!!
You guys really are making a difference and I think what you did is very commendable!
Also, great job on hitting your goal. Isn't that such a great feeling?? :)
awesome! you should be very proud of yourself. I almost cried when I read the part where you started to cry. I guess i could relate to your experience having done simliar things before. What a great feeling!
again, congrats.
WOOHOOO!
Where do I sign up for '08?
I want that great experience.
Way to go Melissa.
that sounds like a really good time!
Way to go Melissa. 60 miles is no joke. I'm muoy impressed. This is the first postseason in 14 years that the Phils have played, so I know what you're going through with the Tigers. October is so much more fun with postseason!
Wow. first of all 60 miles is like whoa. I walked 20 miles for the walk for hunger and it was crazy, so i can only imagine what 20 miles 3 days in a row is like. You're a rockstar just for that.
Second, $6 million dollars!!! That's SOOOO GREAT! I lost an aunt to breast cancer 17 years ago, so it's an issue that's close to my heart. I really want to find something I can run that's charitable but I haven't had much success in that regard. So I admire you and the dedication that it took to complete that. Now you can just take all that hard work and discipline and channel it into the next phase of your journey, whatever it may be.
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