Traveling definitely caused a little bit of chaos in the beginning of the weekend. We got to drop off our gear bags the night before and I didnt grab any of my rain gear. And wouldnt you know mother nature blessed us with rainstorms on that first day. As we started off one the first day the rain clouds definitely were hoovering over us. And as soon as we started walking, we got hit with some heavy rain. It only lasted 3 miles, but boy did I wish I had my rain coat, or even a poncho. About 2 miles in a crew member was passing out garbage bags, and it worked just as great. Kept me warm to! The rain was so hard that I had to take off my glasses, and couldnt see very well. So it was an interesting start. LOL
After those first 3 miles it cleared up and was pretty decent weather most of the day. We walked 18 miles this day, and I felt pretty good all the way through. As we hit the last leg of 3 miles, I noticed some dark rain clouds hoovering over us. Sure enough the rain started to come again. This time we had ponchos :) It was torrential downpour. The streets and sidewalks were flooded. And at one point we were walking on the shoulder so the cars were splashing us. Local businesses, and even neighbors were offering their porches, houses, garages for safety. But I know if we stopped we wouldnt be able to finish. So we kept on going. It was actually kind of fun :) We got into camp and were rushed into a school for safety. It was starting to lightening and thunder at that point. We were welcomed with towels, and a badge of honor, a I survived the storm pin! Pins and stickers are such a big thing on the 3 day. :) Turned out that there were storms rolling in all night, so we got to sleep inside the school that night. Unfortunately the hallway we got stuck in had emergency fluorescent lights. Thank goodness for my bandanna or I might not have gotten any sleep!
We woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful day! The sun was shining, the temps were in the low 80's and the humidity was low. Perfect weather! The route on day 2 was amazing. We walked through suburbs, a golf course, parks, and nature trails. I loved it! My feet were a bit tender from the rain, so a blister popped up. And grew pretty big. But nothing good blister care couldnt take care of. We walked 22 miles this day, and arrived into camp about an hour later than the first day. We set up camp, ate dinner, showered, watched the entertainment, and called it a night at 9pm.
The Boston 3 day has these kids helping out, the Youth Corps. These kids are amazing. Thisgroup is made up of 20 kids between the ages of 10-15 years old. They have to apply to be in the Youth Corp. Fill out an application, write an essay on why they want to be part of the 3 day, get interviewed, and than fundraise $400. Only 20 get picked each year. And they get to camp with us, and are there helping at camp, pit stops, cheering on walkers, etc. Its really awesome to see them in action. And their fundraising reached over $20,000! These kids are doing amazing things! Most of them actually walk once they hit 16 to! They got to introduce themselves and why they want to be part of the 3 day, and almost all of them have lost a family member to breast cancer. I hate this disease!
On the last day, the sun was blazing and we walked in it most of the day. Last year I had one injury, sunburnt lips, so I kept applying sunscreen to my lips and everywhere else. Some how I didnt do a good job because my lips had sun poisoning. They swelled out 3 times their size! I looked like I had lip injections. lol This day was physically the hardest for me to. The Boston hills (which according to the natives werent even "real" hills) were starting to make my calves ache.So I was at a much slower pace. Than blisters started to pop up everywhere! Lots of first aid care on this day. But we only had 15 miles and the cheering stations, and people all along the route made the day much easier. We also walked along some beautiful beaches! Cant get that view in Michigan :) They threw in some crosstraining for us at mile 58, stairs! lol Although it felt good to move different muscles. We finished off the walk at U Mass. A really great location, what a beautiful campus. Shortly after finishing we all lined up, and headed into closing ceremonies and heard a pretty emotional closing speech.
1900 walkers, 300 crew members, $5.1 million raised! Amazing.
Here are some pictures if you like to check them out...
http://picasaweb.google.com/
Im so glad I did it. It was fun to go to a different city and experience it from the Boston point of view. It has similarities to Michigan, but at the same time was very different. I felt pretty decent when I was done. Wasnt even sore on Monday. But I can defintely say last year I was more on top of my training game. Maybe I got a little cocky from last year, and lacked a little bit to much on the training than I should have. Im still pushing out the miles though. Michigan is in 3 weeks, and Im so geeked that I get to experience the 3 day all over again!
P.S. So I guess you can really tell how bad my brain is scattered lately by this post. lol Im all over the place on this blog. Sorry! lol
3 comments:
Melissa you are AWESOME! Thank you so much for sharing your experience and photos.
Wow! That 3 day walk sounds really rough (18 miles one day, 15 another...)! That's so incredible that you did it! really inspiring!
Thank you so much for walking!
Your photos are wonderful. We'd love it if you'd share them on the official Breast Cancer 3-Day Flickr group, Facebook fan page or MySpace page.
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