I guess a recap would be appropriate right? :)
I'm not even sure where I could start. It was an amazing experience, from the opening ceremony to closing. We started off the first morning in the rain, but as we stood there in the dark, and the flags started coming through with the music and the breast cancer survivors who were walking 60 miles with us, I don't think there was a dry eye among anyone.
We had more than enough crew who were volunteers and would stand on the streets dressed in ridiculous outfits dancing and encouraging us, sweep vans who were constantly checking on us to make sure we were still standing upright :) and so many supporters. It was amazing the amount of supporters. We had actual cheering stations twice a day that people could come and set up and cheer us on. Yet there were cheerleading squads at the pit stops, elementary schools lined up along the roads, people would would set up tents along the road and pass out candy to us. It was seriously like the worlds longest buffet. Supporters gave us candy, chocolate, homemade cookies, rice crispy treats, icees, donuts, coffee, buttons, stickers, water, trail mix, beads, the list was endless.
Every three miles we had a "pit stop" where there was gatorade, water, food (chips, sandwiches, peanuts, granola bars, pretzels, cheese, oranges, carrots, etc) -- did I mention it was the worlds longest buffet?
At night we ended up sleeping in tents inside because our campground was flooded. Before you start thinking bathrooms, etc... in order to use the bathroom we had to walk down rows of tents, down a hallway, outside, and then to the bathroom, which was also located across from our dining tent. But it was nice to sleep indoors because it was FREEZING at night. Saturday night it dropped down to about 38 degrees.
I could go on and on about the walking, the blisters, the support, etc, but when it came down to it, the experience could not be described. There was a lot of emotions, from laughing to crying in moments. The cheering stations were awesome with people handing out everything, but when one of the women you would pass would look at you and say, "Thank you for walking, I'm a survivor"... you lost it. There was no turning back. Then you cry for a few minutes for the pain you know they went through, and realize what pain you are in at the moment is nothing compared to what they went through.
Inside where our tents were, there was also remembrance tents with a little room holding pictures of all the women who had walked in the 3day and lost their lives. If you go to youtube, and type in "remembrance tent" there is a video that will come up from our trip that someone filmed, and it is worth the few minutes to watch. But have tissues with you. I spent some time in there, but after reading a few of the stories, it was hard to stay in there, but it helped you stay focused on why you were there, and to push yourself even further.
It was amazing journey, from walking the miles everyday to sitting down at dinner with people you had never spoken to before, and find out in a few minutes they were breast cancer survivors who were walking or crewing because they couldn't walk. I remember looking at Jenna when we were about 2 miles from the finish line and telling her, "I could never do this again." At that point, we were walking about .2 miles an hour. :)
Well, 4 days later, I still have fluid on my knees, and a couple blisters on my toes that are the same size as my toes... but I will do it again next year, and the next year, until there is a cure for breast cancer. And I will do it again in memory of my Grandma Margie because I didn't get enough time with her and my own brother should have been able to meet his grandmother, and for my mom's tennis partner who I know her daughter's heart broke when she lost her mom and she never got to see her sons graduate college, and for anyone else anyone wants me to walk for in honor or in memory of.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Last Post!!!
I was going to do my last post Wednesday before we left, and then I realized looking at all I have left to do (school/packing/friends/family) there is absolutely no way I will remember to post again!
4 days left and I am $86 dollars from goal!!! Which is freaking awesome!!! :)
Thank you to everyone for all the packing tips... I think I have everything ready now I just need to actually pack!!
I really have nothing left to say but Thank You to everyone, I got more out of this journey so far in just the training than I ever thought I would!
Also, since I already know ahead of time.... Thank you Mom, Shea, Lauren, & Kenny for writing me letters to Atlanta... you guys are awesome.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we walk this weekend!!!!
And cross your fingers that it doesn't rain!!!
Monday, October 12, 2009
10 days... and my next to last post!
10 days from right now I will be in Atlanta going to bed to get up at 4:30am!!! Woo hoo! This is my next to the last post (I will post before I leave) because I know in the next 9 days I will be super busy trying to do 2 weeks worth of school work, packing, and spending time with my friends & family.
But seriously, I can't believe it's only 10 days away. The past 6 months have flown by, not only with walking but just everything that has done a 180....
When I started training for this walk, I was working full time, crossing my fingers everyday checking to see if I got into graduate school (It was semi-scary since there was only one school I could apply to for my major), meet-up was just getting into full-swing, we were still waiting for Tri-Sports to finally send out a schedule (even though we were supposed to start softball in March), Jenna was living in Wilmington, I belonged to a gym with a personal trainer twice a week working my butt off to lose weight (little did I not know if I just changed my food/drink habits), and I didn't have some of the amazing people in my life that I do now....
Welcome to October of 2009.... I think this is the most changes I have ever been through in 6 months... and I don't think even one of them has been bad. I am no longer working (which I miss Jessica, but I am SO excited for her that she has so many friends and loves preschool so much!!), I'm in school full time and love my major... minus the statistics part (Did I mention I made some amazing friends who help me with that??), Jenna now lives 20 minutes away (YAY!), I belong to a gym that I never see which I plan on getting back into in a couple weeks--- but in the meantime I can now walk my neighborhood blindfolded, and I have lost 25 pounds... (and hopefully more to come!), and while Tri-Sports is still a big mess (Not gonna lie, we can start with our awful team name and go from there)we at least got some softball games going... :) I have made some AWESOME friends that hopefully I get to play with for a long time....
To single a few of you out..... and hopefully you are able to figure out who YOU are... (and some people may be able to figure out who others are... just don't say anything)
1. Thank you for all the encouragement along the way. For checking up on my eating habits and answering every single question I had along the way. Without you, I don't think my entire diet would have changed and I would have not had the energy that I have to succeed next week.
2. You two are one of the happiest couples I have ever met, together and apart. You are both so full of energy and so sweet/witty all the time. Congrats on your new house! I plan on having a slumber party one night there to break in one of the guest rooms... just forewarning :)
3. You are like having a little sister to fight with. Or pick on. I know you hate it, which probably makes me love to do it even more. But I love you. :) Thank you for being so encouraging and sweet and ALWAYS there when I need you.
4. While one of my newest friends, you are fastly becoming one of my closest. I love hanging out with you, and thank you so much for your concern last weekend. Even if you did make me drink buckets of water. I think I just got ANOTHER e-mail from you concerning cranberry juice.... are you aware of how nasty that stuff is? I guess I should trade it for the coffee I am currently drinking. :P I know it's bad, I'm an addict what can I say? I promise I'll chase it with 3 glasses of H2O :)
5. SHREK!!!! 10 days!!!! (yeah okay so everyone clearly knows who this is now)I love you & I promise I'll get you the matching hat this week so we can rock Atlanta together... ps. I need to teach you the Hoedown Throwdown this week... we can karaoke it together :D
6. I'm not even sure where to start with you. I feel like half the time we don't even have to talk but just shoot each other looks. :) Thank you for being so supportive the past few months, not just with this walk.... although you were able to earn your own bedroom that way. ;) I love you!
7. Thank you for being a great friend and for all the information/answering questions in the past months... minus your thoughts on chicken broth while running (gross). Thank you more for everything else outside of training you have helped me with (even if you didn't know it!) and putting up w. my ups and downs over the past few months.
8. What can I say about you? Thank you (ahead of time) for making me a *rocket ship cake* for my party :D haha... seriously, thanks for being there and encouraging and everything in between. Also, thank you for going out in public with me after I have walked 15 miles, wrote papers, and showed up with no make-up wet hair, glasses, and sweat pants. THEN laying down in the booth at the restaurant.... poor people at Brixx... I think that's why they started giving us tables....
9. Thank you for the awesome donation!! You are a great friend, and I still think you should have dyed your hair pink :D haha.... I'm so glad we became good friends over the past 6 months and that we continue to become even better friends in the future :)
I would continue... but the list is REALLY long.... I think I covered everyone a few posts back, this was just for the people I missed, or for things going on lately :)
Thursday, October 8, 2009
This one is worth 5 minutes of your time....
This morning I received an e-mail that stated I needed to have some little square pocket thing and a lanyard. I stared blankly at my screen for about 5 minutes, finally realized I had seen these things before, then realized I saw them in umm.. January. If you know me well, you know there is a good chance what I need is long gone. Lucky me, I have a drawer in my room filled with information from different races, which everything was in there. That's when I realized there had been message boards all this time that gave information... of course I decided to visit the message boards to learn all about my two biggest concerns-- staying comfy at night & public showers. (Yes, I have actually gotten to the point where I have learned I have to face my porta potty fear.)
Long story short, I came across this website, with this guy who has been doing the Breast Cancer 3 day for years.... and had some really funny tips, it was over 50 pages long, and now I feel like I am completely informed about what's going on.... I wanted to share some of the tips with you guys, not only because some of them made me laugh out loud, but also to get an insight as to what will be going on during those 3 days...
Oh and PS.... Less than $300 to go!!! :) :) :) Please continue to donate if you can! 14 days!!!
Here we go... tips from the 3day guy:
On Sleeping...
"Many people who are sharing a tent with a close friend or relative bring a queen size air mattress, which will take up most of the floor space of the tent. This is fine if you are comfortable spooning with your tent mate. If you don't know your tent mate, a queen size air mattress is a bit presumptuous"
On bags...
"This is not the Ritz Carlton. Your bag may be tossed. Your bag may be dragged. Your bag may be dropped. Your bag may be on the bottom of a pile of other bags. If your sleeping bag is strapped to the outside of your bag it is likely that it will get lost, torn, or soaking wet in a rain shower. Or maybe all of the above!"
"If your sleeping bag is lost or soaked, you will go to the Medical tent where you will get a Mylar space blanket. A space blanket is a thin sheet of Mylar (sort of like Christmas tinsel, in a big sheet). I can't think of many things worse than trying to sleep on the ground, wrapped in Christmas tinsel, let alone after having walked all day."
On Tenting...
"Since it's a charitable event, and not a fraternity party, you won't be randomly assigned a tent mate of the opposite sex."
"Co-ed tents are permissible but the tents are not soundproof, so quiet is highly recommended when it comes to conversation or ANYTHING ELSE you do in your tent with your tent mate."
"As soon as you put your tent up, place something inside of it. Otherwise, when a breeze comes up, your empty tent will fly across the field. There is nothing funnier than watching someone running across a field, chasing their bedroom."
On sleeping...
"Tents are not soundproof, if a person is snoring 3 tents away, you will still hear them quite clearly."
On walking....
Because so many people have asked me this:
"You are NEVER allowed to run on the route. It is dangerous for all walkers. If you are uncomfortable keeping to a walking pace, and feel you must run, this event is not for you."
On Hyponatremia...
"You have to drink both water and sports drink." <---- This I am not a fan of. "If you drink too much water and not enough sports drink, you are at risk of hyponatremia" (There was like 4 more paragraphs explaining why the pretzels and everything I have been doing isn't enough, so I guess I'll suck up the Gatorade for 3 days.)
After all this it was followed by 3 pages of what happens to you if you don't drink enough.... let me just say this, "hooking up to IV" was in there 4 times. Stacie will NOT be dehydrated at any point. We all know how I feel about needles. Yuck.
On Showering...
"Go eat before you shower. If you faint in the shower from not eating, I promise the crew members will whistle, Getting to know you, getting to know all about you, the entire time we remove your soapy body from the shower."
It's a walk, not a diet
"Think of the walk as the world's longest buffet line. You will probably be eating non-stop from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep. If you thought you retained water in the past, you ain't seen nothing yet! It is non unusual to weigh SIGNIFICANTLY more on the Monday after your walk than you did on the day before your walk began, so stay off the scales!"
So, it was actually a lot funnier the first time I read it... so hopefully you did laugh a little... and if not... oh well, you were on facebook wasting time anyways in order to see this so I don't feel that bad. ;)
If you haven't yet... please... (you thought I was going to say donate) ;) .... send a letter or note or something before October 13th, we will receive it when we get down there, and I already know it will be of great encouragement when I'm attempting to set up a tent, sleep outside for the FIRST TIME EVER, take showers in a truck, get naked in front of lots of other people, use porta potties for the first time, and oh yeah, walk 60 miles! :)
Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office
ATTN: INSERT NAME OF PARTICIPANT
#370
880 Marietta Hwy. Suite 630
Roswell, GA 30075
<3
Long story short, I came across this website, with this guy who has been doing the Breast Cancer 3 day for years.... and had some really funny tips, it was over 50 pages long, and now I feel like I am completely informed about what's going on.... I wanted to share some of the tips with you guys, not only because some of them made me laugh out loud, but also to get an insight as to what will be going on during those 3 days...
Oh and PS.... Less than $300 to go!!! :) :) :) Please continue to donate if you can! 14 days!!!
Here we go... tips from the 3day guy:
On Sleeping...
"Many people who are sharing a tent with a close friend or relative bring a queen size air mattress, which will take up most of the floor space of the tent. This is fine if you are comfortable spooning with your tent mate. If you don't know your tent mate, a queen size air mattress is a bit presumptuous"
On bags...
"This is not the Ritz Carlton. Your bag may be tossed. Your bag may be dragged. Your bag may be dropped. Your bag may be on the bottom of a pile of other bags. If your sleeping bag is strapped to the outside of your bag it is likely that it will get lost, torn, or soaking wet in a rain shower. Or maybe all of the above!"
"If your sleeping bag is lost or soaked, you will go to the Medical tent where you will get a Mylar space blanket. A space blanket is a thin sheet of Mylar (sort of like Christmas tinsel, in a big sheet). I can't think of many things worse than trying to sleep on the ground, wrapped in Christmas tinsel, let alone after having walked all day."
On Tenting...
"Since it's a charitable event, and not a fraternity party, you won't be randomly assigned a tent mate of the opposite sex."
"Co-ed tents are permissible but the tents are not soundproof, so quiet is highly recommended when it comes to conversation or ANYTHING ELSE you do in your tent with your tent mate."
"As soon as you put your tent up, place something inside of it. Otherwise, when a breeze comes up, your empty tent will fly across the field. There is nothing funnier than watching someone running across a field, chasing their bedroom."
On sleeping...
"Tents are not soundproof, if a person is snoring 3 tents away, you will still hear them quite clearly."
On walking....
Because so many people have asked me this:
"You are NEVER allowed to run on the route. It is dangerous for all walkers. If you are uncomfortable keeping to a walking pace, and feel you must run, this event is not for you."
On Hyponatremia...
"You have to drink both water and sports drink." <---- This I am not a fan of. "If you drink too much water and not enough sports drink, you are at risk of hyponatremia" (There was like 4 more paragraphs explaining why the pretzels and everything I have been doing isn't enough, so I guess I'll suck up the Gatorade for 3 days.)
After all this it was followed by 3 pages of what happens to you if you don't drink enough.... let me just say this, "hooking up to IV" was in there 4 times. Stacie will NOT be dehydrated at any point. We all know how I feel about needles. Yuck.
On Showering...
"Go eat before you shower. If you faint in the shower from not eating, I promise the crew members will whistle, Getting to know you, getting to know all about you, the entire time we remove your soapy body from the shower."
It's a walk, not a diet
"Think of the walk as the world's longest buffet line. You will probably be eating non-stop from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep. If you thought you retained water in the past, you ain't seen nothing yet! It is non unusual to weigh SIGNIFICANTLY more on the Monday after your walk than you did on the day before your walk began, so stay off the scales!"
So, it was actually a lot funnier the first time I read it... so hopefully you did laugh a little... and if not... oh well, you were on facebook wasting time anyways in order to see this so I don't feel that bad. ;)
If you haven't yet... please... (you thought I was going to say donate) ;) .... send a letter or note or something before October 13th, we will receive it when we get down there, and I already know it will be of great encouragement when I'm attempting to set up a tent, sleep outside for the FIRST TIME EVER, take showers in a truck, get naked in front of lots of other people, use porta potties for the first time, and oh yeah, walk 60 miles! :)
Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office
ATTN: INSERT NAME OF PARTICIPANT
#370
880 Marietta Hwy. Suite 630
Roswell, GA 30075
<3
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
17 days!!! $357
I haven't blogged in a while as there as been nothing new and exciting in the walking world... just in the real world (keep reading) :) 17 days until we walk. 16 days until we leave. With $357 my goal is to get there before we leave! So please donate, just think if you donate even $5 that is equal to a large pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks.... you can pass on one of those. :)
This is a practice run for 20 miles/3 days and it has rained yesterday and today, so I am waiting until tomorrow to start. Then after that it is two tapering weeks (yay!) :)
In real news, many exciting things have happened over the past few weeks...I think the most exciting was...
Becky (who is mentioned and pictured in posts below) & Chris (her husband) had their first child on September 24th, a little girl, Nora! She is beautiful and she was born on Becky's 25th birthday!
And in school news, it is a lot of work, but it's going, it's almost time to figure out how many classes to take for next semester... which I also plan on getting a job full or part time, not sure yet... but I need to decide now how many classes to take. I won't be training anymore so that will free up at least 4 hours of my day... but a job would fill at least those.... Thoughts?
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