My 60 mile Journey!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to start a Journey of a Lifetime? Have you ever imagined that the possibility is just right under your feet?

                When you arrive, the air is crisp, cold, and calm. Looking out of the passenger side window I tell Kirt “I don’t want to do this, no one is going to like me, they won’t want to walk next to me, and they will think I am holding them back.”  Kirt just sat there and stared at me as tears poured down my face. “Please don’t make me get out of this car. I really don’t want to walk 60 miles. What if I can’t make it?” Kirt continued to creep forward very slowly as about 15 vehicles in front of me unloaded there weekend bags. I remember Kirt was really quiet. Then he said “Everything is going to be ok, you’re just scared and that’s alright.” He parked the car, my heart stopped, he opened his door, I stopped breathing, he grabbed my bags, holy crap, he opened my door, omg he is going to pull me out of this car, he looked at me, I looked at him and then my legs began to work. I stood up out of the car and I said “Promise to cheer me on?” He agreed, told me good luck and kissed me goodbye.

                A very kind lady carried my luggage to the moving truck that would meet us at camp later the first day. All I could think was “Holy crap, how am I supposed to pitch a tent!” I thanked her for her hard work and ventured toward the opening ceremony stage. I spotted a 3-Day gear tent and looked at some merchandise. Surprisingly, I didn’t make a purchase. I was too nervous to shop!

Then I saw this:

                My phone rang; it was one of my team members Rebecca! She told me where to meet her, and so began my search for a stranger. When I found Rebecca, she greeted me with open arms. Rebecca had done this walk once before and was very relaxed. It was so nice to already have a friend with me who was physically standing there helping me ease my worries.

                My phone rang again. It was my blister sister Nicole. I had “met” Nicole in January shortly after signing up to walk in Dallas. Nicole was a big help in my fundraising and in my staying sane. I could not wait to actually meet her in person. Nicole was behind the stage. She had the honor of carrying the mother flag for the opening ceremony. Nicole’s mom lost her battle with breast cancer and ever since Nicole has made Breast Cancer Awareness her platform and Research her mission. Nicole and I gave each other huge hugs, tears of joy began to flow, and then I headed back toward Rebecca because Lord knows I didn’t want to get lost!

This is Nicole:

                Once I met up with Rebecca again, I met my last 2 team members, Lisa (a lion tamer) from Dallas and Faye (on tough mamma from Houston). Lisa and Faye were tent mates and they had never walked in a 3 Day before either!  I really think that God had a plan to put comfortable people in my life. Believe it or not, I’m a chicken especially when it comes to meeting new people. God put 4 of the most laid back, fun loving, Starbucks  craving, down home people in my life for that weekend.

                The opening ceremony began with me being hit upside the head at least 15 times with giant beach balls. After being packed in a cage like a bunch of make up wearing, smell good sporting sardines, we had a group stretch. Not even kidding, this was a horrible idea. I got zero stretching done and had a bunch of stranger booty all over my legs. 

 In this picture below.... Notice the inflatable??....  It wasnt alone...

                Dr. Sherri Philips came out on stage, and that’s when you realized all of your hard work to earn your spot in this walk was coming full circle. I watched in awe as Dr. Phillips reminded all of us why were in Dallas. It wouldn’t be until the end of the walk that we would find out that together, DFW walkers raised 7.1 million dollars!!

This adorable little package is Dr. Phillips with the Monkey Curei Osity, who walked in all the 2011 3-Day events:

We gave a salute to the survivors circle, and then we hit the pavement. (some broken sidewalks, lots of curbs, sometimes grass – you know all that fun stuff)

                The city of Dallas is so amazing. They have some of the most amazing people you will ever have cheer for you. Not too many miles in, we came to a school where all the children were able to stand outside and cheer for us. They created signs, they screamed on the top of their little lungs. It was so cool!  I remember this one little chunky guy who couldn’t reach the top of the fence to wave, I had to run across the street and give this little dude a huge hug and high five. Bless his little heart.

(These are the kids from the school!)

              There are people around every corner helping us out. This lady was an awesome crew member who helped us cross the road and always "lied" to us about how much further to the pit stop! (they all lied, ok they probably didnt lie but they always said "ALMOST THERE.")

               

After walking through some absolutely beautiful neighborhoods and wondering if I could ever live in Dallas it was time for lunch. You would be amazed at how quickly you can walk 10 miles. It was like we had only walked 4 or 5. You are so busy talking with other men and women that time rushes right by. Lunch was provided in a beautiful little park, where you were able to eat Panera Bread sandwiches and rehydrate. You could also check in at the medical tent if you needed to. I needed to mole skin some hot spots, so I got taken care of.

LUNCH:

Dallas has some of the most amazing cheerleaders. Training would be so much easier if I had people cheering me on all along the route!

There was this lady, and her Right boob:

Then, there was this guy - he must really understand a walkers pain:

Check out Rebecca and Lisa with this Breast Cancer Awarenes Fan:

 

                After Lunch, you can shuttle back to camp or keep on walking. Camp was at a beautiful college, which I cannot remember the name of now. Once you get to camp on Day 1 you have to pitch your tent right away. You find your luggage, grab a tent, and then walk your happy 
(cranky) buns to the proper camping space. Remember I told you that I was completely panicked over pitching a tent? God sent me the sweetest little boy scout who pitched my tent while I walked my poor feet to the medical tent.

When I entered the medical tent a trainer from UCO in Edmond was there to take a look at my nasty blisters on the bottoms of my toes. He said we really needed to pop them. THE PAIN WAS HORRIBLE! When he looked at my left foot, he asked why it would be so swollen. I lied and told him I had no idea, and that it wasn’t in any sort of pain. Truth is, I was in an excruciating amount of pain but I didn’t want to get a “red” card so I just kept my mouth shut. 

                After my feet received the painful treatment I went to my tent, laid my sleeping bag out on the grass and shut my eyes for a good 2 hours. The sun warmed me while I was resting. When I woke, my tentmate and blister sister forever Nicole was there. She asked if I was ready to get up. I told her I was ready for a shower and so to the portable showers I went. There I was able to take a long hot shower and get my pajamas on. The 3 Day campsite is one amazing place – see everyone eats dinner in their pajamas! How cool is that? I had forgotten a towel and flip flops, but my sweet mother in-law and husband came to my rescue! I was never so happy to see a pair of house shoes in my life. My blisters were still killing me at this point. I mean, so much that I had to walk on my heels.

                We ate a really good dinner. The best mac and cheese ever, then there was a little camp show and it was time to hit the …. Cold ground. I think that it’s best not to sleep too comfortably. Some people brought luxurious sleeping arrangements (which in no way, shape, or form was less than the 35 pound weight limit but let’s not go there) but I really still feel like sleeping on a yoga mat and in a sleeping bag was the best option. I was forced to move and stretch out all night long. My best tent buddy in the entire world wore a forever lazy to bed. She said it was really awesome. I was kind of hoping she would write forever lazy a letter and tell them that she did this, then ask them to sponsor us and provide us with forever lazy sleep wear in pink for next year’s walk.

Nicole in her FOREVER LAZY!

                So, when you wake up its FREEEEEZING outside. Ok, like artic cold. Ok, not that cold but close enough. I wore about 17 layers on day 2. Ok I just had 3 layers on but I’m telling you that it was so cold. You get up and you don’t want to go to the porta-pots (they flushed and that was really cool) because you can’t see. It’s still dark at 5:30 am and you’re cold but you go potty anyways. Then it’s time for a fabulous breakfast that would have been more fabulous if my hash browns weren’t frozen and I’m not even kind of kidding here. If I would have taken a bite of my triangular hash brown I would have lost a tooth.

This is where you get your food at 5am:

               

You have to be ready to hit the trail no earlier than 6:50 and no later than 7:00 am. We were off at 7 am. My feet honestly felt like a million bucks now that the blisters had been treated. All the girls and I hit the trail and off we went to walk 20 (it turned out to be 27 that day) more miles. This day I soaked in a lot of new people. About every 3-5 miles you will find a pit stop. This is where you can rehydrate, use the restroom and get medical attention.

This is also where I met a trainer named Kelly. It was at this pit stop  that Kelly  asked me if I was doing ok, I told her yes I was fine. She asked if my left foot was bothering me and I told her no not really. She commented that she had seen me limping and just thought maybe I would want to get it checked out. Then, I told Kelly the truth. I looked her in straight in the eyes and then hung my head down low. I told her I was in a bit of pain but it really wasn’t too terrible yet. Then I told her that my foot was still fractured, and followed that statement with “Please don’t red card me.” She just smiled and said I won’t, but why would you do that to yourself. Then I told her – My grandmother is a breast cancer survivor, my stepmother is a second time Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma survivor, a kid who works from me has lost his mother to breast cancer, my uncle lost his sister in-law to breast cancer and my husband has two aunts who have both survived breast cancer. Cancer doesn’t stop because you have a broken leg; Chemotherapy is still given if you have a broken bone. I’m not going to stop walking because I have a broken foot, I just cannot do it. She looked at me and said “You be careful” then tears began to pool in her eyes and she said to me “You have really touched me today.” Kelly became my favorite medical staffer throughout the entire walk. Every time she would see me, she would just do a quick check up and off I would go. It was a blessing to have someone so awesome to count on when my feet needed some medical attention.

PEOPLE DRESS LIKE THIS!!! IT MAKES THE WALK SO MUCH MORE FUN!!!

               

Along the way I met the sweetest woman, Barbara, who did not dress like this! She and I walked together the entire afternoon on day 2. We only swept one time this day and it was for just a mile. We had so much fun talking about everything in the world. It was like our pain escaped our bodies as we enjoyed each other’s fellowship. 

Check out these little cheerleaders:

When we got back to camp Barbara and I took a picture by the Day 2 sign and then went to get massages from the Bank of America Tent. HECK YES!

                Then It was dinner time. You have never been so darn hungry in your life. Check out what our “dining room” looked like while we were there:

                Night 2 was so sad. It was the last night you had together. It was so emotional. You had barely known any of these people for 24 hours and you just don’t want to leave them at all. Speaking of emotional, this man whose wife was currently fighting another battle with breast cancer walked. He carried a flag that said “My hero” the entire way. As if that was a big enough tear jerker, he also carried a flag on his backpack:

                Morning of Day 3 I was so ready to kick some ass. Kelly made me tough out the bone chilling pain of icing my broken left foot the night before. Then she scolded me just a little, smiled, and sent me on my way. J She told me that I really needed to take Day 3 easy so that I could finish strong.

                I waited in line forever trying to get on a bus (everyone was shuttled to the starting line) and in the meantime my handsome boy scout came to my rescue and packed up my tent for me! This was the waiting area for the shuttle on day 3:

               

(See what I mean by too dark to want to go potty!!)

I made Faye stop and get some medical attention from my buddy Kelly! But, Kelly wasnt there yet so she had to settle for a cute young medical staff guy. I dont think she minded. (i know i didnt mind!)

 Another Reason Why I walk. This lady is 39 years old and she is a 10 year survivor. Not only is that sad that she was diagnosed at my age - but its inspirational, because we are coming so far.

                Day 3 would take us through a slightly scary part of Dallas. I saw several bums and thought we may have even witnessed a “deal” but we just kept walking and minding our own business. At the time I don’t think I realized the purpose of God routing us through there. Now I look back and I realize that this walk is bigger than we are. Its purpose, goals and missions are to help others. Believe me when I say on this journey, you’re not only helping to fund breast cancer research. It’s much bigger than that. Maybe we inspired someone to reach out to homeless people. Maybe we inspired the homeless people to do something bigger and better too. I was warned that we would be around several bums in a certain district of Dallas. So, I packed my pockets and bag as full of food as I could and handed out meals along the way.

WE DID NOT FEED THE GORILLA!

               
The last couple of miles, I don’t know where you find that last little strength but you do. My feet were experiencing labor pains, my legs burned, my head ached, my body was weak. The team members I walked with all felt the same way. Aches, pains and weakness wouldn’t stop us from our goal. Faye, and her blood soaked shoes slung across her shoulder.  She walked the last 15 miles in socks. This was by far the worst part of Dallas to walk without shoes but she wasn’t going to let a little blood (It was a hot mess of blood, the outsides of her feet were rubbed raw and bleeding ok!) stop her.  We pushed on, and as we walked our last 3 miles it rained for the first time in 3 days. I remember saying “These are the angels who left this earth fighting breast cancer. They are crying because they are so happy that we took a stand, we are fighting for a cure, and we won’t give up.” In that moment we all shed a few tears, walked a little farther and the rain stopped. I remember leaning on my team as they leaned on me. We would pull each other across that finish line if we had to.

 My Hero Faye:

FINALLY!!! MILE 59! We had made it to the mile 59 mark. halllayllllooouuuuuYA! (halleluiah) Technically this was like mile 66 if you remember the extra 7 miles from day 2 – but hey whose counting!

This last mile, is very emotional. You know that you are almost there; you don’t realize how many people are awaiting you. You just push through all of the pain to get to the end. When you embark on mile 60, all the crew, medical staff, and fellow walkers who have made it there ahead of you are there ready to cheer you on. It’s so awesome! A feeling of accomplishment is followed by feelings of joy, love, HOPE, peace, honor and so much more. You did it. You rallied for a cause, you raised much needed funds for research, but most of all you raised awareness. From the community you live in to the community you walk in – you touched a few hearts in this life.

 Nicole, Rebecca, Faye, Lisa and Yours Truly!!

My beautiful team at the finish line! This was such an amazing journey and I am so blessed and honored to call these ladies my friends. Breast Friends Forever! J Love you!

After you cross the finish line you get to go to a closing ceremony. It is so powerful and so moving. Then, you get to meet up with your family. I didnt take any pictures, in fact not many of us did. It was too emotional and you just wanted to be able to be with your new friends in that moment. It was awesome!

Im walking Dallas in 2012. Will you come with me?!