Monday, September 29, 2008

3Day Walk

Most of you know that I participated in the Susan G. Koman 3Day Walk for breast cancer. The walk was the main reason why I was in MN. My mom, sister, Alicia, and I walked in the Twin Cities walk on Sept 19-21st, and it was an amazing experience. For anyone that doesn't really know what it is all about her is a little summary. They have the 3Day walk in 15 different cities around the country and you can walk as an individual or in teams and it is a 60 mile walk over 3 days. You have to raise at least $2200 to participate in the walk and all the money goes to the Susan G. Koman Foundation which uses the money for a number of things, but mainly for breast cancer research. My sister Alicia is the one who wanted to do the walk and wanted us to participate with her. Her daughter's paternal grandma died from breast cancer years ago and Kaia will never get to know her. That was the motivation behind the whole idea. We walked as a team with two other great ladies and our team name was, For Our Daughters. We started out at the State Fair grounds on Friday morning and ended up at the State Capital on Sunday afternoon. There were lots of places in between and it was a trying experience. I've done 4 triathlons in the past and this was harder than that in a lot of ways. It is the same movement over and over again for 20 miles for 3 days in a row. I don't think sleeping on the ground helped any either. That's right, we camped each night at an amazing camp site that was set up just for us. There were about 3000 walkers and almost 300 volunteer crew members to help us along our way. Like I said before it was an amazing experience and definitely something I will do again. People were so grateful that we were walking and took the time to raise the money and train for the walk. Along the route they set up cheering stations where friends, family and anyone else can come out and cheer us on and that in itself was great. There were a lot of breast cancer survivors that would come out and just say thank you, sometimes it made you cry, but also feel blessed that you are able to do something to help. Marc came to MN a couple of days before the walk so that he could take care of Ella. Marc and my dad came out to cheering stations a couple of times and brought Ella and Kaia with them. On the last day, Sara came with her kids as well and they were all there at the same time. So, besides having a pain in my leg for a few days and some sore, stiff muscles, it was completely worth the effort to participate in this event. Here are some pictures from the walk.

At opening ceremonies

"Titty Town"- One of the pit stops along the route

A local fire station showing their support

All the grandkids at one of the cheering stations

Yea, we did it! Our team at the end of the route

Thank you to everyone who supported me in both thoughts and prayers and with donations.

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