My favorite day (up to my favorite part), Day 3

One day some friends asked my favorite part of the whole 3 Day. I knew I'd start crying as soon as I started talking about it. In fact, I tear up now.

The last day was the hardest physically, but also my favorite.

I had spent most of the morning in line at the medical tent. My feet were covered in blisters. Covered. (The woman lancing them even said, "we got a gusher!" Yesss!)Out of pained or happy, Cristina said I should make a pained face.

Wink for Pink walked with me and Barbra for the first few miles, then most of them were going to walk it pretty fast. (Of course Vera dragged Debbie pretty quickly so she could be back in time for the Closing Ceremonies of which she was a part of).

We walked slowly to the first Cheering Station. We saw some of our other cheer-leaders and talked a bit. Toward the end of the line, I saw Dad and Cindy.

Suddenly I was able to run a few steps into Dad's arms. It was so good to see him and Cindy and Amanda and Karen. All there waiting for me.
As I walked a bit further, I saw a couple with Twizzler's and those soft mints. ... The woman behind me in line at the medical tent said her parents asked her what they should bring to the Cheering Stations (to give out to people). She said Twizzlers (NOT Red Vines!) and those soft mints. I was excited to meet them. She was a great person to have in line behind me. Even held my spot when I went to get breakfast.

Barbra and I continued to walk pretty slowly. But it was a good pace for us both. The curbs just killed to step off and on. I groaned. I hurt. My left shin started to hurt. We went loopy:
It was still my favorite day. I talked to more people. I ate lunch with Dad and Cindy--and we were determined NOT to be whisked away in the sweep vans which would take us to the next stop if we didn't finish lunch in the next 8 minutes.

As we crossed one of the last streets, I heard my name and Ryan was standing there--I had not seen him standing there, nor taking several pictures. I knew I was nearing the end. Ryan walked with us for a bit, and snapped a few pictures.

He went on ahead. Soon we saw Yvonne and she walked with us in to the finish.

Here's where we get to my favorite part. The part that still makes me cry every time.

That pained face of mine is full of emotions. I'm crying, but trying not to, but at the same time letting the tears fall.

I saw the crowds, heard the yelling. The tears started. We grabbed each other's hands. We walked together. I couldn't stop crying. We crossed through, hand in hand. People cheered. I cried. They cheered louder. They cheered as loud for me as they did for the first person. Hundreds of people were there, screaming and yelling on either side of me.

I saw some of my team-mates. They screamed, they took pictures. They smiled big. I smiled and cried.

Just before I got to the tent where I would pick up my much-coveted shirt, I felt a huge sense of relief. All this pain and exhaustion just left. A huge relief to be done, to be done with the training, to be done with the walk.


Those minutes (I have no idea how long they were) as I crossed the finish line, up until I got my shirt....That was my favorite moment.

Reunion

Had a nice little reunion at Vera's house today. We laughed, teared up some, laughed some more. I personally am still debating doing it again or not.

Cris gave me a copy of her pictures, and I'm getting more later. I'll post some of those to my picassa.

However, here I will post the infamous "Boobie Cakes." Don't scroll down if you're offended by boobs made of flour, sugar and cream cheese icing!






And, Vera, about to start the surgical cutting:

Food

I think I'd do the walk again for the amount of food I got to eat. The week before, the weekend and the week after, I didn't have much reason to care what I ate. The carb load still wafts into my dreams...

We got to the first Pit Stop about an hour or so into the walk. There was some sort of stop every 3 or so miles, which is about an hour. A Pit Stop has Port a Potties, water and gatorade, and food. Chips, pretzels, coveted string cheese, coveted grahm cracker-pb-and-j-sandwhiches, cookies, orange, apples, bananas.

Grab and Go's were just that. Grab water or gatorade and go. And "go." That was it.

Cheer Stations were the places friends, families and neighbors would come out to support us. They'd have candy and granola bars and water and treats. Target gave us bags of goodies, including granola bars and fruit chews. It was hard not to take candy from the little kids who stood there, anxious to pass out candy.

I think I cried at and after every cheer station.

One time we were even told to "come hungry" to the cheer station, by Karla's friends. The Krispey Kremes were delicious.

Then there was meal time.

Chicken, pasta, salad, dessert, fruit, cokes, waters....
Big coffee stands for breakfast--coffee, milk, soy milk, hot chocolate mix, tea...
Lunch was usually a sandwich of sorts, fruit cup, potato salad, chips, cookies...

We were never at a loss for food.
I was actually excited when I got hungry for dinner!

Lots

Maybe writing bit by bit will take too long. I mean, it's several weeks past the ending...

Last night I had huge chunks of skin come off my feet. I mean, I had to pull and cut some, but they were there. Nice and crusty...

I didn't tell many students, if any, that I was doing the walk. Some have heard about it. I didn't think they'd "get" how far it was...i think some of them have.

Day 1, part one

We all woke up far before the alarms rang. Well, one of my two roommates did, and then I was rustled awake. I groggily found my clothes. Turned on the TV to see what the weather was going to be. I guess I didn't pay much attention to the temperature, only to see if it was going to rain or not. On the national map, there were clouds almost everywhere--except over Texas!

We had to be on the buses with all our stuff at 5:30 a.m. ! We made it, with time to spare. We ate some kolaches from the day before. Sort of. I knew I had to eat. I was also too excited and too nervous to eat. The people coordinating the buses had tons of food ordered. It looked good. Not much of it could I actually imagine eating.

Found some of our walking pals and loaded the buses.

That's when I called mom. At that time, she was 13 hours ahead of us, so she was just on her way to dinner or something. There was tons going on around me, so it was a little hard to focus on what she was saying, but I was trying to tell her of all the things going on around me. I knew I was going to cry this weekend, but I didn't know it'd start that early! Good tears, though. Nervous, excited, I miss mom tears.

Once we got to Southfork, we had to take our bags to one of the luggage trucks. We huddled close, looked for friends, stood around, tried to get warm. It was 36 degrees the morning we started!! (Luckily we didn't know that till that night!)

They called us over to the opening ceremonies, and we all corralled in that direction, anticipating what was going to happen next....

The leaders of this whole big shebang talked to us, told us how great we were, all the things we needed to hear. We itched to get going. We stretched. We Screamed. We yelled. We cried as a few survivors walked up a platform. They held hands, tears fell from their cheeks.

Eventually, finally, the let us go.

The sun was finally coming up, we walked by several places famous to South Fork. We finally made it to the edge of the gates, and to the road. And started. Really and truly started walking down the street. All 2400 of us.

Day 1, minus a few hours

Lisa picked me up around 1:00. We made our way to Cris's house, where Erin would meet us.

The drive up was easy, and even a little comical when Erin and Cris started following the wrong truck--into someone's driveway!! We caught up again in West at the, you guessed it, the Kolache Factory. Oh, sweet kolaches, how I do love thee!

We made it to our hotel and immediately saw people we knew were in The Walk. Groups of ladies cackling in the lobby, pink hats, posters and wigs all over the place... Signs of where to meet, what time to be in what places. We took over that hotel!

We met up with Karla and her friends and family and all ventured over to Fuddruckers. Forgot how good (and greasy) that place is!

I slept horrible that night. The paranoia of over-sleeping, the heat of the room, the no circulation, the thoughts, the concerns, the joys, the excitements.... did I eat too much tonight? What if I don't get enough sleep tonight and I'm too tired tomorrow? What if I accidentally kick Cris while we sleep? Oh my gosh, what time is it?! Why am I still awake?

PS

More pictures.

Enjoy.

Thanks to Ryan for snapping the shots!