2014 Susan G. Komen Seattle 3-Day

Boobs, Sweat and Tears… that’s what the weekend was all about! It was another fantastic weekend at the 3-Day for the Cure event - it never disappoints!

This year started out a little differently than years past – I was not prepared. I was not properly trained, I packed at the last minute and we arrived in Seattle late Thursday night. Arriving late meant we got very little sleep before our 4:00am wake-up call. Needless to say, when it was time to get up, I was moving at a slug’s pace. Edith and Brittany got ready quickly but I had a tough time just organizing my thoughts, not to mention my belongings. Then the unthinkable happened… we did not eat breakfast! WHAT?! I know! Seriously!

We arrived at check-in about 10 minutes late after stopping across the street to get a MUCH NEEDED cup of coffee. (Thanks Brittany for getting us there as quickly as possible!) Luckily the lines were nonexistent and we blew through the process like a breeze! Opening ceremony started soon after our arrival. Brittany stayed for the ceremony and then sent us off through the streets of downtown Seattle.

Filomena Flamingo takes a Selfie!

Edith and I saw a lot of familiar faces, both within the crew and the walkers. It is always nice to reconnect and see so many people doing this event year after year. There are also a lot of community people that are out each year too, over and over again, cheering us on and providing us with plenty of treats! (I definitely limit my intake of those!) Many of the walkers wear buttons that represent the number of times they have walked the event– mine was a “5-peat” and Edith’s was a “4-peat.”  I saw several “10-peat” buttons and even a “16-peat”! We later heard a man telling his story at the closing ceremony that he had walked in the 3-Day event in several cities each year and this was his 32^nd time to walk it! Unbelievable! Not only was he in great shape but he raised a minimum of $2,300 for EACH event!  That’s a whopping $73,600 AT LEAST that he has raised for the cause. WOW, impressive! It is all I can do to raise the money for ONE event each year!

Friday morning started out cool but as soon as the sun started to shine, the word “cool” no longer existed. 

Of course the weather was truly beautiful (it was a day people in the Pacific Northwest long for) but when you are walking on asphalt and concrete in 85 degrees F, huffing, puffing and trudging UP HILLS, HILLS and MORE HILLS while being totally exposed to the sun… the weather is only one thing - H.O.T. Without the proper training, with added weight this year, and with the fact that I suffered a heat stroke while camping a few years ago, I struggled. I no longer tolerate the heat well. I had to take my time and just put one foot in front of the other.  That is all I could do. Going faster was not an option for me at all. I did not care what time I made it to camp (we had until 7:00pm), I just wanted to complete the walk. Edith had it set in her mind that she wanted to be at camp by 5:00 so we set that as our goal.

The route was familiar, some very minor changes from the last three years. The first year I walked was on a completely different route but this was my fourth time to walk this particular one. They REALLY need to change the Seattle route! I am ready for it NOT to be so familiar. A change would be welcomed!

We made it to lunch on Friday and took our shoes off to give our poor feet a break. Neither Edith nor I trained properly so our feet were tired early on. Day 1, Lunch stop.  Ouch.

At the last Pit Stop of the day, I decided I really needed to sit down and take a longer break that normal. I was hot and completely exhausted. We found a great shady spot on a grassy slope and took a seat. In fact, we took our shoes off and lay in the grass. I wondered how I was ever going to make it three more miles, not even wanting to think about two more days! 

We were there for approximately 30 minutes and unbelievably I felt rejuvenated. Shade was really what I needed all along! We got up and shot out of the Pit Stop like women on a mission.  It was time to GET. TO. CAMP. We passed walkers left and right! We got cheers from the crew – “Going at a great pace, Ladies!” We were energized! We were excited! And we walked those three miles in just over 45 minutes, making it back to camp at 5:08. Awesome job, Ladies!

After being out on route for 10 hours of the day, we got our belongings set up in our tent, went to pick up our mail, and found a fabulous little dessert table filled with nuts, cookies, cakes, brownies, etc. What a treat! There were large pillows to sit on and plenty of comfortable chairs (not the hard folding type as in the past). We were pampered quite a bit this year! We ate our treats and then decided we should probably eat dinner.

 A little backwards but hey, we earned it, right?! (Dieting had to start after the event!)

The showering area was another area of pampering.  There were all kinds of soaps, scrubs and lotions for us to take, pink carpeting at the entrance to the shower trucks, and a table set up with blow dryers!  BLOW DRYERS! No, Edith and I didn’t use them – we were camping - but they were there! We also had round tables with tablecloths in the dining tent instead of the long, bare cafeteria type as in the past.

Edith and I crawled into our tent to read our letters at 7:30 and said good night to each other at 8:00. There are activities (games, dancing, music, announcements) in the evenings until 10:00 but with the long day of walking in the heat, we were exhausted and ready to drift off into dreamland.  However, the LOUD GENERATOR next to our tent had different plans for us!  Edith tried to bury her head but that did not help. I took my hearing aids out and it was still loud to ME so you can image how bad it was for her. Needless to say, we did not get a lot of sleep which meant two nights of no sleep and two more days of walking to go.

Day 2 started EARLY because we were awake so why not just get up? We went for coffee at 4:30am and breakfast was ready to be served so we filled our plates, our cups and our pockets (extra bananas for later!). We chatted with other sleepless campers who were actually complaining about “something that sounded like a generator.” We had to laugh because the generator was literally parked about 10 feet from our tent (we sleep next to the medical tent because I require a cot for my back issues). Those “sleepless campers” were at least 200 feet away IF they were in the first row of tents. That generator was LOUD. (Obviously that can’t be helped because the medical tent needs it but putting it on the other side of the medical tent would have been nicer.  Just sayin...)

We started walking right at 7:00am when they opened the route. About ten minutes later we realized we had forgotten our walking buddy, Filomena Flamingo, in the tent! Oh well… no turning back.  She needed rest. Her feet hurt.

The Crew is awesome!

 

It was cool and cloudy so Edith and I decided to MOVE IT so we could get as many miles out of the way before the sun became brutal again.  By 11:30 we had a little over 11 miles behind us. After that… the sun was blazing and the rest of the day was a repeat of the day before… slow and hot.

We saw this man along the route at several different locations.
I later saw him in a suit at closing! :) I love our supporters!

Brittany and Cynthia met us at one of the cheering stations with promises to meet us at camp later on.

We made it to camp around 4:00 and were again totally exhausted.

Oh my....

We showered and looked forward to Brittany and my sister, Cynthia, meeting us for “Family Night” (They started letting our families visit on Saturday night last year.).  When they arrived, we showed them around camp – Cynthia had not been to the event before – and showed them all the nice touches added this year.

Cynthia was impressed with how well it was organized and set up. After that, we packed our suitcases and went to stay in the hotel with Brittany and Cynthia so we could get some much needed sleep! YEAH! Staying in a hotel is always an option. If you stay in a “host hotel”, you get shuttled between camp and your hotel on a large bus. This year was the first time Edith and I decided to give the hotel a try and boy were we happy about it! We went out to eat a fabulous pasta dinner and then made it to bed by 10:00. We both fell asleep within minutes of our head hitting the pillows. (I will definitely be staying in a hotel next year for BOTH nights! Sleep is a necessity!!)

Brittany and Cynthia dropped us off at camp at 5:30 (sorry ladies!) and we ate breakfast. We felt great and appreciated the good night’s sleep. From camp, we were bussed to the University of Washington Husky Stadium were we started our last day of walking. Again, the route was so familiar we knew exactly where we were going to get lattes along the way! It was another warm and beautiful day in Seattle! There were people out cheering us on, feeding us and making sure we were well hydrated.

We walked slowly because my feet were sore and tired. My feet felt like cement blocks. I had to remind myself from time to time to pick them up because I would notice myself dragging them on the ground. Walking on cement and asphalt for that many miles is tough. (Training certainly would have helped this issue!) I was also blessed with a few blisters...

We were meeting Brittany and Cynthia for lunch along the waterfront but had to stop at the 3-Day lunch area to sit, cool off and rest our feet. We were only three miles from them and four miles from the end but we had to rest.

It was then… at mile 56… that I finally knew in my mind that I was going to walk the full 60 miles! For the entire route I had an opened mind regarding the shuttle. If I felt pain (mechanical pain, not ‘tired’ pain), I was going to be smart and take it. Here, four miles from the end, I closed the door on that shuttle option. I was going to walk all 60 miles even if I had to crawl part of the way!

We had lunch at Red Robin on the waterfront and then set off to complete the last mile our 3-Day journey. 

It was all uphill from there (of course) and the longest mile of the entire route. 

Thank you for all the cards and letters I received while at the 3-Day camp. I really appreciate you taking the time to write and send them. 

Thank you again for all of your support financially, physically, and mentally. Without the support I would not be able to enjoy this great event year after year like I have. 

Until next time... 2015 SGK 3-Day for the Cure!! September 18-20! Yep... I am already signed up and fundraising too!