Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The 3 Day - Day 3


Sad that it will be the last time I wake up at 5 am in my pink tent. Breakfast was delicious again. A crew leader came over to tell us that they (crew leaders) were allowed to keep their tents, and she didn't want hers, and that we could have it. So guess who is the proud owner of a kick ass pink tent...me :) That made my day. So once we were all packed up we hauled our gear and loaded it in the truck. I filled my water bottle and was our the gate just after 6:30. I got to carry the "optimism" flag that morning. Again I walked alone. But this morning it was at a much slower pace, I was so so sore. The last day we walked from camp in Westlake to Berea which is where I live, so it was a joke that I was walking home.

At pit stop 1 a sharp pain ran through my foot. it hurt so bad. I sat down for a while and did lots of stretching. There was no need to rush today. I grabbed some snack and slowly limped back on to the route. After about 2 miles the pain in my foot was unbearable. So I sadly stepped to the side of the road with my arms over my head in an X to flag down a sweep van. It was a Dr. Seuss theme, and they were very nice. They helped me in the van and drove me to pit stop 2 which was about a mile away, where I hobbled over to medical. They iced my foot, then rubbed in some biofreeze and wrapped it with this cool pink foam tape. After a short break I was on the own again. I didn't tell them how much it actually hurt for the fear of getting red-carded....This by the way is BAD. Shame on me, don't do this future walkers.

As I walking through North Olmsted I was passed a 100 times and that was ok by me. I wanted to be able to walk in Berea, where my friends and family were waiting for me. At lunch I was seen by the sport medicine therapist. He found fluid in the exact spot it hurt. He told me I probably tore the tendon and I should stop walking for the day. But by that time we had just made it to Berea, and I was less than I mile from my street which we would walk down. I begged him to let me walk to the end. He did some fancy tape work and bandaged it up pretty tight. I popped some ibuprofen and was good to go.

I got a second wind of energy and the pain seemed to vanish as I neared my street corner. I could see my sister, grandmother and two sons standing on the corner where we turn with signs and pink Energizer bunny ears. I stopped and gave them all hugs and talked to my boys for a few minutes. My oldest Seth drank all my water, but there were so many people on my block passing out water that it was ok.

As we walked to the last pit stop, we passed a house that spray painted their yard with "Go 3 day walkers" in pink paint. There was lots of signs and balloons, and Jerry one of our best walker stalkers. By the time I reached the last pit stop I was hot, sweaty, exhausted and in pain again. I met up with my mom there and took some more ibuprofen. Soon after that pit stop we passed the Berea fire Department. They were all sitting outside cheering us on, and set up a hose for us to cool off. My kids were the first people we saw at the last cheering station. Which made me smile. My friend from high school and her mom were there, as well as my aunt and cousin. I posed for a picture of the "holding one mile sign" and then made my way there.

We finally arrived at the fairgrounds. It was so hot outside but I didn't care. I was crying coming into the gate because I realized at that moment what I had just accomplished. Jenne Fromm took my picture in front of the day 3 sign and my boys were there waiting for me. I got my victory shirt and had a seat with by kids for the next few hours while we welcomed back all the other walkers. We all cheered in the last walker. Then the crew performed a dance for the walkers as a surprise to us. It was like the "JK wedding dance" video on YouTube. The video of the crew doing it is also on YouTube.

Soon we all lined up wearing our long sleeve victory shirts in the 85+ degree weather for our march into closing. We were greeted by tons and tons of screaming friends and family. Closing ceremonies was very emotional. The survivors raised the flag. We gave our shoe salute and Candy Coburn performed pink warrior. I don't think there was a dry eye in the crowd. When it was all over we grabbed our gear and found my family. A last act of random kindness was from a young teenage boy that offered to carry my bag to the car. When I thanked him he said that he wants to walk next year. I told him he should, and that I would keep a lookout for him, because I am totally hooked and I cant wait to walk again in 2011.

Cleveland had 900 walkers and 300 crew members. We raised more that $2.4 million dollars for breast cancer research and community programs. Thank you for all your donations, and support. Thank you for following my blog, I will continue to write, and I will continue to walk as long as I can.

5 comments:

  1. Tina - Great job out there this weekend, way to tough it out. I loved your recap, I am sure it will inspire others to walk. BTW, I prefer unofficial crew member to walker stalker...JK

    Jerry

    ReplyDelete
  2. I took a picture of your grandmother and sons. How cool is it that you got to walk down your street? You did a wonderful job recapping the weekend. We had great weather this year and were very lucky. I'm sure I talked with you at some point. Now for the most important question... will you be doing it again next year? I'm not sure if I will, but if I don't I'll definitely be a walker stalker (oops, sorry Jerry, unofficial crew member) :-) Good job! Jeana would be so proud of you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post! As a first time walker I loved getting a bit of insight as to what I'm in for! Sounds like an amazing time, and how cool that you got to walk in your own neighborhood.
    Thanks for sharing =)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great summary Tina! You must be so proud of yourself! I know I am! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It sounds like you had a grueling but wonderful weekend! Thanks for sharing your experiences with all of us and take care of those feet!

    ~ Kristen

    ReplyDelete