Breast cancer is a terrible disease which seems to be affecting everyone I know – everyone has a story. In 2007 it was estimated there were 180,000 new diagnoses and 40,000 deaths – both men & women. Breast cancer isn’t the number one killer of women – but I really feel we are the generation who can make a difference – to help those fighting it so they don’t leave behind their familes and friends.
When Kristine asked who wanted to sign up for the 2008 3-day in Atlanta, it didn’t take me long to sign up for the team. My mother-in-law is a survivor and my husband’s aunt had recently been diagnosed. I’ve wanted to do more to support breast cancer charities for years. In addition, I am now a mom; a mom of a wonderful, precocious and beautiful little girl – Amelia – who has her cousins Lena and Madeline and her friends. I don’t want them to have to worry about breast cancer – I want them to be proud that their mothers were part of the generation who helped stop it. So I signed up, for the hope of the future.
Thanks to all of my generous friends and family, the fund raising was the easier part of the equation. I raised over $2,500 myself and my team over $10,000. For me the harder challenge was the physical walk. While I like to be in decent shape, I have never been someone to take time to truly train for something more than a 5K. And after that 5K I had sworn off running if that helps give you an idea. I knew the walk would be hard for me – my training walks didn’t go as well as I had planned – what I didn’t realize was how emotional and amazing it would be as well.
Day 1:
Three weeks ago, my team of Kristine, Jen, Meredith and myself met up on a cold & rainy morning north of Atlanta to begin our walk to fight breast cancer. Pictured below is myself (pink), Jen (blue) and Mere (red). I won’t lie – it was cold and wet. It was not a promising start, but we were ready to get going.
The day really never got much better – it rained and remained cold all day long. We walked fast to try and get through the day’s 19 miles, probably faster than I should have based on my training up til now. There were flags used during the opening ceremony to represent different elements of the fight. We carried the healing one for about 2 miles the first day. (Pictured is Kristine, our team captain)
On that rainy day, the brightest spot came from the wonderful bikers & crossing guards who volunteer for all three days to help you along the way. They play music and dance and help to give you a boost which is more important than you can know. Here are Mere and Kristine dancing along with our friendly helpers. The first day mostly took place up in the John’s Creek area, north of Atlanta.
I don’t have a picture of our hero on Friday. Dan, a friend and city councilman of John’s Creek, really came through for us – he brought us wonderful hot chocolate and let us shower & eat dinner at his house on Friday. Due to the rain, the campsite wasn’t open for sleeping – although you could head over there to eat & shower. We chose Dan’s house, and I don’t know that a shower has ever felt so good. We met back up with our fellow walkers to ‘camp’ at an empty office building for the night. Not the best night of sleep (brought me back to old church camp days with others snoring all night long) but it was dry and warm. Here we are with our tent signs, but no tents!
Thankfully the forecast for days 2 & 3 was looking much better, giving us more hope for the next 2 days.
Day 2:
Day 2 started off cold & gray but turned into a sunny afternoon – a much welcome change after the previous day. We were a little tired at breakfast but trying to have smiling faces.
Here’s our full team, ready to go.
In a somewhat cruel joke – the walk leaving the camp was uphill…. I guess it would be even worse to end the day uphill so we shouldn’t complain!
We loved the motorcycle crew – here they are below.
Here is an example of a typical pit stop which we’d have every 3 miles or so. They’d have plenty of porta-potties along with food & drink stations. They’d also have medical stations for those in need… which turned out to be me later in the day – that story will be shortly.
Finally warm enough to show off our shirts – thanks to our sponsors EBS Photography & Tastefully Simple – we could show off our Hope for our Future.
Our friends and family came out to support us in Norcross on Saturday. Here is Kristine with her beautiful two daughters along with some of the signs of support. I never realized how important the support would be, but it is crucial – just when you are down there is someone cheering you on and it means more to you than anything else.
Day 2 was definitely the hardest day for me. The fast pace of Friday inflamed the injuries I had faced during training – so not long into Saturday I was already having difficulties, particularly with my knees. I felt like I was doing okay walking through it, but I was definitely having trouble keeping up the pace my teammates were going – and while they said they were happy to walk slower, I felt like I could never keep up. Probably my low point was not long before the cheering station above – I was behind and my teammates came back to ask if I needed to stop for the day – I have to admit – I lost it. Completely bawling. I had been leading up to this for months, I couldn’t stop. How could they even suggest it? I was mad, frustrated. It was a low low point. I was determined to keep going, and the cheering station helped so much, although I know some of our friends were probably concerned for me seeing my tears behind my sunglasses. We also decided to treat ourselves to lunch at an ABC instead of a pitstop, and that was welcome as well. I kept thinking to myself – I can work through this – I am not fighting cancer – I can walk to help those fighting cancer. Once I worked through all the emotions, and we went on further – I decided to visit the medical station for a blister. Might as well have professionals take a look so I didn’t make it worse. Well they took care of the blister, but sitting down for that long, after having lunch not long before – really did in my knee. After another 2 miles I realized I might do permanent damage if I didn’t stop and had to make the hard decision. I wasn’t okay with it – but I had already worked through most the emotions that morning and logically knew I had to – so I hobbled over to medical, they taped me up with ice and I got a bus ride back to camp and the big medical tent. I think I did 13 of the 19 miles on Saturday, which actually I’m quite proud of 2 things – first that I made it as far as I did that day, through the toughest physical challenge I’ve ever personally faced – and two I was adult enough to make the right decision 13 miles in to not finish that day. If I had pushed it Saturday, I don’t think I could have walked on Sunday – and I was not missing Sunday. I was very relieved the medical tent said it was mostly muscular, that I hadn’t done any damage yet, but I really needed rest with lots of ice, Advil and bio freeze massages.
Below is a picture of my teammates somewhere in Duluth during the last 6 miles on Day 2 with a friendly crossing guard/biker.
The sea of pink tents at the campsite was quite amazing to see. However, I think the rain and tiredness had done us in quite a bit, and we decided to ‘camp’ at Jen’s town home – hot showers and beds to ourselves. If I hadn’t done that, I don’t know if I would’ve healed enough for Sunday so I think it was the right decision for us. I do wish I’d gotten to experience the camp a bit more, but I did get to enjoy it while I waited for them to finish day 2, and everyone there is amazing. People would help me limp around; we’d all talk and share stories. It is a loving and giving environment.
Camping at Jen’s town home – thanks Jen & Dave! Dave was another hero of ours – he would drive and pick us up and bring food whenever necessary.
Day 3:
After sleeping with bengay patches on my knees all night, I was looking forward to day 3. I felt so much better than day 2. And Day 3…. well you know you are almost there. Day 3 was the best day by far.
Our group shot as we start out the day.
Along the way there were signs like this one ‘Each Step Closer To A Cure’ which help motivate towards the finish line.
Our cheerleaders (aka Kristine’s girls) were back and here are Kristine & Mere posing under a sign on Peachtree Rd.
The lunch pit stop was held in Piedmont Park – isn’t it a great view of the city. We decided to eat at Willy’s on the park since Kristine doesn’t have one in Charlotte and had missed it… mmm Willy’s is good. After lunch there was only a few miles left. I think we had about 4 miles to the Congress Center at this point and it goes by fast when you are passing supporters everywhere, and landmarks that are key to Atlanta. Once you get to the Congress Center, you think you are done – but there was probably a good mile of walking around the Congress Center – it wasn’t until we saw these pink inflatables we knew we were really almost done. The finish line was just inside of the building shown below (and will be in the video clip I upload to this blog post). I was very proud to have done all the mileage on Sunday after struggling on Saturday.
We did it – we finished the 3-day walk!!! Posing by the Day 3 sign inside wearing our Walker shirts we received. Survivors got pink shirts and crew had gray.
The energy at the finish line, which only has walkers, crew & volunteers (family was asked to wait outside until the closing ceremony) – its unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Lots of dancing, pom poms, flags, screaming, cheers of encouragement. We then were organized for the closing ceremonies – most of which I tried to capture on video instead of pictures however I did get these two images. The first is everyone holding up one shoe to honor the survivors among us coming into the room – and the 2nd one is of a few survivors performing a ceremony to lift up the Hope flag in the middle circle. You can’t see it here, but the number of pink shirts – its emotional.
Even looking back at these pictures – its hard to convey what it was like. The emotional ups and downs, knowing you were helping to make a difference, the physical endurance and hardship, the beauty of everything around you. You really have to experience it to know what it is like. Its probably one of the hardest things I’ve done physically but I was so inspired by what others have had to overcome. I knew I would heal within a week. Some of them have had months if not years of fighting cancer and other battles.
In the end the official trail was 55 miles, of which I walked 50. I really wish I had been up to doing all 55, but I am very proud of what we accomplished, a group of 4700+ walkers – who raised a net total of $8.3 Million. That doesn’t even count donations sure to come the weeks following the event. I am so glad I was a part of the 3-day walk here in Atlanta, with my great teammates Jen, Meredith and Kristine. (Thanks for putting up with my not as well trained body and emotions!) I am grateful to our heroes Dan & Dave for aiding us during the weekend. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my husband – who not only watched Amelia while I was training but then had a sick baby (103 fever!) to take care of the weekend of the actual walk.
The video I will upload is going to be a few minutes long, trying to capture the important elements of the finish and closing ceremony.
I am very proud of my team, and I know I will continue to support this cause in the future. It is too soon for me to say if I’ll do something of this magnitude again – but I will definitely be out there at a cheering station supporting others next year. And who knows – once time has passed maybe I will feel the desire to do this again, or something similar. I really think we are the generation to figure this out – to help provide our daughters hope for the future.
Thank you for all of your support,
Kelly
