Grateful for the Support on My 3 Day Journey!

I could not have made it through the 3 Day experience on my own.  The support from others made it possible.  First, my husband was in my head constantly.  He had talked to me throughout training and assured me I was going to be tough enough.  The support of my kiddos was great too, and I loved seeing them at one of the cheering stations complete with signs! In addition, my parents even made it out to the family night at camp! In fact, I think my mom is even going to give it a shot next year with the 20 mile walk!

What helped a ton was this text that my husband sent:

"Pain goes away but the feeling of accomplishment will be felt forever!"

It was very much needed, as I had a lot of pain, but was looking forward to the accomplishment!  In fact, I often visualized the pride I would feel crossing the finish...which (each time) brought tears to my eyes throughout the walk. Thanks Brandon for being my #1 supporter!!

From start to finish, there were people cheering, giving high fives, and dancing for us.  There were people at every point offering snacks, sunscreen, tissue paper, popsicles, much needed ibuprofen, and a slew of other appreciated treats! People honked their horns and waved or yelled out words of encouragement. There were pit stops and grab and gos along the route which gave us something to look forward to.  The police on the route, as well as the intersection motorcycle helpers were awesome.  They played music, cheered us on, and even thanked us for our efforts.  All of this support and the people throughout the routes made it worth it!  

Here are some of my favorite supporter memories from the Michigan 2017 3 Day Walk:

To kick off our walk in Walled Lake, Sheri, a friend of some of our teammates, gave each of us a Starbucks gift card for the walk!  We enjoyed using it while walking through downtown Northville!  Thanks Sheri!

Then another friend of 2 of our teammates became our #1 Fan of the day!  Erica traveled with us all over Walled Lake and Novi, with her younger son in tow.  She cheered, honked her horn continuously, and even serenaded us with inspirational songs nearly the whole morning. It made us smile and giggle each time she popped up...but mostly it made us feel encouraged!  Thanks Erica!

She shared the road with some other important vehicles...the sweeper vans!  They were essential as well, as each van was thematically decorated and constantly honked, cheered, and even cow belled! They were also there to check on us to make sure  we were OK, remind us to drink water, and be there if anyone needed a ride!  

Another way we felt encouraged was through music, and dancing became a nice way to break up the walking or distract us from the pain and/or exhaustion. There were several women along the route playing awesome music and dancing.  Music kept me motivated, especially when we danced through intersections with the motorcycle helpers.  It made it more fun to wait for the lights to change or give us a beat to stretch to!  

I appreciated the trail angels!  One guy, that I called The Medicine Man, had a table stocked with all essential items including ibuprofen and tylenol in small condiment containers, sunscreen, GasX, Tums, blister bandaids, tampons, and so much more.  He placed himself at about 4 stops each day, and he was such a welcome sight!  We chatted with him each time!  My fellow teammate Amanda struggled with blisters from day 1, and he was sooooo proud of her at the end.  He came up to her and gave her a huge hug, as he really didn’t expect to see her finish all 60 miles.  We so appreciated his gifts...including an ice cold one on the final day of the walk!  

In addition to him, there were people along the route offerenting water, snacks, candy, bathrooms, and even some extra special adult treats! The best was a Dearborn neighborhood that went ALL OUT! We were in awe of how they came together to show their support and have fun!  Boy did it help!  

The people coming out to support us from family to friends and the 3 Day Staff to strangers, made it possible for me to walk all 60 miles...even when the pain seemed unbearable.  They were able to make me smile and make it worth doing.

Finally a huge thank-you to my teammates “The Girls” for encouraging me, telling me they were proud of me, and sometimes being more patient and waiting. It was so awesome to truly feel like a team throughout the 3 Day journey!  I enjoyed getting to know them better and share this wonderful experience with them!

Thanks for reading! I have one more entry to publish reflecting on the internal strength needed and gained from my 3 day journey! Stay tuned!

Reflections From My 3 Day Walk Experience...Part 1

Over the last 3 years, I have had 3 of my childhood friends diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.  

When I went to get my first mammogram last year at age 40, the technician told me jokingly I should get new friends, as we are out of the range of normal occurrences. Since my friendships aren’t going anywhere, I knew we had to tune a bit more into this awful cancer. One of my friends Katie, diagnosed last October, decided she would like to do the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk this year.  I decided that it would be the least I could do, so I registered to walk.

Not being a person who formally exercises, I was a bit nervous for the daunting 60 miles! I began training here and there during the spring months, and kicked it up a bit once the school year came to an end. My fundraising proved to also be a bit daunting, but I received a lot of donations when my friend Laura was unable to walk and transferred her donations to my account.  Without this, I probably would not have been able to raise the $2300 needed.  In addition to her funds, I had many supportive friends, family, and colleagues that also donated.  

It has now been 10 days since closing ceremonies, and I still keep finding myself going back into the pink bubble of the 3 Day, so I decided to share some of my biggest takeaways from my rookie experience at the Michigan Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk!

There are a TON of Committed 3 Day Walkers

George was a super star walker!

At opening ceremonies you are given a special lanyard if you are a first time walker. In addition, you get a special button that says, this is my FIRST walk! If you are not a first time walker, you can fill in the number of walks you have been on.  One of the first people I met had on a button that said it was his 50th walk!  I was shocked!  He told me that he walked all 14 walks in 2011. I thought he was a rarity, but as I walked and talked, I met several people that do multiple walks each year. In fact, I know some of the walkers I met along the route are gearing up for another walk this weekend in the Twin Cities. (Note...my feet still aren’t back to normal.  I couldn’t even imagine doing it all over again!)  I am so inspired by their commitment to the Susan G. Komen organization. In fact, Jim Hillmann, the man I met at opening ceremonies, actually was awarded a milestone award at camp celebrating his 50th walk!   And then there’s a man named George Nummer who is an 85 year-old celebrity walker!  Check out a local news story featuring him here.

So Proud to be a Walled Lake Educator

When I learned that the opening ceremonies were going to be at Walled Lake Western, I was excited that the school district that I worked in would be a part of my 3 Day experience!  In addition, my fellow teammate’s husband is the principal there!  After we left WLW after the opening ceremonies, we were able to pass our administration building, which had many people outside cheering, offering candy and water, as well as the WLW cheerleaders!  We were able to have one of our pit stops at Meadowbrook Elementary too!  

But the coolest thing by far was coming back to camp on Friday night and getting high fives from Walled Lake Northern football players...even some that I had when they were third graders at Glengary Elementary.  But wait...it gets better!  They carried our bags to our tent, helped set up our tent, and even carried our plates to the table at dinner!  It was soooo wonderful! The next night the Walled Lake Central football players joined in on the fun!  I truly enjoyed it so much and immediately shared thank-you emails to the coaches, principals, and our superintendent, as these young men were very well-mannered and handled themselves with the utmost respect.  They were very appreciated by the 3 Day walkers and staff, and I was very proud to say to others, “I am a teacher in Walled Lake!  Some of those boys were my 3rd graders!”

There are so many things that I learned about myself and this experience...too much for just one blog entry. Stay tuned shortly for Part 2 of my blog series on Reflections of the Michigan 3 Day focusing on the support I received from others!