The 3-Day (prepare yourself, it's long!)

Friday - The three of us woke up well before 5 to get dressed and ready to take off. It was still dark when we got to opening ceremonies (above, I am on the far right). We stretched and stood around for a while and the ceremonies began. Within minutes they had all three of us doing everything we could to hold back our tears. 8 survivors stood in an empty circle, holding hands to represent those who where not with us, or who had gone before us. As the first groups of people began to walk balloons with names of loved ones where release into the air. It was all very touching. We got off on our journey towards the end of the group at about 7 a.m.
The first pit stop (bathrooms, water, snacks) came and went and before we knew it we made it to lunch, over 10 miles done. All three of us felt good, we changed socks, rested a bit and stretched out our muscles.

The next "landmark" was a cheering station a few miles out. I wasn't sure what to expect, but as we approached I was completely shocked. Hundreds of people stood with signs, water, Popsicles, candy and cheered as we walked by. Many of the people where family members of the walkers, but also several people who were touched by breast cancer and just wanted to come out and say "thank you for walking". Every time we went through a cheering station, I held back a tear or two.

I was anxious to get to the end of our route on Friday, Rosie, my dad and my sister would be waiting there to cheer us on for the day. It was great seeing them!
When we finally got back to camp we had to find our duffel bags and set up camp. We were among the first 1,000 walkers to get in that day, so the sea of pink tents had just started to form. Once the tents were set up and our tennis shoes were off, it was time to shower. I was surprised at how nice the mobile showers were. Large semi trailers were set up all over camp and inside each was a changing bench and several shower stalls. Don't get me wrong I missed my clean private shower at home, but hey, the water was warm and it felt great to shower off.
Each night we had a hot dinner served in the food tent. Dinner was huge and actually tasted somewhat good. I think we were all starving from the long walk each day.
Lights out at 9 p.m. every night. I was exhausted and happy to get some shut eye. It was noisy though, the tents were paper thin and I could hear every little sneeze, cough and snore. The first night sleeping on the ground was rough, I woke up every 20-30 minutes, needing to adjust because my hip was digging into the hard ground. I also didn't dress warm enough and around 12:00 woke up shivering so hard I almost started to cry. We learned A LOT that night!!

Saturday - We woke up by 4:30 am on Saturday and since camp was loud we headed to the food tent for a warm breakfast. Knowing today would be the longest mileage, we got ready and took off early. The first half of the day was ALL hills. It was beautiful though, we went through several State trails and parks and followed the Mississippi for several miles. The hour before lunch was a long one and it seemed like it would never come.
Lunch was served down by the river, we took time eating, stretched and changed our socks. No blisters yet!! We hit our favorite pit stop on Saturday "Boobs Anatomy" and got a picture with McDreamy himself (I love this pic, I'm on the far right again)!!!

The next stop would be at a cheering station where my friends Mom and grandparents where waiting. They were so kind and even brought us some Advil PM for sleeping. Saturday was a long day, we got back to camp early and the pain seemed unreal. The thought of getting up and doing it all over was scary. We laid low though, played some cards and just enjoyed the warm afternoon/evening.
Sunday - A.K.A. The 3rd Day!!! Having actually slept some (thanks to Grandmas Advil PM) we woke up around 5 am and headed to breakfast. We took our time this morning, we didn't want to get to the holding area and have to wait for EVER for the rest of the walkers to get in. We took down or "unpopped" our tents, packed up our luggage and headed out around 7 am. I felt great when we took off on Sunday, my feet hurt a little but nothing too bad. By mid-morning my foot was bothering me and I could tell a blister was forming. We stopped at the second pit stop and I had my blister "taken care of". I was ready to go again.

Sunday was a beautiful but hilly walk. We made our way up Capital Hill in St. Paul (I'm on the Left this time!) and looked over the city. By lunch time my knee was barely holding up. Most of the days route was over uneven city sidewalks and the unevenness was taken a toll on my bad knee. Luckily there was a trainer who could take time to adjust and look over my knee. After he adjusted it, I felt great...barely any pain...so, we took off without getting it taped up. Can you say MISTAKE???

Within only a few miles my knee was cramping up and pain was shooting up my leg. One of the other girls in my group had a knee brace and since her knee was feeling good, she took it off and handed it to me. I am almost positive I wouldn't have made it without that brace. By this time we only had about 6 miles left, but it was up to the river and over to Minneapolis for Closing Ceremonies.

As we got close Derek kept text messaging me asking where we where. We took it pretty slow though, everyone was getting pretty worn out. The crew members and sidewalk cheering really got us to keep moving though and we made it over the river. I text messaged Derek at about 1 mile from the finish, it was finally within reach!

As we turned into the finish I saw Derek dart out from the crowds. He was dressed really nice and had a bouquet of flowers. I leaned over to hug him and kept going. He stopped me, got down on one knee and proposed. I really didn't know what he was doing though and I was so tired that all I could think is "I need to get to that last scan station". I managed to nod yes, hug all the family and move on to the finish. My fingers were so swollen that the ring barely fit. All I can remember is everyone else being really excited and I was just thinking about getting out of there and laying down in my pillow-top mattress!!!

Closing Ceremonies were amazing. Actually just finishing (I'm on the left) was AWESOME!

And of course I couldn't end this LONG post without one of these...my favorite cheerleader!!