2008 Breast Cancer 3 Day

Please note...I wrote this a long time ago! Like in November or something and just figured I'd post it today. I'm not proofreading it, so I'm not sure if everything is in there. So read on and I hope it makes some sense!





What an amazing experience! That pretty much sums up the 3 Day for me. So many tears were shed, stories shared, spirits were lifted and new friendships made. This wonderful experience began bright and early on Friday, October 17. My dear sister and nephew drove me to the Willow Grove Park Mall for the Opening Ceremony. The sun had yet to come up, but with the excitement of what was to come, it really didn't matter. I met up with my teammates after putting my luggage on the appropriate Budget moving truck...yes, I said moving truck. That is how the Crew moved our bags.

Here is my youngest, and quite possibly, cutest supporter. This was after the Opening Ceremony and on his way to school.

The ceremony was just lovely, and of course I cried...I think pretty much everyone did. Around 8:00am , all 3,000 some of us started on our 60 mile journey. Walking through all those towns and hearing the cars beeping their horns and yelling out the windows really makes you see how important it is to get out and do something like this!








Day One we walked through the Abington area and into Chestnut Hill. Chestnut Hill was just beautiful and the people there were great! I don't ever remember seeing that many people outside on the sidewalks cheering anyone on! Seeing the posters made and held by small children thanking us was enough to make anyone cry! Lunch was at a nice location with plenty of room to sit down (albeit, there were no chairs, but the ground was just as good at that point!) and relax for a little bit and check our feet. After lunch, we were back on the road. At this point, we were now half way done with Day One. It felt pretty gratifying to say that we were almost done the first day. Our first day ended with our campsite. I suppose you could say it's a site for sore eyes...better yet...sore feet. We camped out at Belmont Plateau. It's a beautiful location, and looks even better with thousands of Pink Tents set up! We grabbed our gear and set up our tents for the weekend. We were home. We then headed to dinner...ate with 3,000 of our closests friends, and now family members. After dinner it was time to hit the showers. Yes, we were able to shower on this 3 Day excursion. We showered in the back of a tractor trailer! Sounds crazy, I know, but it works. After we were all clean, it was time for bed! After such a long day, bedtime was at about 8:30pm. Although it was colder then I had expected, I was ready for bed!

Here is my team, The Sweet Peeps, at Pit Stop 2 on Day One:

Day Two took us through the Fairmount Park area and into Manayunk. Did I say I got teary eyed through Chestnut Hill? Well, Manayunk was so much more moving then that! I got so incredibly emotional walking through town that I almost had to take a few breaks. At this point, my foot was bothering me and I didn't think I could push on. But the cheers and the smiles of those who were out there on the sidewalks helped me push on. It seemed like the whole town was out on the streets to cheer for us! It was simply AMAZING! After Manayunk came beautiful Kelly Drive. Such a beautiful city we live in/near. Especially in the Fall...seeing the leaves changing is just so beautiful. We continued on toward Love Park for a Pit Stop. Being that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and we're lucky enough to have the 3 Day during October, the fountain in Love Park is dyed pink! Check out how amazing it looks!

Again, we stopped for lunch, then continued on our journey, back to camp. Saturday night went the same as Friday...dinner, showers, then bed. Although, Saturday night there was a Frost Advisory. Luckily, my teammate Melissa's husband was willing to bring us some extra blankets for the evening. We were very appreciative of him for doing that! I slept with my fleece jacket on that night too!

Day Three! We are now in the home stretch!! Our last day! I know that at this point I was looking forward to a couple of important things. Here is my list of things that I was looking forward to doing:

• Flush a toilet



• Sleep in a bed/on a mattress



• Shower in an actual bathroom



• Sit in a car



• Sit on a comfortable chair



• See my family and friends

My team decided to skip the provided lunch. We decided that we would rather eat real food and maybe grab a beer in celebration of completing the 3 Day. We went off the beaten path and stopped at a little restaurant/bar only 3 miles from Closing Ceremony. This is the point where I got to do one of the things on my aforementioned list...actually, 2 things. I got to sit on a comfortable chair AND I got to flush a toilet! It was simply amazing! After our detour, we got back on the correct path. Those last three miles were definitely a killer! But we've come so far and we were all determined to finish this as a team!