Day One!!

You all have heard me ramble and ramble about the Breast Cancer 3 Day... As I had never done it before I was mostly excited for the experience, doing something new, paying it forward and doing the most athletic thing I have done in over 10 years.



Seattle was beautiful! If my company was in that area and offered me a position, I would have moved yesterday. That is how much I fell in love with Seattle and surrounding area. Thursday night, we had the guys drop us off at a hotel in Shoreline and they went back up to the timeshare that was a bit of a drive. Kendra and I got everything ready, called and booked a cab and got about 5 hours of sleep. The next morning we were racing around to get ready, climbed in the cab and...



*Welcome to the 3 Day!*

As we pulled into the college there were people dressed very outrageously directing traffic, smiling, cheerful... once we were out of the cab with our bags we headed toward the gear truck. We were greeted with "Sh-na-na.... Shoe-Bling, Shoe-bling" as a very friendly an spirited lady tied a small pink pipecleaner to one of our shoelaces in the shape of a pink ribbon. Then we got sticker.. By the time the weekend was over.. I was a total sticker WHORE! Haha!! We got those every time we got to pit stops, and lunch, and camp... you name it! LOVED the stickers.



We walked down to where opening ceremonies were being held as everyone greeted us, waived, smiled, and donned pink Energizer bunny ears. Opening ceremonies had a very energetic quality... flag holders walked in with various flags in pink. "Mother, Wife, Daughter, Grandmother, Husband, Father, Friend, Sister, Hope, Strength, Optimism, etc"



By the time the flag holders led us to the walking trail, everyone was stoked to start. The energy was very electric in the air and off we went... We walked, and walked, and walked... seeing everyone's different get-ups and decorations, team names was quite entertaining. Everyday I was seeing more and more creative names and ideas. Men and women from all walks of life, all with their own stories. We walked passing signs and "Thank You", people honked and waved. Lawns and businesses were decorated. Just amazing!



The thing I found so odd is that all day I barely had to pee. At first I didn't think about it. I was drinking TONS of water and Gatorade. But then after a couple of pit stops I told Kendra that I was going to stop at the medical tent if I didn't have to pee by the next pit stop. The thing was.. I honestly felt fine. On our second to last pit stop, we met what Kendra and I referred to as our "Peeps" These ladies walked last year and were on the route marking crew this year. They were so sweet!! We talked to them for a little bit so I totally forgot about my promise to stop by the medical tent. We continued to walk. As we walk, the numbers behind us dwindle. I am not sure if this is because many people decided to be swept to the next pit stop or because we were just slow. We stopped in an Albertson's to use the restroom.



Now is a good time to explain that if you get too far behind on the route or you don't make it to a pit stop by the time it closes, the "Caboose" catches up with you and you usually get "swept" to the next stop so that you don't get too behind.



So we get into Albertson's to use the restroom. The high that day was in the 80-90 range (I heard varying reports) and we were miserably hot. And the first Albertson's employee we saw shouted "stop in the beer cooler!! It's nice and cool" After we use the restroom (Yay I FINALLY had to pee!) we, indeed, stopped in the beer cooler. HEAVEN! We come hauling out of the beer cooler only to run into the "Caboose" hehehe... No.. no empty bottles in there! When we came out of the store there was a sweep van. This is when we met our "surfer girls" they tried to get us to sweep and told us we had 10 minutes until the next pit closed... we refused to sweep, swearing we could make it. So, to that, the Caboose followed us into the pit. All the while Kendra was joking that I was in trouble now that I "broke the seal" I would be in big trouble. We had only a couple short miles until we got to camp. I was doing VERY good for about 10 minutes and then.. I had to PEE!! With NO businesses in site that would be open at this hour. We walked and walked.. and I was probably turning yellow at this point. I was to the point of looking for a sweep van. I told Kendra if one drove by I had to take it, because I was literally going to pee my pants.



We are an 1/8 a mile away from walking into camp. We can hear the music... we are SO excited and I am WADDLING, walking at snails pace trying to keep from peeing my pants and... our peeps drive up! They had to get special permission from the sweep crew to take me back and Gayle got out and walked back to camp with Kendra. I just wanted to cry. 1. I had to pee so badly. 2. That I couldn't walk into camp and 3. Gayle walked with Kendra. Mixed emotion moment! I got to camp, used the bathroom, and waited for Kendra to come back and cheered her on as she walked in! Very cool!



We were both SO exhausted at that point!! We got our bags and walked to where our tent should be... and... NO TENT! *sigh* we both left our luggage there and walked to the dinner tent, resolved that we would deal with it after we ate. Kendra's ankle was hurting her pretty badly so I offered to get her food if she wanted to sit down. As I got to the awesome crew that was serving our food and asked for a 2nd plate, the lady serving grabbed someone else to take her place, grabbed a tray and carried it with both Kendra and my food when she learned we had just got to camp, and proceeded to carry it to the table for us! After eating, we found a crew member to see who we should chat with about our tent. The got on the radio and from the time we walked from the dinner tent back to where our things were... someone had set our tent up for us!!! Both of us were so exhausted that we threw our bed rolls and sleeping bags in and passed out in a heap of sweat and exhaustion at about 8:30pm!



The girls in the tent next to us chuckled at us the next morning. At one point, while we were trying to unpack things, I could tell they were trying to go to sleep. I said "I'm so sorry, I promise we won't be loud for much longer!" The first thing they said when they saw us the next morning is "Once you said that, we didn't hear another word!" Yup.. Out COLD! Stayed tuned for DAY TWO!!