hello, lovely

We woke up really early.
We rode in a limo to the Cow Palace.
We cried.
We walked.
We laughed at Hookers and cherished a couple of old guys.
We met some firemen.
We walked some more.
We walked some more again.
We still walked some more.
We took a very traumatic shower in a truck.
We at spaghetti & meatballs and a bunch of other stuff.
We opened camp mail.
We visited the Remembrance Tent
We won Best Tent Decorations.
We slept in pink tents.
We woke up early again.
We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge.
We walked some more.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
My feet were killing me, and I decided to sweep to lunch so I could rest.
I ate lunch and rested.
I felt nauseous thanks to 100 degree heat.
Two of us swept again, but back to the Golden Gate Bridge.
We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge again.
We walked back to camp.
We took still traumatic showers, but with people we DIDN’T know, so it wasn’t AS bad.
We cheered our teammates in.
We ate dinner.
We slept in pink tents again.
We woke up even earlier.
We packed all our crap up and ate breakfast.
We walked.
We went up hill.
We went up hill again.
We went up hill some more.
We kept going up hill.
We went up hill when I didn’t think we could go up hill some more.
We walked.
And walked.
And walked.
We arrived at Ft. Mason.
We cried.
We hugged.
We sat down.
We walked our final steps into a crowd filled with loved ones.
We raised our shoes to survivors.
We, as an event, raised $4.8 million dollars.
We went home.

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Pictures can be found at flickr. You can view my photostream and our group’s photostream. I’m working on a Long Version, but I’m trying to include as many details as possible, and it’s taking a while. I’m also writing thank you cards, so those are coming, too.

THANK YOU to everyone for your donations, support and encouragement. The whole thing was pretty much a life-changing experience. I can’t go back to “before the walk”, and I’m still floundering a bit with all my new found “free time”. I’m hoping to be better about blogging soon.

I AM FREAKING THE FREAK OUT!

HOLY CRAP!

Tomorrow marks Day 1 of the Breast Cancer 3-Day. I am SO HAPPY that I made my goal, because I am FREAKING OUT right now. SERIOUSLY.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning, and of the 2.5 hours I have been awake, I think I have spent 1.5 of those hours so close to the verge of tears that I could feel my eyes stinging.

I hope I’ve packed everything. I hope I have everything. I have to stick my air mattress pump in the bag still because I had to exchange it. It was missing the little nozzle thing. I also can’t find my travel toothbrush, which I found by ACCIDENT two days ago but has gone missing again.

I hope I can sleep tonight. I hope I wake up in time to get to the Park & Ride so we can catch our limo (!) to the Cow Palace, where Opening Ceremonies is being held. I hope I survive Day 1 and am able to walk Day 2. I hope I survive Day 2 and am able to walk Day 3. I hope I survive Day 3. I hope I’m drinking enough water. I need to check my blister kit in my pack and make sure I have enough moleskin.

I need to find my Manda hat in case my Koolhaas hat is not finished. I need to make sure my new pink hat is ready to go. I need to check and re-check again.

I need to calm down.

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* post from work

CONGRATS TO TERESA AND ALEX!!!! They found out (a while ago, actually. I just realized I never posted. BAD, AUNTIE MANDA!) that they are expecting their 2nd child!!

CONGRATS TO APRIL AND JOHN!!! THey ALSO, like literally just this minute (give or take a couple of hours), found out that THEY are also expecting their 2nd child!!

Plus, Stacy’s sister & significant other are expecting their first child any second now…

AND my friend Annise is expecting!

And remind me to bring my OWN water with me when I come visit next time (which is looking like it’s going to be my birthday instead of Thanksgiving or Christmas, which works because it looks like I’m going to have to spend a lot of time in Dallas come spring! … ).

YAY BABIES!!! I better get knitting…..

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Team Unraveled had their LAST TRAINING WALK this evening!! It went well and we celebrated by eating Mexican food at Alberto’s afterward. We have a Pasta Feed planned for Thursday, but it looks like I will be packing tomorrow night. I can’t believe how much crap I have to take with me. We’re camping right on the Bay, and it’s always cold and foggy there, so I have to pack tons of layers, not to mention the sleeping bag and all that stuff. Wow.

The team has all made their $2200 (some have been very fortunate enough to raise even MORE! Woohoo!), and I’m SO happy about that! Now we can all just focus on walking and having a good time.

I probably won’t have time to post anymore before the event, so I guess I’ll see you on the flipside. When I come back, I’ll be able to say I walked approximately 500 miles in about 5 months!!

Here’s a photo of me on a break on our last SF/big training walk… we were hanging outside of Taylor’s near the Ferry Building.

so, we walked 17 miles today. it was supposed to be 20, but since we were behind the group on the second go-round, the route support ladies (WHO. ARE. AWESOME. I walked with a couple of them on one of the training walks before they did the Avon walk back in July (if we did the Avon walk, we’d be done by now. I try not to think about it)) were supposed to give us a ride to catch up with the rest of the walkers. we made a wrong turn somewhere though & couldn’t find them so we ended up getting dropped off at the first break and walking from there, essentially cutting out 3 miles of walking.

During our walk, we walked passed what is supposedly Robin Williams’ house (it’s kind of ugly, but that was the landmark I used to know where to turn.. lol), and I almost got hit in the head with a golf ball, and we did part of a route that we’ve done before so I actually knew where I was going and how long it should take. it RULED.

Tomorrow, we’re walking a mostly tried & true route on one of the trails near home, but we’re walking 15 miles. Pray that I make it & that it’s over as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Also, please take a moment to send in your donation! Thank you!