It's been a weekend of emotion, gratitude, trials, growth and inspiration for my mom, sister and I.
We completed the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer around 12:00 this afternoon. A total of 39.3 miles walked in 2 days in the beautiful Bay Area.
We began our weekend on Friday night at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco which is where we checked in for the walk. There were women and pink everywhere! After we got everything squared away, we went back to our hotel room to make our t-shirts for Saturday. I have to say, they turned out adorable!
We went to bed around 10:45 but hardly got any sleep due to a broken fire alarm in a building down the street. Kari was even able to hear it, despite wearing earplugs. Our alarms woke us up at an early 4:00 Saturday morning. We got ready and headed down the street to the Westin to catch the charter bus that would take us to Golden Gate Park. We assumed there would be a line of women waiting to board but we didn't expect the line to go all the way around the block. Eventually, we made it onto the bus and made the trek to the park. There, we enjoyed a quick breakfast and the opening ceremonies began and so did the crying. They had 2 breast cancer survivors speak, one of which was a 2 time survivor and her husband was a prostate cancer survivor. Their stories helped me to realize why I was doing this. Because 39 miles is a heck of a long way and I wouldn't consider doing it for "fun".
The walk officially started a little after 7:30. There were roughly 3,000 people participating which is the largest group the SF walk has ever had. Our trip was taking us across the Golden Gate bridge, which was absolutely beautiful. We then traveled down to Fort Baker where Pop, Alex and the kids met us with open arms. It was great to see them and feel their support. We then continued on through Sausalito (a very cute downtown, by the way) and stopped for a quick lunch. The route continued on through Mill Valley (also a very cute town) and then we turned around and made the trek back. We were all having a hard time after the halfway mark. Mom was feeling it the most in her knee and it became a challenge for her to walk comfortably. There was a large hill that we needed to climb in order to get back on the Golden Gate bridge and she thought it'd be best to hitch a ride from the "Sweep Crew" (they'll pick you up in their van if you're having a tough time) from the bottom of the hill to the top. That didn't happen. So Kari and I did what we could to make her walk up the hill as easy as possible. It was hard but she did a great job! We made our final trip across the bridge and down to Crissy Field where we'd be enjoying a hot meal. At the finish line was my sweet husband and Jared Hatch, rooting us on after we had completed 26 miles. I'm so grateful that they were able to come, especially since Jared lost his mom to cancer. I had Claudia on my mind all weekend. They ate dinner with us and drove us back to our hotel, where we enjoyed a much needed nights rest.
We were able to sleep in about an hour later this morning (hallelujah!) but it was still early. Mom decided that it would be best to not walk the 13 miles today. She woke up and her knee was still pretty sore as were her feet. She dropped us off at Crissy Field where again, we enjoyed a great breakfast (eggs, potatoes, fruit, oatmeal, muffins, hot chocolate). Kari and I started the walk with everyone else, promptly at 7:30. We were able to pass quite a few people and keep a pretty good pace. We walked all around the city and when I say all around, I mean all around. We faced many hills but we decided that we enjoy going up more than we do down. While we were going up a crazy hill, we were glad that Mom decided to take care of herself. We nearly killed ourselves on that one. We didn't stop for lunch today, just a quick potty break, icing of the knee and adding of moleskin. We agreed that if we saw a pizza by the slice restaurant, that would be our lunch. We never saw one.
After 13 miles, we arrived at the finish line. Kari and I linked arms and cried our way through the large group of supporters that cheered us on and thanked us profusely. We were so blessed to be able to be a part of this great event. We were sad our mom wasn't able to cross the finish line with us but she met up with us a bit later and we shared a special moment together. We also missed our other sister, Amy. She trained with us every week but was not able to get all of the donations she needed to participate.
I have so much to be thankful for that I'm not quite sure where to begin. I'm so grateful for the healthy friends and family that I have. Hearing the stories this weekend of people losing loved ones to this horrible disease made me appreciate all that I have. I am grateful to all of the volunteers that cheered us on and kept us motivated, even when we wanted to throw our towel in and give our bodies a break. They've spent months planning this event and it was amazing. I am truly thankful to all of those that have donated to this great cause. We passed a sign that said, "Because of your donations, we have been able to give 8,000 women a mammogram". The entire group participating in the SF walk raised about $7.5 million. What a blessing.
We're not 100% sure if we'll be participating next year but I will definitely treasure this time that I've spent with my sweet mom and sisters. We're sad to see it end but glad that it happened.
Bee-autiful! I admired it for a few seconds then continued on to my original task.
Notice little Misters in the window of the door. That was LaVor's idea. Sort of a "Where's Waldo?" move.
