3 Day Hangover

First, I want to thank everyone for their amazing support. Whether it was financial, cards of support, cheering us online, or coming out in person, it's obvious you are wonderful people and you deserve a round of applause yourselves. Without you, Breezy & I couldn't have done this.

THURSDAY
Breezy and I took it easy with a pasta dinner and drink at the hotel and snuggled in our comfy hotel beds to watch movies and go to bed early. Well, Marky Mark kept us up later than anticipated, but it was worth it.

FRIDAY
*Yawn* With PB&J gramwiches in our bellies (Breezy scored some from the woman that gave her a ride on Thurs.), we headed to opening ceremonies. After some disorganization on the part of the 3 Day, we finally got parked and our big bags dropped at the luggage truck. Energizer sponsored the 3 Day this year, so we all got pink bunny ears! I don't know if Breezy got a pic of that or not. The survivor march was truly emotional. I know I shed a few tears. About 1800 walkers registered for the Chicago 3 Day, so we were quite the vision starting our walk in Northbrook, IL. The sheer impact of seeing a sea of pink I hope is inspirational for those who pass it. It is one of the major reasons I walk.

The morning sailed by beautifully. There were some very, very light sprinkles, but it was overcast and relatively cool. Yay! Our route was beautiful Friday, taking us through the Botanical Gardens and along the lake where there were some million + dollar homes to view. Here's a pic from one of our pit stops, whose theme was "Copacabana"



Right before lunch, the rain started. We donned ponchos and headed to the lunch location, where they said to quickly eat and get to the next pit stop where there would be dry shelter, as the rain was expected to pick up. I planned to do hot spot care and switch socks at lunch, but since we were promised a dry spot in the afternoon, I waited. By the time we got to the pit, I had blisters formed. :-( Here's a pic of Breezy patiently waiting for me to fix my feet.



We got to camp and it was still raining. We needed to set up our tent, and were lucky the rain was very light during our tent construction. By then I had full blown, painful blisters. We did, however, make it to the mailbox! Thank you SO MUCH to those who sent us letters. It was the most surprising, uplifting thing to read our mail.
*smooches* We also got to play games for prizes in the Energizer tent. We scored Bunny tote bags and bandanas, along with portable cell phone chargers. Yay!

3 Day "Rock Star" took place in the tent that night (after we did fun things like sing The Greatest American Hero song. *snort* There were a swoony man (lots of men at this years 3 Day!!!) that sang Wanted Dead or Alive, a fun girl that sang Fancy, and a goofy fun duo that sang Love Shack with a whole routine. MUCH better than our "I Hope You Dance" girl, Boo!!!!

There were about six I.V.s on Friday, and it wasn't even hot. We think it was the group of ladies at the bar Thursday. *snort*


SATURDAY
Saturday, oh rainy Saturday. I went to the medical tent to pad up my feet for the day and we started out with ponchos on for our rainy morning of walking. By the afternoon, the rain gave way to sweltering heat. Super. We knew we had Frodis and family to look forward to that afternoon, though!!! By then my blisters were terrible, so I had a nurse dress them. I gimped through the day and Breezy was nice enough to go slow for me. Her short legs made it easier. *giggle*

Our route took us through Mount Prospect, IL, where the AWESOME police officers directing traffic and helping us cross intersections were wearing pink uniforms and handing out special badge stickers to walkers. How much do they rock? Also, the Fire Dept. was at an intersection, also wearing pink shirts. *swoon* All three days, a local Ambulance company was driving the route with an outside mounted speaker, blaring 80s music and hanging out the window dancing and cheering us on. It was the BEST!

I took one picture of a Pit Stop food tent, just to show Boo they were not nearly as good as us. You should've seen all the food they had left. No salesmanship whatsoever. *grin*


What a great weekend, despite all the challenges!


Frodis and Lauren were hanging onto a sign welcoming us to the afternoon cheering station. We even got to meet sweet little Jeff! We ate frozen grapes and relaxed under a shade tree (Who is going to make a mommy of two move from under the shade tree?) with the crowd. It was such a welcome sight and her kids are so, so, so cute!

Back at camp that night we were exhausted and didn't take part in much of the festivities. We did get to hear about one man who walked from Superior, WI (very northern edge of Wisconsin) to Chicago that week to then walk in the 3 Day! WOW! We also got a visit from the Mount Prospect police to show us how to pack our tents by having a little contest amongst themselves and one even did a little pony dance for us. *snort* I think we were asleep by 8:30. We had to get up early and break down camp. The good news was the rain was gone so we could air out our tent from our wet clothes and sleep with the tarp off.

SUNDAY
After quickly breaking down our tent and packing up our gear (after a tent neighbor awoke chattering in a normal voice level and cackling with laughter at 4:15!!!!!), we headed off to breakfast. I hit the Medical tent to have my blister checked out, as the nurse Saturday night thought one might be able to be lanced (they only did this if blisters were over 2" wide!). Indeed, they loaded me on a bed and a crowd of staff decided to ooh and ahh over my blister, which in the words of the doctor (who was not that hot, Boo), "this is the worst one I've seen so far." Super. I'll spare you the gory details. The doc suggested I take the morning off the walk and keep my foot elevated, so I unfortunately missed the morning walk with Breezy. She was a trooper, as it was SUPER hot on Sunday.

We ate lunch in the shade and headed off for the afternoon, me still gimpy, so she had to keep slow pace with me. It was a beautiful route on Sunday along the Chicago city lakefront. We even got to take in some of Lalapalooza! Lots of people love boobies, so we got lots of honking cars. It's amazing what a difference that makes, so if you ever pass some charity walkers, give them a supportive honk! It was in the high 90s with high humidity on Sunday, so a miserable day to be walking. We did stay hydrated though. Saw lots of I.V.s and a few people hauled away in ambulances.

At about 3:15, we hit the sidewalk of Soldier Field (no, these Packer fans did not burst into flames), our endpoint of the walk. Big crowds of supporters cheered us in as we walked through the inside of the stadium. It was very cool (even literally-love those concrete stadiums!). We did it! Well, Breezy did it all, I missed about 10 miles. We all (crew, walkers, medical staff) raised a shoe at closing ceremonies as each of the walkers entered the ceremonial gathering. It was emotional.

Tomorrow, I have an appointment with an NP to look at my horrid blister, as it's red and awful looking again. The doc in the medical tent said it can get quite terribly infected when there is blood in it (as there was), so I should get it checked out asap. I wasn't moving from my couch today (except to take a bath and wash my stinky clothes). I have realized my feet are just blister prone, period. Have been since I was a child. I never went barefoot outside because my feet were too sensitive. Fortunately the walking sandals (particularly the Eccos)helped me continue to walk. I could actually get my foot into the shoe without screaming in pain like last time I walked.

But it's all worth it. Every bit worth it.

*hugs to Breezy*

Special shout out to Boo, who was missed this year, though if she had to walk through that rain, I think I might have lost her to the Holiday Inn that night. :-)

Again, THANK YOU to everyone.