Walking with you got me through!

Done! We did it! We all met our goals!! 1/2 marathon, 60 miles, every day, smiling, having fun, walking despite the pain, remembering those whose blisters won't go away in a couple days because they have ongoing radiation treatments. We did what we came to do and it was awesome!

Mom and daughter, both loving, encouraging, stubborn, determined and highly capable women. Great to see you together :)

Well, Laura, mission impossible....now mission possible. Way to go :)

Sandy! The Woman of the Day :)

Holy Cow! Sandy, Katie's mom (who by the way is a lovely 60 years of age!), walked the entire way, 60 miles and all around camp too, with crazy blisters, sore aching body and determination like I've not seen in a long time. She was bound and determined to make it and she sacrificed a lot! Tons of training, tons of fund raising (she was our top fundraiser). Going from NO walking to staying faithful to her training regime. And she did it.
Well done Sandy I am so amazed and proud of what you accomplished! I'll never forget the sight of you...walking "one foot in front of the other" "one step at a time" "one more step". You did it!!!

Sandy had a shawl that held on individual ribbons (attached by her own hand right up until the day we did the walk) the names of people who donated, people who lost the battle to cancer (breast or other) and survivors and others people requested she walk for. It was a highlight to so many people. Never to be forgotten. So many people asked about it and said they would always remember it. Nice!

One of the small hills we walked....San Francisco has a ridiculous amount of hills. We went up, then down...that was nice...until we realized that if you go down...you just have to go up again! But we did it. And I only stopped half way up one hill to breathe. The rest I did without having to stop. Pretty amazing!

Best Friends Forever. Its true. I Love you Katie! Keep up the fight :)

Great signs and one of our lovely crew members...they were awesome, kept us safe in crosswalks, met us at pit stops, gave us what we needed when we needed it. And they are VOLUNTEERS!! Well done Crew :) You made it happen!

Cheer Stations...they matter!!!

Seriously....when we would get to a cheering station or when vehicles would drive by and honk...it kept us going. Sometimes it was the only reason we did keep going Ithink... such a nice thing to be noticed and Thanked! Lots of cute signs and funny sayings, wish I could remember them all. My favorite was "Save Second Base" and Katie gave me a pin that said that. I was to cheap to buy one :( Thanks Katie!!

Katie was my reason for doing this walk, and her deliberate attitude of positiveness and energy was amazing and I loved it. Walking without her was hard the few times I did it. She kept on going, despite the pain, despite the brain injury and headaches, despite everything that could have had her stop...kinda like the energizer bunny :) Well done Katie!

The "other side of the bridge"

We made it! What an insanely long bridge, I was beginning to think it would actually never end. But it did. And we both made it to pit stop 1 on day 2! yeah for us :) You can see below another of our faithful volunteer policemen...they wore pink shirts :) and carried little boom boxes on their bikes which gave us a welcome dose of music when they would go by. We were not allowed any ear phones so only a couple of people had ipods/iphones that played music outloud. What a hard time without music!! We loved when we would get a small listen in on anything with a beat!!!!

The other side....finally!

The Bridge Continued!

`Laura is afraid of heights, so getting her this close to the edge wasn't the easiest, but she was brave and did it. I think she even looked over the edge?

See, there is our camp in the distance. Such a view from camp of the bridge...though I was dissapointed that it wasn't golden...or even very pretty! I say some gilding is in order!

I laid down to get the following picture, nice break though a lot of people were concerned with my welfare! Come on guys, its only the first hour of day 2...I'm fine!!

Day 2 "The bridge"

Base Camp

The first day we walked from "Cow Palace" through who knows where and ended up at base camp.
We started around 7:30 and ended at 5:15. Long day. But the sea of pink was fun to see in the distance, knowing we were almost there. It was right on the water, so beautiful...but also windy...and as the days progressed...VERY cold and windy. We slept in tents, 2 to a 6.5' x 6.5' tent. We had portapoties, and food tents. They had a medical tent and other odds and ends tents (stores/sales etc.) but they had to be taken down on day 2 due to the crazy wind. Our food tent stayed up but it was a chilly eating time!

Our tent was the third from the end of a row of 40-50 tents! And there were only portapotties at the far end. Our food tents and everything else were at the end of another row of 40-50- tents) LOTS of walking even in camp :( . It was a crazy long walk, specially in the middle of the night when I had to go to the bathroom.

At the end of day one walking, we got into camp, set up our tents inside (Laura had gotten help putting the actual tents up and getting our gear there) then we went for supper, I left for a shower and then...get this...I went to bed at 8:45 and was asleep by just after 9pm! I NEVER go to bed before 11 pm (and that is usually early for me) but I was tired, and I slept well. I didn't use an airmattress, the grass was very thick and soft and there was a hole in the ground right where my hip needed to be so as long as I slept on my side it was comfortable. And I brought earplugs with me as both Laura and I snore...so that way I didn't wake myself up and neither did she! Very nice. I also showered at night which is weird for me, but I couldn't face getting up even earlier to wait in line for the truck showers (which left no room for privacy I'll have you know...fine for those of you who don't care....but quite the feat for those of us who don't want to show every bit and piece that we call our own :) So many naked people...in such close quarters...but it was a great hot shower and it warmed me up enough to go to sleep in peace and wearing a hat to walk meant no worries over bed head the next morning.

My tent mate, and the reason any of these pictures exist! Yeah Laura, what fun we had :)

On day two, I was a little more socialable and after eating supper Katie and I hung around in the big tent to hear who had won the "rockstar" competition. It was a 3 way tie and they all got buttons. They all had great songs (some made up songs like the song sung to the tune of "we will rock you" with a chorus of "we will /walk the/ three day") Then they had a dance party with great music. They made the men get up onstage first and dance...then when the women were allowed up (Laura had returned by then from the medical tent where she had her foot iced) I said, Laura...give it 3 seconds. And low and behold in under 3 seconds I'd say...Katie was up front and center stage moving like she hadn't walked 10 or so hours previously :) Laura and I didn't have the guts to go up so we danced demurely in our seats...well I was actually on the ground trying to stretch so that I could make it to my tent when Katie returned! We didn't stay for the whole thing as the showers and my bed were calling...loudly! I was dreading another day of walking!!

One other cool thing at supper was that just after I had sat down and begun eating, freezing cold and trying not to shake my food off the fork...there was an announcement that the last walker was arriving and could we all please go line up at the flagpole to greet her. I actually thought they were joking...what were they thinking making me get up and WALK even one more step let alone across a dark uneven field. Quite a few others continued sitting and I figured I was exempt as I was still eating, but then the music started ("I got a feeling", by the black eyed peas) and I thought...if it were me, I'd be so thankful to see others standing up for me...so I excused myself and hobbled while trying to move a bit to the music and made my way out to the flagpole. (it wasn't so far away thank goodness!) and I was a part of the team, huge team, that welcomed her in! Pretty exciting...kinda how God and the angels rejoice when one of us returns home. At least that's how I saw it.

Some of the Scenery

Our Favorite Cheer Team!

Hookers for Hooters...what else could you want :) they were so entertaining, encouraging and funny. They would drive by with their stereo blaring and then wait at different stops to give us up close and personal encouragement!! Sometimes a wave or call to dance, and other times a smack on the backside with one of their 'props'.
Yikes!!

Pit Stop One!

At Pit stop one, there were bathrooms (complete with serenading, hassling, dancing and all sorts of crazy nonsense acting, volunteer San Hose Police Men) This officer was great!! Just like Jim Carrey. He followed one lady right into the bathroom much to her suprise, after serenading another lady and then dancing with her when she came out...he also banged on all the doors demading the women hurry up and get a move on! Wonderful comic relief, but he was only there the first day :(

Long lines for the bathrooms, but you HAD to go to make sure you were drinking enough along the way.

Looking pretty good arne't we :) yeah....it WAS only pit stop one.