Day 2: 20 miles

Did you miss my post on Day 1?  Check it out here.

Oh 5:15am came way too early!  But surprisingly, we both actually got some sleep.  We actually had a beautiful weekend to walk and it was like 50 some degrees every night and I was totally ok with that.  Much better than being hot!

Yep, this happened at about 6am Saturday morning.  I am in love with those pink sunglasses, but they were made for a person who has a head that is twice the size of mine.  Sad day.  But they were free (Thanks, Bank of America), so no complaints :)

After grabbing some breakfast, we were ready to go by 6:30am.  Thankfully the sun came out for our last two days and the weather was fabulous!

 All lined up, waiting to walk.

 Mount Prospect was awesome! 
 People were up bright and early offering us goodies and lots of cheers.  It was a big boost and always made me smile :)

 Stopping for a lunch break. And during that lunch break I got my knee taped which you will see in a few pictures.  Nothing serious, just a pulled muscle at the back of my knee that hurt like a b****!

 The New Balance cheerleaders were at a pit stop to pep everyone up.

 I found my name!

 Team Trio came to cheer us on!  It was so wonderful seeing their smiling faces at mile 17!  I had been looking forward to it all day and it was nice to stop and chat for a bit.  Thank you thank you for visiting us!  Nicole and Katie, you two are the bestest sisters a girl could ask for :)

 Another 6:30am to 2pm walk.  Camp never looked so good!
Day 2 done!  41.3 miles walked!

Right after this picture was taken we put on flip flops and went over to the medical tent.  Andrew had some disgusting blisters to take care of and we both needed ice.  Someone experienced shin splints for the first time ever!  And he was quite vocal about how much they hurt (now he can't make fun of me when I tape ice packs to my legs after running!).  While he was getting ice and bandaids, I headed over to the chiropractor side of the tent and had the chiropractor push and poke the back of my knee which killed!  But felt so much better the next day.

We had dinner (maybe more than once) and hung out for the rest of the night.  Off to bed early again (lights our were at 9pm after all).  We had to walk up extra early to pack up our tent and our gear the next morning before heading out at 6:30am.

And I should also note that at the beginning of day 2, we had three women walking behind us for the first few miles.  They were quite chipper for day 2.  At one stoplight, she turned to me and asked how we slept.  I said, surprisingly fine, and asked her the same.  She chuckled and said "Oh we stayed in a hotel, so we slept fabulously!" Seriously?  You do all the training and fundraising for the 3Day and then you don't even do the full experience?  Sleeping in a tent really wasn't all that bad, but whatever.   We obviously stayed in the tents and were just fine.  Showering on trucks and sleeping outside?  We did ok, we're kind of outdoorsy people, so I didn't need a hotel, thanks.

Day 3 coming up!

Day 1: 21.3 miles

As we walked through the streets of Chicago and its neighboring cities, I thought about how I would even begin to write this post.  It's hard to describe this incredible event and all of the emotions that come with it.  I still can't believe that we did it and I can't wait to do it again.

Let's start from the beginning.  And that began when it was still dark out and the sun was sleeping.  After Andrew came home from work on Thursday, Aug. 9th, we made the drive back to Geneva to drop off our little ladies with my dad and Sam's wonderful girlfriend, Lauren.  My mother had conveniently booked her trip to Seattle over that very weekend, I think she did it to get out of taking care of her grand-dogs!  After a carbo-load of Chipotle, we headed to a hotel in Northbrook with Andrew's parents so we would be all ready to go for the big day.

Well 4:15AM came way too soon and it was hard to drag my butt out of bed since I knew I wouldn't be sleeping in one for the next three days.  We quickly got ready and headed out to the care to drive to Northbrook Mall.  Unfortunately, the weatherman said that there would be lake-effect rain in our forecast for the morning.  BUMMER.

We dropped our gear off at the trucks and went to get our lanyards to hold our credentials for the weekend.  Then we played the waiting game.  And who knew that it would be so darn chilly in the middle of August!

 After waiting around for about 30 minutes, the opening ceremony started.

 Walkers walked out holding banners of why we walk and who we walk for.  They would walk us out at the start.

 Just as the ceremony ended, the skies opened up and we got a little bit of sun :)

 We made our way through the Botanic Gardens.

 And got rained on a little bit more.  Thank goodness for ponchos!

 Every 3 or 4 miles we had a pit stop to grab a bite to eat, a drink, and stretch a bit.  These broke up the walk so much that it just flew by!

 Pink firetruck!  All of the towns were so supportive.

 Day 1 done!  We actually walked over 20 miles, 21.3 to be exact!  We walked from 6:30am to 2pm.  By then we were ready for some rest and relaxation!

 But first, we had to set up our tent.  Pretty in pink :)

 "Main Street" had all of the fun stuff :)  New Balance shopping area with tv, computers for checking email, back massage chairs, awesome.

 Look at all of those pink tents!

 At 6:45pm, the final walker made it to camp.  We had a big celebration to welcome that last walker to camp.

 Raising the flag that says "One Day Closer to the End of Breast Cancer."

We spent the rest of the night eating dinner (walking 20 miles makes you hungry!  I won't refute rumors that we might have gone through the food line more than once).  We were off to bed early so we could wake up bright and early the next morning to start walking by 6:30am.















Stay tuned for Day 2!

How to prepare for the 3-Day

So you're going to walk the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for breast cancer?  Well, those 60 miles are just a tiny part of it.  Have you been training for the past 24 weeks?  I sure hope so, otherwise, you're in for a world of hurt.  I hope you've been telling everyone you know that you're walking to help end breast cancer because raising $2300 is no easy feat either (ba-dum-ching!).

Oh and did I mention that you would be sleeping in a tent for two nights and wearing a huge fanny-pack for three days?  Surprise!  So let's get down to packing for this party because it took me forever to figure out what to bring and how to pack it.

Two pairs of shoes are a necessity.  And trust me, you will wear both pairs!   Because of course it will rain.  It's inevitable, so you'll need pair number two while pair number one is drying.  Speaking of rain, two pairs of socks are required every day.  Your feet will thank you :)

Ginormous fanny packs or backpacks.  Embarrassing, but you will wear it with pride.  You see, you're going to need to pack a lot of stuff in those bags for the whole day.  Water bottle, bandaids, extra socks, camera, phone, ponchos, the whole nine yards.

Kleenex, wet ones, face wash towelettes.  The kleenex because tears will be shed.  This event is so emotional that you can't help but cry.  Wet ones because, well, you're sleeping in a tent for the next three days and running water is limited.  Face wash towels for the same reason.

Bandaids, moleskin, first aid kit, foot powder.  Oh those blisters.  And you'll get blisters (unless you're me who came out unscathed!  Success!)  Andrew on the other hand had blisters galore, really gross ones.  We won't talk about it.  The moleskin we never used.  Oh well, better to be prepared.  First aid kit with tylenol, bandaids, etc.  Foot powder.  Your feet get sweaty and smelly, no pretty way to put it.

Other necessities not picture:
sleeping bags
t-shirts
shorts
SOCKS
shoes
sunglasses
water bottles
pillows

It's that time of year again...

Ok, so I promised some posts on our amazing experience during the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk for breast cancer.  Well, that was like 3 weeks ago and two out of the four posts are still in draft form and two have yet to be written.  SLACKER, I know.  But I have a good excuse, I swear.  All of my teacher friends know what I'm talking about.  That mad rush to make an empty space look somewhat like a classroom.  I accepted a position in Madison exactly one week before the walk, so every day since we have gotten back has been spent driving my basement full of stuff across town and dumping it in my new room.  And then unpacking all of those boxes that I thought I had packed up so nicely and figure out how to cram all of the kindergarten fun into a tiny space.  It wasn't easy and I cried, more than once.  But it's done and it's beautiful!  Hot and humid, but beautiful. 

So that is my sorry excuse for not posting.  I haven't even uploaded the pictures yet, ugh, fail. 

Pictures as promised :)  Now to get started with those 3Day posts...

I hate pickles

So it's been a little while since I blogged.  Lo siento.  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind with summer school, weddings, dinners, and interviews.  Excuses excuses, I know.  We're also just 5 days away from the big walk!  I really can't believe it.  We haven't done as much training as we would have liked, but tried to get in as much as we could.

Now on to an explanation of the title of this post.  I dislike pickles. I hate everything about them: the way they look, the way they smell, the way they taste, just everything is eww.  Andrew, however, loves them.  So when our cucumber plants started to get out of control in the garden, his first thought was "refrigerator pickles."

Andrew is the tech coordinator for a clinic in Omaha, NE so he's quite the big deal out there.  They are also going live on EPIC software this week, which means Andrew is in Omaha right up until we drive back to Chicago for the walk. 

Our cucumbers have been going nuts.  Not to the extent of the zucchini, but getting there.

 I had about 7 cucumbers in the fridge (I had already given away another 7) so he could make pickles. 

Not the cucumbers I cut up, but I picked these about 2 days later.

Well Thursday night came and we went out to Harvest with our mothers who drove up to visit.  He kept telling me that he would slice all the cucumbers up and start the recipe before he left.  And then he realized that his flight was at 7am on Friday, so off to bed he went, whole cucumbers in the fridge.

The moms and I got up on Friday and headed to the Aveda Institute in Madison for pedicures.  Then did fun stuff like go to Farm and Fleet and Marshalls before going to lunch.  We're an exciting bunch, I know.  They left in the early afternoon so I thought "I'll be a good wife and make those pickles."

I got out all of my tools, including this beauty which was an anniversary present from my parents.

Oxo Mandolin from Crate and Barrel

Mandolin, big bowl, all set to make some pickles.

I started slicing the cucumbers on the mandolin and two in, tragedy struck.  That's right friends, this culinary genius sliced her thumb instead of a cucumber. 

After some choice four-letter words and a few paper towels, I wrapped up my thumb and looked at the 5 cucumbers left.  No one should be surprised that I SLOWLY sliced those last cucumbers with my LEFT hand.  I had already started, I couldn't stop now!  But I didn't finish making the pickles.

When Saturday morning came and my thumb still hurt like a B**** and I couldn't get the band-aid off, I decided a trip to urgent care was in my best interest.  Not before watching last week's episode of The Closer, of course (what?  Urgent Care didn't open until 9am!)

Thankfully no stitches for this girl!  Just almost passed out twice from trying to get the band-aid off my thumb (gross) and not eating anything.  With a sweet new bandage on my thumb to help the blood clot and a bottle of apple juice (and I don't drink apple juice.  It's for little kids.  But they were out of OJ), I was on my way... to sit in the parking lot for 20 minutes to make sure I didn't pass out. 

attractive, right?

Then off to Target!  How did you spend your weekend?