Well, it’s been over a month since I walked in the 60-mile Avon 3-Day Breast Cancer walk. 12 blisters are finally healing, I’m not limping anymore, and I’ve finally withdrawn from Gatorade…so am sitting down and writing a re-cap of a truly unbelievable, inspiring experience.
Day 1: Excitement…and great surprise!
The 3 days began with over 3,000 fresh and eager walkers starting out the gate, as escorts of San Jose bike and motorcycle cops lined the route. Quite the media event, with helicopters filming and thousands of supporters clapping, waving and wishing us well.
I was tired and distracted, but glad for the 3-Day to finally be here after some 4 months of training. My mom had been taken by ambulance and hospitalized the week before, and was still ill, and it was somewhat questionable right up until the night before the walk as to whether I’d be able to even do it… the stress of her illness over the past few weeks and staying up late the night before to pack at the last minute, had both made for a somewhat less than perfect send-off that morning…I was feeling pretty miserable – not at all how I had hoped to feel on the initial day of my trek! But the energy and excitement of the crowd was catching…
The mood for Day 1 of the walk could best be described by two words: excitement and surprise. The surprise was how emotionally impacted I would become during the walk, especially on the initial day. I would never have believed how touched I would be by the extensive support we received from strangers along the route. People you had never met before and would probably never meet again were supporting you with such emotions and care…it was not just a cheering section like at a competition (urging you on to the finish line)…instead, it was very intimate, with people sharing their emotions and own personal wounds openly with thousands of walkers.
Supporters cheered and cried. People high-fived you with such enthusiasm you would have thought they were your best friends. People positioned themselves along the route in lawn chairs offering a squirt of a hose to hot, thirsty walkers. There were children holding up a picture of their dead mom along with a sign saying “thank you for walking” to cure such a terrible disease. There was a woman crouching by a large framed photo of a young woman in front of a simple sign that said, “thank you”. An older couple silently nodding to walkers (with tears in their eyes) as the stream of walkers went by. A group of strangers spontaneously hugging a breast cancer survivor walker (survivors could be identified by special pink hats that they wore during the walk). A man blasting “Pretty Woman” on his truck stereo as walkers passed by (who showed up no less than 20 times throughout the walk and nicknamed “the Pretty Woman Guy”…he turned out to be the husband of a walker). A woman in a wheelchair who clasped my hands and gave me such an endearing squeeze while choking out the words “thank you so much”. |
