Day 3

We woke up to a frigid morning. Because the sky the day before had been so clear, there were no clouds to hold in the heat. Someone told me they thought it got down to the low ‘40’s. Sheesh! I got dressed, packed, deflated my mattress and took the tent down, all in the dark. Not an easy task. The tent really didn’t want to go into that little tiny bag. Fortunately, Marvin was out and about, and he helped me pack it up. After I dropped my things off at the gear truck, I headed to the medical tent, knowing it would be packed. Even at 5:30 am! And it was.

I had gotten another big blister, on my right heel this time, and it hadn’t drained on it’s own over night. I needed to have that done, and wrapped, before I could think of having breakfast. The wait was nearly an hour, but finally Leann, one of the nurses (who is absolutely THE BEST) took care of me and sent me on my way. Alas, by the time I got to the food tent, there wasn’t much left. I got a little oatmeal, some milk, and a banana. Oh, and the ever important coffee. I had to hurry because if I wasn’t out on the route by 7:30, I wouldn’t be able to walk and have to be bussed to each pit stop, lunch and then on to PetCo Park. I was out of the gate at 7:20, but there were still so many people behind me! As I was leaving, I looked down to where my tent had been….all but a couple of tents were left….so sad.

It was cooler than the day before, the sun was out a little, and very nice. Walkers were in a better mood, as well, since the “end” was in sight. A lot of walking wounded though: taped shin splints, wrapped knees and ankles, a lot of hobbling and limping. But everyone was generally in a very good mood.

One of the highlights of my day was getting my photo taken with the San Jose Police Department, who were our constant companions during the walk. They ride bikes and kept their eyes on us to keep us safe and out of harm’s way. I also managed to get my picture with Bustin’ Out Billy, a true character who was on the route everyday to cheer us on.

The hard part of my day came when we arrived at Old Town just before lunch. I don’t know if this “hill” was actually worse than Torrey Pines or Sunset Cliffs, but by this time, I was whooped! In addition, when I had packed up in the morning, I had left my other pair of shoes, plus my Crocs, out of my duffle and had stuffed them in my backpack. And since it had been so chilly, I had my jacket and my liner with me…..I had to have had close to 10 pounds, if not more, on my back. I hadn’t gone very far up the hill before I was struggling. I’m sure my face was beat red. I’d go a few yards and stop to catch my breath. Just as I was thinking I needed to find a sweep van to drive me to lunch, two young women came up to me and told me they’d carry my backpack for me! I was so touched. But as I was handing the pack to them, a young man walked up and said he’d carry it. His name was John, a member of our wonderful food crew, and had decided to walk up the hill with his wife in between his duties. John walked all the way up that gosh darn hill with me, carrying that stupidly heavy backpack! We talked about his family, my family, the event and San Diego. I don’t know what I would have done without John. He was my hero of the event. Three cheers for John!

I was so glad I had made it to lunch. Alas, the little sun there had been was now gone, and rain clouds were forming. Looking for a spot to sit down, I ran into some of my teammates, Mary Ann, Tami Jo, Willow and Kathleen. I got my lunch and sat with them for awhile until they got ready to leave. I decided to take a good long rest, and after they left, I went to Medical, changed my moleskin, got new socks, and stretched out.

When it started to sprinkle, I decided it was time to hit the pavement again. Just as I was leaving the park, I ran into sisters-in-law, Ann and Gloria, also on The Breast Defense League team. They had been part of my 3 Day experience since the beginning: I sat with them at our pre-walk dinner, stood with them in the dark at opening ceremonies, and saw them at least once each day on the walk. Two nicer women would be hard to find. We chatted for a few minutes and then I was on my way.

After leaving the park, we headed into downtown. By then it was raining, a fine mist at first which progressively got heavier as we went along. I had forgotten to put a rain poncho in my backpack (I had everything except the kitchen sink in there, but no rain poncho!) so I had to wear my jacket, taking out the lining. Even then it was too hot since the temperature was in the mid ‘60’s. Finally I had to make a decision: get wet or sweat. So I got wet.

Walking through downtown slowed our paced considerably. We had to stop for all the signals. Sometimes the groups were so large we had to wait through 4 changes to get across a street. Occasionally, someone would start singing, and we’d all join in: Singing in the Rain, We’re Off to See the Wizard, and My Favorite Things.

The funniest moment came at one corner that the light to walk was very short. Only a few people were getting across at a time. The SD traffic officers were very conscientious on keeping the walkers safe and moving without tying up traffic. They were very specific about us needing to stay in the crosswalk. Well, after standing (in the rain mind you) at this corner for more than 10 minutes and not getting anywhere the light changed again. Suddenly a voice called out “let’s go everyone!” and everyone did! There were about 100 of us and off the sidewalk we went, running between the cars stopped at the light laughing, cheering and whistling! The officer started to blow his whistle and motioned us to go back but there was no stopping us. Most of the people in the cars were clapping and honking their horns as well.

Another memorable moment occurred as we passed a small store that was closed on Sunday. In the parking, a truck was parked and the driver was passing out cans of cold beer to anyone who wanted one. I don’t know how many cases he had in there. Since SD has a law against open containers, he was also handing out lunch bags for the walkers to put them in. He was definitely a popular guy that day.

And then suddenly we were at the last pit stop at Balboa Park and only 1.3 miles from the end of the walk at Petco Park. That’s when I felt my first tinge of sadness that this awesome experience was drawing to a close. As we walked those last steps to the stadium hundreds people were lined up along the street cheering us on. People started crying, men and women alike, and we all began hugging each other.

Finally it was my turn to cross through the gate at Petco Park. Number 3752. Amazing! On either side of us was a gauntlet of our fellow walkers who’d already finished the event, high-fiving us as we made our way to be officially scanned in and to receive our victory shirt, including team members Bill, and Adrian and Jeff.

I found the rest of my team up on the grassy knoll where we had arranged to meet. I was happy, yet so sad. I had completed my first Cancer 3 Day walk!