Month Gone By

I knew it had been a long time since I'd blogged, but I didn't realize how long it had actually been until last week when I was setting up my mom's Internet access and wireless network. I used her shortcut to my blog as a test to see if the connection was working, and I about fell out of my chair when I saw the date of my last post was exactly a month before!

There's so much been going on this summer--especially in the last 2 months--that has been keeping me busy. So many of these things I intended to blog about and still might dedicate entire posts to, but for now, here are the things that have been keeping me away from the computer!

1. The 3-Day--As most of my friends know, last weekend I walked 60 miles in the 3-Day in Chicago. The last several months have been filled with lots of soliciting money, writing thank yous, and walking--lots and lots of walking! Pictures from the event can be found here!

2. Moving--We obviously didn't move, but in the middle of July we helped my mom move to Lawrence! We are so thankful to have her here, but I've been very busy helping her get settled. There's always just so much to buy and to do when you move--for example, getting her Internet connection hooked up!

3. Houseguests--This summer we've had lots of people visit, which has been wonderful. My friend Kati and her son were here for several days in June, my brother was here for several days around my mom's move, my friend Emily and her sister stayed a couple of nights in July, our friend Jason stayed a couple of nights with us a few weeks ago, and our nephews stayed with us this weekend. I'm so thankful for our guest room and thankful that we've put it to use!

4. Traveling--We haven't done much traveling this summer, but we did spend a terrific 4th of July weekend in the very nice town of Kearney, Nebraska, visiting our friends Jake and Amber. Even if I don't blog about it, I hope to at least share the pictures at some point!

5. Car Shopping--During the month of June we spent many evenings scouring the Internet researching and shopping for cars. We ended up getting a new Hyundai Elantra at the beginning of July and we've already put over 3,000 miles on it!

6. Growth Groups/Journey Group--Our regular "Journey" Group that started at our old church many years ago continued to meet and study all summer, and then Chad and I also attended an 8 week Growth Group study through our new church. I also led an activity growth group of walking women on Saturday mornings, and it took quite a bit of time to plan out the routes each week!

7. Reading--I reread the first book in the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series while I was in Chicago, which I'd started years and years ago and only got about 4 books into. I recently finished collecting the whole series from Half Price Books, and now that they're all in my possession I can't put them down. My OCD really shows when I start reading, because I lose all self-control and become completely unproductive. It's why I don't read more often!

So there are all of the excuses for my absence that I can think of. Hopefully in the near future I'll get back into the habit of blogging regularly--I've missed this creative outlet!

DC 3-Day Pictures

I've obviously been home for several days, but I haven't had the chance to blog until now because every free evening I've been trying to get the pictures from the 3-Day ready! Initially I didn't think I would spend much time editing them, but since most of the shots were taken while I was walking, there were plenty of crooked and blurry pics that needed a little attention. Plus, since I got the new Photoshop over the summer, I just can't help tweaking pictures a tiny bit even when they probably don't really need it!

Anyway, I added captions to some of the pictures, but many of the shots are just buildings that I thought were really cool even though I had no idea what they were! Maybe my DC knowledgeable friends Jake and Amber will help me identify some of them. There were so many awesome things to see on days 1 and 3 when we were in the city. I can't wait to get back there for a vacation to get a better look at the sites and learn more of their history!

I'm really going to try to write more about the 3-Day on my other blog, but in a nutshell, it was a great location for the event, the weather was darn near perfect, and my dad finished strong without any problems at all. Not that I had any doubts that he would!

Stress and Birthdays

The last week has been quite stressful, and my body let me know that it wasn't appreciating the extra stress when I woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat and a fever. I wasn't really surprised under the circumstances. After receiving the terrible news on Thursday and subsequently worrying about my grieving friend nonstop, I could feel the illness coming on by Friday afternoon. Then after a super busy day at work I ended up staying at the office until after 7 trying to finish up a big project, which certainly didn't help things. Even downing a bunch of vitamin C Friday night and going to bed early didn't keep me from having to cancel my training walks with friends on Saturday morning. After sleeping most of Saturday away I managed to make it to our friend Mike's 40th birthday party for a couple of hours that evening. On Sunday I tried to rest as much as possible too, but that day we actually had another birthday party to go to--this one for our 1-year-old friend Violet!

Tonight the birthday theme continued when I went over to my friend Melissa's with a few other friends from work to bring her dinner and wine for her birthday. It was hard to call this one a birthday celebration though, since obviously Mel just lost her husband 7 days ago. There were a lot more tears and hugs at this party than candles and presents, unfortunately. The sadness and grief have been so emotionally draining, I can't even begin to imagine how Melissa and her family feel.

Although I've felt a little better every day since Saturday (is this only Tuesday??), I would like to have spent more of Sunday and yesterday evening lounging around and trying to heal. Unfortunately that wasn't possible since I had lots of packing and preparing to do, given that I'm flying out tomorrow evening to Columbus, Ohio, where my dad will pick me up. As most of my friends and family know, the following day we'll drive together to Washington, DC, where we'll be participating together in the newly titled Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure! I'm super excited!

Now if I can just make it through one more day of stress at work, I'll be free to enjoy a relaxing vacation with my Pop--that is if you consider walking 60 miles in a weekend relaxing!

3-Day Slideshow

Today I finished the captions on my pictures from the weekend, so enjoy the slideshow!



I hope to eventually write a little more about the whole event, but I'll probably do that over on my other blog and not bore you all with all the details here!

Back to Life and New Life to My Back

Chad and I got back from our trip to Dallas last night at about 12:30, and today was just a day of recovery. We didn't go to work, but instead got caught up on laundry, grocery shopping, dog walking and sleep. Strangely enough, I didn't really feel the need to recover much physically despite walking 60 miles over the weekend. It's pretty remarkable that my body doesn't hardly seem to notice a 60 mile walk after doing it four years in a row. It seemed fairly easy--especially considering I didn't train nearly as much as usual. My back even felt good--better than it has for years! I can really only attribute this to the new chiropractor I've been seeing the last few weeks who's done an amazing job fixing up my injury from a few weeks ago. I'm definitely Dr. Michael Stuart's newest big fan! Hopefully as I continue to visit him I'll continue to see improvement!

More about the 3-Day later--I'm working on the pictures right now!

Road Test

Today I'm trying something new on the old blog just out of sheer
boredom. We're currently driving through Oklahoma on our way to
Dallas for the 3-Day, and although I'm enjoying the quality time with
my dear husband, I'm tired of being in the car and I'm trying to pass
the time. I hadn't tried posting via email yet (although I've been
known to post via Chad's Blackberry), so I thought I'd give it a go
even though I really have nothing to say!! So there. I guess that's
it. We're driving and I'm super excited. Twenty-four hours from now
I'll be finishing up my first 20 miles!

The Barrel House

Last Thursday about 15 of our wonderful friends and family members came out to The Barrel House for the 3-Day fundraiser. I can't even describe what an amazing job Danny Williams and his staff did putting on this event! They went above and beyond in every way imaginable. The entire bar was decorated with pink ribbons and balloons, and all the staff members were decked out in pink as well! Danny had procured a donated keg of beer from 23rd Street Brewery, and along with the money from the cover charge at the door, the proceeds from the sale of that beer was donated to the 3-Day! They publicized the event on Facebook and through other means, so by the end of the evening, there were quite a few people there for a Thursday night! The support from The Barrel House was just outstanding and amazing and I couldn't be more thankful.

Although not many of our friends were able to make it out on a week night--especially a gloomy and rainy one--we had a terrific time with the friends who were there. The pianists were great--one in particular was amazingly funny and talented. We had a blast singing along to all the songs and watching the antics of the entertainers. It was so much fun! We're definitely hoping to go back again soon!



Thanks again to all of our fabulous friends who took the time to come out and show their support. I appreciate it so much!!

Barrels of Fun

Most of my Lawrence area friends probably already know all about this, but I'm going to share this link to my other blog just in case there is someone visiting today who didn't receive my email on the subject last week. In case you don't know, there's a 3-Day fundraiser at The Barrel House coming up on Thursday that anyone and everyone can attend for a mere $2! For all the details, click here! I hope those of you who are available will join us at The Barrel House for a fun evening out!

Gearing Up

I spent the bulk of my evening preparing for my trip to Dallas, even though the 3-Day is still two weeks away. I just couldn't help myself--I'm getting really excited! I think my renewed excitement mainly stemmed from the fact that over the weekend I actually met someone who is going to Dallas as well, and now I have a tentmate and a walking partner!

This meeting wasn't exactly accidental, in that my new friend Brandy is actually friends with Chad's coworker Suzanne, and Suzanne gave Brandy my email address. We corresponded last week and met up on Saturday to walk a few miles in Topeka. She's a very nice first-time walker who also walks about my speed, which is an added bonus! Now I'm really looking forward to actually knowing someone else in Dallas!

So this evening I went to Target and picked up all of my travel toiletries and a few other supplies, and then I went down to the basement to pull out my sleeping bag and camping pad. I didn't actually start putting things in my duffel, but I did start gathering everything together in the anticipation of packing!

One of the other things I did in preparation was to lace up my shoes with some new laces that I splurged on last year. I think they're pretty perfect, don't you?

Bummer of a Day

Today is really the first beautiful, sunny day we've had in what seems like forever. Unfortunately, I've spent pretty much the whole day laying in bed, alternating between ice packs and nerve stimulation on my back. Yesterday, just after I finished my 18 mile training walk (which took a mere 4.5 hours, not counting a few breaks), I was downstairs in our storage room and I bent over to grab something out of a box. That simple movement tweaked that dang disc I've been having trouble with for years, and suddenly I couldn't stand up straight. It's definitely not as bad as the first time this happened over two years ago, but it's still not fun, to say the least. I want to be outside enjoying this beautiful fall weather!!!

3-Day Videos

I've loaded the remaining 3-Day videos onto YouTube, so if you're at all inclined, you can visit my personal "channel" here and check them out. Most are self-explanatory, I think, and just consist of a lot of people cheering! The people who come out and support the walkers every day on the route are so incredible. They are always so encouraging and entertaining. This year, there were supporters who made us laugh and cry as well!

The one video that probably needs a little explanation is the one that I think might be the funniest. Let me first say that I knew I had the camera turned sideways--I'd actually learned not to make this mistake after messing up several videos with my old camera. However, this camera appeared to right itself when you recorded a video sideways--at least it did in playback mode. I was trying to test it out, to see if would reorient its videos, when we came upon this guy singing while he was walking. It was so hysterical I couldn't stop recording! In case you can't tell, he's doing Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer. It was absolutely hilarious! Hopefully you can turn your laptop or yourself sideways to watch it! :)

3-Day Pictures

I've finally resized, uploaded, sorted, culled and captioned all of my pictures from the Breast Cancer 3-Day last weekend! I deleted enough pictures from other Picasa folders to get the majority of the pictures loaded (there were actually about 360 total, if you can believe it), but I couldn't make room for all of the videos on the site, so those that didn't make it to Picasa will eventually make it to YouTube so that I can share them all! Only one has finished uploading to YouTube so far, but it's a pretty funny (and slightly startling) video, I think.



These girls wore outrageous outfits like this every day, most of which didn't cover much of their bodies! I love the family with all the boobs on their hats too--they were great! Hopefully by tomorrow morning there will be more than just this one!

So here is the full slideshow of all the pictures and a few other videos. If you'd like to view the slideshow a little bigger, you can visit my Picasa page directly by clicking here. I hope to write more about the walk very soon, but the pictures should give you a pretty good idea of what an amazing time we had!

Picture Problems

Tonight I was so excited to load all of my pictures from our trip and post a slideshow to the blog. Unfortunately, once I loaded the pictures onto the computer, I realized that the new camera was set to such a high picture quality that my folder of 3-Day pictures won't even come close to fitting on my Picasa page!! Argh! I'm so bummed--the trip was amazing and I can't wait to share! I guess maybe I'll look into making a Flickr page or something tomorrow to see if I can find another website on which to post the pictures. For now, here are just a couple of sneak peeks--us freezing before the opening ceremony started and a very happy us after closing ceremonies!

The other bummer about my pictures is that a bunch of them turned out kind of blurry. Granted, I was walking and taking pictures at the same time, which isn't exactly a recipe for steady shooting, but I think maybe there was some sort of setting that was making the autofocus area super small in certain cases--I just can't figure out what it was! Maybe I should have actually read the camera manual on the plane to California or something!

Regardless, the trip was great. My mom did awesome and walked the entire 60 miles without hitching a ride (like hundreds of other walkers do)! I am so proud of her and had so much fun with my brother. I hope to have pictures and to share more of the details very soon!

We're Here!!

I really meant to post a goodbye message last night before we left for our trip today, but as I was frantically getting packed and prepared, blogging fell by the wayside. Thanks to my brother's laptop and wireless Internet access at our hotel, I'm blogging to you tonight from sunny San Diego! It's been a long day which started at 3:45 this morning, and since we have to get up at 4 a.m. again tomorrow, it's now about 8 p.m. and I'm already in bed. Don't laugh--we have a big day tomorrow!

A Good Excuse To Go Out

This weekend has pretty much been consumed with 3-Day related activities. Mom and I walked 18 miles yesterday and 15 miles today (yea, Mom!), so there wasn't much time for anything else. Tonight I didn't have any time for real blogging because I was busy sending out an email about an upcoming 3-Day event this week, which you probably already got if you live in the Lawrence/KC/Topeka area! On Thursday, our friend Dan is supporting our 3-Day team by hosting the 3rd annual 3-Day fundraiser at his restaurant, Set'em Up Jack's. Dan will donate 25% of every bill to our 3-Day team between the hours of 5-9 p.m., as long as you bring a copy of this flier to give to your server when you pay for your meal. It's a great way to support our cause just by eating out--and a great excuse not to cook dinner! :)

We'd love to have as many people as possible pack Jack's, because although I finished my fundraising officially last week (hooray!), my mom and brother still have about $1200 left to raise--each!! Come eat lots of food and bring all your friends and coworkers! :)

Not only would we love your support of our team, but we'd also love to see the smiling faces of all our wonderful friends! Hope to see you there!

Half Way There

This is really a post that belongs on my other blog, and in fact, I'll probably post something similar there as well tomorrow. I don't have much time tonight since I've been working on 3-Day stuff and watching the Steelers win in overtime (yea!), but I'm just too excited not to share even though it's way late. Today I reached (ok, almost reached) a big milestone in my fundraising for the 3-Day when I reached $1,095, which is more or less half of the minimum $2200 I need to raise to participate. I have to give a lot of credit to my dear husband, who made a batch of his famous mustard and gave it to his softball teammates in exchange for a donation! It was mustard money that got me almost to the halfway point today!

I still have a lot of fundraising work to do yet, as the event is just 53 days away and I have $1105 left to raise. That's just over $20 a day, and that's not counting the thousands more I need to help the rest of my team raise! I'm hoping to send out more fundraising emails later this week, so if you haven't gotten one from me already, you probably will! :)

A Family Affair

This is really a post that belongs on my other blog, but I'm just so excited about it I have to share here too. Tonight my brother called to tell me that he's going to join Mom and I to walk in the Breast Cancer 3-Day in San Diego! I can't explain how stinkin' thrilled I am! My brother is AWESOME!!! :)

36

So I had a birthday over the weekend. Despite the fact that I don't generally like to celebrate my birthdays anymore, I really had a pretty fun day on Saturday. The day started pretty darn early when I woke up at 6 a.m. to go on a training walk with my mom, who drove over from Topeka. We took the dogs about 3.5 miles before the rain started, at which point we headed out to Target to be mall walkers for our remaining 4.5 miles! Mom was so embarrassed about walking in the store, but she stuck it out and finished our 8 mile walk with ease! We even had energy for shopping after our walk was over!

When we got home, Chad made us brunch with pancakes, eggs, turkey sausage and hash browns. It was wonderful! Afterwards we gave Mom a Wii lesson and had a great time Wii bowling for at least an hour. Since Mom had never played a video game in her life it was definitely a challenge for her, but we had so much fun and spent a lot of time laughing, as you can see from all the pictures.

Before my mom left, she gave me the best present I could have asked for by finally officially committing to walking in the 3-Day in November! I am so excited! I got us both registered on Saturday and am starting to get our fundraising pages set up! You can visit our team page here and even make a donation if you want to avoid getting a solicitation email from me in a few weeks! :) Better yet, you could do something bold in the fight against breast cancer and actually join our team as a walker! I promise it would be an unforgettable experience that you wouldn't regret!

My birthday evening was spent enjoying the company of our good friends Bill and Lindsay and some other of Chad's friends from work as we all attended our friend Suzanne's wedding. It was a lovely ceremony, despite the fact that it got moved indoors because of bad weather. At least it wasn't outside on a brutally hot August night, which is entirely possible for a Kansas summer. It's the first birthday I remember in a long time that was actually cool and rainy. Another birthday first: wedding cake and champagne! :)

Training While It's Raining

There’s something super exciting going on in my life that I’ve totally failed to blog about until now. I’ve kind of put it off blogging about it on purpose, because I haven’t been entirely sure that it was going to happen. I’m getting more and more confident about it every week, so it’s finally time to reveal what I’m so excited about!

Last November I walked in my second Breast Cancer 3-Day, and the San Diego event was an absolutely amazing experience. So amazing, in fact, that I wanted to share the experience with my mom, Sherry, who battled breast cancer in 2006. I immediately started talking to her about walking with me in the next 3-Day, but since Mom wasn’t really in shape at all at the time, neither of us were really sure that the 60 miles would even be doable for her.

So back in February or March, I started a sort of feasibility study with my mom. I created a 16-week training schedule for her, to build up her walking endurance so that she would be able to walk 3 miles, 4 times a week by the time the recommended 24-week training period began. She started with just a mile of walking at a time, and slowly built her way up to walking 4 times a week. Then she began increasing her mileage, until by the beginning of June, she could pretty easily walk 3 miles at a time. She wasn't as consistent with her walking as I wanted her to be, but she got to the point where she could start the official training schedule none the less.

Since Mom still had a long way to go before she was walking 20 miles in a day, we still didn't officially register for the walk, just in case her mild arthritis or an injury got in the way of our lofty goal. We decided that we'd keep following (a slightly modified version of) the suggested training schedule for a few more weeks to see how the mileage increases went before making a final decision about registering. Our plan was to wait until mid July or so before deciding if we would for sure make the trip to San Diego.

Last week, I started feeling very confident that Mom was going to stick it out through the training and make to the event in November. She seemed to have a renewed excitement and energy regarding her walks, and she was consistently getting up super early every morning to get her scheduled miles in. Yesterday morning, she came to Lawrence for our 6 mile walk and got up at 5:30 to do so! Not only was she here bright-eyed at 6:30 a.m., but she also powered on through the end of our walk even though we got caught in a pretty heavy rain shower! Chad drove around the neighborhood and came to find us to see if we wanted to call it quits, but Mom wanted to finish even though we were both soaking wet! I was so impressed with her determination!

I can't even express how proud I am of her for taking on this challenge. She has come so far in the last few months, with regard to her fitness level and also her motivation and dedication. We still haven't officially registered, but I'm so excited that we will most likely be walking together in San Diego come November!!

The Breast Cancer 3-Day: Day 3

The 3rd day of our 3-Day journey started entirely too early. At about 4 in the morning we started hearing rustling and whispering from the tents nearby. By 4:30, people around us were full out talking, and Vikkie and I resorted to blurting out "SHHHHHHHHHHHH" like schoolgirls at summer camp. Our neighbors would quiet down very briefly, but before long they'd be loud enough for the whole area to hear, so by about 5 a.m. we were forced to give up trying to sleep completely.

It was actually kind of good that we got up when we did, because there was a lot of packing and cleanup to do before hitting the trail. On the last day, they are especially strict about people leaving camp at exactly 7:30 so that everyone has enough time to be finished before closing ceremonies at 4 that afternoon. When Vikkie and I headed off to the bathroom at different times in the morning we actually got separated, so I went and washed my face and ate breakfast while Vikkie was dressing/packing because I couldn't find her, and then she went and ate after getting dressed because she couldn't find me! Either way, we both enjoyed the standard breakfast fare with some slight variations (I think we had some fruit crepes that day) and chatted with a few other walkers while I ate. I was fascinated to find that all 4 of the people that I happened to talk to that morning had each taken a sweep van the previous day. I was really surprised to find that no one else had walked the entire time, but they all seemed pretty okay with it!

I realized at breakfast that I might be a little pressed for time, so I rushed back to my tent and dressed quickly, and then started packing up my stuff and sleeping bag. Everything was so damp from the moist ocean air, it was a little messy putting away wet sleeping bags. When Vikkie arrived back from breakfast we started taking down our tent, which was downright sloppy since it was so wet. We ended up rolling the tent up as best we could and stuffing it back into the bag from which it came, feeling bad that someone else might have to clean up our mess later. Later we found out that the tents aren't actually reused, but rather recycled! In bulk, these "disposable" tents (which are super duper thin) actually only cost the 3-Day organization about $1.50 each! They use them just once and then recycle the materials for next year. After hearing that, we didn't feel so terrible that our tent had been wadded up and wet!

As we headed to the "starting line" for the day, it was somewhere around 7:10 or 7:15, and there were tons of people heading in that direction around the same time. Thankfully we got there before 7:30, because there were hundreds of people all waiting to get scanned and out on the course before the deadline. We stood in line for 15 or 20 minutes, and finally got scanned and out on the route at 7:33 a.m. The route was only around 15 miles on Sunday, and while it might seem like we cheated a bit since we only walked about 21-22 miles the previous two days, I'm confident that we got a whole 60 miles in over the weekend just because the camp was so spread out!

Since I still didn't have my Garmin on day 3, it was again a little difficult to tell exactly where we walked on that day. We started out heading in the opposite direction as we had on the previous two days, walking north first and then east through some residential and small little business districts before turning back around the east side of the bay and going south. Just before a pit stop along this stretch was where we got passed by some tall power-walking woman. The path was so crowded it was difficult for us to keep up with her, because she was passing so many people so quickly! Two people can't pass as easily as one, so we gave up and let her power on ahead of us. We were disappointed, but it turned out to be our only "defeat" of the day. As we followed the bay south, we ended up passing by Sea World again and walking along the Southern Wildlife Preserve like we had towards the end of the day before. It was along this stretch of road that Vikkie actually demonstrated her superhuman power--a power I didn't even know she had.

We were walking along, and as usual we were passing large groups of people. Vikkie glanced over to her right and said, "Kim, I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I think I'm related to that lady over there." I assured her it really wasn't that crazy, since one time that I'd been in San Diego with my dad over 10 years ago, we were at the zoo when we realized the woman standing next to us at an exhibit was Dad's first cousin, who just happened to be visiting San Diego at the same time. I assured Vikkie that it was a very small world and encouraged her to go say something. We turned around, and Vikkie walked directly up to this woman and started the following (approximate) conversation:

Vikkie: "Hi, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I feel like I know you from somewhere. Are you from this area?"

Lady: "No, I'm actually from Ventura, just north of here."

Vikkie: "But originally...are you from there originally?"

Lady: "Well, no, I'm originally from Kansas."

Vikkie: "Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Where in Kansas?"

Lady: "Oh, it's a small town in northeast Kansas."

Vikkie: "Is it Sabetha?"

The woman stopped dead in her tracks. Her jaw dropped open and she literally grabbed onto Vikkie's arm like she was going to fall over and just stared at her. Vikkie exclaimed "I'm from Sabetha--I'm Craig's daughter!" The woman's eyes got huge and she said "YOU'RE Craig's daughter?!!!" Vikkie's dad Craig is apparently a cousin or something of this woman, whose name was Sandy. They went on to discuss the fact that the only reason Vikkie recognized Sandy was because when Vikkie was in high school she used to clean the home of Sandy's mother, and there were pictures of Sandy everywhere. This was obviously like 10 years ago, and Vikkie wasn't even sure at the time if she'd ever even seen Sandy in person!! She said it happens all the time, where she sees someone she's met once many years before and she immediately knows them. How's that for a super power!??

After our Sabetha sighting, we re-passed all of the people who'd passed us while we were talking with Sandy, and then crossed over a big bridge on the south side of the bay, and sort of started heading back in the direction we'd already come. This was probably the least scenic part of the entire walk, even though the wildlife area was on our left, because the highway was right next to us on the other side. It seems like we walked along this stretch for about a mile, but then we started heading through some pretty residential areas. There was a great pit stop in this area with the whole crew dressed in 80s prom clothes, which was great for a laugh along the way! The pit stops always had themes and were generally pretty entertaining, but this one was definitely my favorite of the weekend! I think it was soon after this that we skirted the edge of the Old Town area, but it wasn't until the next day that we even realized that's where we had been.

We arrived at lunch entirely too early once again, somewhere between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Since there had been even more supporters along the route than the previous two days, we'd eaten even more candy than the previous two days, which meant we really weren't hungry for a turkey sandwich at 9:45 in the morning. We snacked on a couple of side items and packed our sandwiches, did some stretching, and then headed back onto the trail by 10:15 or so. With only about 5 more miles to go, we were ready to get a move on!

We walked through a few residential areas before coming to the Hillcrest neighborhood, which actually happens to be near where my brother lived in San Diego many years ago. This is a cute little community that kind of feels like a smaller town in the middle of the big city, with lots of cute shops in a quaint downtown. We turned south somewhere in Hillcrest and then headed towards Balboa Park. We didn't actually walk through the heart of Balboa, but headed down the main street that runs along the east side of the park. The funny thing is, once again I had no idea we were walking so close to this major city landmark! I think we were just completely focused on finishing and not paying attention to the scenery! In our defense though, the entire stretch of Park Boulevard where we walked was littered with spectators cheering us on. It was a little difficult to pay attention to the area when we were busy acknowledging all of our supporters!

Once we reached the south end of Balboa, there was really only about a mile or so of walking through the downtown area before we arrived at Petco Park. The last few city blocks were already packed with people, and I think it was only a little after noon when we arrived. Although we didn't get an official finisher number when we arrived, we heard some other people who came in just before us say that they were around number 250. Again, it sounded like we got slower on the third day, but we still felt good about our time since we were among the last to leave that morning!

After crossing the finish line we picked up our victory t-shirts, took pictures by the Day 3 banner, then parked ourselves on a grassy hill outside the stadium where we stretched, ate our sandwiches and watched the other walkers coming in. It was actually a little chilly once we stopped moving, and when it started to sprinkle a while later we weren't too thrilled about the possibility of being cold and wet. We grabbed our gear and hustled down underneath the ballpark, where we had a great view of the incoming walkers. We started noticing that as they crossed the finish line they all looked a little lost, because there were several different ways they could turn, and they didn't immediately notice the greeting crew standing farther into the park. Vikkie and I decided that we would be helpful and encouraging and stand where we could direct them while cheering them on. Within a couple of minutes, a couple of women joined our line of two. A few minutes later, a couple of other women joined our line of four. At that point we started doing a wave of six for all the finishing walkers as they game by, which was pretty darn funny. Then some more people lined up across from us to cheer and dance and clap for the incoming walkers. Within 20 minutes, there were at least a hundred people who had joined our receiving line! It was huge! A woman a few people down from us said "What a great idea--who started this?" and several women pointed to Vikkie and I. Another woman took our picture, apparently wanting to remember the spirited organizers of "the line." It was so fun because we got to be goofy and dance around and clap for people, but it was also very moving because we got to see close up how overwhelmed with emotion people were as they finished their 60 miles. Many would walk down the line and receive hugs and pats on the back and just break down in tears, which would cause everyone in the welcome line to get teary as well. It was a pretty cool place to be, and of course it was all our idea. :)

After about an hour and a half of being on our feet dancing and clapping, when our line of two had grown into a line of hundreds, Vikkie and I said "our work is done here" and decided to go relax. We headed out the gates of the ball park to the La Croix tent, where our awesome foot massagers were just waiting for us! We pampered our feet while making calls to our families, and then headed back out to the street, where there were thousands and thousands of people congregating to cheer on the incoming walkers and prepare for closing ceremonies. I know I keep saying this, but it was so amazing how many people came out in support of the event.

We headed back to the holding area inside the ballpark and did a little shopping at some sponsor tents, and then decided to sit back and admire our beautiful welcome line, which looked like it was over 1,000 people long. People would walk through the line, pick up their t-shirts, and then go join the end of the line to make it even longer. We took a series of pictures, since it was way too long to fit into one frame. We thought it was pretty cool. :)

The last walker finished soon after at about 3:45, and the organizers immediately started herding people around to get set up for the victory walk to the closing ceremonies. By the time the 4,600 people were in an organized line, it was starting to sprinkle again. The entire mass of people marched about a half mile around the outside of Petco Park into what appeared to be a parking lot, where the stage was set up and spectators were gathered. We were actually fairly near the front, which meant we stood around for what seemed like an hour waiting for the other 4,000 participants to pour into the area. Thankfully we'd packed our ponchos that day, because we were starting to get a little damp!

The closing ceremonies finally started, and while very moving and powerful, they felt just a little bit long, probably because it was dark by this point and we were all pretty wet with drizzle and we'd been up since before 5 a.m.! When the ceremony was finished, we wandered over to the next parking lot where our suitcases were all waiting (in the rain). We drug our bags to a nearby corner and tried calling a cab, but since I only had an intersection and not the actual address of Petco, they wouldn't come and get us! We soon realized that the streets around the stadium had been blocked off anyway, so we just started following the crowds to the main downtown area until we saw a cab. We shared a cab with a nice woman from Iowa, and then arrived at our hotel, where the kind woman at the front desk upgraded us to a suite! I think she just felt sorry for us since she knew we'd walked 60 miles and were wet and cold!

Our suite was nice and spacious, and after unpacking and getting organized, we decided that because of the wet and chilly weather we'd just stay in for the night and order some pizza. Thankfully, the hotel had a laundry room just two doors down from us, so we were able to get our laundry done and enjoy a cozy evening in warm beds for the first time in 3 days! :)