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! :)
