L Sass
Cathlete
OMG - the length of this may just rival Heather's RT novel (sorry!)
My Komen for the Cure 3-day details.
What a whirlwind! We arrived at a local racetrack Friday morning at 5:30 to check in. The opening ceremonies began at 6:00. A huge stage was set up where the prominent speakers addressed the 1140-walker crowd - not to mention all of the family members and media folks covering the event. As the speakers were talking, moving along one side of the crowd and up through the middle were flag carriers. Each flag represented a characteristic or thing about why we were walking. The flags were then placed on the elevated stage in the middle of the crowd and in walked a line of SURVIVORS. Ok - that gave me chills. They went up on the stage and faced the crowd, leaving an enclosed empty circle in the middle. That inner circle represented all of the lives lost to breast cancer. After more inspirational words, with a lot of folks already crying, the survivors joined hands and raised them high, signifying the strength of unity in this battle. We were told that the flags would walk with us to camp, being passed amongst the walkers along the first 20 miles, and would then fly over camp. And with that, at about 6:45 the walkers began walking, sent off by the hoards of families and friends and crew. Now my two training buddies, Shelley and Kathy, and I walk very fast, so for the first 2 miles or so we were walking on the tree lawns, passing the throngs of people in front of us but who were going (at least for us) way too slow. Not that we were trying to be speed walkers, but we’d been training since April and our pace of just over 4 miles and hour was what we were comfortable with. I think we all would have lost our minds if we had to walk that slowly.
It must have been quite a sight seeing more than 1,000 people walking along the street - all of the car drivers were honking and waving and cheering. We passed a local hospital and about 75 employees came out to cheer us on. The cheering stations all along the route were quite motivational (I even had my very own cheering station - more on that later!) The folks who crewed the event were absolutely outstanding and I cannot say enough about them! From the safety patrols who made sure we walked and crossed safely (often holding traffic) to the medical staff to the food service people to the towel service distributors to those who ran the pit stops, ohmigosh! This event could never be run without the crew and for them to give their time and energy like that was unreal. Thank you crew!
They held us at lunch way to long for the 3 of us (and for a number of others as well) as we were itching to get going again. Refill the water and sports drink, pee, stretch, get ready to go, and off we went. We had to stop at every pit stop even if we wanted to press on. I’m sure looking out for the safety of over 1000 people is no easy task, so even though we would have preferred to keep walking through, we humored the pit stop folks and went into each one. From every stop we got stickers or pins or some other momento to attach to our lanyards - cute. We did draw the line though when at each pit stop they told us we had to pee. We were like, “no really, I DON’T have to go”. I’m sure that for the people who walked 2 mph and stayed at a pit stop for 45 minutes (cannot imagine doing that) it was one thing. But the pits were about 2-3 miles apart, so telling us we had to pee every half an hour just didn’t fly.
We walked into camp at 1:15. Here was the biggest reason for walking fast - SHOWERS!! I have a picture of the mobile showers in my picture trail. The water was surprisingly good in both temperature and pressure. Outside of each of the shower trucks there are about 15 chairs set up. I didn’t know what they were for until about 6:00 that evening when I saw them all filled. Each shower truck (there were 3 trucks) has about 8 or 10 shower stalls. Those chairs were for all the people waiting to get in and shower. The thought of walking 20 miles, being all stinky and sweaty, and then sitting in a chair for 2 hours to get clean has an appeal factor of ZERO for me. So walking quickly was a plus. Before we showered up on day one though we had to set up our tents. Now one of the things they tell you is when you start to get your tent up, make sure you put SOMETHING in it - anything, while you get it completed. We did that, and now I know why they tell you that. It was very windy where we were (Cuyahoga County Airport), and truly, there is almost nothing sadder (or funnier) than watching someone who has just walked 20 miles try to RUN after a tent that is blowing and rolling away. Oh my.
Dinner was good. In fact all of the food for the whole weekend was surprisingly good given the large scale and vast time span for serving meals. Hats off in that respect too. They had tents to rest, relax, get a foot massage, shop for 3-day gear, etc. They had a webcam set up, and one of my favorite parts was when I had called my kids that night. My sister accessed the webcam and I went in by it so my kids could see me on the computer while we talked. They were so cute when I waved to them and they asked me if I could see them waving back! Loved that.
Entertainment was karaoke and the funniest was the woman who sang the old Nancy Sinatra “these boots were made for walking”. Except instead of boots, it was, you guessed it, “boobs”. And the line “one of these days these boobs are gonna walk all over you” was hysterical! Lights out at 9:00 - sleeping was about as uncomfortable as it could be. Thank goodness my wonderful husband is so smart. Given all the water you drink you invariably have to get up at least once a night to pee. Now trying to find your pink tent in a sea of 500 pink tents in the middle of the night after using a portapotty is no easy task. Michael is brilliant. We got those kids glow stick necklaces and linked about 5 of them together so as to put a glow-in-the-dark halo on our tent! Worked like a charm. Thanks honey.
Day two - I had my own cheering station!!!! The route went right up the street in South Euclid that Michael and I used to live on. Sam and Margie (our wonderful landlords and neighbors) and their daughter Maria (marathon runner extraordinaire!) made these terrific signs and put them on the front trees as well as beautiful balloons in their tree lawn. Margie and Maria and beautiful almost 1-year old Sabrina (Margie’s granddaughter, Maria’s niece) were out waiting for us as we passed. So of course I stopped to get pictures (including my old house where Maria lives now!) and lots of hugs and support from these truly fantastic people. Thanks Cala family! I love you bunches! Even my 3-day coach Tiffany came and got me back at camp that night to ask if those signs were for me! It was awesome! And - what are the odds of this? As we were heading back into the airport at the end of this 21 miles, who pulled up along side us but my mom and my daughters!? Mom had the girls out shopping and was going to show them where we were camping - but the timing was so perfect because there we were (of course with about 1130 others somewhere far behind us) Great timing mom! Of course hugs from them didn’t hurt! We finished up day 2, hit the sack at 9 again, and then came the rains!!! Getting up to use a portapotty at 2:30a.m. in the rain was a whole new experience for me - and one that I really don’t want to repeat anytime soon. Again - the glowing tent halo was wonderful. The rains stopped long enough for breakfast and for us to take down our tents.
Then, as we embarked on day 3, the downpours began. And they didn’t stop all day long! Fellow Catheites - I wore your energy on by back and needed it for every drenched step! Of course no one saw my wonderful shirt because it was under a sweatshirt, mylar blanket and rain poncho - none of which was effective at keeping the warmth in or the wet out, but I made it to the end. Kudos to those brave souls who came out to the cheering stations to cheer us on - we really needed those smiles and encouraging applause to keep us going on day 3. It was hard - and cold. 58 degrees in the pounding rain made them cancel closing ceremonies, which had been scheduled for Mall B and C downtown (why they didn’t have a backup plan to use the convention center right next door I don’t know). But the Marriot hotel was kind enough to let us all go in to one of their banquet rooms and try to get dry. They announced that there would be no closing ceremonies, we’d raised 2.8 million dollars, we could go get our stuff and go home. VERY anti-climatic! So when I finally got home and unpacked I had one teeny blister (the folks in the medical tent couldn’t believe only one), my arthritis knee was a little tight, and my ankle a bit sore. After icing the knee, taking some Motrin, and getting a really wonderful night’s sleep though, I woke up to find the blister gone and the ankles and knee absolutely fine! So I made it - thanks to ALL of you for your encouragement and support along the way. You ROCK!!! Click on my picture trail to see my photos and here are also some pictures from a crew member.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tackle2win1/sets/72157601560857599
Me? I think I need to go do Pyramid Upper Body - HA!
Love you all.
Lorrie
www.picturetrail.com/lsass
My Komen for the Cure 3-day details.
What a whirlwind! We arrived at a local racetrack Friday morning at 5:30 to check in. The opening ceremonies began at 6:00. A huge stage was set up where the prominent speakers addressed the 1140-walker crowd - not to mention all of the family members and media folks covering the event. As the speakers were talking, moving along one side of the crowd and up through the middle were flag carriers. Each flag represented a characteristic or thing about why we were walking. The flags were then placed on the elevated stage in the middle of the crowd and in walked a line of SURVIVORS. Ok - that gave me chills. They went up on the stage and faced the crowd, leaving an enclosed empty circle in the middle. That inner circle represented all of the lives lost to breast cancer. After more inspirational words, with a lot of folks already crying, the survivors joined hands and raised them high, signifying the strength of unity in this battle. We were told that the flags would walk with us to camp, being passed amongst the walkers along the first 20 miles, and would then fly over camp. And with that, at about 6:45 the walkers began walking, sent off by the hoards of families and friends and crew. Now my two training buddies, Shelley and Kathy, and I walk very fast, so for the first 2 miles or so we were walking on the tree lawns, passing the throngs of people in front of us but who were going (at least for us) way too slow. Not that we were trying to be speed walkers, but we’d been training since April and our pace of just over 4 miles and hour was what we were comfortable with. I think we all would have lost our minds if we had to walk that slowly.
It must have been quite a sight seeing more than 1,000 people walking along the street - all of the car drivers were honking and waving and cheering. We passed a local hospital and about 75 employees came out to cheer us on. The cheering stations all along the route were quite motivational (I even had my very own cheering station - more on that later!) The folks who crewed the event were absolutely outstanding and I cannot say enough about them! From the safety patrols who made sure we walked and crossed safely (often holding traffic) to the medical staff to the food service people to the towel service distributors to those who ran the pit stops, ohmigosh! This event could never be run without the crew and for them to give their time and energy like that was unreal. Thank you crew!
They held us at lunch way to long for the 3 of us (and for a number of others as well) as we were itching to get going again. Refill the water and sports drink, pee, stretch, get ready to go, and off we went. We had to stop at every pit stop even if we wanted to press on. I’m sure looking out for the safety of over 1000 people is no easy task, so even though we would have preferred to keep walking through, we humored the pit stop folks and went into each one. From every stop we got stickers or pins or some other momento to attach to our lanyards - cute. We did draw the line though when at each pit stop they told us we had to pee. We were like, “no really, I DON’T have to go”. I’m sure that for the people who walked 2 mph and stayed at a pit stop for 45 minutes (cannot imagine doing that) it was one thing. But the pits were about 2-3 miles apart, so telling us we had to pee every half an hour just didn’t fly.
We walked into camp at 1:15. Here was the biggest reason for walking fast - SHOWERS!! I have a picture of the mobile showers in my picture trail. The water was surprisingly good in both temperature and pressure. Outside of each of the shower trucks there are about 15 chairs set up. I didn’t know what they were for until about 6:00 that evening when I saw them all filled. Each shower truck (there were 3 trucks) has about 8 or 10 shower stalls. Those chairs were for all the people waiting to get in and shower. The thought of walking 20 miles, being all stinky and sweaty, and then sitting in a chair for 2 hours to get clean has an appeal factor of ZERO for me. So walking quickly was a plus. Before we showered up on day one though we had to set up our tents. Now one of the things they tell you is when you start to get your tent up, make sure you put SOMETHING in it - anything, while you get it completed. We did that, and now I know why they tell you that. It was very windy where we were (Cuyahoga County Airport), and truly, there is almost nothing sadder (or funnier) than watching someone who has just walked 20 miles try to RUN after a tent that is blowing and rolling away. Oh my.
Dinner was good. In fact all of the food for the whole weekend was surprisingly good given the large scale and vast time span for serving meals. Hats off in that respect too. They had tents to rest, relax, get a foot massage, shop for 3-day gear, etc. They had a webcam set up, and one of my favorite parts was when I had called my kids that night. My sister accessed the webcam and I went in by it so my kids could see me on the computer while we talked. They were so cute when I waved to them and they asked me if I could see them waving back! Loved that.
Entertainment was karaoke and the funniest was the woman who sang the old Nancy Sinatra “these boots were made for walking”. Except instead of boots, it was, you guessed it, “boobs”. And the line “one of these days these boobs are gonna walk all over you” was hysterical! Lights out at 9:00 - sleeping was about as uncomfortable as it could be. Thank goodness my wonderful husband is so smart. Given all the water you drink you invariably have to get up at least once a night to pee. Now trying to find your pink tent in a sea of 500 pink tents in the middle of the night after using a portapotty is no easy task. Michael is brilliant. We got those kids glow stick necklaces and linked about 5 of them together so as to put a glow-in-the-dark halo on our tent! Worked like a charm. Thanks honey.
Day two - I had my own cheering station!!!! The route went right up the street in South Euclid that Michael and I used to live on. Sam and Margie (our wonderful landlords and neighbors) and their daughter Maria (marathon runner extraordinaire!) made these terrific signs and put them on the front trees as well as beautiful balloons in their tree lawn. Margie and Maria and beautiful almost 1-year old Sabrina (Margie’s granddaughter, Maria’s niece) were out waiting for us as we passed. So of course I stopped to get pictures (including my old house where Maria lives now!) and lots of hugs and support from these truly fantastic people. Thanks Cala family! I love you bunches! Even my 3-day coach Tiffany came and got me back at camp that night to ask if those signs were for me! It was awesome! And - what are the odds of this? As we were heading back into the airport at the end of this 21 miles, who pulled up along side us but my mom and my daughters!? Mom had the girls out shopping and was going to show them where we were camping - but the timing was so perfect because there we were (of course with about 1130 others somewhere far behind us) Great timing mom! Of course hugs from them didn’t hurt! We finished up day 2, hit the sack at 9 again, and then came the rains!!! Getting up to use a portapotty at 2:30a.m. in the rain was a whole new experience for me - and one that I really don’t want to repeat anytime soon. Again - the glowing tent halo was wonderful. The rains stopped long enough for breakfast and for us to take down our tents.
Then, as we embarked on day 3, the downpours began. And they didn’t stop all day long! Fellow Catheites - I wore your energy on by back and needed it for every drenched step! Of course no one saw my wonderful shirt because it was under a sweatshirt, mylar blanket and rain poncho - none of which was effective at keeping the warmth in or the wet out, but I made it to the end. Kudos to those brave souls who came out to the cheering stations to cheer us on - we really needed those smiles and encouraging applause to keep us going on day 3. It was hard - and cold. 58 degrees in the pounding rain made them cancel closing ceremonies, which had been scheduled for Mall B and C downtown (why they didn’t have a backup plan to use the convention center right next door I don’t know). But the Marriot hotel was kind enough to let us all go in to one of their banquet rooms and try to get dry. They announced that there would be no closing ceremonies, we’d raised 2.8 million dollars, we could go get our stuff and go home. VERY anti-climatic! So when I finally got home and unpacked I had one teeny blister (the folks in the medical tent couldn’t believe only one), my arthritis knee was a little tight, and my ankle a bit sore. After icing the knee, taking some Motrin, and getting a really wonderful night’s sleep though, I woke up to find the blister gone and the ankles and knee absolutely fine! So I made it - thanks to ALL of you for your encouragement and support along the way. You ROCK!!! Click on my picture trail to see my photos and here are also some pictures from a crew member.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tackle2win1/sets/72157601560857599
Me? I think I need to go do Pyramid Upper Body - HA!
Love you all.
Lorrie
www.picturetrail.com/lsass
Congratulations, again, on that huge accomplishment. You ROCK! 
