Made it!

Seems like longer, but just one week ago Karen, Erin and I were walking in the Seattle breast cancer 3-Day walk!! Wow! What an event! It was one of the most inspiring and emotional events that I have participated in. However, before I get into the details, I would like to thank everyone for your messages and donations. Team Holly's Girls was able to bypass our Goliath goal of $10,000!!! WOW! This is incredible - THANK YOU!!!

Last Thursday evening, Karen and I flew up to Seattle after work where we were met at the airport by brother David who happened to be flying home from Nor Cal just a few minutes before us. We hitched a ride with him and headed east to enjoy some pizza with my adorable nephews before they hit the sack for school the next day. Karen was incredibly organized and well-packed, but I had to repack my walking clothes and camping gear for the 3-day camping adventures! Finally got to bed late that night.

DAY 1 (Funny Pink Antenna Day) - The alarm went off at 4:15 the next morning. That is early. Those of you who know me, know that I do not enjoy the morning hours, especially before the sun has even risen. Miraculously, my Mom (whom I inherited this trait from) arrived by 5 to drive us up to the walk's opening ceremony. Oldest nephew Nate, who apparently can function on minimal sleep, also woke up and wanted to accompany us to the start. We took off in the Streams family car and headed up north to Shoreline Community College for the start. Traffic was extremely heavy heading into park, but luckily the opening ceremony started late and we all got to see it. It's emotional, as you may imagine, but what is even more emotional is to see the hordes of people (men included) gathered to begin, or volunteer, or just support this walk. Somehow, they've all been touched by this terrible disease. Then the procession began and we started to walk. We stopped for a few pictures with Mom and with Nate in Energizer bunny ears before we took off.

The beginning of the walk was very slow since everyone is taking off at once. There were over 2,200 of us, although usually there are around 3,000 that take part in the event. A few traffic crossings here and there for the 2,200 of us and we really did more standing around then walking. Finally though, we did separate out a bit and began our path. I'll admit, having been in the Seattle area quite a few times, I had expected a beautiful route - After all, there is so much to see - mountains, trees, water... However, the first day's route left something to be desired. We traveled through the towns of Shoreline, Lynwood and Edmonds, finally finishing in Everett. Nothing against these towns, but seems we walked the less than scenic route, spending much of the day (and miles) on busy roads through less than scenic neighborhoods and strip malls. Nonetheless, the day was highlighted by a brief stint in downtown Edmonds, a quick walk by the Puget Sound and a nice lunch in a park somewhere in Lynwood. I don't know the actual name, as the crew is highly secretive about the routes. We (as walkers) don't even know where we are walking to, just to follow the signs, and the occasional pit stop which may have a street or name listed. We walked just shy of 22 miles the first day and got to see Mummsie at the pit stop around mile 15 where she gave us smut magazines and popsicles to keep us cool.

The last few miles of the walk on Day 1 were highly 'unscenic'. We walked on a long shadeless and high traffic road by the airport for what seemed like miles until we finally reached salvation - AKA camp. We posed for a few more pics and then went about finding our stuff and a nice volunteer to set up our pink tents. Before hitting up the showers, we decided to reward our stomachs, even though we spent much of the walk inhaling snacks at the pitstops, lunch and various snacks from support along the way (think homemade cookies, cupcakes, halloween candy, popsicles, the list goes on). The 3-Day food tent, and shenanigans (i.e. store, energizer lounge, etc.) seemed like miles away on our poor, tired feet, but we made it and got a good and ample spaghetti dinner. From there we hit up the shower trailers and it was already time to collapse in our tents.

DAY 2 (Tween-We-Heart-Zac-Efron-Hat Day) - We awoke bright and early by 5:30 on Day 2. Unfortunately, there was a rather large man in the tent next door to Erin who spent the night keeping us all awake with his snoring so our night sleep was less than restful. We headed back to the food tent for a nice warm breakfast, which tasted extra delicious knowing that we had another +20 miles to walk! We got dressed, cleaned up and ready to go and took time to pose in front of this sign in our tween hats...
The route was much better than the previous day. We strolled through nice shaded and landscaped neighborhoods before stopping at our first pit stop at mile 3. We took the time to pose with some fire fighters who walked the entire 60 miles in their 40-lb gear! Wow!

Ok - sorry for the delay - Moving on... After our 1st pit stop we cruised through the town of Everett.  It got prettier and prettier on another picture perfect warm sunny day in the great Pacific Northwest.  We traveled for awhile next to the beautiful Puget Sound (Grant Park?) and reached our lunch stop around 10 miles, which was also next to the Sound.  We stopped with the other walkers and set up temporary camp sans shoes in a nice shady spot under a large tree (oh how I miss good shade trees here in Southern California).  At lunch we powered up again and also were introduced to the joys of Ben-Gay.  Gosh, that stuff is great.  Really helped ease our sore and tired muscles.  From lunch we continued through more of Everett and met up with dearest Mummsie around mile 15.  This time she brought us frozen lemonade which tasted delicious!   

After 15 miles I started to crash.  I was really tired and it seemed like we had walked really far.  The day was dragging on and on and on and I was convinced the Susan Komen people had put a fast one on us and messed with the mile markers.  Just when we needed it most, we reached the Parrot Heads of the Puget Sound.  These guys rocked - All of them in grass skirts mixing up some frozen Gatorade margaritas.  It was a great pick-me-up.   The remaining miles were slow and painful, though highlights included singing along to Wilson Philips "Hold On" with another team who was keeping our blazing pace ;)  We were almost done when we reached a wooded trail - What a cruel joke?!  Then it went up hill, but we heard the clapping and cheering and realized we had made it into camp!  Almost 22 miles again!  Hurrah!!!  1st thing in we gave David a call.  We were excited to leave the camp and sleep in real beds!  We packed up our bags and waited for salvation.  David and the nephews arrived and we signed out.  After a little drive home, we arrived to David & Erin's house where hot showers and a spectacular halibut dinner awaited us! It was so nice (thank you David!!).  We became somewhat comatose and went up to warm and cozy beds!  Ahhhh - zzzzzzzz....

DAY 3 (Sparkly Pink Crown Day) - Woke up at 5:15 from a wonderful night's sleep complements of little Cole's super cozy bed.  David went on a quick Starbuck's run and brought us yummy coffee treats.  Mmmmm!  We loaded up the car with the sleepy kids and headed towards downtown Seattle!  The dropoff point and walk start was just north of Green Lake.  Day 3 was awesome!  I heart Seattle.  We got a good and early start with the fast walkers at the front of the pack.  First headed towards Green Lake, which is still one of my favorite little neighborhoods in Seattle, and then through Wallingford, stopping for pictures at Gas Works park.  From there we crossed the bridge over Lake Union and headed towards Montlake.   From an 80's themed pit stop it was up beautiful Capitol Hill.  Wow - how beautiful!  There are some amazing homes up there!  We also hit some great cheering sections and stopped for some more cookies, cupcakes, candy, popsicles, and melons ;)  (no pun intended)... Our lunch stop was at Volunteer Park atop Capitol Hill.  We had delicious sandwiches and CheezIt (mmmm) baked snack crackers in the grass in the sunshine.  

From lunch we headed down the hill through more amazing cheering sections (i.e. the Tit Stop) and passed by another park where Mummsie, David, and the boys were all waiting with signs for us!  It was so great to see them and we stopped for a few minutes for a few pictures.  From there at a quick little clip, we headed into downtown and headed towards Pike's famous market and then Pioneer Square.  From there it was down to the waterfront where we stopped at the last pitstop right by the water!   A quick 1.6 miles through the Olympic Sculpture park and up a quick hill and we arrived at Key Arena, former home of the Sonics.  The finish was great - so many people clapping and cheering!  We headed into Key Arena where we got high 5's from everyone along the way!  Mom, David and kids arrived shortly thereafter and we met them outside - Again, not very clear as to where we were actually finishing (different then where the closing ceremony was to be held, which is where they were wandering around).   The walkers had a quick ceremony inside Key Arena and then we all gathered outside for the processional into the closing ceremony... OK - Promise to finish soon - Getting sleepy