We walked a marathon on Saturday and a half marathon Sunday. I was so honored to walk with my 2 friends Stephanie and Melissa that are breast cancer survivors. I was proud to also walk in honor of my Mom and for my friend Janelle who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is going through chemo.
The walk was amazing. Tons of people, young and old, big and little, tall and short, men and women...all walking for a purpose. We heard so many stories along the way and were overwhelmed with all the people out cheering for us and thanking us for walking. Stephanie was a little ray of sunshine the entire weekend, meeting new people and making us laugh. At 6:00am first thing Saturday morning she introduced us to our new friend Marnie who walked the entire 39.3 miles with us!
I hit a wall at about the 23 mile mark on Saturday. Luckily we were all together and there were a group of people behind us who were also delirious and made us laugh like crazy. I was so excited to see my Mom and Marlie at about mile 26. And we walked to the finish line together with our new friends!
After a nice dinner I realized that I couldn't even get up from my chair! It was hilarious! Back to shower and head straight to bed. We were back up at 5:30am for part 2!
We could hardly get out of bed, let alone walk! We bandaged up our blisters and headed to the race. I think our bodies were just so numb and sore that the 13.1 miles actually wasn't horrible.
We saw Heather's family at about mile 10 and that's when I started getting emotional. Then Doug and Marlie met us at mile 11 and walked with us the rest of the way. Marlie was so excited to be there!
Here were are at the 13 mile marker on Sunday - total of 39 miles...
Then we came to my Mom and Matt and I got the best hug from my little man with the stomach bug. He was wearing pink gloves so he could give everyone along the way high 5's without infecting them! Then we crossed the finish line with our children and my Mom, hand-in-hand. It was a great feeling!
Thank you for everyone who donated to this walk. Thank you to my friend Melissa who had done this walk and gave me all the advice I needed to make it! Thank you to my sweet husband Doug who managed 2 softball games, baseball practice, dance pictures and a father-son school event just on Saturday. And then got woken up in the middle of the night with my Matt and his stomach bug, got everyone to church early Sunday morning and then came to finish the walk with me...and then took complete care of me Sunday (because I could barely move). But mostly for being so proud of me and supportive. You would have thought that I made it to the top of Everest! Check out more pictures in the slideshow.
Keep fighting girls!