Ok, I know that at the beginning of the week I said I would do a post on the differences between the Dallas and Boston walks and which I liked better, but it’s just not coming out right. I honestly thing I would probably upset people in both cities. So, I’ve changed focus a little bit and instead of comparing the two cities, I’m going to write about some of the changes from last year to this year. As many of you know, in the past year the event has changed from the Breast Cancer 3-Day, a National Philanthropic Trust to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. In addition to the name change came quite a few other operational changes. Here’s the few that I noticed, I’m sure that there are a lot more that I missed. We will start with the changes that I know for sure happened and end with one or two that I think may have happened, but I’m not sure if they were on purpose or not or even if they were changes.

Dinner Time!

The first real change that made me start thinking about things and how they were a-changing was dinner. Over the past three years, I have become accustomed to and even grown to expect spaghetti on the first night. I do have to admit that I was a little disappointed to find that Friday night dinner was not spaghetti, but steak. Ok, so I do admit that the steak was pretty good and the chicken with spaghetti sauce the next night wasn’t all too bad either, but spaghetti was kind of like an institution for me. Friday night spaghetti just kind of said “3-Day” for me.

Get Clean.

Ok, next up in the differences department is the showers. I can wholeheartedly say that I like the change in the showers. Where in years past, there was a public changing area with one large bench to put your stuff on, this year each of the shower stalls had their own attached changing area separated by a curtain. I heard some say that they didn’t like the new arrangement, that they thought it made people take longer in the shower (I can see that, your shower time is now more than just the time in the shower, it’s also getting dressed and undressed) and I heard a couple of people say that it was harder to adjust the water to rinse off the soap. I’m tall, and a guy so I didn’t really experience any of those two gripes since there are far fewer men vying for the showers.

Lunch Time

OK, so far the changes have been good right? Or at least mostly good. Lunch is the first change that I don’t think I’m fully behind. It seemed like there were a lot fewer options when it came to lunch this year. I remember in years past having the regular fare of sandwiches, but in addition to that there was chips, fruit, big soft cookies, fruit cups (which on the year I had it were a little ill fated with the bees in the area) and more. This year seemed more sparse, with a small wrap or sandwich, chips and an apple. I guess when you look at the list that I have presented, maybe I’m just talking about the cookie, but it just seemed like there was more there in previous years. What I had was good, there just wasn’t a bountiful amount.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

I can’t believe I waited this long to mention this news. The biggest piece of information that I can pass on to you from this year is that the Peanut Butter, Jelly and Graham Cracker sandwich things are back. Last seen in 2007, these morsels of delight were sorely missed in the following years until now. I was extremely excited about these, so much so that I took a picture to commemorate their return:

So now I will also be totally honest and say that not everyone was thrilled about the change. Just as I had become accustomed to spaghetti Fridays,some people had come to expect crustables (uncrustables? I don’t know). The only thing that I will say I missed about those is that they were more filling, so I could feasibly have them for lunch instead of lunch. But all in all, my opinion is that this is an awesome change!

Route

This is the item that I am not sure of if it was a change and if so, if it was intentional. As we were walking we came across some of the pit stops that were only 1 mile away from the previous pit stop. I don’t know if this was intended or if there was a last minute cancellation on a place that they had originally had staked out for that pit stop, but it was really weird to have them that close together.

Entertainment

I wasn’t present for it at dinner, but I was there at closing ceremonies and I understand that Candy Coburn sang her song “Pink Warrior” at both of these. I heard it was great to have her at dinner. Pretty neat that Susan G. Komen can bring in recording artists like that and have them perform for the walkers.

OK, so that’s what I am pretty sure is different. How about you? Did you notice something different in your 3-Day walk this year that I missed? Share it in a comment!