The walk is over. You’ve done 60 miles, you’ve got the shirt to prove it, so what happens now? The answer largely depends on what type of person you are and how you feel after the walk. This week I’m going to write about what you might think about doing, what to plan and what not to and also some hints for the family of walkers on what they can do to make transition back to non-3-Day life easier.

Walker Plans

I’m going to start by saying that it is probably a good idea to not have any solid plans for after the walk. I didn’t really think about this until this year because I had never taken the time to plan anything. But this year, Jen Hammel, who has shared her 3-Day moment on here, had a fund raiser at a pub that sounded like a lot of fun. I made plans in advance and really wanted to go. In years past I hadn’t had many issues with injuries so I figured that it wouldn’t be a huge problem. If you read my 3-Day recap for the Boston walk this year then you know that I developed a case of painful shin splints. At the end of the walk I just wanted to spend some time with my wife and have a quiet dinner with just the two of us.

Really, I have found that the best plans are made with your team during the last five miles or so of the walk. That way, you know pretty much how you are feeling and can make the appropriate choice. By doing it then, you still have enough time to discuss exactly what it is that you want to do and get word out to friends and family that you want there.

All that being said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to go home and crawl into bed after the walk. It’s a tough event and no one will fault you with wanting to take the night off.

So hopefully by now you’ve gotten through the night let’s touch briefly on Monday. If this is your first walk, I would seriously consider taking Monday off of work if you go to work. As I said above, you don’t really have an idea how your body is going to feel after the wall, so plan for the worst and hope that it feels better than that. If you really feel good, you can always go into work anyway, but you don’t have to. I won’t tell anyone you feel great.

For Family

Hopefully as a family member you also read the walker section of this post as well, because a lot of it still applies. I know that for the first year that I walked in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure, my wife wasn’t sure what to do when I got home. She went to a site online and found some suggestions that she thought sounded very good to help take care of someone who just walked 60 miles.

I really appreciated the work that she put into it and there were many things that she did for me that were great. There were also several things that weren’t for me. I think the key thing here is to use some sense. Things like getting the house clean for when they come home is a no-brainer. Maybe your walker likes hot baths normally, now might be a good time to offer to run a bath.

I think that the key thing is not necessarily providing everything that a walker could possibly want, I think it’s more offering to do the things that you think they will want.  I know that as a walker, while it’s nice to be pampered after the walk I also don’t want to be treated like an invalid.  My wife has done a really good job of striking that balance.  I’ll say that there is not specific formula for all walkers since we are all different.  With that being said, here are some things to keep in mind with your walker:

• If they want to go to bed when they get home, it’s not because they don’t want to spend time with you.  They have just had a very long three days and were most likely sleeping on the ground during it.
• If they are willing to stay awake with you, invite them to talk about the 3-Day.  Personally, I could probably talk about it until I’m blue in the face but I don’t want to overwhelm my wife with details so I try not to talk about it a ton unless she asks.  Even doing that, I probably still talk about it too much.  As a supporter, don’t take all this talk as something that you’re excluded from.  Quite the opposite, all the experiences that we talk about for the 3-Day wouldn’t be possible without the help and support from our family and friends, you’re a part of it and we want to share it with you.
• If you have kids, be prepared to relate all the details of their lives over the past three days.  This is pretty simple and I think goes without saying, but we miss the whole family while we are out walking.
• I think I can generally say that all the walkers and crew would love a massage.  If it’s possible, talk to them about the possibility of scheduling a massage for them a day or two after the walk.  Then schedule it and pay for it so that they don’t have to do anything other than show up!
• This last one really isn’t necessarily post-walk, but it is important.  Come to closing ceremonies.  Bring your family and friends to closing ceremonies!  Bring their family and friends to closing ceremonies!  Bring all those people to the cheering stations!  Your support is a huge thing to help us get through this, having you there is amazing!

So to sum up, for walkers don’t plan until the end of the walk.  This is one area where failing to plan is not planning to fail, it’s just practical for what you’re going through.  Family of walkers: show your support and run things by your walker to see what they want to do and don’t take offense if all they want is to curl up in bed!

 

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!

 

Day 3 of the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure is done. Today I’m thankful for all the crew that were involved in making the event happen. Without all the safety, camp and medical crew there is no way this event would happen. Thank you to all the crew! So here’s the recap of the final day of the Boston 3-Day for the Cure.

It Starts With Some Pain

The day started unlike most that I have had on the 3-Day, with a pain in my shin. I think that all of the hill walking from the previous day finally had a bad effect on me. I was still able to walk, and that is exactly what I did. As I walked, I’m pretty sure that I was trying to compensate for the pain and as a result my knee on the other leg started to hurt. Adding one thing to another!

I was able to finish despite the pain, and I have to admit that it was pretty minor compared to the pain some other people are in. Plus, as anyone on the 3-Day will tell you, it’s better than chemo. A nice hot bath after the walk helped with things and I’m feeling much better now.

Parts of Boston

We finally got to walk into some of the locations that Boston is really known for: Boston Commons, Harvard, MIT and the Boston public gardens. Was great to see these locations that I hadn’t seen before. Was a really great day to end the walk.

More People From the Internet!

Met two more people in person that I had previously only met on the Internet too! I saw Lauri Yanis and her husband Matt Goggin, both of whom did interviews previously on the site. As you know, they are both veteran walkers, but in Boston they came out to cheer on the other walkers and do a littler “walker stalking”. They were a welcome relief with their spray bottles to cool us down on a hot day!

Holding and Closing

If you haven’t participated in a 3-Day event before, holding is where the walkers go to wait for everyone to finish the walk so that we can all walk into closing ceremonies together. This year was a little different in that the holding area was actually indoors, with air conditioning. I don’t know if it was because of this, but the victory tunnel, that’s where the walkers that have already finished line up to give high fives and cheer on those who finish after them, was entirely awesome. Tons and tons of people it seemed were participating and it was altogether a great experience.

After we got through the victory tunnel, one of the staff grabbed our team. We were pretty easy to pick out from a crowd because we were all wearing pink cowboy hats and I guess because of that she wanted us. She grabbed us and took us to a small platform and asked us to dance there. Pretty strange, but also kinda fun. I’m sure there are videos that I can post later with this.

We went from holding to the closing ceremonies. Everyone lined up and our team was pretty close to the back of the group which meant that by the time we got into the closing ceremonies area we didn’t have to wait very long. The closing ceremony is always an emotional things, especially the parts where they bring the flag bearers on stage with their loved ones and where the survivors circle raises the final 3-Day flag. The ceremony ended with everyone tired, but what an amazing job. $4.3 MILLION raised!

That’s all for tonight, I’m going for some much needed rest! Stay tuned and I’ll do a whole event overview with some details that I missed in my rush to get these online. I’ll also do a little comparison between the Boston and Dallas walks and let you know what I think. Thanks everyone!

 

Since I started yesterday with who I was thankful for, I decided to do it again for day two. Today I am thankful for all the other walkers who participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. Let’s face it, if it weren’t for all of you this event wouldn’t be nearly as awesome as it is. Yeah, I would still be walking and raising money, but it would be a little boring!

Today was a really good day for walking. I’m gonna jump right into the re-cap now becaue it’s already past when I should be going to bed.

The Weather

Talk about a major change from yesterday! Instead of being cool and raining for over half the day it was hot! It got up to 93 today (or 90 depending on who you asked), which is cooler than some of the training walks, but I was out in it for a lot longer. Yesterday I said that I would prefer hot to wet and I still stand by that but it was rough going with sweat in the eyes.

The Companionship

I got to walk with a lot of teams, solo walkers and near solo walkers. For those of you that follow this site fairly regularly, I got to walk for several miles with Kristen Cincotta (who shared her favorite 3-Day moment with me a couple of months ago). She was great company on the walk and I was really glad to meet her in person.

At lunch I met a team named Punk Walkers (now one of my favorite team names!) and walked with them on and off through the rest of the day. Their team captain, Lisa, was unable to walk when she was 13 and now walks in the 3-Day! This year was her fourth walk!

At the final cheering station, I ran into Jen Hammel, who has also done a 3-Day moment video and is doing a fund raiser tomorrow night. I also ran into Lisa from Whining Causes Blisters, the awesome blog that gave me the idea to try and get the men of the 3-Day nominated for the Sexiest Man Alive.

I’m sure I’m forgetting someone, but it’s getting late and I should really go to sleep. I hope you enjoyed this recap!

 

I was out walking today and I was thinking about how fortunate I am to have the wonderful friends and family that I do that helped me raise an AWESOME amount of funds going towards breast cancer research, edutcation and awareness initiatives. I really wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU. With that said, I also wanted to get started with a recap.

Wake Up Wake Up!

4:30 comes early. Very early, but if you’re not in your own time zone and it’s like getting up at 3:30 in your home time zone it’s even earlier! But I did get up and ready in plenty of time, and I was greeted by numerous smiling faces. The pink hair and bra was really popular and I had three or four people want to take pictures with me as we waited out in the lobby. Lots of fun!

To the Ceremony!

We took a bus from the hotel loaded our gear on the gear trucks and then went to the opening ceremonies. Great setting on a lake (pond maybe?) and the thing that I noticed significantly fromt he times that I have done the Dallas walks is that it was actually light outside when I got there! Since the Dallas walk happens in November it’s dark at that time.

Solo Walkers

There was something that really stuck with me from the 3-Day moment that Lauri Yanis showed with me. I remembered her saying that she tries to seek out solo walkers and befriend them so that they don’t have to walk alone. I really liked that thought so I went ahead and followed it through. I approached several walkers and walked with them for a good while. A couple of times they weren’t solo walkers, but they couldn’t do the pace that their team required. I walked with several walkers with and without teams and we all had great conversations, even in the rain.

The Rain

Now that the rain has entered the conversation, I guess I have to address it. It started sprinkling on and off at about lunch time and continued to rain well after I got to camp. I will admit, I didn’t do any rain training and I was a little concerned. It was fine and it turns out that walking in the rain is just like walking without rain, only a little wetter. To be honest, it didn’t rain too hard and it was or a good portion pretty nice to walk in the rain.

When I got to camp was a different story. Luckily my tent mate had set up the tent already when I got there, but there was still a difficulty of getting everything into the tent. I was standing outside of the tent looking at it and wondering how on Earth I should proceed. In the end I got everything in and it was all a bit wet.

I went to take a shower without thinking about the fact that there was no tarp on the tent and when I got back my sheet was VERY wet. There was a leak in the roof. I’m sleeping on the air mattress with a blanket so it’s fine, it was just a hassle.

Sleep Time

That’s all for me tonight. I’m headed to sleep now. Hopefully there will be no rain tomorrow. I’ll try and get some pictures on the web site as soon as I can, but if you want to see them pretty quick, check out the Twitter feed and I will be posting there along the way!