A long voyage, indeed.

Sixty miles....check! We are finally getting back into the groove of normal life after our trip to Philadelphia for the Breast Cancer 3-day. Thank you so much for all of the support and donations and love you sent and offered up on behalf of this crazy journey. It was so awesome to read your letters while I was curled up in my sleeping bag after a looooong day on the road. 

Simply put, the 60 miles was MUCH harder than I thought it would be. I'm still not sure if my feet are okay, but they will be! We heard awesome stories that made us cry, watched people struggle to make it through, and I think each of us left more appreciative of our lives--for whatever reason. My team was fantastic. Juli, Natasha, Catherine, and Sonya--thank you. For picking my limping body off the grass at the pitstops and being encouraging and funny and great company. I could NOT have finished without you.

I'm including a few pics below. These are mostly day 2 and 3 (Natasha and I shared pictures to preserve battery life). Am I glad I did it? So, so, so glad. It was an experience of a lifetime. For me, it may be a once in a lifetime experience. But I'm glad I had the one journey. It was intense and amazing. 

I should also say this. I ended up raising $3,270. Our team (of only 5 people!) raised $21,488. Our Philadelphia walk raised 8.1 million dollars! Pretty awesome. Pretty frickin' awesome!

Things I learned on my 3-day walk:

60 miles is a long, long, long way. 

I'm stronger than I thought I was.

I complain way too much. 

Sleeping in a tent was the easy part--and I'm high maintenance.

Hot chocolate can cause permanent damage to your tongue.

The human spirit is more uplifting than I ever imagined.

Blisters don't need chemo (although they do need a good lancing sometimes--mine came mid-day on day 3).

A high-five is surprisingly motivational. So is a woo. And a hooray.

Everyone has a breaking point. Mine came day 2 at lunch. The tears flowed. I freaked a little. I pulled it together and I kept walking. 

Sitting your back into someone else's poop can be a pretty powerful precursor to a mid-day breaking point. Just sayin'...

Men in tutus on bikes = funny. 

There are a LOT of words for 'breast.'

Breast cancer survivors are tougher than tough. (Try catching yourself complaining about your feet hurting when the person in front of you is growing back their hair.)

I'm not a person who can attend a dance party after 10 hrs of walking.

I am a person who loves Advil PM.

I'm not so good at keeping track of water bottles, knee braces, or hats (I lost all three on the walk).  

Sometimes a lunch in a restaurant turns out better than expected.

I paid very little attention to the weather. Any other day, I probably would have been freezing.

If a friendship can last 60 miles, 2 nights in a tent, and a disorganized closing ceremony, it can probably last through anything. 

I am lucky beyond words. 

I love my life.

Our tent: (Natasha's legs)

The sea of pink tents. (It really was awesome to see.)

Getting to see Riley at City Hall on day 2

Day 3 pit stop action (we stopped at chatted with our men--including Jimmy!)

Blister 911!

Various walking scenes:

More pit stop. Home of porto-potties, food, and drink.

Riley and Kevin visiting on Day 3:

Riley and Jack:

Walking into the finish line area:

Closing ceremonies (shoes up!)

Survivor circle:

If you're interested in the rest of the pictures, you can see them here:

THREE-DAY PICTURES ON FLICKR