Closing Ceremony

Closing ceremony is so hard to describe to someone who hasn’t been there. Its like the magnitude of what just happened in the 72 hours hits hours all at once, with all of the accompanying emotions. Joy and happiness, for sure, a shared camaraderie and the feeling of being a part of something so big, the exhaustion, the admiration for the survivors who walked right along side us and for those who continued until the very end despite obvious pain from blistered feet and a ton of other injuries, the pride that stems for the feeling of doing something that makes a difference, of getting outside yourself and your scope of existence to be a part of a global force for life and for healing, there’s personal pride in the completion of a very physically tasking goal, and there’s sadness too.. for loved ones who have lost their battle with cancer, for those who are fighting, and, believe it or not, even some disappointment when you realize that its over and tomorrow you have to get up and go to work or school or whatever you do in your ‘regular life’.

No more cheering stations. No more bike cops in tutus escorting you. No more crew members at the intersection to cheer you on and tell you how many miles to the next pit stop.

Monday morning always feels surreal to me, anticlimactic, really somewhat unimportant in light of the intensity of the weekend. Its funny because I realized that while I was standing and working, I really had to focus to keep from bouncing around to the music on my iPod because I’d just spent 3 days using the energy of the music as part of my energy to keep moving along, one step at a time.

We line up 8 across, arm and arm, row after row after row to march into the Closing Ceremony. Even with 8 people per row, we make a pretty impressive long line of pink:

At the ceremony, family, friends and love ones are all gathered. They cheer and clap and yell… not just for their own loves ones who walked but for all of us.

This year Dave and Aaron were on the same side that I was and Aaron got a couple of pics of me as I walked by

Yes, I was yelling and cheering. I actually cheered myself hoarse before the ceremony was over. And my knee was doing great by then. I had just enough time to rest in Holding that the pain was almost gone. Of course the adrenaline and energy of the ceremony helped too. ;-)

The boa was new this year. It was really great in the mornings and evenings when the wind was cold and went right through you. Feathers are really warm. The rest of the day… not so great. Cause feathers are really warm. ;-D  I spent a lot of time walking with it bustled and attached to my pack. I walked around SF Bay all weekend, looking like I had a tail and bopping to the music while I was shaking my tail feathers. The boa was fun.