Holding

You can hear the Holding Area long before you can see it. There’s a DJ set up, playing loud rock music. There are tons of family, friends and crew there to yell and cheer and high 5 and hug and hold you while you cry. It’s a pretty amazing scene.

The receiving line is a great way to welcome Walkers. Two long lines of people cheering and applauding. Such fun! I did miss my greeting from Linda this year, though I understand why she couldn’t be there, and very much look forward to spending next year’s Walk with her!

At the end of the line, I got my souvenir t-shirt and my pink rose. Then I found a place in the shade and sat. I needed to stay off my feet and let my knee rest. I’d taken all of the Advil I dared to take and was stretching like crazy but the pain behind my knee was still pretty intense. I wanted to give it as much rest as I could before we marched into the Closing Ceremony.

I sent one last text message to Dave, Aaron and all the friends who had been supporting me all weekend. It read:

I can officially cross “walk 60 miles in 3 days” off of my “to do” list!!!

Then I took off my shoes and socks to let my feet rest in the sun and settled back with my phone to respond to the congratulatory text messages I was receiving and watch the rest of the Walkers, Crew, Walker Stalkers and fans.