A Beautiful Finish

Sunday was gorgeous. We actually had amazing weather all weekend – not too hot during the day and not too cold in camp at night. Quite perfect, really, and unseasonable for SF in Sept.

A few sunrise shots:

We Walked west toward the bridge, then passed under it and on toward the coast.

We Walked the Lands End Trail and Sea Cliff for a few miles. I know I keep talking about the view but.. seriously.. how can you not??

You’re Not So Tough

Once again, my fanny pack wasn’t tough enough to handle the 3Day. Technically it wasn’t even tough enough to handle a half day – it was falling apart before lunch on Friday. Seriously. This picture shows the replacement pack I bought in camp and it worked out great. I ended up wearing it in front the rest of the weekend because I had a drawstring bag with my jacket and a few other things on my back. It was perfect though and I found it quite convenient to have everything I needed right there in a pocket in front of me. I kind of miss it now, in the non-3Day world. I think I may very well have been a marsupial in another life…

Ummm… You Kind of Left Out Some Details… Like 200 or so…

When we got to Pit Stop 2, we went through our usual routine – port-a-potties, then fill up water bottles, scope out the available snacks, sit down for a minute and adjust socks and shoes, etc. As we’re getting ready to leave, someone shouts out that the van was there to take people to lunch if they wanted to ride. We continue on our way and the crew members are point out to us that we can catch a ride. We decline and Walk on.

They mentioned the available ride. Several times. What they forgot to tell us about were the 200 or so stairs between Pit Stop #2 and Grab-N-Go A, our next stop. Oh. Em. Gee.

But 3Day Walkers are an especially determined group of individuals. Not only were we going to rise to the occasion and climb every damn one of those stairs, we were going to do It with style, and grace. Amidst discussions of ‘Buns of Steel’ and other such aspirations, we climbed the stairs with the unbelievable cheerfulness that a 3Day Walker possess, even half way through Day 3.

The best part, though, was the sweep van. This particular sweep van was cruising by the Grab-N-Go right around the time we arrived:

And a short rest break to catch my breath after all that climbing. Lani, you would have been proud of us!!

We had an amazing view while we rested:

Lunch With Friends

We love our Crew. We love our Safety team. We love our San Jose bike cops, who were sorely missed this year.

By lunch time on Day 3, however, popular vote would probably rank the medical team as #1 by a landslide. At the lunch stop, there are sports meds people in the medical area along with the regular staff. It’s a very popular place! It sort of looks like a war triage, with a little less blood.

In the second pic, did you notice my friend Linda in the red cowboy hat? Here she Is in her element, doing what she does. Love ya, Lady!! <3

On the Home Stretch

After lunch we had just a few more miles to go. A lot of it was city streets. The streets of San Francisco are well known for being hilly. The streets on our route were no exception. Several times we were told, “just one more hill”. Wrong. The hills never seemed to end.

We were almost there. According to the route card, we were maybe 2-3 miles from Holding. One of the Safety crew at the intersection gave us the “just one more hill’ line. This time he was right. This was our last hill. But what a hill it was!!

“That’s not a hill! It’s about 3º shy of a vertical wall! Who do I look like, Spiderman??” OK. Enough whining. Time to put on the Big Girl Panties (pink ones, of course!) and get over it. And up the “hill” we went.

As I reached the bottom of the hill, I realized that the spectators had a boombox blaring. When I started up the hill, Earth, Wind, and Fire was singing Brick House. That was all it took. The lady Walking next to me was caught up in the music also and we did our own little mock backup singer/course line type march up the hill as if it was as flat as San Joaquin Valley. We reached the top and I couldn’t see Pina and Saundra anywhere. I’m looking around and said, “I can’t find my people’”. My climbing companion said, “I can’t find my people either.” A few moments later, they appeared at the top of the hill. They had stopped part way up to share their necklaces with some of the spectators along the way. Around the next bend, we found this view:

We Have Arrived

The Closing Ceremony and Holding were both set up in an open area outside the Civic Center. The receiving line of cheering family, friends, crew and fellow Walkers was there wait for us:

Pina, Saundra, and I stood in line so we could take our victory picture. By this time, Dave and Aaron had found us so Aaron took the pic. Sweetness!

We took my things back to the car, which was parked just a couple of blocks away. Then back to the lot to find Linda. And here she is:

And she, in turn, took a pic of us:

Yelling and Cheering and Dancing and Tears

Here are a few shots that Aaron took during the closing ceremony. The march in:

The party, aka the reason I had no voice on Monday morning:

The emotions run high as we salute our Survivors:

Raising the flag within the Survivor’s Circle. It reads, “We Will Never Give UP.”

This part of the ceremony always makes me cry. People Walk on to the stage carrying the flags with the names of the loved ones for whom they Walk. Then, one by one, the people themselves come out and join the Walkers. This year I had the presence of mind to grab my phone from my fanny pack and record part of it. Please excuse the quality, it was a phone and not a real video camera, but I was hoping that I could in some small way capture for you the incredible beauty of this emotion filled moment:

What a strong and meaningful way to complete the weekend!