Day 3

Last night, I finally unpacked my 3-day bag. Yes, the Atlanta 3-day was 3 weeks ago. Don't worry, I did take out all of the clothes and threw them in the wash as soon as I got home! I walked past my bag several times a day, but didn't have the energy to put everything away. Nor, did I have the energy to put my thoughts and experiences together for my blog. Life doesn't always go as planned, and my 3-day didn't go as planned. If you know me, you know that I eat, breath and sleep SGK and when I couldn't walk, I was devastated. I walk for those who can't, and not walking on day 3, I was defeated, I felt I let down my team and more so, I let down all of my supporters. 

I'll start with the end. After an amazing Day 2, we all got back to camp, took showers and headed to stretch and dinner. I was feeling good, no blisters and ready for day 3! I have always bragged about the great food that is served in camp. Saturdays night dinner was less than thrilling, and I am not just saying that because I got sick. We all had dinner and stuck around for the beginning of the dance party. Everyone was tired so we headed back to our tents to settle down for bed. I couldn't sleep and wasn't feeling my best. I got up to look for a sprite or seltzer water. I couldn't find one and asked one of the crew members. Before they could find me a sprite, I was sick. I will spare you the details, other than I was up no less than fifteen times throwing up. Around 2 am, I realized I couldn't keep doing this. I sent one of my crew friends a text. About 30 min later she showed up at my tent. In a matter of moments she woke up a the med crew and had Amys husband up to assist me to the med tent. I spent the rest of the night with an IV and telling myself I'd be ready to walk.

 

I realized when I left the med tent, I wasn't going to be able to walk many miles if at all. I sent my team off and headed to the showers and to pack. I was exhausted and emotional. I put my bag on the gear truck and headed to find Ashley, my crew and savior. She arranged for a sweep van to pick me up and take me to the first pit stop. I got in the sweep van, my first sweep ride ever, and started crying all over again. Thankfully, I had amazing ladies who had me laughing by the time they got me to the pit stop. I managed to walk the 3 miles to the next pit stop with my team. Exhaustion was setting in, and I knew if I was going to walk later I needed to rest and get to lunch. I arrived at lunch and hopped on a coach bus for a nap. But there was no sleeping for me. About the time my team met me, I knew there was no way I could walk anymore. I called Mike to pick me up. The defeat that I felt at 4am was no where near the defeat I felt when I left my team and all of the walkers behind. 

Mike and I headed to Turner Field, where my family met us to cheer the walkers in to the finish. Being a cheerleader was something new for me, and sitting there cheering on walkers and telling them "Its all down hill from here" gave me a bit of my 3-day spirit back!

 I walked in with the team. We did it, and my amazing friends walked for me and finished strong for all of our supporters!

 I spent the next three days recovering from (apparent) food poisoning. I've yet to eat chicken since, and I have a feeling I'll never eat poultry again. But you know what, none of that matters and its taken me a while to come to terms, this is life and you can't control everything! No matter what, if I walked on day 3 or not, we raised awareness and made a huge impact on Atlanta. Along the lines of 6.5 million dollar impact! The impact to live in a world without breast cancer is all that matters and we succeed. One day it will be more than just 3 days, it will be every day.

Day 1 & 2 wrap up coming soon!