I woke at 3:45 am because my dad drove me and he LOVES breakfast so we stopped, ate and relaxed a bit because I was a disaster. I kept telling my dad I wanted to throw up. My nerves were just a mess! I didn’t know what to expect at all from this and I was very nervous. We headed to downtown Phoenix and arrived around 5:30 am and I immediately felt lost in a sea of pink once I got out of my dad’s car. Everyone had a buddy or an entire group of friends and the panic of signing up for this walk alone set in. I wandered around and put Gloria & Pamm’s name on a board to honor those with breast cancer. Luckily not too long later I found my “team” that I had joined once I met some fun ladies a few weeks prior and done some training walks with them. I was so grateful to have them!!
The opening ceremony was great. The speaker was fantastic and a very motivating. I cheered and cried and off we went! I’ll admit it was a very slow moving day. They said there was about 1450 walkers and we were all trying to leave Park Central Mall in Phoenix at the same time during rush hour traffic. I felt like we were jam packed together for the entire day. But it was just amazing to see how many people were already set up and out cheering us on first thing in the morning. I met Skye around mile 4 who came out to cheer me on before she went to work and then I walked and walked and walked. We went up thru Paradise Valley to Scottsdale. They said it was going to be 22 miles and it turned out to be almost 25 miles. It was a great day though. Between the amazing crew and the supporters, we had music to jam to and it kept up our spirits. I got to camp and was excited to see my tentmate Crissy (and she is a camper so I was excited for her expertise in setting up our tent), I couldn’t find her anywhere and after standing in my tent spot staring at my tent for what seemed like forever, I finally said loudly “I don’t know what I am going to do, I don’t know how to set up a tent” and instantly a young girl (turned out to be a girl scout) and a lady swooped in and had my tent up in 3 minutes. They were my saving grace!!
The rest of the night is a blur! We decorated our tent (finally found my tentmate who was the last walker in and it’s a big deal! She was having a shin splint and I couldn’t believe she walked 25 miles with that! I was VERY impressed), I ate a tiny bit of pasta and a roll (because everything else had cheese on it!), showered (and yes they were HOT and clean showers) and at the end of the night, I joined up with 3 other girls who were flirting with the massage guys so we could get a massage after they closed. I think the massages were meant to be 5 minutes yet ours turned out to be over 20 minutes and it was fantastic! Lights were supposed to be out at 9 (I got back from my massage around 9:30) and thank goodness I brought Tylenol PM and ear plugs because West World was hosting a wedding right next to us and it was loud! I slept thru it all and woke up at 5:30 am for Day 2….
 |
Crissy (tentmate), myself & Skye
|
 |
| The porta potty line at the first pit stop. LONG! | |
 |
| Monkeying Around! |
 |
| Doing the Hula |
 |
| We learned quickly that a Susan Komen mile was a lot longer than a mile! |
 |
| MOOOO! These ladies were everywhere and had some great cow jokes! |
 |
| Awesome Signs! |
 |
| Maureen, Myself & Valerie. They are sisters who lost their mother to breast cancer when they were 8 & 14. |
 |
| Every 3 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer |
 |
| We did it! Day 1 is finished. Notice how dark it is? We got in late! |
 |
| My tent Angels. |
 |
| Heidi & Karyn putting up their own tent ;-) |
I woke at 3:45 am because my dad drove me and he LOVES breakfast so we stopped, ate and relaxed a bit because I was a disaster. I kept telling my dad I wanted to throw up. My nerves were just a mess! I didn’t know what to expect at all from this and I was very nervous. We headed to downtown Phoenix and arrived around 5:30 am and I immediately felt lost in a sea of pink once I got out of my dad’s car. Everyone had a buddy or an entire group of friends and the panic of signing up for this walk alone set in. I wandered around and put Gloria & Pamm’s name on a board to honor those with breast cancer. Luckily not too long later I found my “team” that I had joined once I met some fun ladies a few weeks prior and done some training walks with them. I was so grateful to have them!! 
