Post by lucretia on Aug 23, 2004 16:59:03 GMT -5
Well we just finished the Weekend to End Breast Cancer walk!! Man, am I sore!! It was a really great experience despite all the rain! Saturday morning we woke up at 3:30am to pick up some friends and drive out to the Vancouver. When we got there we all had some breakfast and filled up our water bottles. The opening ceremonies were really touching, everyone was in tears. We did about 20 minutes worth of stretching and then off we went. The walk started off great. There were lots of supporters along the way cheering us all on. At the pit stops, the crew was great. One pit stop had a Caribbean theme and they were all dressed up accordingly. Some of the other volunteers had yellow shirts and antenna’s and wings to represent that they were busy bees. It was really cute. About 17km into the walk, it started to sprinkle. Not too bad, I had brought a jacket with me. My hubby on the other hand did not. By the time we got to the lunch pit stop we were both completely soaked to the bone. We sat and had lunch and it just rained more and more. I was so cold and my hubby’s back was bothering him, we had to go to camp. They had a big bus that took a bunch of us back. I think there were 2-3 busloads of people that came back to camp early. When we got there, I just wanted to get into some dry clothes. One of the crewmembers saw me and said “Oh my, your lips are blue!!” She took me to get some hot chocolate. I was so cold and shivering so much that I split the hot chocolate! But I got the rest down and I started to feel better. We found our stuff and I put on the dry clothes. I felt so much better. We took a short nap and woke up for dinner. While we were eating they had a band playing. When we finished we looked around. They had this giant flag that all the participants name were in print, that we got to write a little something on. I didn’t actually find my name, obviously the flag was huge. The BC Cancer Agency had a tent up with info and free magnets (got love that). We both had a chiropractic adjustment. That was my first time, but it felt good. It was starting to rain and get late, so we decided to go to bed. Couldn’t sleep all night, the ground was so hard and uncomfortable. I know for next time, we are going to have to squeeze the air mattress in our bag!! So we woke up Sunday morning and had breakfast. Some people had already started walking before we even got up!! We left around 7am. Things were going ok for the first little while. But my hubby’s feet were getting blisters, and the pit stop we were at didn’t have any medical people there, so we were transported to the lunch pit where they had medical to take care of him. They wrapped his feet up but he was still in pain. I was hurting a little too, but no blisters. We had lunch and stayed awhile. We decided that there was no way we were going to be able to finish the rest of the walk, so a couple of us asked if we could be dropped off at the last pit stop and walk the last 2-3kms. And that is what we did. There were already people who had made it to the end. So when we got there, there were lots of people there clapping and cheering us on. It was really great. Just thinking about it gets me all teary. When we got in BC Place they had a long sleeved shirt for us after finishing the walk. We had to wait about 3 hours while the rest of the people came in. We both got a nice massage. I almost fell asleep after that! For about the last hour before the closing ceremonies we should at the front door, cheering and clapping for the walkers coming in. It was really emotional. Everyone was crying when they came in, which just made us cry! The closing ceremonies, we had split into a few groups. All the walkers, less the breast cancer survivor walkers, walked to the stage and then the survivors and then finally the crew. The closing ceremonies were really nice, but it was getting really hot with everyone so close and we were all wearing the long sleeve shirts. So I was getting kind of antsy to go home then. But then they started talking about how all these breast cancer survivors are so great because they did the walk and that they were so great for staying alive and fighting. That’s where I started to get annoyed because my Mom was a fighter too, but it was just her time to go. So to me, he was putting down those who lost the fight. But I know he was just trying to make the survivors feel great for what they have done, and I know that that is very important too. Finally it was over and we got our stuff and went to the car and went home. We got home around 8pm and I fell asleep right away. I was so tired this morning, I didn’t want to get out of bed. I went to work a few hours late, because I was so sore too. But overall the event was really neat. I think that my hubby and I will participate again next year. Also one of the girls I met wants to get a team together and she has some really great fundraising ideas, so I think we may join her. So thanks again for everyone’s support!!
