Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Part 2

The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Washington DC took place May 2-3.
Day 1 Blog

Day 2!

Sunday was a much more difficult day. I walked in the pouring rain for over 6 hours.

When I got to camp on Sunday morning about 7am, it had rained on the campers overnight. Plus, the drizzle was just starting to fall. There was a grey cloud over the bright blue tents, but that did not damper anyone’s enthusiasm for the day ahead.

Mary went to the med tent to have her leg looked at and I went off to find some of the Seneca Sisters. Soon Mary and I met up to start our walk.

It didn’t take long for the rain to really start coming down. I was glad I was prepared for the bad weather. I had a pair of Target rain pants on, my LL Bean Gortex rain jacket and a pair of Sloggers on my feet. The Sloggers fit right over my shoes and did a great job keeping my feet dry — well, until about mile 9.

Mary and I walked from camp to the First Stop at Mile 1.5 and we parted ways. I had to make a “pit stop”, Boy it was hard to do with all the rain gear on!

If you are wondering what’s on my head, I wore a shower cap to keep my hat and head somewhat dry.

I captioned this next photo: Walking in the Rain is No Fun! But Then, Neither was Chemo!”

We walked and walked, not sure exactly where. I know we took one of the major bridges over to Virginia.

Mile 6 was in Arlington at the WJLA TV building. There was a large group of folks out there playing drums and in the dragon costumes. It made a REALLY nice diversion from the rain. I remember here seeing a woman cheering us on with an Avon 3 Day Shirt from 2002. It was great to see a fellow walker from the early days 🙂

At Mile 6.4 there was a rest stop and time for me to hit the porta-johns. Here was the line of folks as we waited our turns.

Mike and Linda had set up cheering at the National Cathedral stop which was a little over 7 miles from the start.

Here’s Mary and Mike:

Eventually I got to the National Cathedral too

I can’t even begin to tell you how nice it was to stand under the umbrellas for 5 minutes. Just to have a break from the rain pelting on my body was so great!!!

When I got to the lunch stop I took my sandwich to go. Only thing was each bite had more water from the rain than the bread and chicken from the sandwich.

Just before Mile 8, a woman and 2 young girls were at a gas station under cover. The girls had a rap song for the walkers so I stopped for a couple minutes to listen. It brought a huge smile to my face.

A bit after that there was a huge overhang to take cover under. Lots of walkers were using this opportunity to change socks and dry off for a bit. I snapped this photo of walkers going by.

From this point we headed over Key Bridge and into the Arlington Cemetary. This was a tough stretch of the walk between the winds and the rain really coming down. We were driven and just kept moving!

Mile 10 – I paused to give thanks to all the men and women that keep us safe and free.

Somewhere around Mile 11 Mary and I joined back up (thanks for waiting for me Mary!) so we could walk the last part of the trail together.

We started to hear the noise of everyone cheering the walkers on for the last few hundred feet! Our spirits were lifted high as we approached the final portion of the walk!

This is a photo of Team California! I spoke about Barbara Jo (left) in Part 1 of this blog. She’s done over 100 walks and raised over ONE MILLION dollars in the fight against breast cancer.

Here are 2 of my Seneca Sister Teammates: Elaine, a fellow survivor, on my left. Helene, our captain, on the right

AllEars® Senior Editor and my dear friend Debbie Koma surprised me by coming to the Finish Area to congratulate me on walking 26 miles! (Thanks so much!)

I did amazingly well walking 13 miles in such yucky conditions. Many times I felt all your words of encouragement and support and the thoughts of all your loved ones and that kept me focused on the task at hand and kept me walking forward. Even when I became soaking wet, even when the temps dropped and I got very cold, even when I looked up at hills to climb and puddles of mud and water to walk through. I met many amazing folks along the way.. some still in treatment, others recently finished, long time survivors and those walking for a loved one.

Part 3 has final thoughts, reflections, and an announcement!

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