3-Day Breast Cancer Walk: An Extraordinary Journey

Last week I went to San Diego for a 3-Day, 60 mile Breast Cancer Walk. It was one of the most awe inspiring and awesome things I've ever done in my life. I got to go with 7 other wonderful friends and sisters... people I now share a closeness with that cannot be undone (Jennifer C., Misty H., Kathryn R., Julie R., Carrie F., Chasity V., and Becca R.). We walked as a team to honor the memory of our dear friend, Melinda Evans and to honor Jenny Revlett, our friend who is battling stage IV now. But breast cancer has touched many of us in other ways, too. None more so than Kathryn and Julie, who lost their mom to breast cancer when they were very young. We made shirts that we all wore as a team- a different shirt for each day of the walk. So many people asked us about Melinda and Jenny and stopped to take pictures of our shirts. Of course, I forgot to take pics of the shirts, but I'm sure somebody else has them on their camera!

60 miles is no easy feat. We trained, but no training in Oklahoma can prepare you for the hilly(some may even say "mountainous" ;) terrain of San Diego. The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful. We enjoyed a lot of time together, laughing and crying. Everybody did so well. Jennifer escaped with muscle problems and a bad knee on one leg, Becca with some sore arches, Carrie with general soreness and fatigue (she is 3 months pregnant!!!), but I fared the worst. I visited the medical tent and was told I had peritoneal tendonitis. My entire foot was bruised and swollen (this was on night 2). I toughed it out and finished, though! I had made an appointment with my foot doc for the day after I returned, which turned out to be a wise thing. Below is a picture of me just 2 days after completing my journey. I am now in a boot and shoe and crutches. The tendonitis in my right foot is very bad... so bad doc is afraid I might actually tearit if I walk on it. My left foot, which was bad before I went, also has tendonitis, just not as severe. So, not a lot of fun, but it did get me out of some Thanksgiving preparations! :)


We have sooooo many pictures between all of us, but they are not compiled yet. This and the posts below are just a small sampling.

3-Day Breast Cancer Walk: Day 2 - Day 3

All of our feet after we finished walking 60 miles!

Jennifer and I in the holding area at Petco Park. Glad to be finished walking!

This is one of Julie's twin daughters. Both girls made us signs to cheer us on along the way.

This one says it all. Kathryn and Julie lost their mom when she was only in her 30's. They spent much of their childhood without a mom.

This is my foot at lunch on Day 3. Notice the absence of an ankle because of swelling. Also hard to tell from this picture, but it ws bruised from behind my ankle down the side almost to my toes.

3-Day Breast Cancer Walk: End Day 1 - Day 2

Ouch! My feet began hurting really badly on Day 2. I'm wearing a pain patch and a couple places with some moleskin to avoid some potential blisters.

Pink tent city. This is where we slept while on the 3-Day. Don't be fooled, this is just a very small section of the camp.

Jennifer getting an ice pack for the first time after Day 1 ended. She had a sore leg that turned into a sore knee.

Misty and Carrie at dinner on day 1.

You know, we saw some strange things. This doesn't even begin to top the strangest that we saw, but funny none the less.

3-Day Breast Cancer Walk: Day 1

Chasity and Becca not so much enjoying lunch, so much as eating whatever they put in front of us. And oh yeah, resting tired feet!

Kathryn and Julie trekking up the "mountain."

One of many pit stops along the way.

Hard to tell from this picture, but if you really look you can see a string of people all the way up the coastline to the mountains ahead.

Jennifer and I make a picture stop along the route.

Wish Us Luck!

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to sunny California with Jennifer to see my aunt and uncle in Pasadena before we head down to San Diego where we will walk the Breast Cancer 3-Day, 60 mile walk with Kathryn, Chasity, Carrie, Becca, Misty, and Kathryn's sister Julie. I am so excited! I just want to thank everyone who has encouraged all of us along the way. It makes a big difference, and I think we are all ready to go! I'm not worried about my foot, I feel confident everything will be just fine. So, while we're gone, say a little prayer for safety and know that many of you had a part in helping us in this journey- with prayer, encouragement, and helping us raise $20,000 (we did it!). I can't wait to share stories and pictures when I get back. Until then, enjoy sleeping in your beds... I'll be resting my aching body in a sleeping bag inside a tiny tent. Cheers!

Religion, Three-Year-Old Style

Sometimes it's easy to forget that our children are little sponges, but I often get reminders that they hear and absorb everything, including what they are learning in Bible class. Today in the car, Payt told me that some of his friends don't know God. So, he says that he tells them every day, "Listen to God, friends!" Is that sweet, or what? Then, not two hours later, we are in the car again and Payt starts burping repeatedly. I ask him to stop, to which he replies, "Jesus likes it when I burp." Followed by, "Jesus burps, too. I've heard him." Me: "And when did you hear Jesus burp?" Payt: "In heaven. I was there, and I heard him." Likely story. But how can you get on to the kid when Jesus does it, too? Smart little thing, that Payt.

T Minus 12 Days

The San Diego Breast Cancer 3-Day is officially less than 2 weeks away! Jennifer and I will leave a few days earlier so we can spend a few days in Pasadena with my Aunt... then we're off for the walk we've been training for for the better part of a year now. I've been nervous about doing this because of my foot injury that popped up about a month and a half ago, but I did 10 miles with the team on Saturday (they went 20, but I didn't want to chance making myself worse before the big event) and it went great! I didn't feel tired or achy. The foot hurt some, but I wore my brand new orthotics most of the day today and they seemed to help (insert old lady joke here).

So, in preparation for the 3-Day and to build up some excitement, Jennifer and I went today and actually dyed part of our hair pink. That's right... we DYED it! Are we dedicated, or what? It's actually kind of fun to have pink hair. At least for a little while!

I'm doing this walk for a lot of reasons. To honor the memory of a dear friend, Melinda; to honor my friend Jenny, who is fighting valiantly; to honor those who have already won the fight, like my Aunt Alyson and JoAnn B. But I'm also walking to raise awareness and money to help find a cure. To that end, my 3-Day team of 8 girls (including me) have raised almost $20,000. ALMOST because we are $400 short of that milestone. If you're reading this and you're inclined to, you can help us reach this goal before we go. Simply go to www.the3day.org and click on "Donate." You can type my name in and give online, if you wish. To all of you who have already helped get us where we are, "Thank You." We couldn't do this without you.

He left a Kindergartener...

Tuesday morning I sent my oldest child to school ready to conquer the playground and new reading words. When he cam home, he had voted for President and asked to watch the news. What happened in one short school day??? The entire Kindergarten class at Luke's school held a mock election for President, which John McCain won. I asked Luke who he voted for and he said Barack Obama. I asked him why he voted for Obama. He said, "I just did Mom!" Later I rephrased the question and asked him what he liked about Obama that made him want to vote for him. His answer, "He had a nice shirt." There you have it. He was very adament about watching the election results on the news that night and was disappointed when he had to go to bed. His excitement rubbed off onto Payt, as well. At Payt's school that day he got to vote, too, but only for snacks! :) He did get into the election coverage, though, and both boys were very excited the next morning to find out who won. Wednesday morning Payt refused to go to school because he wanted to stay home and watch the new President on TV. I finally got him to leave by telling him we could listen to CNN radio in the car on the way to school... which we did the entire way! Crazy kids. So little but so big.