Avon Walk For Breast Cancer

We did it!! Julie and I walked 39.3 miles in 2 days. The Houston walk alone raised over 1.8 million dollars. WOW!!! We had a great time and met some amazing people. We stayed at The Westin Galleria Friday night before the walk, and went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Yummy!! We met the NICEST couple at dinner. We ended up sharing a table, as they were "crewing" the walk. Donna is an RN and worked on the medical team at various stations throughout the walk. Tony worked the "clean-up crew" helping to take down the stations as the walkers passed through. They are hilarious, and we had such a wonderful time meeting them!

Tony, Wendy, Donna, Julie

We got a great night's sleep and were up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to catch the bus over to the opening ceremonies at Stude Park. Very emotional opening ceremonies. We cried. It was a great motivator though, so off we went to walk our first 26.2 miles. WHOO HOO!!!

Over 1600 walkers registered

The first half of the day was a piece of cake. We were trucking along at the front of the pack, feeling great. We made it to the lunch stop at 9:30am. It was not until about mile 17 or 18 that things started getting a little uncomfortable. I had blisters that wrapped around the back of my heels. They did not feel good. By mile 23, I was walking on my toes. Julie did great!!! She didn't get blisters at all. Teach me to go buy BRAND NEW SHOES 2 days before a walk. I know, stupid. Anyway, we finished the marathon walk with 3 other amazing walkers. One young man, Mickey, is a 23 year old graduate from The University of Michigan working in Houston at Shell Oil. He was so sweet. The kind of guy that I hope Regan grows up and meets. His mother passed away last year from breast cancer, and he took it upon himself to raise the money and walk the Avon Walk all by himself. He was even a "Champion Fundraiser". Great guy!! The other 2 were a mother/daughter team. They were so sweet and kept us going. It really helped to have a support team there to keep pushing you. We were so tired and hurting those last 5 miles or so, it was entertaining. We just kept laughing at ourselves. The funniest line was "How are you doing, Mickey?" "Oh, I'm fine, I am just trying out different limps to see which one works best". I was so true of everyone. I guess you had to be there. :) Not so funny in type.

Just 2 more miles to go....the smiles are FAKE....we are HURTING!!!!

WHOO HOO!!! We finished the first day!!!

That night, Julie and I had lights out by 7:20pm. We were exhausted! We were up again at the crack of dawn again to walk another 13.1 miles. We stopped at the medical tent for some blister wrapping and advice on Julie's hurting hamstring. I got tape, she got ice. We were good to go. Piece of cake.

We were so ready to finish the 13 miles, we skipped lunch on Sunday. We were done by noon!!! It was such an amazing experience. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!! We met so many people along the way and had great conversations about why they were walking. Amazing people. Many people actually follow the walk across the country and raise the $1800 for EVERY walk. WOW! That is dedication.

My blisters are now healed. I feel great. I am ready for next year :) Bring it on!!!!

Love,

Wendy