SGK Washington, DC Walk – Day 3

After accepting a little bit of defeat on Day 2, I woke up ready for Day 3 of the walk!

Day 3 is here and I'm ready!!!

 

Me and some of my team mates waiting for the Day 3 route to open.

The nice thing about Day 3 of the walk is that the mileage is a little bit less to ensure that everyone will make it to the end of the walk in time for Closing Ceremony. There is also a certain level of energy and excitement knowing that the 60 miles is almost over and the impact that I’ve made.

A lot of the Day 3 route covered portions of the city that we had previously walked on Day 1 and 2. Although I never really thought about it, geographically Washington, DC isn’t that big. I really didn’t mind re-walking certain parts since the city is so beautiful!

One of my biggest surprises of the day was that a friend of mine who lives in the area came out to cheer me on and was at the first cheering station!

Claire, Willis, and Me

I can’t explain how good it felt to see a friendly, familiar face out in the crowd! With the exception of my walk in Tampa last year, I have been fortunate to have family and friends attend my walks which does my heart (and feet!) a world of good.

A couple of other unknown people who did my heart good were these two gentlemen:

I have no idea what their names are, although I know that that I saw them from Day 1 when the walk started all the way until the end of Day 3 when the walk ended. So I had to stop and take a picture with them. The gentleman on the left told me that his wife and daughter were walking and they were out to support them.

I walked behind this sign attached to a walker for awhile:

 Can you believe that she is a 3 time survivor out walking a 3 day, 60 mile walk?! Amazing! Although I didn't talk to her when I snapped the picture, I did see her later at a Pit Stop. I had to go over that I had read her sign earlier and how happy I wass that she was here with us walking.

Before I knew it I was quickly approaching the end of the walk. And guess who was at the finish waiting for me?

Me, Willis, and Claire at the Finsh!

It was great walking across the finish with all of my Angels for the Cure team mates who walked DC. At every walk, The Angels walk into the finish together. Although I never mentioned it, I walked this walk with my friend Claire and this was her first time walking. and honestly, I don't think this will be her last walk.

Closing Ceremony was just as emotional for me as Opening Ceremony. It is so hard to put into words all of the emotions that I felt. I thought about my family and friends who have battled this disease. I thought about all of the people I walk 'In Honor Of' and 'In Memory Of' with their names attached to hearts on my fanny pack. As we gave a One Shoe Salute to the Survivors, I thoughts about all of the Survivors that I know and who walked with me the past three days.

One Shoe Salute to Survivors

And as the Survivors Flag was raised and waved in the wind with the words 'We Will Never Give Up', I thought about the impact that I have made and that I can't stop walking until a cure is found.