marathon

Today was day 1 of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. (L) We woke before the sun was up and headed into the DC. (R) The starting point was between the Lincoln and FDR Memorials.

(L) Our team name was Saving Private Parts (like Saving Private Ryan). Dana had these great shirts made for us; we loved them. And apparently so did everyone else. People had us stop so they could take pictures of them all day. (R) Our team (left to right) Me, Ashley, Susan, Courtney, Dana, Tasha and Scott.

(L) At the opening ceremonies they had us all stretch. Looks like Scott took this opportunity to check out all the ladies. He had great odds today. (R) Our pile of trusty CamelBaks.

It was fun walking through the District past the famous landmarks.

(L) We walked. A lot. (R) We were hoping that that the trail would take us through the zoo. It did not.

(L) I tried to get the pig flu. (Middle) Little umbrella for the sprinkling rain. (R) Big poncho for the real rain. Luckily it only rained for like 5 minutes today. It was slated to rain from 11am through Sunday. We were blessed with great weather.

(L) Half way through! 13.1 to go. (R) Luckily Scott had to pee at every rest stop so we got to stretch a lot.

(L) The volunteers kept us entertained. The had crossing guards at all the intersections. (R) Bicyclists and motorcycle riders rode past making sure we were okay and guarding the intersections for us. They were too nice.

(L) Scott got tired of the people cheering "go ladies" and "great job ladies". He wanted to know where the love for the men was. Men get breast cancer too. (R) More walking...

Done! Well, almost done. Twenty-six miles down; the last 0.2 miles after this marker seemed to take an eternity.

(L) Back at camp we grabbed our stuff and put it in the tent that Jessica had so lovingly set up for us before we got there. It was nice to just sit in there. But we smelled. So we headed to the showers, then Tasha and I visited the medical tent (I had a pain). (R) We met back up and scarfed down food. It tasted great.

(L) After dinner Scott came over to our tent. We played with glow sticks and tried to play cards. (R) Unfortunately we were all a bit delusional so that didn't last long. We took Ibuprofen and Benadryl and hit the sack at the late hour of 9:30pm.

It took forever. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. It was painful. It was great. It was a good day. It was nice to do something to help such a good cause. And it was nice to feel the accomplishment of walking 23.2 miles. Because we all know that walking is the only way I will ever complete a marathon.