Kicking off the 3-Day season: Is Beantown ready?

This weekend kicks off the first Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure event, the Boston 3-Day !

It's exciting in so many ways ...

• It's game on!! This is it ... thousands of walkers across the country are counting down to their walks (23 days!), and for the walkers of Boston, it's on! This weekend is the opening walk, launching a five-month extravaganza that winds its way through the U.S., ending in San Diego in mid-November. 
• There's so much new "stuff" ... as a newbie walker, it's all new to me. But this year, there's a new element that all walkers are going to be exposed to: The Komen Foundation has a new spokesperson. Dr. Sheri Phillips is a former walker from Chicago, a physician, and a breast cancer survivor. The spokesperson is at every event, serving as emcee and chief motivator. I'm excited to see her, and excited for her.
• I can't wait to be a virtual Walker Stalker! In addition to Facebook and this blog, I've been really enjoying the Twitter element to the 3-Day experience (follow me @3DaySistah!). Through Twitter, I've joined a group known as the "3-Day Tweeps" ... a group of walkers from across the country who have provided endless support and encouragement along the way. This weekend, at least 10 of my Twitter connections are walking or crewing the event. And I cannot wait to see all their Tweets! You can follow along: #the3day.

So, to all the Boston Tweeps walking this weekend, good luck and have fun! (And stay hydrated!!) To those crewing, thank you!  As for the rest of us, we're counting down to our events (did I mention it's only 23 days!) and following along on your adventure this weekend!

Closer and closer ... Event info is posted!

With a little more than four weeks to go until the 3-Day for the Cure, the Event Information was posted today, giving friends and family the opportunity to make plans to come cheer on the Sisters Saving the Sistahs and all the other 3-Day walkers.

Being at the event is one of the most memorable ways you can be a part of this experience. As I said when I first registered, it was the event experience that motivated me to sign up to walk this year. There's no way to fully describe the impact it has on a viewer, and I'm sure the effect on a walker is just as significant. It's what keeps you going.

Case in point: When we were walking on Sunday (a 6-mile training walk), the weather and environment were less than ideal. It was incredibly humid, it rained, and we were attacked by killer locusts. (OK, maybe not "killer," but they were hired assassins for sure.)  At one point, we passed a group of bicyclists. They all smiled and greeted us with a "Good Morning." One woman must have recognized what we were doing (the pink shirts and gigantic hydration pack is usually a dead giveaway) and said, "Good job girls, keep it up."

Just that one comment, from one person, buoyed me for a while. Someone knew what we were doing, and recognized what it was for. She knew the value of it, and wanted to encourage us. It worked.

Each day of the walk, we'll be walking 20 miles. It'll probably be hot. I know we'll get tired. I know we'll have aches and pains. But it's for a good reason. And sometimes, we might need to be reminded of that reason. What better way, than to see our family and friends at some point, smiling and cheering us on?

So check out the schedule... if you're able to pop in for one of the cheering stations, we'd LOVE to see you. We won't be able to stop and chat much, but it'll be a few minutes of your time that'll keep us going for hours, if not a lifetime.

Just a little verklempt

As we closed out the Euchre Tournament last night, I had all kinds of things ready in my mind to say.... Thank everyone for coming, especially folks like Aunt Gail (who doesn't play euchre but wanted to come and help); thank everyone for being so generous (like Wendy, Steve and Ray, who donated their wins); thank everyone for their support ... you know, the usual drill.

But when it came time to do that, and I looked out at the living room, dining room, kitchen and family room, filled to the gills with friends and family, I couldn't say anything without tearing up. (Heck, I'm  tearing up sitting here on the couch just thinking about it!)  I'm sure I mumbled a few words, and between Stef and I, I'm pretty sure "thank you" came out.

I can't describe how incredibly overwhelmed we were at the results from the Euchre Tournament. With 36 registered players and 3 friends who came out just to support us, we had nearly 40 people in the house who were incredibly thoughtful and generous with their time and their money.

All told, we raised $1,200 for the Susan G Komen 3-Day for The Cure. That's double what we had hoped for.

So thank you ... from the bottom of my heart (and through the tears in my eyes) ... we are so very blessed to have so many wonderful people who enrich our lives.