Day 1: 2011 Dallas 3-Day

Every 3-Day is a new experience and this one started by meeting the bus at 5:30am to take a short ride with my teammates to Collin Creek Mall and opening ceremonies. Four Pink Soles in Motion team members had been chosen to participate in opening ceremonies and I happen to be one of them. I was so honored to be chosen. I carried a future flag representing “Our Achievements” and I did it without falling down the stairs!!!

Before the walk started I was really worried about how my feet would handle the next 3 days. I have been fighting plantar fasciitis since May and struggled through it in Boston. I had hoped it would go away but it only seemed to get worse. I chose not to dwell on it and even told my teammates that we would not mention the “F” word (FEET) on this walk. I’ve learned that if you continue to talk, complain or dwell on something you can mentally defeat yourself. I would say half of the ability to complete 60 miles in 3-days is mental and the other half physical.

I use this same philosophy when dealing with the cold. I no more than stepped on the bus and was asked, “Aren’t you cold?” and my quick response was “NO.” The minute I admit to myself that I’m cold I know I will be cold and miserable until it warmed up outside. I was wearing a short skirt, long sleeve shirt, gloves and scarf. I hate carrying to many things in my bag the entire day. The morning was very very chilly but warmed up quickly and I was shedding my gloves and scarf within a few miles. It was a beautiful day.

The amusing story of the day was at our first pit stop. I came out of the porta potty and was joking about how mine wouldn’t flush and that it was broken. As we moved on down the road I heard people talking about how the porta potties now flushed and about fell down mortified. I thought the little blue thing on the floor was some kind of air freshener and I was trying to avoid stepping on it. Turns out it was the little pump that flushed the porta potty. So my joke about my porta potty being broken wasn’t funny at all and it turns out I didn’t flush. YIKES! Too late to go back now! The rest of the 3-day it got all confusing as some flushed and others didn’t so I now had to pay attention to which type I was in. Walking 60 miles is hard enough without having to think about flush or don’t flush!!!!

My little group that I was walking with made it back to camp at about 2pm and thanks to some camp angels, (Larry Allen) I didn’t have to go get my bag and he helped set up my tent. I got to experience a tent by myself this year as we have some teammates that prefer to stay in a hotel. I learned there are good and bad things about tenting by yourself. Good: I have all kinds of space and can put my bag inside the tent as opposed to outside and that makes it much easier to get things. Bad: I’m all by myself. I do much better waking up in the am if I know someone is in my tent with me. I’m more motivated to get up as opposed to rolling over and going back to sleep.

The highlights of day one: My co-worker Kelly Carney came out to opening ceremonies and recorded me carrying my flag. Her mom is a breast cancer survivor so it meant a lot to me to be able to share my shining moment with her. I walk for her mom!: Pink Soles in Motion was recognized for being not only the largest team in DFW but also the top fundraising team with over $190,000 raised for Breast Cancer Research.