We made it!!!!!!

The 2008 Atlanta 2-day Walk for breast cancer is now behind us!! Man am I sore.....imagine that. It was an amazing experience. It's the Journey, the organizer, couldn't have put on a better event. The crew running the whole thing was absolutely amazing. They were always there to make sure you were doing alright, well hydrated, well fed, wanted a ride, cheer you on and more. They made sure that they were in very festive outfits......if I can find some good pics I'll post them at a later date. Let me just say one of the motorcycle crew members had a very entertaining helmet. Every time we passed him he would salute us and bow so we had a full on view of that helmet! To some it might be seen as offensive but in light of the event it was great!!! The Atlanta Marriott Marquis was absolutely gracious/generous for putting us all up for the evening and feeding us well. Also so many companies deserve thanks for all the food, water, and sports drinks they donated. It's nice to see that companies still see it in their hearts to do things like that. Let me tell you they are places I will be happy to bring my business to in the future for all that they did.

Now as for the walk and how much we accomplished........yesterday was the 20 mile day. We only made 13 miles of it before we waved our white surrender towels.....lol. Let's just say....Karla had only been able to get in training walks of 5 miles while I had gotten up to 13. So Karla did an amazing job far surpassing her farthest walk before yesterday. Now in my case your probably thinking I should have been able to do more. Well......I thought I should have too. Only problem was that I was practicing on "kiddie hills" which could not prepare me for the hills we encountered yesterday. So we were absolutely ecstatic to see the B'rest Stop at the Landmark Diner on Roswell Rd yesterday when we could say take us back to the hotel.

As for today.....the 10 mile day. We started out a little stiff with Karla's knee already yelling at her. Remember she did 8 miles over any walk she had done before so this was to be expected. We were doing a great pace and enjoying the scenery of downtown Atlanta that we were walking through. When we got to Virginia Highlands though the sidewalks made it tricky with uneven pavement due to the tree growth. We were about 3.5 miles in when Karla went down hard. Now your probably thinking she must have tripped on a root. Nope she tripped on the grass! When your body gets as tired as it does doing this type of thing your sense of perception goes out the window. So when someone tries to pass you you over compensate to make sure you are out of the way. Well that is when Karla met the grass and went down. She bruised her knee pretty bad.....and not the one that had been yelling at her before. She was a trooper though and got the nurses to clean and bandage it and we kept going. We managed all 10.5 miles today!! Yup they overshot us by a 1/2mile.....lol. Then we had to somehow manage to pick up our luggage and walk to where mom had parked the car. That was another 1/2mile so all in all we walk 24 miles this weekend. That's a lot.......

It was truly an amazing experience to see the people lining the roads cheering you on. The one that I think really touched people was a woman, currently fighting breast cancer, who made her husband bring her out to the route. She was in a spot all by herself thanking everyone that walked by. She was so choked up at one point that her husband had to take over thanking everyone. That type of gratitude really lifted your step when you were 7.5 miles in with another 3 to go. At that point you are simply telling your brain to put one foot in front of the other with a hope that your body will take you there. Walking in to Centennial Olympic Park and across the finish line was absolutely breathtaking. We by far were not the fastest ones and there were still people lining the way in and cheering you on. The comraderie along the way is something you truly wish we could aspire to more in this world. I certainly hope that my body will allow me to do this again next year. I might have to work on Karla a little bit but even if she says no way I think she did a great job.