[3-DAY] PART 2 :: MY ROAD TO ICE & BANDAGES
DAY 1 = 23 MILES OF HOOPING
DAY 2 =
DAY 3 =
With one rough night of sleep under our belts Yvonne and I woke early and began the day. We walked down the paved path and had so much fun talking with everyone around us. Everybody seemed fresh and there was a lot of excitement in the air for Day 2! A very sweet group of girls, in their 20’s, passed by us and were very excited about our hooping. The took lots of photos and chatted with us for a bit. After we exited the park I settled into my hooping/walk groove and it felt great. I was so glad to feel that my sore knee was okay (actually excited is more like it). I had my game face on! I was ready! And then I was, well, how do you say... not-so-ready? Yes, we had taken a detour off the sidewalk and into some cross-country, very rocky, very uneven terrain. Did I mention very rocky, very uneven???
Of course there was no hooping on this stretch because it was just too narrow. And did I mention rocky and seriously unstable. Maybe some would say I over-exaggerating- but I will say that by the time this little one mile stretch of sensless cross country terrain was over I was in some serious pain and could not imagine going any further. There was my husband David was sitting on top of this little bridge that crossed over our path smiling and waving. I could tell he was ready for the day and very excited. I however, was not excited and definitely not ready for the day. My right knee was completely shot from all of the twisting on top of the rocks on that path. It was absolutely awful. I was so bummed when he told me that the medical tent was UP the hill. UP the hill??? Are you kidding me? I hobbled to the tent and waited… and waited… limped over for some food and then came back and waited some more. One hour later (yes, one hour), the line had only shortened by about half- (yes, only half!), everyone seemed to be having serious knee/ankle/foot issues from that path! Well, once I found out that there was another mile plus of the rough terrain before it went back to a paved surface I decided to forgo the additional waiting and go ahead and catch a ride up to Pit Stop 2. I knew I needed to have my knee iced and wrapped if I wanted any hope or chance of hooping the rest of the Day 2 route.
As we drove off, I felt quite sad that I was “giving up” and couldn’t do the full path as I had intended to hoop the entire 60 miles. However, as we drove past the sea of never-ending walkers (thousands)- which by the way was absolutely amazing to see in action- I realized that the seat in the car felt absolutely wonderful and that it was really “ok” to take my much needed ride to medical. Admittedly I felt guilty… and to this day I still guilty!
Anyway, by the time we arrived to Pit Stop 2 it was already flooded with walkers (some of those walkers are fast!) and another line at medical. There was no way I could stand to wait, so I asked David to drive ahead to #3. There was actually a split second when we arrived that I thought about having him keep on driving to lunch… yes, that is how luxurious that ride felt! And Yvonne was not fighting that urge... oh it was so hard to get out at Pit Stop 3... but I did. I got out of the car and was seen immediately. I had my bum knee iced for 20 minutes and then wrapped. Oh why hadn’t I done that earlier I thought! Yes, I discovered the key to knees… ice and wrapping!
Once we had refueled and iced, it was definitely time to hoop again. I figured that if I completed that day’s course from #3 that I would have completed at least 10 full miles of hooping and that wouldn’t be so bad after all. So, off we went. I was admittedly quite slow but it was really nice because it gave me the opportunity to speak with more people as they passed. Since I was hoping much less, the day became much more about observation and the other walkers.
We met this one guy after lunch- with this fabulous pink beard who was on his 37th 3-day. Ok, so let’s break that down for a moment… 37 x 60 = 2,220 miles walked (!!!). 37 x the $2,200 minimum that you have to raise even to walk = $81,400 minimum that he has raised (!!!). I see why he proudly wore the banner with 60-mile Man on it! He said that he his first walk was because a friend had asked him to. Well, after that, he was hooked and hasn’t stopped because he figures “why not if he can!”. I was researching 3-days for next year so I asked him which one he like the most. He said San Diego because of all of the hills… well, you can say I crossed that one right off my list very quickly!
We passed through “cheering stations” that had so many people that it made me cry each time we went through. Little kids, big kids, grandmas & grandpas… everyone… these women in sitting in chairs that you knew were survivors holding up signs of thanks. They were so sweet and so incredibly encouraging! They commented on having seen us at the send off and were happy to see that we were still hooping. Man, I was happy we were still hooping! I was able to warm up and get some speed going in the open flat areas. And we even met up with Lily again, the walker that came in with us at the end of Day 1.
Of course by this point other walkers were starting to get the understanding that we were actually “hula hooping” the 3-day walk since they had seen us come in the night before. “Did you really hoop 20 miles yesterday?” “Yes, we really did!” If we stopped for even a moment they would ask why we weren’t hooping!
Anyway, after the unfortunate events of the morning I was much smarter and during lunch and every pit stop I sought out the medical tent immediately and re-iced and re-bandaged. I decided to be proactive and protective of my knee on this day knowing full well it would be my only chance to even be able to attempt any hooping on Day 3. Because we had shaved off time in the morning with our ride, we were able to arrive back to camp on the “earlier” side. I was so thankful to see medic AND to not be the last ones in! My limp was definitely stronger and so was my back pain- but I felt so much better having the time to shower and relax.
During dinner the big announcement was made- the last walker was arriving! It was incredible to see her come in- and what a pleasant surprise that she ended up being one of the gals from the morning that walked with us and took pictures as we exited the park! She had her own limp and a friend with an arm around her for support. She had the biggest, sweetest, proudest smile holding the Day 2 flag. You knew there were so many times she wanted to give up, but didn’t. I was incredibly proud of her!
Well, by 8:30 when I was ready to go to bed my limp turned into a barely can walk. But I was absolutely determined that no matter how much pain I was in that I was going to hoop the whole last day… I had to! I made a game plan. Lots of salonpas patches placed all over me and I spent a good half hour patching and wrapping my knees. I then put the ear plugs in and decided that I would spend my sleep willing my knee back to health. I don't think it took very long to fall asleep, but it was all too short of a night as the next thing we knew the alarm was going off and it was a cold, damp 4:00 am… to be continued
DAY 2 =
DAY 3 =
With one rough night of sleep under our belts Yvonne and I woke early and began the day. We walked down the paved path and had so much fun talking with everyone around us. Everybody seemed fresh and there was a lot of excitement in the air for Day 2! A very sweet group of girls, in their 20’s, passed by us and were very excited about our hooping. The took lots of photos and chatted with us for a bit. After we exited the park I settled into my hooping/walk groove and it felt great. I was so glad to feel that my sore knee was okay (actually excited is more like it). I had my game face on! I was ready! And then I was, well, how do you say... not-so-ready? Yes, we had taken a detour off the sidewalk and into some cross-country, very rocky, very uneven terrain. Did I mention very rocky, very uneven???
Of course there was no hooping on this stretch because it was just too narrow. And did I mention rocky and seriously unstable. Maybe some would say I over-exaggerating- but I will say that by the time this little one mile stretch of sensless cross country terrain was over I was in some serious pain and could not imagine going any further. There was my husband David was sitting on top of this little bridge that crossed over our path smiling and waving. I could tell he was ready for the day and very excited. I however, was not excited and definitely not ready for the day. My right knee was completely shot from all of the twisting on top of the rocks on that path. It was absolutely awful. I was so bummed when he told me that the medical tent was UP the hill. UP the hill??? Are you kidding me? I hobbled to the tent and waited… and waited… limped over for some food and then came back and waited some more. One hour later (yes, one hour), the line had only shortened by about half- (yes, only half!), everyone seemed to be having serious knee/ankle/foot issues from that path! Well, once I found out that there was another mile plus of the rough terrain before it went back to a paved surface I decided to forgo the additional waiting and go ahead and catch a ride up to Pit Stop 2. I knew I needed to have my knee iced and wrapped if I wanted any hope or chance of hooping the rest of the Day 2 route.
As we drove off, I felt quite sad that I was “giving up” and couldn’t do the full path as I had intended to hoop the entire 60 miles. However, as we drove past the sea of never-ending walkers (thousands)- which by the way was absolutely amazing to see in action- I realized that the seat in the car felt absolutely wonderful and that it was really “ok” to take my much needed ride to medical. Admittedly I felt guilty… and to this day I still guilty!
Anyway, by the time we arrived to Pit Stop 2 it was already flooded with walkers (some of those walkers are fast!) and another line at medical. There was no way I could stand to wait, so I asked David to drive ahead to #3. There was actually a split second when we arrived that I thought about having him keep on driving to lunch… yes, that is how luxurious that ride felt! And Yvonne was not fighting that urge... oh it was so hard to get out at Pit Stop 3... but I did. I got out of the car and was seen immediately. I had my bum knee iced for 20 minutes and then wrapped. Oh why hadn’t I done that earlier I thought! Yes, I discovered the key to knees… ice and wrapping!
Once we had refueled and iced, it was definitely time to hoop again. I figured that if I completed that day’s course from #3 that I would have completed at least 10 full miles of hooping and that wouldn’t be so bad after all. So, off we went. I was admittedly quite slow but it was really nice because it gave me the opportunity to speak with more people as they passed. Since I was hoping much less, the day became much more about observation and the other walkers.
We met this one guy after lunch- with this fabulous pink beard who was on his 37th 3-day. Ok, so let’s break that down for a moment… 37 x 60 = 2,220 miles walked (!!!). 37 x the $2,200 minimum that you have to raise even to walk = $81,400 minimum that he has raised (!!!). I see why he proudly wore the banner with 60-mile Man on it! He said that he his first walk was because a friend had asked him to. Well, after that, he was hooked and hasn’t stopped because he figures “why not if he can!”. I was researching 3-days for next year so I asked him which one he like the most. He said San Diego because of all of the hills… well, you can say I crossed that one right off my list very quickly!
We passed through “cheering stations” that had so many people that it made me cry each time we went through. Little kids, big kids, grandmas & grandpas… everyone… these women in sitting in chairs that you knew were survivors holding up signs of thanks. They were so sweet and so incredibly encouraging! They commented on having seen us at the send off and were happy to see that we were still hooping. Man, I was happy we were still hooping! I was able to warm up and get some speed going in the open flat areas. And we even met up with Lily again, the walker that came in with us at the end of Day 1.
Of course by this point other walkers were starting to get the understanding that we were actually “hula hooping” the 3-day walk since they had seen us come in the night before. “Did you really hoop 20 miles yesterday?” “Yes, we really did!” If we stopped for even a moment they would ask why we weren’t hooping!
Anyway, after the unfortunate events of the morning I was much smarter and during lunch and every pit stop I sought out the medical tent immediately and re-iced and re-bandaged. I decided to be proactive and protective of my knee on this day knowing full well it would be my only chance to even be able to attempt any hooping on Day 3. Because we had shaved off time in the morning with our ride, we were able to arrive back to camp on the “earlier” side. I was so thankful to see medic AND to not be the last ones in! My limp was definitely stronger and so was my back pain- but I felt so much better having the time to shower and relax.
During dinner the big announcement was made- the last walker was arriving! It was incredible to see her come in- and what a pleasant surprise that she ended up being one of the gals from the morning that walked with us and took pictures as we exited the park! She had her own limp and a friend with an arm around her for support. She had the biggest, sweetest, proudest smile holding the Day 2 flag. You knew there were so many times she wanted to give up, but didn’t. I was incredibly proud of her!
Well, by 8:30 when I was ready to go to bed my limp turned into a barely can walk. But I was absolutely determined that no matter how much pain I was in that I was going to hoop the whole last day… I had to! I made a game plan. Lots of salonpas patches placed all over me and I spent a good half hour patching and wrapping my knees. I then put the ear plugs in and decided that I would spend my sleep willing my knee back to health. I don't think it took very long to fall asleep, but it was all too short of a night as the next thing we knew the alarm was going off and it was a cold, damp 4:00 am… to be continued
