The Top 10 (+ 3) Things I Learned While on the 3-Day Walk

10. You can go uphill all day, but the downhill will get you...
And it sure does get you when your toes are nothing but giant blisters.

9. When inside a porta-potty, do not look down!
Enough said!

8. Walking in the rain feels better than walking in the sun...
Did I really just say that?! Once you get past the wet shorts and squishy feet, you are good to go, and no sunburn. Deep down I must really be a Seattle girl.

7. Otter Pops are delicious...
At home you could not pay me to eat the Otter Pops that the kids slurp down on hot summer days. On Day 2, there was a family handing out these popsicles along the route. It is quite possibly the best thing I have ever tasted.

6. No matter how bad you feel, there is always someone worse...
I will admit, my feet have seen better days. I even hit the medical tent on Night 2 just to be sure I did not need to amputate my toe or anything. In the line in front of me was a woman with Poison Ivy. No thank you!

5. If you have a piece of candy in your mouth, you cannot feel your feet...
It is true! Thank God your brain can only concentrate on one thing at a time.

4. When walking hurts, try dancing...
This is also true. I was hobbling around camp on Night 2. (Trust me, it was not anything remotely resembling walking--I love blisters). But there was a band playing after dinner and amazingly, I could dance. It must be that brain only focusing on one thing at a time.

3. You CAN eat dessert every night...
(Just don't tell my kids!) And boy, does it taste good after 20+ miles of walking!

2. After 20 miles of walking, Band-aids become part of your skin...
Good scissors and an hour of peeling might get them off.

1. My husband is pretty smart after all...
Dang it, I hate when I have to admit that. He bought me the same shirt in different colors and now my sunburn lines are all matched up.

+1 "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."
I stole this mantra from Dory of "Finding Nemo" fame, but it was the key to the 3-Day. Stopping for any reason made starting again challenging, to say the least. I am sure that I looked like a drunken penguin for the first few blocks after each pit stop until we got into our feet-numbing rhythm.

+2 The kindness of strangers...
There were over 400 Crew members who PAID $90 a piece to VOLUNTEER for the entire event. They got up every morning at 4:00AM to spend the day cooking, picking up trash, manning the pit stops, marking the route, setting up camp, and CHEERING us on. They never stopped smiling. It was completely amazing. A nice young man even carried my bag to our camp site when I could not go any farther. (Note to self--next time, have him carry you instead).
Also, along the route there were so many people cheering, handing out candy and popsicles, spraying us with water, and thanking us for walking. It kept me going. (Well, that and the cute fire fighters strategically stationed along the route).

+3 The generosity of family and friends...
Obviously, I would not have been able to participate in this amazing journey without everyone's generosity and for this I am truly grateful. The Seattle 3-Day raised over $6.5 million dollars towards breast cancer treatment and research and I was able to contribute $2,500 to the cause thanks to you--WOW! It was wonderful to walk in support of my Grandma Kay.
I am also grateful for all the notes of support, emails, and your prayers. A special "thank you" to Kim for telling me I could do it; to Stacey for my first donation that wasn't my parents; to my dad for emailing everyone he knows asking for a donation; to Keith and the kids for supporting what must have seemed like a crazy idea; to Cindy for the foot massager sitting on my porch when I came home; to my mom who bought me what was probably a $10, 4,000 calorie chocolate milkshake after it was all over because it is the only thing I wanted for dinner; and to Laurie for having the idea, for making me train when I wanted to be lazy, for folding up the tent every morning so I could bandage my toes, for walking every step of the way by my side, and for buying me a popsicle 4 miles from the finish line--just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Thank you so much! God bless,

Shauna