Mentally. Physically. Monetarily. Emotionally. Spiritually. Relationally.
And finally, the day was here.
Friday, November 18, 2011.
How best to explain the 3-day?
In pictures...
with a few words scattered throughout [because, really, you have to hear a few stories!]
[disclaimer: most of these pictures were taken while we were actively walking...
therefore, these are not my best work.
and yet, i feel they still capture the essence of the experience :)]
Checking in and dropping off our bags at 5:30am Friday. Thank you Steve for taking us so early in the morning!! They were so organized and we had a letter-number combo on our little tags that told us where to put our luggage and where our tent would be later that day.
We're here!
Our motto.
My buddy and me at the opening ceremony. We're really gonna do this!!
Part of the opening ceremony... the survivor circle.
The flag in the middle has the names of those who have passed that are close to the 2011 walkers.
Both Mom and I wrote names on there.
And we're off.... AHHHHHH!!!!
3 miles in... pit stop one in Del Mar. That wasn't so bad!
Around mile 5... our first official police friend. The police ROCKED.
Leaving pit stop 2 and headed up Torrey Pines... about mile 6.
Mom's best friend Saranne tracked us down around mile 10 and was our first personal cheerleader!
It was so encouraging to see a familiar face and meant so much to have her there.
Mile 12... lunch at La Jolla Shores! Lunch was fun. :)
Although, Mom and I had this thing where we would get to the stops and there would be tons of people... and by the time we were ready to go everyone had already left. This was the case at lunch. The rest of day one was a bit of playing catch-the-group and so
La Jolla in the afternoon. God continually reminded me of His faithfulness.
From La Jolla to Bird Rock to Pacific Beach...
Just a few of the vehicles from the incredible team of police, fire rescue, bikers, and others who volunteered their time throughout the entire walk. From here, it was just a walking path to camp.
Heading all the way down Mission Bay to Crown Point - the last miles of the day.
What a truly beautiful city to walk through.
[notice how few walkers there are compared to earlier? we sorta ended up close to the end... unintentionally...]
We made it to camp!
Day one [officially 21.5 miles]: complete!
We got to camp right as the route was about to close (5:15pm), so it was dark.
[most others had been at camp for a couple hours and were all settled in already]
We still had to get our tent, find our tent site, set up our tent, shower, eat dinner, change/unpack and get set up, and get to the evening entertainment... in one hour.
Therefore we didn't take many pictures.
However, praise God for the YMCA kids who volunteered to set up our tent for us!!!
Finally showered, fed, and a bit more settled for the evening.
My twin/best pal/mom and me in our matching jammies.
[btw... we totally didn't need the scarves... but we brought them, so we wanted to wear them]
After the mishap of the air mattress [aka Jordanna pumped it up, pump died, Jordanna plugged air plug while we charged pump, came back to find the plug had come off and Jordanna had deflated the whole thing by laying across it before realizing such. battery lasted 5 min more... we needed 25 minutes. therefore: night one -- deflated air mattress]
[to take it further... this is happening at about 9-9:30pm... everyone around us is sound asleep. We quickly learned we could be playing catch up for a bit ... so is life for us! this is not complaining though... just to try to give you a glimpse of the day in our eyes. We had a great day!]
And then it was off to sleep for a sound solid 8 hours...
did I say that?
I meant,
an hour on the rough ground... tossing... turning... an hour here... what time is it, not time yet...
Nevertheless, it was a night to remember. In the best way possible. :-)
Only 40 miles to go...