Recap...Part 3
Much, much more on Day 2....
Saturday we woke up to some lovely dry Astroturf despite the rain overnight, and despite my getting up to pee FIVE TIMES overnight, Stephanie still thought she’d gotten lucky in the random tent mate lottery! I guess I hydrated well Friday! We got breakfast, portapottied, put on sunscreen, and headed out around…I have no idea what time. 7ish? Who knows! We were up around 6, I know that. Saturday is the hardest day of walking. It’s the longest mileage and there’s no celebratory send off or finish, you just walk in a circle to get in 20+ miles and get back to camp. It didn’t help that our Day 1 route card warned of a big hill on Day 2 between pit stops 1 and 2, where sweep vans would be at the bottom of the hill to take us to the top if needed! In the end, the hill wasn’t that scary - not steep, just long. A mile long, to be exact…but the Granite Angel fans were waiting for us at the top with York Peppermint Patties (which got a few ladies running the last few steps!) and freeze pops. One of my favorite cheerers was also there, and he told us the hill was over. I threatened to come back and get him if he’d lied to me, but turns out I didn’t have to do that because he was telling the truth. The majority of the hill was shaded, as well, which helped a lot. Day 2 brought us through Belmont, Winchester, Woburn, Lexington and maybe Arlington? I’m not entirely sure. There was some lovely scenery walking by some ponds in Woburn, and many, many more freeze pops to be had.
Our first cheering station of the day popped up before lunch and surprised us - our route cards told us it was after! Not far from there was an awesome unofficial cheering station, where they had set up a sprinkler in the front yard. SB did some fabulous running through that, and the rest of us enjoyed just walking under the edge of it along the sidewalk. Props to everyone that was out with spray bottles, hoses, and sprinklers along the route Saturday - especially the husband and son of the woman that was walking as the White Butterflies, who popped up at least four times along the route Saturday and a few more Sunday!
Lunch Saturday was a bit of a bummer. The food was eh, SB managed to find a hole in the field to trip on, Jeff almost had his card pulled by Medical so that he wouldn’t be able to finish the walk (glad he asked for a second opinion and got to keep it to walk on Sunday!), and Stephanie’s blisters were so bad that she ended up keeping Jeff company on the bus back to camp. I mentioned Saturday is the hardest day of walking, right?
The cheering stations on Saturday were also the best - the first one a surprise, the second had a number of survivors with signs that managed to motivate AND make you cry, and the third had all our cheerers! Ma and B biked out from Alewife to see us. Mike, Leyre, and Orly (our official Baby for Boobs) brought balloons and a cupcake to celebrate SBs birthday. Mom, Dad, and David were there to hold Claire and Ben’s posters. Pete and Jody had hitched a ride out and even brought the signs I had made for them. Fun times!!! We spent a while hanging out (and getting Fribbles at Friendly’s) before Alyssa and SB hopped on the bus back to camp and I headed out for the last 3 miles.
I made a new friend on the last stretch - Lisa, from Phoenix, who trained in 100+ degree weather, so I probably shouldn’t have complained so much about my training! We also got Hoodsie Cups from two little boys who had a cooler full and were sitting at the end of their driveway handing them out, YUM! We got into camp pretty late (slower pace because more folks were hurting Saturday, plus the time spent hanging out at the cheering station and Friendly’s), and showered before a nasty dinner of chicken picata, rice pilaf, and steamed broccoli. After watching a bit of the dance party, we headed back to lounge outside the tent, help out with some Jeff origami (aka stretching), and sort out what time we were getting up/hitting the route Sunday morning.
Saturday we woke up to some lovely dry Astroturf despite the rain overnight, and despite my getting up to pee FIVE TIMES overnight, Stephanie still thought she’d gotten lucky in the random tent mate lottery! I guess I hydrated well Friday! We got breakfast, portapottied, put on sunscreen, and headed out around…I have no idea what time. 7ish? Who knows! We were up around 6, I know that. Saturday is the hardest day of walking. It’s the longest mileage and there’s no celebratory send off or finish, you just walk in a circle to get in 20+ miles and get back to camp. It didn’t help that our Day 1 route card warned of a big hill on Day 2 between pit stops 1 and 2, where sweep vans would be at the bottom of the hill to take us to the top if needed! In the end, the hill wasn’t that scary - not steep, just long. A mile long, to be exact…but the Granite Angel fans were waiting for us at the top with York Peppermint Patties (which got a few ladies running the last few steps!) and freeze pops. One of my favorite cheerers was also there, and he told us the hill was over. I threatened to come back and get him if he’d lied to me, but turns out I didn’t have to do that because he was telling the truth. The majority of the hill was shaded, as well, which helped a lot. Day 2 brought us through Belmont, Winchester, Woburn, Lexington and maybe Arlington? I’m not entirely sure. There was some lovely scenery walking by some ponds in Woburn, and many, many more freeze pops to be had.
Our first cheering station of the day popped up before lunch and surprised us - our route cards told us it was after! Not far from there was an awesome unofficial cheering station, where they had set up a sprinkler in the front yard. SB did some fabulous running through that, and the rest of us enjoyed just walking under the edge of it along the sidewalk. Props to everyone that was out with spray bottles, hoses, and sprinklers along the route Saturday - especially the husband and son of the woman that was walking as the White Butterflies, who popped up at least four times along the route Saturday and a few more Sunday!
Lunch Saturday was a bit of a bummer. The food was eh, SB managed to find a hole in the field to trip on, Jeff almost had his card pulled by Medical so that he wouldn’t be able to finish the walk (glad he asked for a second opinion and got to keep it to walk on Sunday!), and Stephanie’s blisters were so bad that she ended up keeping Jeff company on the bus back to camp. I mentioned Saturday is the hardest day of walking, right?
The cheering stations on Saturday were also the best - the first one a surprise, the second had a number of survivors with signs that managed to motivate AND make you cry, and the third had all our cheerers! Ma and B biked out from Alewife to see us. Mike, Leyre, and Orly (our official Baby for Boobs) brought balloons and a cupcake to celebrate SBs birthday. Mom, Dad, and David were there to hold Claire and Ben’s posters. Pete and Jody had hitched a ride out and even brought the signs I had made for them. Fun times!!! We spent a while hanging out (and getting Fribbles at Friendly’s) before Alyssa and SB hopped on the bus back to camp and I headed out for the last 3 miles.
I made a new friend on the last stretch - Lisa, from Phoenix, who trained in 100+ degree weather, so I probably shouldn’t have complained so much about my training! We also got Hoodsie Cups from two little boys who had a cooler full and were sitting at the end of their driveway handing them out, YUM! We got into camp pretty late (slower pace because more folks were hurting Saturday, plus the time spent hanging out at the cheering station and Friendly’s), and showered before a nasty dinner of chicken picata, rice pilaf, and steamed broccoli. After watching a bit of the dance party, we headed back to lounge outside the tent, help out with some Jeff origami (aka stretching), and sort out what time we were getting up/hitting the route Sunday morning.