[3-DAY] PART 1 :: HOOPING IN A SEA OF PINK BOAS AND TUTUS!
What an incredible journey- an event of a lifetime! Headed for the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Washington, DC 60-mile, 3 day event, David (my husband), Yvonne (one of my Hooprama teachers) and I landed in Baltimore on Thursday and then drove to DC. It was kind of wild driving in a new city and then turning a corner to be right up on the Pentagon! We met up with a friend of mine for dinner and then went and watched the VP debate in a local pub that was full of camera crews. Afterwards we went straight to bed because we had to be at Opening Ceremony by 6:30 am. That’s 5:30 for you in Nashville!
Remarkably, we arrived on time for check in and Opening Ceremony. It was so cold outside and next to us was this very tempting IKEA. We were surrounded in a sea of pink… boas, tutus, hats, sparkles- everything was pink. Yvonne and I were just standing there holding our hoops and getting lots of strange looks. I overheard “Are they going to carry those things the whole way?”
The host/spokeswoman of the weekend, Jennae, warmed the crowd and then sent us on our way to take the first steps into our first mile. 3,000+ walkers filtered through the families that came to support and see everyone off. Yvonne and I had decided to start at the very back of the pack so that we would not get in the way of anyone else. And since we were not going to be able to carry our things with us like the other walkers, my husband David, became a part of our personal crew for the weekend. He rode in his bike (or car) to meet up with us at pit stops to take articles of clothing as we warmed or to give us a change of socks as needed... or to pick up emergency ACE bandages....
Day One was a bit of a blur because everything was so new for us. I spent most of my morning in a daze about it. We passed by these folks who rode motorcycles and yielded the traffic for us. I thought they were just a part of that particular crosswalk. I had no idea that they were part of the crazy crew that would keep our paths open the whole 60 miles! It was really a welcome sight because they would blast music from their bikes and were always dressed in wild outfits with leather pants and pink things and always- ALWAYS- have a smile and be so incredibly sweet and encouraging to us... "there's our Hula Hoopers!" they would say as we hooped by.
There were pit stops for us every 1- 4 miles. It varied. I think over the course of the first day of 20+ miles there were 5 pit stops and one lunch break… I don’t really remember. I do know that each main pit stop had a medical tent but on Day One I had no idea exactly how valuable that medical tent was going to become to me!
Yvonne and I kept up a pretty good pace in the open pockets of walkers and even passed quite a few thankfully not holding us to last in line. Our goal was not to rush, but to take it easy and keep a good pace. We worked really hard to stay out of the other walker’s way. In the very beginning we had even seen a woman pushing her friend in a wheel chair- now that was impressive!
The beginning of Day One was fairly easy for me. Looking back on this day I realize that I was sooooo incredibly naive. We had lots of folks asking us “Are you going to hula hoop the whole way?”. I think miles 1-10 it was a determined reply... “Yes! We are!” to miles 10 on being more like a questionable reply... “Um, well, that’s our goal...” Yes, towards the end of the first day it was getting really hard for me, but I kept going. Every time someone asked about our hooping the walk (which was often) we would hand them one of these cards explaining what we were raising awareness for.
Remarkably, we arrived on time for check in and Opening Ceremony. It was so cold outside and next to us was this very tempting IKEA. We were surrounded in a sea of pink… boas, tutus, hats, sparkles- everything was pink. Yvonne and I were just standing there holding our hoops and getting lots of strange looks. I overheard “Are they going to carry those things the whole way?”
The host/spokeswoman of the weekend, Jennae, warmed the crowd and then sent us on our way to take the first steps into our first mile. 3,000+ walkers filtered through the families that came to support and see everyone off. Yvonne and I had decided to start at the very back of the pack so that we would not get in the way of anyone else. And since we were not going to be able to carry our things with us like the other walkers, my husband David, became a part of our personal crew for the weekend. He rode in his bike (or car) to meet up with us at pit stops to take articles of clothing as we warmed or to give us a change of socks as needed... or to pick up emergency ACE bandages....
Day One was a bit of a blur because everything was so new for us. I spent most of my morning in a daze about it. We passed by these folks who rode motorcycles and yielded the traffic for us. I thought they were just a part of that particular crosswalk. I had no idea that they were part of the crazy crew that would keep our paths open the whole 60 miles! It was really a welcome sight because they would blast music from their bikes and were always dressed in wild outfits with leather pants and pink things and always- ALWAYS- have a smile and be so incredibly sweet and encouraging to us... "there's our Hula Hoopers!" they would say as we hooped by.
There were pit stops for us every 1- 4 miles. It varied. I think over the course of the first day of 20+ miles there were 5 pit stops and one lunch break… I don’t really remember. I do know that each main pit stop had a medical tent but on Day One I had no idea exactly how valuable that medical tent was going to become to me!
Yvonne and I kept up a pretty good pace in the open pockets of walkers and even passed quite a few thankfully not holding us to last in line. Our goal was not to rush, but to take it easy and keep a good pace. We worked really hard to stay out of the other walker’s way. In the very beginning we had even seen a woman pushing her friend in a wheel chair- now that was impressive!
The beginning of Day One was fairly easy for me. Looking back on this day I realize that I was sooooo incredibly naive. We had lots of folks asking us “Are you going to hula hoop the whole way?”. I think miles 1-10 it was a determined reply... “Yes! We are!” to miles 10 on being more like a questionable reply... “Um, well, that’s our goal...” Yes, towards the end of the first day it was getting really hard for me, but I kept going. Every time someone asked about our hooping the walk (which was often) we would hand them one of these cards explaining what we were raising awareness for.
