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Here’s a delightful story of a mother and daughter who keep connected even though they walk at two different speeds…
Mother and daughter Susan and Krista have been walking together since 2002, in Los Angeles and San Diego. Even though they don’t have the same stride, they still manage to share the 3-Day journey together.
The 3-Day is a family tradition for this pair. Says Krista, “This is our thing. And now that I am married, we have another reason to keep walking. My mother-in-law is a breast cancer survivor. When we got married, rather than having favors for our guests, we honored our moms by donating to Susan G. Komen for the Cure in their honor. I love that we walk together, and now my husband is part of our personal 3-Day crew. We’ve really made it a family affair!”
Walking together has been a challenge, though. Susan shares, “I am a slow walker! The 3-Day staff caboose knows me well! Krista and I start each day’s walk together, but she continues at her pace and waits for me at the pit stops or lunch. We meet up at the end of the route so we can walk into camp together. That time is the best!”
Krista agrees. “My mom’s challenge is to keep up with her training so she can keep up with me!”
Though Krista may pull ahead on the route, she doesn’t leave her mother behind. Susan explains: “I was way behind Krista and was really struggling to keep going. She wrote me little notes on the motivational signs along the route. Seeing her words of encouragement really kept me going.”
Susan and Krista are all smiles during their mother/daughter 3-Day weekends each year.
Krista added, “Oh the notes! I loved doing those for Mom. It was almost like we were walking together. Another favorite is how she always stops for stickers from every single person cheering us along the route. It completely stops my momentum, but it’s so fun to watch her light up with every sticker.”
Susan has some advice for other walkers who are part of a pair: “If it’s important for you to walk the entire three days together, you need to train together. If you walk some of your 3-Day miles apart, enjoy the special memories you’ll make with other walkers. We love sharing stories about people we met, and what we saw along the way.”
Is your pace fast, medium or slow? How does your 3-Day team stick together along the route? Please share your stories in the comments section below.
As a training walk leader, I love having team members show up together for walks! I stress to them how important it is to discuss ahead of time how you are going to deal with different paces, under-training, or injury/illness during the event. It is so much better to go into the event with a plan in place than to be frustrated or upset
I have lots of stories… There was a 3-generation team walking in Seattle in 2010. Mom and Daughter were doing great, but Grandma was having problems and not wanting to quit. The Mom talked with me about Grandma not wanting to get on the sweep vans… When I arrived at lunch on Day 1, I walked right up to a very lost Grandma. She finally had taken the sweep but was getting nervous about finding the rest of her family. I reassured her that they would arrive any minute and we talked about her taking more sweep vans, or even the bus back to camp so that she could walk more on Day 2 and Day 3. Minutes later, her daughter and grand-daughter arrived. Grandma went up to them and said that she would be taking the bus back to camp for the day. See, when it was not coming from her daughter, it was a good suggestion! The 3 of them ended up having a great weekend– sometimes walking together and sometimes with Grandma getting a ride ahead.
Kimberly, thank you for sharing this story and for your dedication as a 3-Day Training Walk Leader! My husband prefers walking fast and I occasionally have to remind him that the 3-Day is not a race! Our “slowest” team mate usually has the best stories to share during dinner at Camp, because she met new friends along the route, and took time to “stop and small the roses”.
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