Monthly Archives: August 2019

Meet Your Twin Cities 3-Day Coaches

It’s hard to believe it, but we’re only days away from our Twin Cities 3-Day! We can’t wait to take this 60-mile journey with all our Minnesota 3-Dayers, and no one is more excited than our 3-Day coaches. As our team makes the final preparations and plans for the 60-mile journey, we thought it was about time that you all get to know our Twin Cities 3-Day coaching team.

Meet Coaches Liz and Heather, our amazing Crew Coordinator Kiki and Event Manager Eileen. They make the 3-Day magic happen year-round, working every day towards this weekend. That means that they spend a lot of time together, and they love it that way. They are each other’s biggest cheerleaders, just like they cheer for you!

  • Liz is the definition of “excellent customer service” and Kiki considers her to be “my Webster’s Dictionary of the 3-Day!” She knows everything and can be your one-stop shop for any questions or needs you have leading up to, and during, the weekend.
  • Kiki is the Crew and coaching team’s best resource — funny and quick-witted and she knows all the right ways to support her Crew.
  • Eileen planned your amazing 3-Day route, and Liz says she “is the master at getting things done.” And, according to Liz, she has a wicked dry sense of humor! Maybe she has some 3-Day puns to share ?
  • Last but certainly not least, Coach Heather is a new addition to the Twin Cities team, and her fellow coaches describe her as “so full of energy, when she is laughing you cannot help but join in and you can always depend on her for a really fun time.” We can’t wait to see her smiling face out on the route!

Eileen has already given us a preview of just what that route will look like, and some of her favorite spots are:

  • Nicollet Mall where our Opening Ceremony will take place, inside the Hyatt Regency
  • The Nicollet Mall art fest
  • Lake Minnehaha Boulevard
  • Minnehaha Regional Park and Minnehaha Falls
  • White Bear Lake and the surrounding community
  • Stone Arch Bridge

But that’s not all the walkers and crew members can look forward to!

Heather promises “an incredible weekend full of inspiration, laughter, tears, amazing memories, countless hugs, and endless high fives!”

Kiki added, given that this walk takes place in Minnesota, out-of-towners and locals alike will experience everything that the state is known for: “beautiful scenery and the nicest people on the planet.”

To get you ready for all of that, our coaches also have advice to help you in the final days before you begin your journey.

  • Coach Kiki encourages everyone to work together. “Ask for help when you need it and offer it when you think it’s needed by others.”
  • Coach Heather reminds everyone to be in the moment! “Yes, there are many photo opportunities, but don’t miss “being in it” just to see it in pictures later. Be present! Remember, there are so many pictures being taken by those around you, the moment will surely be captured by someone!”
  • Coach Liz echoes that and adds to “be sure to drink more than you think you need, both water and sports drink. There is no rush; you have all day, so enjoy every moment.”

That includes enjoying time at our new hotel camp! Liz says some highlights to especially look forward to are “a great community feel as we gather in one banquet room, a nice comfy bed at the end of the day, and a bathtub!”

What more could you want? How about quality time with these amazing ladies, and all of your 3-Day family? ? In just a few days, we’ll all be together in the Pink Bubble…We’ll see you soon!

2019 Twin Cities 3-Day Route Preview

The Twin Cities 3-Day is coming up next weekend, and as you get ready for the event, we have a preview of what to expect! For those who are familiar with the route, you will see a lot of our favorite sights of the Twin Cities. However, we made some big changes that we are thrilled to share, including our new hotel camp and an extra special Closing Ceremony location! Read on for more excitement from Event Production Manager Eileen Barnick.

Our 3-Day experience this year will begin at the Hyatt Regency on Nicollet Mall. This will be our hotel camp, and the location of our Opening Ceremony. It’s a beautiful large hotel, and we have all the fourth-floor event space so there will be tons of room for our walkers as well as any spectators. The Opening Ceremony will be very emotional and a wonderful start to our weekend.

Eileen says that this hotel is a perfect home for the weekend because it is in “a really trendy and fun area of downtown Minneapolis. This area was under construction for a while, so we were able to walk through there for the first-time last year. And now we’re staying right in the middle of it! It’s closed to vehicle traffic, and there are lots of cool shops and restaurants right nearby.”

We will leave the Opening Ceremony via an escalator and then head out onto Nicollet Mall. It will make for some great photos to celebrate the start of your 60-mile journey.

From there, walkers will make their way along Loring Greenway, which is a beautiful park walkway that leads us over the pedestrian bridge and into Loring Park and finally into the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Eileen notes that these sights are usually at the end of the day on Friday, so we are excited to start our journey this way now.

Overall, Eileen says that “this Day One route is our best and my most favorite Day One route yet. It has everything in it! You’ll get a great feel for downtown Minneapolis without having to deal with too much traffic and craziness, plus you also will experience the natural beauty of Minnesota.”

After walkers journey through a few more tourist sights, we will then head to the Chain of Lakes. You’ll see Lake of the Isles, Lake Harriet and other breathtaking sights.

Eileen thinks this balance is what makes the Twin Cities walk so unique!

“It’s crazy that these lakes and parks are so close to the city, so you can still get that balanced experience as you walk.”

After Chain of Lakes, we will travel along Lake Minehaha Boulevard, an older part of the city with phenomenal houses and photo opportunities.

But Eileen’s favorite part of the route is after lunch, when 3-Dayers go to Minnehaha Regional Park and Minnehaha Falls, which is a 50+ foot waterfall.

Eileen enthuses, “It’s this stunning waterfall in the middle of the city, and we have not walked there before to my knowledge. So, this will be a whole new experience for the people who have been walking with us for a while!”

After that, we will walk on a trail along the Mississippi River and head back into the city section of Minneapolis. We’ll pass U.S. Bank Stadium where the Vikings play, which will be a great treat for football fans. There’s even a Viking ship you can take photos in!

In the final steps of Day One, we’ll walk through Nicollet Mall and there will be an art fest going on at the mall that weekend, too! You can for sure see it on Friday evening, as we will walk directly through the art fest on your way back into camp after Day One. There will be lots of fun photo opportunities!

But Eileen wants to make sure that everyone is back at camp in time for games and fun activities at the end of the evening! She and the Twin Cities team are so excited about the updates to both Friday and Saturday night at camp and can’t wait to bring everyone into that experience.

Day Two will have walkers leaving Minneapolis to some of our favorite suburbs and smaller cities in the Twin Cities area. That includes White Bear Lake, which everyone loved last year. The community is so excited to host the 3-Day again, and after all the great feedback from walkers last year, we knew we had to come back.

We’ll also be returning to Little Canada, where the community is ready to greet us! The fire department there is already planning fun ways to support our walkers as they continue their journey.

We will have lunch in Central Park in Roseville, which will be nice and relaxing. We’re going back to our favorite places that have supported us in the past. It is a little longer route on Saturday, but Eileen promises it will be lots of fun and well worth it when you make it home to the hotel! Don’t miss our special new Honor Ceremony on Saturday evening, which will take place in the dining area as soon as the last walker arrives.

Before you know it, we’ll be taking on Day Three and coming to the end of our 60-mile journey!

Sunday will start with a walk from Minneapolis and over the Stone Arch Bridge, which goes over the Mississippi River. From there we will walk through the University of Minneapolis area to head towards St. Paul.

In St. Paul, there will be amazing historic houses, plus we will be walking past the St. Paul Zoo. The zoo is free, and though we won’t be walking through the zoo, it is a great place to visit while you’re in the city.

From there, we have a beautiful route into lunch at the Como Regional Park Baseball Pavilions. After lunch, we will spend more time in St. Paul, including a walk down historic Summit Avenue. We will be passing the Governor’s Mansion on that stretch of the walk!

We will pass the St. Paul Cathedral and look down at the Capitol as we walk towards our finish line. It’s a really pretty day of walking that ends with so many historic views!

“It’s all in the city for Day Three through beautiful neighborhoods that give a really good taste of St. Paul,” Eileen says.

That includes ending our 2019 Twin Cities 3-Day at The Capitol Building (back by popular demand) in St. Paul. Participants have been asking for this for years, so Eileen and our team are so happy to bring it back!

“Nature. Tourist attractions. The city. There is something for everyone!” Eileen promises.

We can hardly wait! 🙂

2019 Susan G. Komen Michigan 3-Day Wrap-Up

Our first 3-Day of 2019 was one we’ll remember for a long time to come! From the sunshine, to the comfort of our new hotel camp, to the many memories that our Michigan 3-Dayers made over the course of the weekend. The community support was unparalleled, the Youth Corps sprinkled their magic throughout the journey, and our Crew provided support and expertise every step of the way. To say we’re going to look back on this weekend with a smile is quite an understatement.

And it all started with our updated Opening Ceremony on Friday morning! We gathered inside one of our host hotels and highlighted several people in the Michigan community who have committed so much of their heart and soul to Susan G. Komen’s Bold Goal over the years. We also recognized survivors and those who live with metastatic breast cancer. These strong women and men led our walkers out of the hall and into the sun, kicking off our Michigan 3-Day in style.

The walk began through our new 3-Day pink tunnel of fun, sponsored by Amgen, and out onto the sidewalks and trails of Novi. Walkers were greeted at pit stop 1 by the much-loved BOOBees and even got Panera bagels for the perfect kick-off to their journey. From there, they passed by our first local cheering station and headed to pit stop 2 at Meadowbrook Elementary School. Cheerleaders, grahamwiches and some very important stretching carried them through to lunch at the 11.8 mile mark.

Lunch was back at Meadowbrook Elementary, and walkers relaxed in the shade (Thank you, Mohawk, for those cool new shade tents!) before tackling the second half of their day in Novi. The Novi Senior Center at pit stop 3 was a high point of the afternoon, as walkers loved the support and cheering from the local seniors. A quick stop in Rotary Park ended the day, and then our last walker returned to the hotel to raise our 3-Day flag and complete Day One.

We celebrated those first 19.5 miles with a new game of 3-Day bingo and practiced the dance our participants would break out at lunch at the Halfway Point. Then it was time for some much-needed sleep (and showers!) to rest up for Day Two.

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful with our Bank of America Breakfast of Champions, where we honored our top Michigan fundraisers and teams (including two new awards: the “Small But Mighty Team” Award and “Rookie of the Year” Award), as well as our Michigan Milestone and Local Impact winner. We were so happy to celebrate their contributions!

From there, walkers headed through Northville, spending time in local parks and on shady trails. Once they arrived in Plymouth, the energy hit a peak thanks to the amazing community cheering station at Kellogg Park…complete with the pink fountain! Our walkers stretched out in the grass, danced under the sun and soaked in all the excitement of Plymouth.

That enthusiasm continued into lunch, where we had a special new halfway celebration! Photo ops, flash dance mobs, and all kinds of goodies made this lunch extra special. We were halfway to 60 miles, after all!

After lunch, walkers trekked through Northville and back into Novi before ending back home at our hotel camp. Those Bank of America massage chairs and the famous 3-Day mac and cheese were waiting to welcome them! After our last walkers came safely back home, we had a special evening Honor Ceremony, where we heard some beautiful, moving stories from local Michigan participants and the Youth Corps about why they have chosen to commit 3 days, and how Susan G. Komen has affected their lives. Before the night concluded, we invited all participants to leave a memory in our Honor Garden, and to visit the Remembrance room. It was a solemn but inspiring reminder of how much of a difference everyone makes by being a part of the 3-Day. We are excited to bring this emotional, inspiring experience to all seven cities this year.

Sunday, our final day in Michigan, began with a quick bus ride into Livonia, where our walkers started their final day of walking. That walk included stepping through Livonia, Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, along with a stop at the picturesque and shady York Park for lunch. Our 3-Day Crew pulled out all the stops for the final day of walking, from the “Eat, Sleep, Cure. We are here to Serve.” camp services team, to our out of this world Crew at pit stop 3 and beyond. The day ended, as it has in the past few years, at the Ford World Headquarters.

Walkers passed underneath the Amgen pink tunnel and across the finish line, hands held, and smiles turned up to the sunshine. For hours, there were almost 50 volunteers from our presenting sponsor, Bank of America, there to cheer our walkers in as they conquered 60 miles in unity and strength. Our last walker arrived home and raised the flag to help us kick off our new Closing Ceremony in style. With our last walker starting our celebration, our survivors and those living with metastatic breast cancer led the rest of our Michigan family into the Closing Ceremony. We celebrated all that we have accomplished in Michigan, thanked those who helped us along the way, and acknowledged the great deeds done over the last 3 days. The 2019 Michigan 3-Day raised $1.2 million in the fight against breast cancer!

Our weekend ended with a dance party in the afternoon sun, and many hugs and smiles shared with all our 400 walkers and 200 crew. Our first 3-Day of 2019 is complete, but we have so much more work to do! Twin Cities, we will see you soon…