Participants on the 2013 3-Day in Boston, Cleveland and Chicago made this year’s 3-Day journey with mixed emotions, knowing the event would not be returning to their city in 2014. Our 3-Day coaches and event staff felt the same mix of joy and melancholy as they walked or supported our last events in these three remarkable cities. They share their love, gratitude and messages for the 3-Day participant community below.
Category Archives: Event
The Inspiring Chicago 3-Day
The Chicago 3-Day kicks off in Northbrook, Illinois as walkers stride proudly onto the streets
We all watch the weather closely as the 3-Day inches closer, knowing that we will be at the mercy or the delight of the elements. “We’ve never had weather this wonderful!” commented one walker. “Chicago has either been hot or raining or both!” The sun rose on a temperate, crystal-clear Friday morning in Northbrook, Illinois, as the walkers, crew, and friends and family joined in the Opening Ceremony and burst out onto the streets, ready to walk the 21.3-mile course through the Chicago Botanical Gardens, Glencoe, Winnetka, Northfield, Glenview, and Des Plaines. Our gracious hosts at Our Lady of Guadalupe/Maryville Academy allowed the pink tents to pop up for two nights in their spacious fields. What a camp show! Dancers and singers both nights were top quality.
A team of Susan G. Komen Chicago 3-Day walkers at Pit Stop 1, with an additional photobomb
Saturday’s 19.3-mile journey through Mt. Prospect, Arlington Heights and Prospect Heights was peppered with some of the most lively and supportive neighborhoods, fire departments, and police departments anywhere. Pink police shirts, Mt. Prospect’s great team of firefighters, Arlington Heights’ pink fire engine, The Pair Tree, local cheerleaders, the pink balloon arch. The list goes on and on, and we couldn’t have been more pleased! We were proudly joined by the Young Women Walking group for the day, and they fit right in, pounding the pavement and making new friends. Like so many in the past, this memorable Saturday on the 3-Day® will be treasured. Thank you all for your support!
The Young Women Walking joined up with our current walkers for a memorable Day 2 on the Chicago 3-Day
Saturday’s 16.4-mile route led through the Lake Shore Drive area, but it was anything but quiet. Sunday in Lincoln Park was bustling with weekenders, and walkers were cheered on by individuals, a few Pit Stops and even a hot dog festival. The real treat, however, was the scenic entry with views of downtown, the lake, and finally Soldier Field. The pace had slowed by this time, for obvious reasons, and the gaits of many were stiffening after almost 55 miles over three days. It is this point where observers really start to see the rise of determination.
Downtown Chicago looms in the distance as a 3-Day team walks along the Lake
This is where drive starts to exceed ability and training. The last few miles of the 3-Day are often the silent struggle of participants, often reminding them of their own struggle over breast cancer or the struggle of those loved ones who have been physically pushed in their fights. Inside the stadium, alone, they often talk to me in passing, sometimes not really wanting to be heard, “If Judy could do it” “If my mother could fight it” “I’ve done it before.” Sometimes I take their pictures, and sometimes I do not. But they can hear the cheers in stadium, and they know that the end is nearby, along with their families, the inspirational Closing Ceremony, and their dedication to finding a cure.
Chicago 3-Day walkers are cheered into Soldier Field at the end of their 60-mile journey
MORE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE CHICAGO 3-DAY
Coincidence or Destiny?
Christa C. stops on the route on Day 3 of the Chicago 3-Day
Here on the Susan G. Komen 3-Day®, I learned very quickly that I needed to be ready with a camera sometime between 6 and 7 o’clock for a very special event: The Last Walker. While normally the hero of an event like this is the first walker, Dr. Sheri reminds us at The Opening Ceremony that “this is a walk, not a race.” In that spirit, the last walker is celebrated like a returning warrior, encouraged by the entire camp rising to its feet, cheering, clapping.
Last night’s grand entrance of Christa C. from Chicago brought the participants streaming to the flagpole to the point that it was difficult to find my usual position for a photograph. Christa, a 7-month survivor of breast cancer herself, was accompanied by motorcycle-riding Route Safety Crew Member Karen R., also from Chicago. Why the escort? “I saw Christa at about Mile 15 today,” Karen almost yelled in my ear over the chanting crowd. “I noticed her shirt, which looked too familiar. Then I noticed her shoes. I asked her, ‘Where did you get those?’ She responded that she bought them from another unknown breast cancer survivor at an estate sale in Chicago. They were mine!” Christa, in her jungle safari hat with pink streamers agreed. “When I bought them from the estate sale, I wanted to wear them in honor of this unknown breast cancer survivor. I had no idea she’d be protecting me on the route!”
Route Safety Crew member Karen R. from Chicago embraces Christa C. who bears the flag of the Chicago 3-Day at the end of Day 2
Call it what you want. Coincidence. Luck. Fate. Destiny. For Christa and Karen in Chicago, two strangers have again been brought together by a common cause, a touching and recurring theme on the Komen 3-Day Series.