Atlanta Coaches’ 3-Day Highlights

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You already know coaches Karen, Libby and Susan from your Atlanta 3-Day team. They are the group who have been (im)patiently waiting for our walkers and crew to begin their 60-mile journey this weekend. And they will be welcoming everyone with open arms!

As you get your final preparations, training and packing done this week, they’re giving you more to get excited about. From favorite spots on the route, to their most prized memories, to their “must-visit” Atlanta spots, the coaches are sharing their personal 3-Day highlights.

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Coach Susan

Favorite memories of 3-Days past

Coach Susan: Walking in the pouring, freezing rain in Atlanta in 2008! Plus, working with Youth Corps for 2 years! And of course, all the laughing…so much laughing. More than the moments, it’s the community that I look at with gratitude and fondness. I’m grateful that I can be a part of something that brings out the best that humans have to offer.

Coach Libby: I have lots of favorites over the years but seeing friends and family connect with participants at the Closing Ceremony gets me every time.

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Coach Libby

Favorite parts of the 3-Day this year

Coach Karen: I am looking forward to reconnecting with walkers who I haven’t seen in a few years. It will be great to get a big hug and catch up! Then, on the route, I love Virginia Highland. I lived there when my kids were little and it is such a fun, diverse and creative place to live.

Coach Susan: I love the areas around Decatur and Emory on Day One, the beautiful Buckhead homes on Day Two, and I love the Vinings area on Day Three. I’m also looking forward to a new Closing Ceremony site along with a new Day Three route! Everyone, including 20-mile walkers will get to enjoy our all new Day 3 route this year! We’ll be walking through parts of Atlanta that we haven’t been through on the 3-Day before.

Coach Libby: This year we are walking through Vinings and I am excited to see what walkers think out such a cute area of Atlanta! I also love the new route and closing at SunTrust Park – Go Braves!

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Not-to-miss Atlanta spots

Coach Susan: I love the Atlanta Beltline! We are big baseball fans in our family, and the new stadium is great (Go Braves!). I love eating at some of the unique Atlanta places. Table & Main in Downtown Roswell is one of our favorites!

Coach Karen: I love to eat, and my favorites right now are Miller Union, The Optimist and Bacchanalia. For local favorites, I love Mac Magee in Roswell and Murphy’s in Virginia Highland.

What are looking forward to most on the Atlanta 3-Day? Tell us in the comments!

Atlanta 3-Day Route Preview

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Get ready Georgia, because the 3-Day is coming your way! Our pink bubble will be coming to Atlanta this weekend with an all-new route and very special Closing Ceremony location.

This year’s Atlanta 3-Day will begin at the picturesque Stone Mountain Park, and walkers will spend the day walking through the park as well as Sycamore Park and Atlanta itself. One change you will notice is that as we begin our day, we will be walking straight out of the park instead of around the mountain like we have in the past. However, we will continue to use path trails as much as possible as we walk through the towns of Clarkston and Avondale Estates.

One new sight you’ll see along the way will be the Winship Cancer Institute at Mile 13.9.

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Event Manager Melanie Toner says she is happy to be walking by this research facility because it is “where amazing cancer research is being done. It will help everyone see the impact that their fundraising will have on the local community.”

Day One will end after 21.8 miles, back at camp at the Georgia World Congress Center, but in a different hall than in years past. Melanie says this new location, and the new layout of camp, will “help contribute to the community environment that we are really trying to create with camp this year.”

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After a nice night of rest, Day Two will begin walking past the Phillips Arena / CNN Center, which will mean you’ll have the opportunity to take some great photos Saturday morning. There will then be plenty of shady areas as we walk Northeast towards Buckhead.

An afternoon highlight will be the Northside Beltline Trail with its old-fashioned train trestle. There will also be a route highlight at mile 16.8 at the High Museum of Art, before we end our day walking by the Center for Civil and Human Rights and the World of Coca-Cola. Stop for a soda before you head back to camp for dinner!

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Day Three brings the most changes, which Coach Libby is very excited about! “I am hopeful that the walkers will like all of the changes as much as I do!”

Melanie echoes that, saying Day Three is the part of the Atlanta 3-Day that she is most looking forward to. “I’m so thrilled to bring Atlanta participants a new route! We haven’t had a new route in a long time, but we are bringing them a new experience. We listened to your feedback and we have it for you this year!”

We will be walking through West Atlanta, including the Underwood Hills and Vinings areas before ending with a grand finale.

SunTrust Park, which just opened in April, will be the perfect spot to complete our 60 miles with a great, pink celebration!

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Melanie says she, and the whole Atlanta team, are “excited to bring the walkers to this new venue! It’s really beautiful! Atlanta as a city is pumped about this new stadium, so it’s nice to be able to bring the event to there. And the area around the stadium is great as well!”

It will be a momentous end to a weekend of fun. We can’t wait to see you, Atlanta!

Meet Your Atlanta 3-Day Coaches

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The 3-Day is heading south to Atlanta this weekend, and we are ready for another sunny 60 miles with all our amazing 3-Day walkers and crew. Part of your Georgia welcoming committee will be your amazing Atlanta 3-Day Coaches: Karen Odell, Susan Wynne and Libby Riordan. These ladies have been preparing all year long to host another fantastic weekend for our 3-Dayers, so before you put on your tutus and lace up your walking shoes, we wanted to help you get to know them better.

The first thing you need to know about Libby, for example, is that she is “is rock solid, she knows her stuff and conveys a sense of confidence while being completely approachable and helpful.” That’s according to Coach Karen!

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Coach Libby (right)

If you ask Libby about herself, she will also let you know that she would choose Mexican food all day long, and that she listens to FloRida when she needs extra motivation on her training walks and other work outs. She has been involved with the 3-Day since 2005, when she applied for a job on our team one month after walking her first 3-Day.

“It’s been a long journey with a community that I am lucky to call family!”

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Coach Susan

Coach Susan joined the 3-Day family not long after Libby, walking her first 3-Day in 2007 in honor of one of her closest friends, whom she had lost to breast cancer. She still walks in other 3-Day cities to this day!

When she’s not 3-Daying, she is craving Mexican food and sushi, and listening to The Lumineers and The Avett Brothers. They might not seem like the traditional “pump up jams” to some, but she says they’re still her favorite to train to.

Coach Karen says Susan “makes our participants feel as if they’ve known her forever and she is a great resource for any question.”

Susan echoes that same love when talking about Coach Karen, saying, “Karen is so thoughtful and dedicated to making our participants have the best experience possible.”

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Coach Karen (center)

Karen says that is she could have one superpower it would be to have “the ability to always know the right path in life,” and if you want to make her dinner, make sure to bring the seafood! She loves halibut, scallops, lobster, mussels and more!

Through and through, these ladies are a fun and enthusiastic group who are anxiously waiting to welcome everyone to Atlanta next week!

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Coach Karen (left)

Karen describes their coaching team as “supportive, cohesive, and thoughtful,” and Susan says they all work their hardest to “connect with our participants and crew on such a personal level and truly care about our 3-Day family.”

Who wouldn’t want to spend a weekend with these women?!