2019 Michigan 3-Day Route Preview

It is almost here! The Michigan 3-Day is next week, and as you get ready for the event, we have a preview of what you can expect on our first 3-Day of the year! We can’t believe the weekend is almost upon us, but your Michigan 3-Day staff and coaches have been hard at work all year long to plan a fun-filled weekend for everyone heading to the Great Lake State.

After getting great feedback on our route from last year, you’ll be happy to see some familiar sights, but we have taken extra effort to make this year even better than the last! That includes an updated experience for our Opening Ceremony and camp, both of which will take place indoors at the Sheraton Detroit Novi. We will be taking over three different hotels in the Novi area, spreading the 3-Day spirit far and wide.

You can follow along with us on Facebook to see the grand unveiling of what the new Opening Ceremony will look like, but Event Production Manager Melanie Toner thinks everyone will love the new set-up!

After the Opening Ceremony, walkers will start their 60-mile journey. There will be changes to the route as we walk in and out of camp, so that we can give our walkers a direct route in and out of the hotel, and Melanie and the 3-Day team are working hard to make those changes extra special.

After walking out of the hotel, walkers will cross over Interstate 96 and head North to Walled Lake and into Novi. Keep an eye out for our first cheering station of the day and then an amazing photo op at Pavilion Shore Park.

After this you can look forward to some new route stops, but we will still visit all the amazing Michigan towns that have been such great hosts to us in the past. That includes the quaint neighborhoods of the Walled Lake community that embody the lake culture of the Mitten state!

Then, we will finish our day back at the new hotel camp.

Melanie says, “You can expect the same elements of 3-Day camp and your night with your fellow 3-Dayers that you’ve loved in the past! It will just be spread over two floors. Although we are moving camp from the outside, the move indoors creates a new and exciting atmosphere with all the comforts of home! (indoor bathrooms anyone?)

The first floor will hold our Opening Ceremony, and following the ceremony, the space will transition into your 3-Day Dining Room for the rest of the weekend. It will include the all-new 3-Day Lounge brought to you by Amgen, complete with charging stations, giveaways and frozen yogurt! And back again this year (to everyone’s delight) is a fan favorite, the Bank of America massage chairs. Also be sure to visit the 3-Day store, get your 2019 Michigan pin and buy a 3-Day “wish you were here” postcard for to a loved one! Don’t forget to bring stamps.

Then on the second floor there will be the medical team, a Manduka stretching area, our Youth Corps area and more! It will be a space for connection, community and a chance to refuel”

Ann Love, another member of our Michigan Event Production team, echoes this excitement, enthusing, “I am very excited to see the hotel portion of the event come together. The hotel has been really supportive, and I think everyone is going to love what we’ve put together!”

Day Two will start with the Bank of America Breakfast of Champions for our Top Fundraisers. Usually honored on Friday at Camp Show, this recognition will now take place before we leave camp first thing on Saturday.

Day Two we will head south through Novi again, and then into Plymouth where we’ll pass by the Plymouth Historical Museum. We will spend much of the rest of the day in Plymouth, including visiting Kellogg Park, where the familiar Pink Fountain awaits and walking along the Ann Arbor Trail Road and then into Northville, another historic Michigan community.

At lunch on Day Two, we will reach the halfway mark of our walk… and we’re going to celebrate! Enjoy special photo opportunities, a local DJ and more excitement. This new celebration will take place at all of our 3-Days this year, and we are especially excited to debut it in Michigan.

One of Ann’s favorite parts of Day Two is that it will be a shorter route, thanks to the new hotel camp location. We have heard your feedback about Day Two being a bit long and taken that into account this year.

Day Two will end back at camp with an all-new Honor Ceremony. This special addition will include stories from walkers, crew, Youth Corps, and more. You’ll even have a chance to share with the world why you commit 3-Days.

Melanie says that our Day Three route is very similar to last year. “We know people loved it, so we didn’t want to change that feeling!”

The day will start with a short bus ride to an elementary school in Livonia. Then much of the day still takes place in Dearborn, including a pit stop at the Dearborn Historical Museum. This is just one of the fun destinations right in the heart of downtown Dearborn. York Street in Dearborn is especially supportive of our walkers, coming out in full force to cheer them on. Also keep an eye out for gorgeous views of the Rouge River near the end of the final day of walking.

Other highlights to look forward to on the route throughout the weekend are:

Walled Lake
Cheering stations in downtown Plymouth
Ford Field in Dearborn
Hines Park
Downtown Northville (Ann especially love the historic homes)

After 60 miles, our walk will once again finish at the Ford World Headquarters. This has been such an iconic and special spot for our Michigan 3-Dayers, and we are honored to once again be able to finish our journey there.

Instead of having a separate Participant Finish Area and Closing Ceremony site, we will have one celebratory Closing Festival area. So, all the excitement can be in one giant space! There will be live music, crowd games and prizes plus even some line dancing!

When the last walker arrives, we will immediately begin the Closing Ceremony. The Closing Ceremony will be like what you have come to expect in past years, but with some new festive additions.

The celebration will be for everyone, regardless of when you finish! Plus, having the Victory Area also hold Closing Ceremony means there will be less walking after you finish your 60-mile journey! Which we know our walkers will love ?

All in all, we are looking forward to showing off many new additions to the 3-Day this year and kicking off our 2019 3-Day season in style.

3-Day Prep: How Your 3-Day Coaches Can Help

Let’s hear it for your 3-Day coaches! This group of amazing people are working all year long, all across the country, to make sure that the 3-Day is the best experience possible for you. This time of year is especially important, as we gear up for our first 3-Days of the year (only two weeks until Michigan!). If you have any last-minute questions or want to hit a new goal, now is the time to check in with your coach.

If you haven’t met or connected with them yet, don’t worry! You can find their contact information and lots more fun 3-Day treats on their Facebook pages:

If you’re not sure just how your 3-Day coaches can help you, well that answer is simple: The possibilities are endless! Here are just some of the topics and tips that your coaches are here to assist with.

Safe and Useful Training

Everyone should train for the 3-Day at their own pace, and in their own way. We have plenty of resources like our 3-Day Training App and local training walk leaders, but no one knows more than your coaches. Many of them lead training walks throughout the year, and you can find those on our website. They can also help you plan your own training walks and make sure you are preparing safely for your 3-Day journey.

They also have some seriously great training playlist ideas that you can check out HERE.

Hitting Your Fundraising Goals

If you need a little last-minute help to hit your 2019 fundraising goal, the coaches have seen it all and are ready to share. They get to see all the best fundraising ideas that teams and individuals are using across the country and are here as a resource. If you don’t want to send another email reminder, they have another idea! If you’re uncomfortable asking people for money in person, they have your back there, too! No matter what kind of fundraiser you are, they will help you make the most of your skills.

Growing Your Team

There is still time to add more team members to your 3-Day squad! Your coaches can help you recruit new team members or can connect solo walkers with other teams in their area. No one walks alone on the 3-Day, and your coaches will make sure of that.

Especially for our 3-Days with outdoor camps in Seattle, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Diego, adding new team members means you get extra fun on the 3-Day! If you add two first-time 3-Dayers to your team, you’ll qualify for one of our epic slumber party tents at camp. ? (This offer expired on 7/1 for the Seattle 3-Day, but Dallas/Fort Worth and San Diego 3-Day participants have until 8/30 to recruit those walkers and earn your slumber party.

Preparing for Your 3-Day Weekend

Many of our coaches have walked the 3-Day in the past (or are walking this year!) and so have great tips for the actual 3-Day weekend itself. From recommended shoes and fanny pack choices, to ideas on how to prep for a little liquid sunshine, they have a wealth of information to share from all their past 3-Days as a coach, crew member or walker.

Pep Talks and Fun Tips

Anything else you need? Random questions you might have? Reach out to your coaches! They are here to help and have a seemingly unending amount of 3-Day knowledge that they want to share. All you have to do is ask ?

3-Day Coaches’ Favorite Training Tunes and 3-Day Prep

It’s official. Our first 3-Day of 2019 is less than a month away! Can you believe it?! That means that some of you have less than 30 days to get your training up to speed and hit your fundraising goals. But don’t panic! We have your back, with all the best in training and fundraising advice from our 3-Day blog…and your coaches!

To start, we have a brand-new playlist on Spotify with all of your coaches’ favorite training tunes. These are the songs that get them moving when they need that little bit of extra motivation to train.

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To make sure you’re training safely, read all the posts from our Healthy Living blog series with American Bone Health and Amgen. This series was designed to prepare your mind, body and bones for the 3-Day. Beyond that, you can find more tips about healthy living here, plus advice and support to keep you on track for the 3-Day and beyond.

Once you’ve got your training well in hand, we know fundraising will still be on your mind. In order to make the most of your fundraising efforts, check out the latest from our blog:

You should also reach out to your local coaches! Have you connected with them on Facebook yet? They all have their own pages and are amazing resources for all your 3-Day needs. They will also be posting about upcoming event deadlines like online check-in and more. You can see all their pages here:

Before you know it, it will be time for the 3-Day, so everyday counts! We can’t wait to welcome you back to our 3-Day family once again ?