Tag Archives: 60 miles

Your Guide to Packing for the 3-Day

It’s almost time to pack your bags for the 2024 Susan G. Komen 3-Day®! Whether you’re driving in from down the road or catching a flight across the country, it’s imperative to bring the right gear with you. This includes everything from daily toiletries to on-route essentials. To help you remember everything you might need to show up in the Pink Bubble fully prepared, follow our packing checklists for hotels and camping. 

WHAT TO BRING 

CLOTHING — Bring clothing appropriate for all types of weather — including cold, rain and heat. This includes shorts, leggings, socks, undergarments, a rain jacket/poncho, t-shirts, sweatpants, visor, sleepwear, and shoes. Be sure to pack a few outfits for each day since you’ll need to adapt to the forecast each morning and will likely want to change your outfit after returning to camp.  

TOILETRIES — Though hotels tend to have toiletries available to you, we strongly recommend packing everything you might need for your hygiene and comfort. This includes sunscreen, toothpaste, toothbrush, moisturizer, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, razor, hair ties, and a hairbrush. Also, don’t forget any prescription medication that you take regularly. 

FIRST AID — While we’ll have supplies and Medical Crew to tend to any major medical issues at the event, you should bring your own supplies for tending to minor medical and personal problems along the route. This includes band aids, petroleum jelly (e.g., Vaseline®), antacid, pain reliever, or anything else you anticipate needing.  

MISCELLANEOUS — Don’t forget to print and pack your credentials before showing up on event! (2-Day Walkers and 1-Day Walkers will receive your credentials when you arrive at the event.) In addition to these necessities, there may be some other things you want to bring with you. Our recommendations include anything you may use daily or to document your experience in the Pink Bubble. Consider a phone charger, journal, camera, and your Bank of America Pink Ribbon Banking card to secure a special gift in camp! 

CAMPING 

For those camping at the Susan G. Komen San Diego 3-Day, you will wrap up each evening in a 6.5’x 6.5’ tent. For maximum comfort, you’ll want to bring some camping gear such as a sleeping bag and pillow, air mattress or camping pad, plastic sheets or tarp to keep your tent and gear dry in case of rain, a headlamp or flashlight, and mylar blankets. Throw in some decorations for your tent and you could earn a Tent Flair legacy pin!  

ON THE ROUTE 

Aside from your main piece of luggage, we recommend bringing a waist pack for use on the route with a few essentials for the journey. We suggest packing this ahead of time so you’re sure to have everything you need out on the route. In this, you may want to place a portable charger, sunglasses, sunscreen, money/credit card, identification, and a water bottle to refill along the way. Keep it light yet complete with everything you found yourself using while training. We serve water and sports drinks from large containers, so you must bring your own water bottle.  

YOUR LUGGAGE 

Pack up everything in one piece of luggage that is clearly labeled with your name, participant identification number, and cell phone number. To ensure easy transport and identification, make sure it weighs no more than 35 pounds once packed and is marked with something such as a unique luggage tag to help you pick it out of a crowd.  

WHAT NOT TO BRING 

Though fundraising is a core part of the Komen 3-Day, please don’t bring any donations, cash or otherwise, to the event. Be sure to have all your dollars added directly to your personal fundraising page before arriving at the hotel or campsite. To prevent loss or theft of any kind, leave behind any valuables such as fine jewelry, designer goods, or large amounts of cash. For safety reasons, headphones or portable music players are not permissible while walking on event so, although you may use them while traveling, leave them in your hotel room before heading out on the route each morning.  

THE NIGHT BEFORE 

On Thursday night before the Opening Ceremony, be sure to charge your phone, print your credential, and plan for a morning snack/breakfast. Be sure your waist pack is stocked with everything you need (extra socks, lip balm, etc.) and don’t forget your water bottle. 

We can’t wait to see you in the Pink Bubble! 

Training Walk Talks: Stories from Training Walk Leaders 

With 20, 40, or 60 miles of walking on the horizon, training is critical to ensuring a successful and joyful experience at the Susan G. Komen 3-Day®. To help you along the way, not only do we have suggested training schedules, but we have a training walk leader program where participants just like you guide other walkers. With plentiful resources and support from the Komen 3-Day team, training walk leaders are prepared to provide a consistent, supportive environment for walkers to train, meet, and learn from others in the 3-Day® community.  

The best part? Each leader gets to make their walks unique! Demarie B. has been leading training walks for the past few years and describes her experience as fun and adventurous. A five-time 3-Day walker, she holds most of her training walks with lululemon in Huntington Beach, California where she is an ambassador, taking her attendees along a beautiful beach path then loop back to the store for donuts and raffles. She has also hosted in unique locations such as Catalina Island, Crystal Cove, and taken the Palm Springs Tram to walk in the snow. She strives to make each walk special, always hoping to leave attendees with a feeling that they can’t wait to come back, even if it was hard. With thorough resources provided by the 3-Day team, Demarie loves being able to educate walkers on proper gear and nutrition while taking them on new expeditions. 

Since 2015, nineteen-time walker Marci H. has hosted training walks, recognizing that she couldn’t be the only one in her area in need of training. Marci typically leads her adventurous walks bright and early to catch the sunrise as they set out to conquer a few miles. From Truckee to Lake Tahoe, to San Francisco for a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, Marci puts in effort to ensure that each route contains beautiful scenery and is an experience in and of itself. Her walks consist of all types of terrain including hills, sidewalks, dirt trails, and more! Besides the adventure and beauty she finds on these walks, her favorite part of being a training walk leader is getting to meet new people. In fact, this is how she found her team, Hands Up for Hooters! When training together, she and the attendees share their stories, discuss why they walk and fundraising, and often find themselves laughing, playing games, and taking pictures to commemorate the experience.  

There are endless ways to make your training walks special no matter where you might be. Some training walk leaders live in an area where they are the only 3-Day walker and others live in an area that is highly populated with the Pink Bubble. Regardless of where you live or how many times you’ve walked, we are seeking leaders to guide training walks throughout the country! You don’t need to be an experienced athlete, an expert walker, or even a fast walker to lead training walks. In fact, you shouldn’t be too fast; consider this a journey and not a race. We need leaders at all paces and abilities because throughout the 3-Day season there are always walkers at various paces and different stages of training.  

We will provide you with guidelines, planning tips, and more to make it as easy as possible to host a fun Pink Bubble experience before the event; plus, your 3-Day coaches are always standing by, ready to help! In return for all your efforts, you’ll have the chance to meet amazing new friends, share stories, exchange training tips and brainstorm fundraising ideas with other 3-Dayers. Ultimately, you’ll have helped someone complete a journey they may not have been able to do without you!  

Interested in becoming a training walk leader? Contact your coach to let them know or update your profile on The3Day.org to check “I am interested in becoming a 2024 training walk leader.” 

June Pink Bubble Story of the Month: Tammy Z. 

Tammy Z. participated in her very first Susan G. Komen 3-Day® in 2005 when a friend dared her to walk. She doubted she could walk 60 miles in three days, but Tammy had just turned 40 and thought it would be nice to set this goal. With three school-aged children and a demanding full-time job, training and preparing for the Komen 3-Day became her “me-time” while rallying around a good cause. Once she set foot into the Pink Bubble, Tammy was hooked for life. She’s since walked in Tampa Bay, New England, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego, with this year marking her twentieth walk in Dallas/Fort Worth. She is so dedicated to the 3-Day® that when the event was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, Tammy and her team raised the funds and walked 60 miles together in St. Petersburg, Florida.  

Some of Tammy’s favorite memories in the Pink Bubble include family members participating with her in Tampa Bay. In 2007, her mom joined her for all 60 miles and returned the following year with Tammy’s daughter to serve as crew members. In 2013 Tammy’s daughter returned to the Crew with her boyfriend, now husband, as Lunch Team Crew captains at the young age of 21. To this day, Tammy recalls them being the superstars of the Tampa Bay Lunch Crew and claims they had the most efficient lunch setup in any of the 3-Days that she has participated in. 

On top of the incredible memories that come with each event, Tammy remains dedicated to the cause with hopes that the cures are close. Her Co-Captain and another dear friend both had metastatic breast cancer. Because of their incredible attitudes despite the battles they continue to face, Tammy commits to the 3-Day to fight for them and so many others until there are cures. She motivates her team by reminding them that it could be their dollar raised that pushes the science discovery over the edge. Her team refers to themselves as professional yard sale hosts, organizing two per year which raise around $1,500 each time. Their friends and neighbors are always very generous by donating great treasures for the sales and shoppers look forward to seeing what they bring each year. They have found that when you are holding a sale to raise money for breast cancer research, shoppers typically keep negotiations to a minimum. She recalls one year when her team held three yard sales in one weekend, encouraging healthy competition amongst the team members on which location could raise the most money. She recommends that all fundraisers host a yard sale and not be shy when asking around for donations since most people are generous to contribute to a good cause.  

Tammy has recently been inaugurated into the Lifetime Commitment Circle by raising a personal total of $100,000 for the breast cancer cause. She spent the last 20 years focused on ensuring all her team members reach their fundraising goals so they can participate with the team on the 3-Day. Having begun her 3-Day journey by setting a goal to walk 60 miles, she continues her goalsetting by committing to get her team, C-Side Sisters, to the $1 million mark. At just about $700,000, Tammy is confident that her small team will get there, one dime at a time! 

For those who’re interested in the 3-Day but haven’t yet registered, she encourages everyone to take her approach and just try it. With sweep vans plentiful on event, there’s always an option whenever you find yourself struggling to walk. By registering for the 3-Day, you are joining the Pink Bubble, a community who comes together with a common purpose amongst a sea of pink; though her team typically opts for a different color to easily identify one another in the crowd!