2019 Susan G. Komen New England Route Preview

Labor Day weekend is upon us, and that means fall will be here before you know it. And while we’ll be sad to say goodbye to the sun and fun of summer, fall 2019 means we have more 3-Days coming up, starting with a return to the Northeast. We are heading to the New England 3-Day next weekend, and we can’t wait for you all to see our newest 3-Day walk. We know all our participants are waiting very impatiently for the coming walk weekend, and we have a sneak peak of what you can expect, straight from our New England 3-Day Event Production Manager, Meredith Parker!

Meredith can’t wait to welcome everyone back to New England!

“This is an area of the country that has great pride, and we are proud to bring the 3-Day back to this community of people.”

3-Day participants will feel this sense of community every step of the weekend, including at our hotel camp at the Revere Hotel Boston Common. Meredith says this camp “is a great mix of old school Boston traditions, with still a modern feel.”

We are taking over multiple hotels, due to the amazing turn out we have in New England, which will allow us to spread a little bit of the 3-Day camp feel across a few different locations. How will this work? Meredith was happy to break it down for us!

The dining area, which is where our evening camp programs will be, will have its own dedicated space. This will be where our Opening Ceremony will take place as well!
Main Street (complete with those Bank of America massage chairs!), the 3-Day Lounge brought to you by Amgen (snacks, comfy chairs and great prizes) and the Pick-Up Point (get your mail, sweet treats and legacy pins) will all be together in adjoining ballrooms so we can really get that 3-Day spirit going throughout the Revere Hotel.

It will be the perfect atmosphere of excitement and relaxation that our walkers will love to come home to after a day out on the streets and trails of Boston and its surrounding areas. And though our journey starts at the Revere Hotel on Friday morning, that’s just the beginning of three wonderful days!

Day One will really kick off as walkers cross over the Charles River almost right after we start walking, and then head through Harvard Square. Meredith says there will be beautiful morning views of the Boston skyline from the Cambridge side of the river so your Friday will start with some excellent selfie opportunities.

Walkers will be able to enjoy parts of the Freedom Trail throughout the day on Friday!

We’re stopping at Paul Revere Park for lunch, which has cool views of the Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge. It will be very relaxing and picturesque! From there, we’ll get a taste of the North End and the Seaport District in the afternoon. Before we head back towards the hotel for the night, we will do a loop through South Boston, which locals will know as Southie — Keep an eye out for Matt Damon ? You never know!

All these amazing sights will continue throughout the weekend! Saturday starts with major sights in Back Bay area, including Trinity Church, Boston Public Library, and the marathon finish line. There is lots of Boston history to take in!

Walkers will then head West, going along the Boston marathon route in reverse as Saturday continues. We will pass by Coolidge Corner, which has some nice local shops and restaurants, before heading through Newton and Brighton, which will take them past the Boston University campus. We will finish Saturday by walking through the Back Bay, along the Commonwealth Mall, which is a lovely grassy promenade. Meredith is so glad we’ll be ending our day with a stroll through that area.

Before we know it, Day Three will be here! Sunday starts with a walk through the beautiful Boston Public Garden, including the swan boats. But no stopping for a sail — you have more walking to do! ?

We’ll walk west to see the brownstones of Beacon Street, where Meredith is looking forward to getting some architectural inspiration, and then even go by Fenway Park. Next is Longwood Medical area, where walkers will pass some of the research facilities and hospitals that benefit from Komen funding. You can see your fundraising dollars at work!

Lunch on Sunday will be nestled in between two of Boston’s most prominent art museums, which will be the perfect break in our day. From there, we’ll pass Symphony Hall for another bit of history.

“You will always be walking distance from a historical building or a Dunkin’ Donuts this weekend,” Meredith laughs.

Before we come to the Finish Line Festival, walkers will make their way through the South End, which is a gorgeous part of town. The day will end with a walk past the Boston Tea Party ships and museum, as well as the giant Hood Milk Bottle statue. Calcium-lovers will especially love this spot!

And then walkers will cross the finish line and head into our Finish Line Festival and Closing Ceremony at The Lawn on D, an outdoor event space in the heart of the Waterfront District! It will be the perfect place to finish our New England 3-Day.

“I’m excited that this is the culmination and reunion of this event!” Meredith says. “People are coming back and it’s going to be so great to see people come together, meet up and celebrate the great local New England spirit. This weekend will give our 3-Dayers a broad picture of the amazing patchwork quilt of the community that is this region.”

Outside the Pink Tent

A walker takes down her tent on the Susan G. Komen Boston 3-Day®.

After yesterday’s hot weather that had so many walkers finding water at new, makeshift stops, this morning’s mood was calm with a hint of satisfaction. I moved through camp as I have for the last few days, somewhere between a visitor and a photographer. My position in relation to the walkers is one of allowance. They permit me there, possibly so they can get a photograph in the slideshows or possibly because they want to feel like someone from the “outside” has seen them amid hundreds of others, someone unique in a sea of so many similar stories. But of course, they are unique, and the uniqueness of each story — every one — is overwhelming to someone who is invited to listen to them and watch their movement of 60 miles by foot over three days.

A Susan G. Komen Boston 3-Day® walker suits up in her tent on the last day.

I am grateful for it, and admittedly, we are both exposed. The walkers to the elements, to each other, and most difficult sometimes, to the camera. I find myself exposed as well. I wear the dark grays and blacks of a staff member; they wear pinks. I am a man; a large percentage of them are women. I am not often walking with them; they are pushing up hills in 95 degree weather. I stand out and I am identified by most on Day 3 as a photographer. There is no hiding. My movement around their tents, around the only sacred space for three days, leaves me careful with the camera and whom I approach. It’s a delicate balance with those who want to talk more this morning and those who are quiet, and anticipating the long journey into the heart of Boston, the final destination of this powerful movement of people.

First-timers on the Boston 3-Day

Everyone give a warm welcome to Cyndi, Sandy and Denise!

Cyndi Whitehead, Sandy Haynes, and Denise Vaudrin during lunch on the Boston 3-Day.

When Cyndi Whitehouse of Springfield, Massachusetts, was diagnosed with breast cancer 30 years ago, she probably could not foresee July 26, 2013 as her first day on a Susan G. Komen 3-Day^® Series with sister Sandy Haynes and good friend Denise Vaudrin! Here they are, and being with them even for a few minutes at lunch gave me the sense of their great love for each other and of life. Cyndi asked her sister and friend to walk with her, and they gladly said, “Yes!”

How did they remember their first day? “Ouch!” They recommend a lot of training to prepare walkers for the long days. They also had some great ideas for fundraising, as they had a local vineyard hold a wine tasting, complete with a relabeled wine “Poppy’s Girls” (named after the sisters’ father). It sounded like a great evening with everyone happy and interested in breast cancer research and finding a cure.