How the 3-Day Routes Come to Life

Participants walking along the shoreline at the 2025 San Diego 3-Day.

Planning the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® takes months of collaboration and careful coordination. Each route is carefully designed to be safe, challenging and memorable while taking participants on an unforgettable journey of up to 60 miles toward a world without breast cancer.

This year’s Komen 3-Day Series will travel through four beautiful destinations — the historic streets of Boston, the charming neighborhoods of Dallas/Fort Worth, the waterfront in San Diego and the scenic paths of Tampa Bay. While each route and city offers its own unique experience, every mile is carefully planned long before the Pink Bubble arrives in town.

Planning the Route

A group of 3-Day participants walking through an intersection at the 2025 Boston 3-Day.

The route planning process of the three day, 60-mile walk is a year-round effort that requires collaboration between Komen staff, city officials, police departments, public works teams, chambers of commerce, visitor bureaus and other local partners.

“We’re very lucky to have great relationships with every city that we’re in,” route planner Ethan P. said. “I really can’t thank the cities enough for what they do for us.”

Planners aim for approximately 20 miles each day of the event while identifying parks and open spaces for pit stops and lunch, and ensuring major intersections are staffed by route safety.

Walkers line a street at the 2025 Dallas/Fort Worth 3-Day.

Scenic paths, local landmarks and iconic attractions help shape the 3-Day routes, but planning also includes adapting to changing conditions. Construction projects, road closures, local events and even parking availability can impact where 3-Day participants walk from year to year.

“When one event’s over, we’re already looking at next year and how to make the route better,” Ethan said. “It could be the smallest things like there’s not enough parking at this one spot to we just think that this area is much prettier.”

The pink arrows are placed along the 3-Day route to keep participants on the right track throughout event weekend.

To help participants confidently navigate all 60 miles, the route planning team marks the course with pink arrows. They are placed along the route to keep participants moving in the right direction, along pit stops, to lunch and back on to the next portion of the day’s route. It is another behind-the-scenes detail that’s key to creating a safe, seamless 3-Day experience.

It Takes a Village

A successful 3-Day route also depends on the support of the communities that welcome the Pink Bubble each year. The 3-Day team spends several months doing outreach with local businesses, neighborhoods and community partners along the route.

Businesses showing support for 3-Day walkers at the 2025 San Diego 3-Day.

“The 3-Day coaches do an amazing job at helping us and making sure we’re reaching out to everybody around where we’re walking,” Ethan said. “The support we have received from Boston, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Diego and now Tampa Bay has been truly amazing. “

The community spirit is part of what makes every 3-Day so special. From businesses decorating storefronts with pink decorations and snack stations to cheering spectators lining the sidewalks, the encouragement participants receive throughout the weekend happens because of the in-depth preparation that leads up to every event season.

Every City Has Its Own Feel

The 2025 Boston 3-Day had a historical backdrop for participants.

Each 3-Day route is different and that is what makes each city so special. This year, San Diego participants can look forward to a couple of new pit stops that Ethan described as “absolutely stunning,” though he is keeping the details a surprise.

Tampa Bay returns to the 3-Day in February 2027 for the first time since 2013, giving many participants the opportunity to experience an entirely new route featuring waterfront views, downtown streets and scenic trails.

“It’s going to be a very pretty route that’s also really diverse,” Ethan said.

Boston will feature a new pier on Day 3 that participants will be able to walk around, while Dallas/Fort Worth’s new hotel and camp location has inspired thoughtful route updates that still preserve many of the familiar sights participants know and love.

To learn more about the 3-Day routes, visit the3day.org.

Julie’s 3-Day Story: From Family History to Survivorship

Julie M. has walked in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for more than a decade.

For more than a decade, Julie M. walked the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® to honor the women in her family who had faced breast cancer. Then in 2023, she received a diagnosis of her own.

Walking for Her Mom

Julie first participated in the San Diego 3-Day in 2010, following her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis in 2007.

“I would have walked sooner, but when my mom had cancer, I lived in Italy with my husband on his military tour,” Julie said. “When I started, my mom walked with me a few times, and I have done it ever since.”

Julie M. started walking in the 3-Day after her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Over the years, the 3-Day has become a major part of Julie’s life. She has participated in 22 events, and for the past seven years she has served as captain of Team Viva Las Boobies.

“The 3-Day has been a life-changing experience for me because of the camaraderie, the sisterhood. It’s phenomenal,” Julie said. “The people I walk with … we just walked this morning. We walk year-round and we have just become such lifelong friends.”

Worst News Ever

For much of her adult life, Julie M. lived with the expectation that one day she might come face to face with breast cancer.

“I’ve been getting mammograms since I was in my 30s,” Julie said. “My mom, my granny and my aunties all had breast cancer.”

Determined to stay vigilant, Julie alternated between mammograms and breast MRIs every six months.

In early 2023, Julie had a routine MRI that came back with clear results. The next month, she missed a scheduled mammogram because she was dealing with vertigo. Then, when she went in for the mammogram about one month later, she was called back for additional imaging. She had a gut feeling that something was wrong.

Julie and her family during her breast cancer journey.

At age 53, Julie was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. At the time, some of Julie’s family members were in San Diego visiting from Scotland. And both of her daughters were busy preparing for their final college exams. So, she waited before delivering the news to her family.

When the time came, Julie and her husband called both of their daughters and told them together.

“It was harder to tell my daughters than it was to tell anyone else. They were 20 and 22 when I was diagnosed,” Julie recalled,. “The first thing they said was, ‘Worst news ever.’”

Julie’s daughters and husband were a great source of support as she recovered from surgery. Just a few months later, Julie walked the Boston 3-Day and then returned home to San Diego to begin radiation therapy.

Leaning on the Pink Bubble

Team Viva Las Boobies at the Komen 3-Day.

Throughout her diagnosis and treatment, Julie also leaned on the friendships she had built through the 3-Day.

“The Pink Bubble is a real thing. It’s truly an amazing connection that you make with people that you would never cross paths with any other way,” Julie said.

Julie said she was grateful to be able to reach out to fellow 3-Day walkers and survivors for advice and strength.

“I was able to reach out to so many people, and they shared recommendations for surgeons, what to expect from treatment paths and their experiences,” Julies said. “It was a wealth of information from teammates and so many people who had been there before.”

This year, Julie is celebrating nearly two years of breast cancer survivorship and will walk in the San Diego 3-Day in November. Her advice to those who are newly diagnosed is: “Don’t let breast cancer get you down or swallow you up. Keep moving forward, because you can still come out on the other side and live your best life.”

Julie an her team, Viva Las Boobies, in New York City.

To learn more about the 3-Day visit the3day.org

A Mother’s Journey from Breast Cancer to the 3-Day

Cecilia S. at the 3-Day with her family.

It’s been nearly five years since Cecilia S. was diagnosed with breast cancer at 34 while raising two young children. It became a journey that led her to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day®.

Now, she is approaching a milestone she has looked forward to since her diagnosis, one that has been defined by strength and hope.

“When they say, ‘you’re a survivor,’ it’s interesting because we have no other choice,” Cecilia said. “But what’s amazing is the connection you form with other women, because without that, breast cancer can feel very isolating.”

The Diagnosis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cecilia encouraged her sister to get a mammogram after turning 40, despite many delaying preventative care. That same night, Cecilia performed a self-exam.

“I had recently finished breastfeeding, so my breasts were like pancakes. I felt a tiny pebble close to my armpit,” Cecilia said. “So, I went to see my doctor.”

At first, Cecilia thought it might be a clogged milk duct. But after a series of ultrasounds, a mammogram and a biopsy, she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. Genetic testing revealed she had the BRCA1 inherited gene mutation, which led to a pivot in her treatment plan, including a double mastectomy and 16 rounds of chemotherapy in 2022. She underwent reconstruction surgery on her 35th birthday.

Joining the Pink Bubble

Team Steps at the Susan G. Komen 3-Day.

Just a few months after her reconstruction surgery, Cecilia learned one of her colleagues — a 30-year breast cancer survivor — was training for the 3-Day with other co-workers.

“They invited me to train with them and told me they were walking in my name. I went and I was shocked at how easy it was to be around women who understood what I had been though,” Cecilia said. “That’s when I knew I wanted to do the 3-Day, too.”

Although Cecilia had lived in Texas since 2017, she and her husband signed up for the 2022 San Diego 3-Day just months after she completed treatment.

“I’m originally from California. I went to college at UC San Diego and all my family is in California. The 3-Day felt like a great way to bookend my journey,” Cecilia explained. “All of my family and friends who couldn’t be physically with me in Texas had the opportunity to be there to support me.”

Cecilia walked at her own pace during her first 3-Day, and with the encouragement of her husband, her teammates and support of the medical crew for her neuropathy pain, she walked every Komen mile as a first time walker. Despite the challenges, she said she was immediately “hooked” on the Pink Bubble. Since then, Cecilia has walked the 3-Day in Denver, San Diego and Dallas/Fort Worth, and this fall she will complete her sixth 3-Day.

Cecilia and her friends at the Susan G. Komen 3-Day.

The support and strength Cecilia found through the 3-Day inspired her to help other women facing breast cancer feel less alone.

“When I hear about other women diagnosed with breast cancer, I try to support them — even if it’s just a text reminding them, they aren’t alone,” Cecilia said. “I try to encourage friends and fellow breasties to join my 3-Day Team Steps because simply being there can restore hope. Standing alongside 30-and 40-year survivors is a powerful reminder that this journey doesn’t end with a diagnosis — it continues with strength, community and spreading awareness.”

Cecilia and Mary at the Susan G. Komen 3-day.