Tag Archives: The 3-Day

3-Day Ways to Make the Most of a 3-Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend can seem like a bittersweet time because it means that summer is coming to a close. The weather is slowly changing, kids are going back to school…and the 3-Day is on the horizon! After two wonderful weekends in the Midwest in August, we are gearing up for our fall events and getting more excited by the day. With lots of preparing to do, you need to take advantage of every spare minute you have! Here are some simple ways to make the most of this upcoming long weekend, and any spare day you have before you get ready for your 60-mile weekend.

1-2-3 step your way through!

This one should be simple to check off your to do list: go for a walk! You have plenty of time to get team training in, take a solo walk or even grab your family to come with you. You can take a few shorter walks every day or go for a long walk on your extra weekend day. You can also check to see if there are any training walks already organized to join walkers in your area! These are a great way to make friends or grow your own team.

Connect with your teammates

We often share tips for building your 3-Day team, but don’t forget to take time to connect with your teammates once they agree to join you. You’ll have plenty of time to chat over your 60-mile journey or weekend of crewing, but before then, it helps to build a really strong team community. This is a deeply personal endeavor for many people, so organize a group breakfast or afternoon coffee meet-up and start a dialogue. Talk about your 3-Day journeys and remember what brought you all together in the first place. As fall weekends get busy, you’ll be able to look back on this time together and smile.

Fundraise on Facebook

Social media is a simple and low-maintenance approach to fundraising, and you can do it right from the comfort of your couch! Though you can use multiple avenues for fundraising (here are some more ideas!), you should definitely start on Facebook. Did you know that 3-Day participants who have a Facebook Fundraiser, on average, raise $500 more than participants without one? The power of this online fundraiser is a great reason to be active on Facebook!

With just a few clicks from your 3-Day Participant Center, you can set up your Facebook Fundraiser and start inviting all your family and friends today. Then, set up reminders as your 3-Day draws closer. Don’t let people forget!

Catch up on your research!

Since Labor Day weekend is often seen as the unofficial start of the fall season, we know that lots of 3-Dayers will be kicking their preparation into high gear starting in the next few days. To help prepare you for whatever your fall goals might be, we have some awesome blog posts to give you guidance:

We hope you all have an amazing few days planned, and we can’t wait to kick off our fall walks in New England next week!

2019 Twin Cities 3-Day Wrap-Up

The weekend could not have been brighter or more fun for our Twin Cities 3-Day. 400 walkers and 150 crew gathered together to honor our community and celebrate the start of an amazing 3 days. Our 60-Mile journey began with an emotional Opening Ceremony at our hotel camp. Local participants shared their stories, then our local survivors and those living with metastatic breast cancer led our walkers out into the sun and onto the route…

The walk began with time for photos and famous Minnesota sights in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and through Kenwood Park. The local community came out with cheer stations at William Berry and Lynnhurst Parks before lunch. Lunch was shady and relaxing thanks to the sunglasses from Amgen and bright pink mats and shade tents from Mohawk Flooring. Before they knew it, our walkers had already conquered 10 miles!

At Grab B, walkers could stop and take in the picturesque Minnehaha Falls and relax under some shady trees. It was there that we also met our Twin Cities Youth Corps team, who spread smiles and enthusiasm all weekend long!

Pit Stop 3 was a great selfie opportunity, thanks to crew fun, and then a few miles later, our walkers came home to the hotel camp. Down the pink carpet, and into our 3-Day Camp Main Street, walkers were reinvigorated thanks to the Bank of America massage chairs, sweet treats from Amgen Oncology, and a hearty evening meal. After dinner, we played a rousing game of 3-Day BINGO and ended Day One with lots of laughs.

Saturday began with our Bank of America Breakfast of Champions, where we awarded our Top Fundraisers for Twin Cities, as well as honoring our Milestone and Local Impact Award Winners. It was the perfect way to start our Day 2, and we were excited to cheer on our walkers as they headed out into the sunlight.

The cheering and support continued all day long thanks to community support like the Susan G. Komen Minnesota Affiliate, who supported our walkers at Pit Stop 2. The excitement reached a peak at lunch at Central Park in Roseville. There we held our halfway celebration, as walkers were already 30 miles down in their weekend journey. There were extra photo opps and celebratory decorations, as well as a dance party led by Mark and our Youth Corps and Crew. It was the perfect way to start the second half of our day!

From there, walkers passed through the beautiful areas of Little Canada and White Bear Lake. The walk along the water, and underneath shady trees, helped make the sunny afternoon a comfortable and enjoyable one. There were plenty of cheering stations, and even free pink ice cream cones at Cup and Cone in White Bear Lake. The day ended with a bus pick-up from White Bear Lake Area Schools. Walkers took a bus back home to our hotel camp, and after our Day 2 final walker arrived, we were all united.

From there, we held our second Honor Ceremony, hearing stories from local participants and our Twin Cities Youth Corps. We raised our voices and our hearts together to remember why we walk, and why we will never give up. Everyone went to sleep on Saturday night with hearts full of love and excitement for our final day together.

Day 3 brought perfect walking weather, thanks to some evening rain the night before. Walkers made great time as they trekked through Falcon Heights and into St. Paul. Van Cleve and Como Regional Parks brought beautiful sights and easy steps as walkers made their way into lunch. By midday, they had already walked more than 11 miles!

Our afternoon was spent throughout St. Paul, including a stop at the Summit Overlook Park, which provided great views of the city and many a photo opportunity.

But soon enough the day, and the 60-mile walk, were over. Our walkers crossed the finish line in front of the Minnesota State Capital building, cheered on by friends and family. They received their Bank of America medals, and proudly wore them while they celebrated, took photos, and relaxed in our Finish Line Festival area. Then, our last walker came home, leading the crew and all our local survivors into the cheering crowd of our 3-Day participants.

There was much to celebrate! Our 400 Twin Cities walkers and 150 Crew raised an amazing $1.1 million this weekend in the fight against breast cancer! We danced under the sun, hand in hand, and ended the weekend with smiles all around. Thank you, Twin Cities, for yet another amazing 60-mile journey with us!

Congratulations to the 2019 Twin Cities 3-Day Milestone Award Winner, Cynthia Geye

Please join us in congratulating our 2019 Twin Cities Milestone Award Winner; Cynthia Geye. The Susan G. Komen 3-Day® Milestone Award is given at each event to a walker or crew member who has an outstanding history of participation in the Komen 3-Day. At the Twin Cities 3-Day camp show, we presented Cynthia with this special honor.

Before she left home for the 3-Day this year, we talked to Cynthia about what the 3-Day means to her. She is walking this year with her granddaughter Callie Powers, and walking for Jen, Callie’s mom and Cindy’s daughter. When Callie was born, Cindy had just completed treatment and she told the family that Callie would be her reason to live and keep fighting. Now, Callie is walking with Cindy for the first time, in Jen’s honor.

Jen says that Cindy is “a very positive person, always looking on the bright side, laughing and is totally goofy. She has made this walk her passion and will not stop until we eradicate this disease.”

We are honored to share Cindy’s story, in her own words, below…

Back in 2005, one year after surviving 3 bouts of metastatic breast cancer, my oldest daughter suggested, no, she insisted that we do something big in the fight against breast cancer. She had seen an ad for the Susan G. Komen 3-day Breast Cancer walks. She used every coercive method she could to convince me to walk. I, of course, came up with every imaginable excuse as to why I should NOT walk. But, walk we did (even convinced my younger daughter to join us).

Since then, I have walked every year and every city multiple times. Sometimes with my daughters and many times as a solo walker. This year, I am walking with my granddaughter. This is my 27th walk and each walk is so memorable. With every walk, I meet new friends. We share our stories, our tears, our hopes for the future. We laugh, we cry, and we support one another. Each walk is 3 days full of kindness, caring and commitment.

When I first started walking, there was a song titled “Why We Walk.” The refrain says it all: “We walk to remember. We walk to celebrate…. For those who are gone and those who live on. We honor them all and that’s why we walk.”

You see, God has given me amazing health these last 20+ years and I can use it to make a difference in the fight against breast cancer. The blisters, aches and pains are nothing compared to what every cancer patient goes through when we are battling this disease.

As I am a fast walker, I have been told many times that it is not how fast you walk, but, rather, enjoying the 3-Day journey. This is about all the people, not just the walkers.

It’s all the people that come out to cheer us on. The bald women with their signs that say “Thank you. You’re walking for me.”  To know that we are helping them have a second chance at life. Every survivor, no matter where they live, deserve the best possible care.

It’s about the little girls holding their signs that say, “Please find a cure before I grow up.”  To have the color pink be more than the symbol for breast cancer, but rather the color for hair ribbons and prom dresses.

This is not about what you endure while walking – the blisters, aches and pains – it is so much more.  It is what you walk away with – the memories that will last a lifetime.  While my own cancer journey was very scary, not knowing if I would survive, it has ended up as a true gift.  It has brought me many blessings, a deeper faith and a richer perspective on life.  It has brought me to the 3-Day.