What exactly is the 3 day?

This is an article I wrote back in August for Sportsjabber.net in honor of Cancer Awareness month.

What exactly is the 3 day?

As most of you know, I walk in the Arizona Susan G. Komen for the Cure Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk.


However I get asked over and over again, "What is the 3 day?"
The 3 day is simple yet hard to explain. Let me tell you what it is NOT. It is NOT a race. In fact, no running is allowed. There is the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, but that is a 5k race. The 3 day is 60 miles in 3 days-averaging 20 miles a day and TRUST me, you do NOT want to run that.

It is also not an endurance walk to see who is the last woman (or man) standing. We don't walk all 60 miles at once, and yes we do get breaks, LOTS of breaks.
What the 3 day is however, is 3 days of love, hope, inspiration, laughter, tears, and making a difference. It is about the CURE.
There are 3 day walks all over the country. The official 3 day season has begun. Last weekend was the first walk in Boston, and this weekend Cleveland had it's 3 day walk. Next weekend...it's onto the Windy City. From now until November, there will be a 3 day walk in a city across this nation. Each walk will have thousands of men and women who have all raised a minimum of $2300 walking to find a cure. There will also be hundreds of volunteer crew members supporting the walkers.
There are a total of 15 walks each year. Each event is exactly 3 days and the walkers walk 60 miles. Some days it's more than 20, others (like the last day) it's less.
Day one starts off with opening ceremonies. It is funny, uplifting and inspirational. My first walk, a team member asked me if I had tissues. I said no and she gave me some. They were torn to shreds by the time we were done. Instead of having a moment of silece, we shout the name of the person or persons we are walking for, putting their spirit on the walk. To hear thousands of names being called out at once...you can't help but feel inspired...and shed a tear or two or three.
Now while we may walk 20 miles a day, we don't walk it all at once. Approximately every 3 miles there are pit stops. Each pit stop is themed and it's a big party. At the pit stops we re-fill our water and Gatorade, fill up on some food (man those peanut butter and jelly uncrusables are FABULOUS!),and take a much needed stop in a blue port-a-potty.

As we walk we have "walker stalkers" who follow us around honking and cheering while their cars are decorated with pink-bras, ribbons, whatever.We have people standing in their lawns telling us thank you as we pass, handing out popsicles and water. There are little girls with stickers, elementary kids with banners. They tell us "Thank You" when really, it should be us thanking them for giving us a much needed boost.
You see men and women in the most outrageous outfits in all varying shades of pink. Our safety crew motorcycle riders stop at intersections and guide us across safely, usually dancing the entire way. If the light is red? More reason to dance or stretch. People wear 46DDD bras OUTSIDE of their clothes, or on their hats. Men are dressed as women. Women wear tu-tus and feather boas (ok, so do the men). On the 3 days, fanny packs are in fashion! Although this year I have retired my fanny pack in favor of a Camelback.

After we complete the miles for the day, we walk into camp where we get to hear inspirational stories, hear surprisingly good karaoke, shower in 18 wheeler trucks, and sleep in 2 person pink tents. Sometimes, you know your tent mate ahead of time, and others you meet them that first day. However, you will be life long friends (even if they snore) by the end of the 3 days.
As fun as it sounds (and trust me it is FUN), there is a seriousness about the 3 day as well. When you come across a fellow walker with pictures on their shirts with the names and those all so final dates under them, or you are tired and sore and think "I can't do this" and the bald woman fresh from chemo pats you on the back in encouragement, you realize why you are there and why its so important, or the lady that is old enough to be your grandmother passes you by with a smile and again you think..."Well if she can do it, so can I" and take those remaining steps (although feeling a little bit like a slacker as she walks by looking to be pain free and you're contemplating sweeping...again). After all, it beats the hell out of chemo.

My first year I did not train and as a result could not finish days 1 and 2. I am stubborn however and walked day 3. I finished. I was last one in (I even have the LAST WALKER pin to prove it), but I finished.

Last year I trained...I was ready to finish all 60 miles. Day 1 I finished and walked into camp from the front entrance for the first time. I felt GREAT! Then day 2 came and I started to get pains in my foot. It felt like a sprain on the side. I kept walking because again, I'm stubborn. When the pain went from throbbing to stabbing, shooting pain I finally stopped walking. A few visits to medical and a trip to the ER later, I was on crutches and in a "post surgical boot" and red carded which means not allowed to walk.

I was in tears. Devastated. Until my team captain reminded me that it wasn't about walking. It was about raising the money. The people I walk for would have been proud of me. It took a while to accept.
It is about grit and determination. It is about the will to do something. Something that matters. It about saying "ENOUGH" to Cancer. It's about doing something to help bring cancer to its knees. It's about making a difference in the lives of people I know, the lives of people I will never know. The lives of people not even born yet. So a month of a walking boot and physical therapy after the walk, I was ready to sign up again for my 3rd walk.

Every day we go to work, we go home, watch TV. We eat way too much junk, don't work out enough (boy am I guilty of this), and worry way to much about things that really don't matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. Things that don't make a world of difference in whether or not the world is a better place at the end of the day.
It's not the walking in the 3 day that brings about the cure. The publicity helps. Of course it does. Think back to the time Susan G. Komen was first diagnosed with breast cancer. It wasn't talked about. It was taboo. People thought you could "catch it". So if I have to dress silly, laugh at team names like "Save the Magic Mountains", "Saving Second Base" etc, find the most different and interesting ways to say "Breasts". I mean there is the standard Ta-Ta's, Boobies, Titties, the aforementioned Magic Mountains and Second Base, there is all sorts of ways I never even thought of. If it takes all of that to remind men and women to do thier self exams, then I will do it.

So if the walking doesn't cure breast cancer, what does?
What is the real goal of the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure? It's the fundrasing. Raising monies for research, treatment programs, education programs WORLD WIDE! How does promising clinical trials research studies around the country sound? A cure, or a vaccine for breast cancer is possible. IN OUR LIFETIMES.

That is what the Breast Cancer 3 Day is about. A lifetime...for EVERYONE. A lifetime without the fear of Breast Cancer. A world without breast cancer. For your wives, our daughters, our mothers, our sisters, OURSELVES, for the FUTURE.
It comes down to a WORLD WITHOUT BREAST CANCER. A WORLD WITHOUT CANCER. Why? Because everyone deserves a lifetime.