As I mentioned in last week's Week in Review post, I spent Memorial Day weekend in western New York visiting my mom's family. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, as we were only in town for about 48 hours. Needless to say, we didn't sleep a whole lot. Because of that, I knew that if I didn't plan things out ahead of time, I was going to miss out on some important training miles for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure. To make sure that I stayed on track, I decided to plan an official training walk just for my family!
The route that we walked was absolutely gorgeous and we couldn't have asked for better weather. We walked along the Seaway Trail, a paved trail that snakes along the Niagara River. We were treated to scenic views of Canada just about the entire way. Walking along the border of our country was a big change from the steamy sidewalks of Atlanta. I absolutely loved it!
Hello Canada!
Now, no one in my family besides me is actually going to be walking in the 3 Day. Unlike me, they haven't been busting toe and tail to get in walking shape. Because of that, I knew that the 9 mile route that I had planned would be a bit of a stretch for most of them to complete. So instead of everyone walking the whole distance, we ended up completing the walk "relay style". Some people started at the beginning and only walked for a short distance, some people jumped in along the way and a couple hardy family members walked the entire distance from my grandmother's house to my Aunt Barb and Uncle Rich's house where the family reunion was taking place. It was sort of fun walking along the trail and waiting to see who would pop up next!
For the first short leg of our walk, Mike and I were joined by my mom. Mom is the middle of chemo treatments, so we knew she wouldn't be able to do a long stretch of walking. However, she was determined to take part in the family training walk, so she walked with us from the Bed and Breakfast in Lewiston where we were staying to Mima's house, which was the "official" starting point for everyone else. Mom's leg of the walk covered 0.75 miles.
Mom and I during the first leg of the training walk.
At Mima's house, Mike and I met up with my Uncle Sean, my cousin Patty, Patty's husband Konrad and their little baby Jax in his stroller. I was a bit concerned that people wouldn't have proper walking gear, but everyone came ready to walk, all with their sneakers on and water bottles in hand. As Sean said, "When someone in this family suggests going for a walk, that means you wear your sneakers!"
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Sean and Konrad pushing Jax in the stroller (L) and Mike and Patty (R)
We were joined by my Aunt Nancy on our way up to the Seaway Trail from Mima's. Nancy ended up walking with us for a little over two miles before turning around to head back into Lewiston to pick up her family for the picnic later. So we figure Nancy walked about 5 miles round trip. We were trying to convince her to keep walking with us and have her family meet her at the end, but to no avail. Unfortunately, that meant no pictures of Nancy on our walk. Next time!
Pit stop to check on Jax and get some water.
After a quick pit stop, we continued on our way. Sean and Konrad decided to be total boys about the whole thing and speed walked the rest of the way to the end with Jax. We didn't actually see them again until we finished the walk. I think they ended up finishing about 30 minutes before the rest of us. They said they were feeling pretty good afterwards but I suspect they were feeling it the next day. Nine miles is a long way!
Shortly after Sean and Konrad took off, Patty, Mike and I were joined by my Uncle Rich. We didn't actually know that Rich was planning to join us, so that was a great surprise! We figure we picked up Rich around Mile 3, so he ended up walking 6 miles total. Our walk ultimately took us into the cute village of Youngstown where we found my Aunt Pam waiting at a cafe table for us. Pam was probably just over a mile from the end of the route, so with her walk out to meet us, she did just over 2 miles round trip.
Pam and Rich walking in Youngstown.
The very last walkers to join us were my Aunt Barb, my cousin Jenny and her 13 month old son Dane. Barb has had some issues with her feet recently, so much like my mom, she knew she couldn't walk for very far. So while Mom took the opening leg, Barb took on the very last leg. Apparently they weren't satisfied with how far they had walked, though, because they kept walking after we headed inside!
Aunt Barb, Jenny and Dane.
All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend the morning! I got to get in my training miles, I got to catch up with my family who I hadn't seen in years and Mom's family got to show their support for her. It is amazing to have this kind of support from my family - it meant more to me than they can possibly know. I can't wait for all of them to come out to Boston in July for the actual walk. Seeing the mass of pink stretching for miles and miles is really a sight to behold. And now, they are truly a part of the 3 Day family!
Thank you Reeves family!! See you in July!!
1 comment:
I love this, we will be having a big family get together over July 4th and providing that my ankle is healed and I will be back to training myself I just think I am going to try to borrow this idea. My grandmother has been such a huge part of my fundraising I want her to see part of training (even if she just walks a little tiny bit) and of course the actual event.
Thanks for all your advise, and sharing so much of yourself.
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