0 to 60 in 3 Days!

We left LA early in the morning. 6 a.m. to be exact. The LA traffic before us, we wanted to be 100% sure that we made it in San Diego by 11 a.m. to pick up Russ from the airport. The traffic was pretty bad, but we had not accounted for the use of the carpool lane which let us fly by all of the worst parts and resulted in us getting to San Diego about 9:30 a.m. We spent the rest of the morning in a park on the water called Mission Bay Park. Little did we know that during the next 3 days we would get to know this park all too well and that part of our 60 mile trek would take us along most, if not all, of its paths. We picked up Russ right at 11 a.m. and we had to rest of the day to ourselves. We had all done some minor research about the city of San Diego before coming and all of us really hadn't found much to do in terms of tourism. The big things, Sea World, The Zoo, and so forth, all involved lots of walking as well as cost lots of money. We were all trying to conserve our feet for the days to come, so we opted to just spend a relaxing night around the hotel room. Russ was exhausted from his flight, so after we ate a great lunch near the water we went back to the hotel room so he could take a nap for a couple hours. That night we also went out for some Mexican food, being sure to load up on our carbs for the 20 miles that we had to walk the next day. On Friday morning, we woke up at 5 a.m. in order to get to the opening ceremony by 5:30 a.m. Russ had made us all great shirts with Mom's picture on the front and the beautiful quote "Cancer may have taken her body, but her spirit lives on in us" on the back. When we got to the racetrack, which is

where the event started from, we dropped off Russ who had to deposit his gear for camping, then parked the car. Since Katie and I weren't officially entered in the walk, we stood in the background during the opening ceremony and waited until Russ passed by with the rest of the walkers to join him. The opening ceremony was very emotional as the speakers, rather than trying to inspire everyone, basically make everyone cry before embarking on the first 20 miles. It was even worse for Katie and I who were on display as we waited for Russ to walk past. With

Mom's picture on the front, everyone who walked by gave us sorrowful looks and many people came up and hugged us bringing many emotions to the surface for both Katie and I. Though this experience was hard to endure it also felt comforting to have so many people understand what we had been through and be so willing to reach out to complete strangers. It really gave us a sense of community right from the start which is one of the main goals of the walk in general. After what seemed like hours, we finally spotted Russ in crowd and we hopped in file to join him, anxious to just be one of the crowd. There isn't much to say about the following 3 days and 60 miles that we walked around San Diego. It is definitely an experience that can't be related

but rather must be experienced first hand to completely understand what goes on there. The walking is quite therapeutic. Amidst the moments of shouting and cheering which comes and goes, there is a silence that takes over the group as everyone trudges on. It feels as though just by walking, life has purpose. People get inspired. You get the sense that you are part of something that is bigger than yourself, bigger even than everyone there. Even though I am not quite sure what that is, it felt good to be doing it. As we walked through the various towns, people flooded the streets to stand and support us calling us heroes and angels. Its odd to get this much praise for just walking. Many of them offered gifts from food and drinks to high fives and

hugs. There was a select group of people who dubbed themselves "walker stalkers" who everyday stood along the side of the road and cheered us on until everyone passed, then drove back to the front of the line and did it again. This created the effect that you would pass the same group of people 3 to 4 times a day, aside from the countless others who just came out in front of their homes or businesses. At the end of the first 20 miles, our feet were hurting and we couldn't wait for the end. One guy stopped us and gave us all a shot of tequila which made the last mile go by much faster. With Day 2 came the rain. In San Diego it is said that it rains

about 5 days a year and we had 2 straight cold wet days; what luck! But even this, in my opinion, gave more purpose and meaning to the walk. As we sat at lunch and watched the number of walkers continually get thinner and thinner, it made us feel more resolved that we could not be one of those people. By the end of the day we were all completely soaked, literally head to toe, and Russ decided to abandon camping for the night opting

rather for a warm, dry hotel room. At the hotel room we all were walking around like 80 year old people. Barely able to bend our knees and our feet covered in blisters, we looked forward to finishing our last day of the walk. That night we still made it out to the Pacific Beach Ale House where we met my cousin Jimmy and his girlfriend Patty for dinner and drinks. Still, we were in bed by 9p.m. being sure to get our rest before the last day. Sunday came and we were still limping like senior citizens when we got out of bed. I still do not know how we made it through those last 20 miles. On the way to the starting line that morning Katie said to me that she didn't think she could make it and said that I couldn't be mad if she had to drop out. I told her that wasn't an option, that we were finishing no matter how long it took, but throughout the rest of the day, the thought never again crossed her mind. Once we were walking again, seeing that everyone else was feeling just as sore and tired as we were, we again felt a sense of community and responsibility, one that you could not just give up on. We made it to the finish with not too much difficulty, though at the time walking felt unbearable and with each step came pain. Its funny, when I first heard about the walk and considered doing it, I never once thought that it would be too difficult. I figured with the amount of hiking that Katie and I have been doing, it would be easily done. After all, its just walking and doesn't require too much physical exertion. Though this is true and apart from our feet and legs, the rest of our bodies were not worn out at the end, the stiffness and pain in the lower half of my body was unlike anything I could have ever imagined. Even a week later my feet still hurt when I walk and my blisters have not all healed. As Katie puts it, 60 miles is 60 miles, no matter how you look at it. Anyway, after walking victoriously past the last mile full of onlookers and across the finish line we quickly found a cab and headed back to the hotel where we put our feet up and nursed our wounds before heading out for an excellent, well deserved, Mexican dinner. On Monday, Russ' flight didn't leave until 6 p.m. so we had all day to spend in

the city. We slept in for once and had a lazy morning, packing up Russ' luggage and getting the van ready for living once more. We visited the Hotel de Coronado and walked along the beach for a short while. Then we proceeded to drive around the city, stopping at various places along the water for food and drinks. We revisited a couple of places that we passed during our 60 miles of

fun, one of which was the Wavehouse. This place is basically a halfpipe for surfers. A continual wave is flowing in a stationary place while surfers enter and perform tricks before eventually wiping out. We had front row seats at the bar, enjoying some beer and watching the surfers until the water suddenly stopped and the session ended. We ate dinner in La Jolla then dropped off Russ at the airport. After this we made our way to LA once more, again to stay with Steve who was back in California on business. That night we joined him at the Red Car Brewery where we talked about the week or so since the last time we saw him, eventually retiring to the hotel room for the night.

A special thanks to all of you who donated toward Russ' goal in memory of my Mother. You cannot imagine how great it is to have the love and support of so many people! Thanks for everything!!!