We did it!

We did it!! Friday night we all got together at the beautiful family home of Karen Uihlein. (Thank you Karen!) Lots of family and friends came together for this special event. We had a little welcome ceremony with champagne toast to introduce the out-of-towners to my local friends. I handed out gift bags to each of us loaded with all things pink including our team t-shirt, pink camo with our team name "Patrick's Platoon" across the back. Then it was early to bed for a good night sleep. We woke up at 4:30 a.m., grabbed a muffin and some fruit and loaded into the van (with Larry, our awesome driver). We got to Soldier field at 6 a.m. for the welcome ceremony and we were off and walking by 7 a.m.!

Some of the girls were faster than others, so we broke up into several smaller groups. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was lovely until around 10:00 a.m. as clouds rolled in and the drizzle turned into a steady rain. Luckily, my sister Rebecca handed out rain ponchos to each of us. By the time we got to lunch at mile 10 we were pretty wet, but the rain tapered off and the skies cleared (we even saw the sun again!) Our van was coming to pick us up around 4 p.m., half of the girls finished the walk by then...26 miles!! (those girls really moved!!) the other half finished close to 17 miles! We all hit the wellness center for some much-needed yoga to stretch and the massage chairs (glad we got there early!) Then in our van and headed back to the house. In the van we discussed all of our various injuries...many blisters, sore legs and hips and overall aches and pains. This was much harder than any of us thought! At the house we all showered and enjoyed much needed massages. The dinner was amazing, but we were all exhausted and headed to bed. The next morning was crazy hard to get motivated, but we rallied and got out the door by 7 a.m. Larry brought us coffee and donuts and even wore pink in honor of our walk. We were bandaged and back at the starting gate by 8 a.m. The day couldn't have been prettier. Sunny skies in the 70's with a slight breeze. 13 miles today, the group staggered a little bit but we all met up at the 10 mile mark for lunch and then it was just 3 miles to go. The cheering fans along the way and all the horn honking really helped to motivate! We crossed the finish lines with our families in tow (such a special moment!) the weather changed again and it began to rain, the families left and we headed to the closing ceremony. I put on a "Survivor" t-shirt and joined the 300 other survivors for this moving end to an incredible weekend.

Thank you to my dear teammates for walking with and for me and raising nearly $33,000 for the Avon Foundation to support breast cancer programs.