Day 1: Friday Oct 8 - Opening Ceremonies
Lori C, Dave and I got up early and headed out by 5:00am. Picked up Lori D and Sharon by 5:15am. Drove to Nationals Stadium and were dropped off by 6:20am. Bye Dave! Thanks for the ride! Opening Ceremonies started at 7:00am - very moving, energizing, ready to go! Waited a while to file out of the ceremony area. Met up with the rest of our team, took a picture. We got underway roughly 7:45am - we were trailing near the very end of the pack at this point.
Walked up to Botanical Gardens - beautiful views. Walked up Capitol Hill, between Capitol Bldg and Supreme Court Bldgs. Tried to stay together as a team, but we all had different walking paces, and we ended up splitting up. Headed west and zig-zagged across the National Mall a few times, great views! Arrived at Pit Stop 1 just a few minutes before it was scheduled to close, still late in the pack
Pit 1 was jammed, people crowding the food tables like it was a supply truck in a war zone! Headed out for more walking through DC. Hit Pit 2, more pleasant, less grabbing for food. :-) Still trailing the pack, pits are closing late because the walkers are arriving late, us included. Feeling great! Called Dave - he's waiting for us at the first Cheering Station.
Walked through beautiful Georgetown, very pretty. Brick sidewalks made for some very unstable footing, though. And it was hilly. Getting a little tired, and a little warm. Pit 3 was civilized, as all Pits were from here on. I guess the first one was an anomaly. On to the first Cheering Station, where we found Dave waiting for us. Yay! Thanks for coming out!
On to more walking - through Adams-Morgan, across a pretty bridge (don't know where we were). Onto Wisconsin Ave for quite some time. I'm getting all mixed up on where we were at this point, it's all a blur. Sometime in there we had lunch in a pretty park behind the Scottish Rite temple. We passed some beautiful sights like the National Cathedral, beautiful neighborhoods in Chevy Chase. The DC route was really beautiful for the walkers, very well planned and picturesque.
Throughout the day, our team would split off in different groupings, taking turns being with each other. Some of our team took advantage of the sweep vans, others didn't. We would meet each other at Pit Stops, and use them as opportunities to pick different walking partners.
In the final few miles of the day, it seemed we were headed up hill all the time! Whew! Finally made it into the last Pit Stop of the day around 5:30 or 5:45pm. Walked 20.5 miles today. Very tired! Physically, my main issue was blisters and pain in my right foot. Others were talking about their hips, knees, ankles, muscles, etc. Funny how everyone felt the 20 miles differently.
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| We made it! |
Caught a bus to go to camp, which was about 15 or 20 miles away in suburban Germantown, MD. Arrived at camp around 6:40pm. Met up with team mates, found our gear and set up our tents. Didn't take long, wasn't too bad, though we were rushing to beat the sunset. Dinner was steak, steamed red potatoes, green beans, salad, dinner rolls, apple pie, and sodas/coffee/milk. Yum!
Bathrooms = Port-a-Pots on the 3-day, and washing your hands = moist towelettes. This was true at camp, and at all the Pit Stops. As we walked, we'd see folks stopping in to fast food places, mostly to use their facilities!
Chilled out in the dining tent, which is the only place you could sit on a chair all day. The "camp show" was a bit corny, but hey, it's camp, so what. They had a karaoke/talent portion, where folks could sign up to sing. The Harbor City Titty Committee got a chance to sing "Help is On the Way", an inspirational song that we sing in chorus. It was really fun to do that, and folks were talking about it (in a good way!) all weekend.
Wanted to shower before bed. Showers at camp were in tractor trailers, very nice private stalls with hot, full-pressure water. Very acceptable! But unfortunately the lines were really long, so I opted to shower in the morning. I dosed up on my Advil, hit the port-a-pots one last time and headed to bed. Two people to each tent, in a 6'5"x6'5" tent left not much room but we made it work. We had an air mattress, which was just as comfortable as my bed at home, so I have no complaints about the tent accommodations!
Once I fell asleep, I slept like a log. Unfortunately, my team mates reported that I slept like I was sawing logs. Sorry Lori and Lori!
Soon to come, Day 2 recap.
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