Hometown: The Roch, MI (aka. The Crotch, aka. Crotchscratcher, aka. Crotchmolester, aka. Rochester)
Currently Living: Clawson, MI
Height: 5'8
Weight: Ha ha, yeah right
Favorite Color: Blue (preferably navy)
Profession: Researcher
Favorite Nickname: Trick, Sloan
Favorite Drinks:Vodka Tonic, Guinness, Diet Dr. Pepper, Dirty Martinis, red wine
Favorite TV Show: Friends, Sex & The City, Project Runway, The Amazing Race, Iron Chef America
Least Favorite TV Show: A Baby Story, I Love Lucy, Martha Stewart, Everybody Loves Raymond, every hour long drama
Favorite Books: The History of Love, Beloved, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Fight Club, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The of Being, SurUnbearable Lightness vivor, Empire Falls, The Corrections, The Bell Jar
Favorite Movies: Little Miss Sunshine, Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Wordplay, American Beauty, Life is Beautiful, Amelie, Breakfast Club, Singin In The Rain, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sleeping Beauty, Dancer in the Dark, Duets, The Virgin Suicides, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Austin Powers I, II & III, My Best Friends Wedding, Moulin Rouge, Tommy Boy, Billy Madison, The Shining, Gone With The Wind, Bridget Jones' Diary, Chicago, Love Actually
Guilty Pleasure Movies: Xanadu, Dirty Dancing, Overboard, Groundhog Day, Steel Magnolias, 10 Things I Hate About You, Bond movies, Footloose, Clue, Murder By Death, High Spirits, A Cinderella Story
What I Do Too Much: Check email, crossword puzzles, complain about my job to friends and family,
Obsessions: sushi, Indian food, ranch dressing, toenail polish, song lyrics, hands, awards shows, symmetry, avocados, maps, dreams, This American Life, the display in my car that tracks my MPG
Pet Peeves: loud eaters, slurping, gulping, arrogance, snoring, bad grammar, repetition, late mergers, ripping cardboard, the word "chunky", intolerance, couples in a restaurant sitting on the same side of a booth, pop-up ads, privacy manager, men that drive without shirts on, being foolish, unfairly jumping to conclusions, being made fun of, cat-calling, people who type too hard
Greatest Fear: crossing bridges
Relaxing Activites: late night drives to sing by myself, headstands, hot baths,
Wish I Was: Ansel Adams, Jenifer Aniston, in love, living alone
Prized Possessions: ring from my grandparents, flower pot of my Grandma's, electric blanket (temporarily broken), tongue scraper, my bed
Craziest Thing Ever Done: getting a tattoo, strip Jenga
Things I Eventually Want To Do: skydive, buy a guitar, learn how to play the aforementioned guitar, take flying lessons, travel to France, write a novel, learn how to play the harp, tap dancing lessons, run a marathon
Sunday, August 22, 2004 So I'm gonna walk on, walk on, walk on, keep my feet movin' on....
Captain's blog: Day 3
5:00am - Hurray for Day 3! But it's friggin' freezing outside. I definitely do not want to get out of my sleeping bag.
5:15am - While Suzy and I are walking to the bathrooms, she mentions that she can't bend her ankle, and seems to just be picking up her foot, keeping it flat, and setting it back down. I tell her it reminds me of when we used to take those little Milk Dud boxes that you get at Halloween and put them on our dog, Sparky's paws. It's a mix between a march and a prance. I swear, she was a spitting image.
6:00am - Again, while trying to put on makeup in the dark, the circus/clown music comes out again, inducing more giggling fits. In case the people in the tents around us weren't awake yet, I'm sure they are now.
6:45am - I have to tend to the big ol' blister that has attacked my heel. And let me just tell you about a little God-sent invention called Second Skin. It's this little gel square thing that you put over the blister and then put band-aids on over. Once I was all tended to, my feet were good as new. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Almost as wonderful as Motrin.
7:30am - We're ready to roll. All the luggage is away, and we say goodbye to camp for the last time. Most of us will not miss camping ever again. I have a feeling Suzy will never go ever again.
7:45am - The morning is really pretty, and it's supposed to be about 80 degrees today. Hopefully we can get most of the walking out of the way before it gets too sweltering. It's amazing that it's so cold in the morning though. We have a new joiner to our group. Kelly's boyfriend Todd has decided to join us for the last day. Our mileage today is only supposed to be 15.7 miles. It sounds like bliss compared to 23. Again, we all start off in good spirts, ready to tackle the day, and celebrate the amazing accomplishment we are so close to finishing.
9:45am - We're all still in reasonably good spirits, and it seems like everyone else is too. We can taste the finish line and there are only 10.2 miles to go. Can you believe that we've walked 50 miles??
10:00am - We bring out the Book of Questions again. Everyone around us is loving the questions, and everyone passing us keeps asking, "What are you reading?" We get to some good questions like, "How do you feel when people sing Happy Birthday to you in a restaurant?" and "Would you be willing to give up sex for one year if you knew it would give you a much deeper sense of peace than you have now?" Anyone within earshot all said "NO!" at the exact same time to that question by the way.
11:00am - The questions helped to make the last hour fly by. The next leg on our route card is supposed to be 3.3 miles.
11:15am - Todd brings up the game Minute Mysteries, which I'm down to play. You have to ask yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the statement, "A bell rings. A man dies. A bell rings." I love this kind of stuff.
11:55pm - I've made substantial progress in the Minute Mystery, but need to take a break, because my feet are starting to hurt, and I don't feel like talking or having to come up with questions or think too much. Everytime I think, my mind wanders back to my feet.
12:40pm - The last leg ended up being close to 4 miles. The last mile was probably the most unhappy I've been along this entire walk. I didn't want to talk at all because I knew I was going to bring everyone else down. Every light we stopped for, I thought I was going to cry and I had to keep shifting weight between my feet. Plus we were on Orchard Lake road and 14 mile, which is a crazy busy intersection, and no one was honking for us except for our crew cars. It was just a very draining unhappy stretch. Suzy kept asking me if I was ok, because she thought I was going to pass out. I actually felt like I was going to puke. Every little thing was pissing me off. Not good. I couldn't be happier to be at lunch.
1pm - During lunch, we met Barbara Jo, who is kind of a legend around here. This year, on her own, so far, she has raised over $102,000 for breast cancer. Take a minute, read that again, and continue to be amazed. I sure as hell am.
1:45pm - We only have 4.1 miles left. While we're at lunch, Danielle calls me on her cell phone after her having just left lunch, and wishes us all luck on the last 4 miles. Cheers me right up.
2:00pm - Unfortunately, our placement after lunch was not so ideal. We are right in the middle of a pack of singers. Yes, everyone probably sings along the way, but these people have sets. Like the Motown set and show tunes set. Yet when Shelly suggests "R.E.S.P.E.C.T." they don't really seem to dig it. Speeding up to get away from them is not as easy as it sounds, we do our best to fall behind, but 20-30 minutes of singing is grating my nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
2:55pm - The last Pit Stop. Only 1.4 miles to go. It seems unbelievable really. We all talk about how much planning we had put into this event and how much time we had devoted to fundraising, training, the party. And how off-the-chart excited we were on Thursday. And how amazing it is to almost be done!
3:15pm - We finally reach the shaded Orchard Lake trail we had been waiting for all day. The one that, from what I hear, Shelly and Kelly may have done some training walks on.
3:40pm - Entering St. Mary's campus. There are so so so so so many people here cheering! Amy, Laura, and Alec and Emily (niece and nephew) are there with signs for us. There are tons of people on both sides of the trail with congratulations, cheers, high fives, clapping, thunder sticks. It's so overwhelming. Team Breastsavers cross the finish line holding hands and with tears in my eyes. We go through the longest tunnel of people cheering, and when I say "I feel like a rock star!" people are laughing and saying "You are!" I still can't believe we're actually done. The first thing I do is take my shoes and socks off and sit down. Amy and Laura have post-walking care packages for us complete with Tylenol, band-aids, pink socks, and Happy Feet lotion.
4:30pm - Closing Ceremonies. We all walk in wearing our shirts. I'm blown away by how many people are there. The crew is lined up all along the sides, and I wish that I could thank each and every one of them for every word of support and every single way that they all helped us. When they come in after us, the applause is uproarious. There are Pink Panthers held up in the air, the cute apron ladies, the inflatable Hulk. The survivors come in last all in pink, at which time, all the walkers get down on their knees and hold up our tennis shoes. Most of them are crying when they come in to see us. Emotions all over the place. There are speeches given to which pretty much everyone is crying. Especially when it is mentioned that those that we've lost to breast cancer were here all the while with us, and probably helped to get many of us through it. It seems most certainly true.
I'm so proud to have been a part of this event. As expected, it was an amazing 3 Days. I learned so much about how support from your loved ones and those you don't know can help you to do anything. And how, in spite of the unspeakable hardships people have experienced, they fight on in everything they do. And how I surprised myself but accomplishing something that, honestly, was one of the hardest things I've ever ever had to do. We had a great time, and we're all taking away some great laughs, great inside jokes, and an appreciation for the human spirit that I never would have had otherwise. I'm so proud to having been a part of 4.4 million dollars towards ending a disease that can be ended. Such a great weekend, and I encourage you to, if you can, sign up for one near you!! It'll be one of the greatest things you do, I promise! Thanks again to my sisters for being amazing, and for all of you who donated. Thank you thank you thank you!!!
