Lunch, Day 3, DC 3-Day For The Cure

[jayfurr]

Howdy howdy. 

I'm sitting on the brick plaza out in front of the UDC law school (I think).  Lunch is going on around me.  It's a pleasantly warm day but not as warm as yesterday... when by the mid-afternoon I was absolutely drooping, partly from the heat and partly from the hills.   The hills are a frequent topic of conversation today -- "Well, I lived through Katrina and I had my house destroyed by a tornado in 1986, but those were nothin' compared to those hills."  And here I thought I was the only one who spent yesterday worn out and wishing the hills would stop.

Today I'm not struggling as much as I did the first two days.  I'm not sure if I'm physically healthier or whether it's a combination of other factors, such as the flatter route, the fact that we've had more shade on the route, or maybe the fact that I managed to be on one of the first buses out of camp to the starting point up in Bethesda and consequently haven't had to be racing to make each pit stop before it closes.  Case in point: it's 12:20 right now and the lunch stop doesn't close until 1:30 pm.   I actually have time to rest before I have to hustle onwards.   On Day 1 I wish I hadn't taken the "try to walk with the back of the pack" plan quite as much to heart as I did -- by trying to be among the last out of opening ceremonies I put myself behind the 8-ball all day.  Ditto yesterday -- I was trying to finish yesterday morning's quick thank-you tafkad blog post at breakfast when they were roaming around announcing that anyone who wasn't out of camp in five minutes was getting bussed to lunch.   I have advice for anyone who wants to try the "walk with the caboose" plan in the future... do NOT try to start the day with the caboose.  Let yourself work your way gradually back by taking rest breaks at the pit stops, and by the time you're at the last pit of the day you'll probably find that you're not far from the end of the pack.  Racing in and out of pits -- or having to bypass a pit entirely to avoid being bussed -- was NOT fun. 

Also, and I would hope this would be obvious, if you can manage it, try to avoid having a bad cold for two weeks that you're only just getting over when the 3-Day starts.  :)

There have been many positive experiences on this 3-Day.

I've gotten a chance to spend a half hour or hour talking with my friend Sandy Bryant (sandyinstep) who recruited me to my first 3-Day here in DC two years ago and who walked Philadelphia with me and Carole last year.  She's on crew this year and she's been doing the Route Marking work, so she hasn't been around camp much -- not that I have either.  But we've caught up in the evening after most people have gone to bed.  

I've apparently been quite a hit because of my outfit -- I wore my pink hard hat as always, plus my badly, unprofessionally tie-dyed pink shirts, but on Day 2 I decided not to wear my convertible hiking pants and instead pulled out the pink cotton cargo shorts I manufactured by taking white cargo shorts and dyeing them a lovely shade of fuchsia.  I've gotten a TON of queries as to where I got 'em.  Perhaps I should go into business selling 'em.   Pink shorts, pink shirt, pink-rimmed sunglasses, and pink hardhat... I get grabbed a lot by people who say "Can we get a photo with you?"  It's nice, in a way. 

(Just had a walker trot up to me and say "I'm just coming to touch your hat again " -- followed by a respectful pat on top of my head.  People dig the pink hardhat.)

Another plan I had for this walk has also worked out well -- I ordered magnetic business cards with my email address, Twitter address, and Picasaweb address (so people can view photos I take of them) and I've been giving them to people I take photos of.  I certainly don't claim to take great photos, but sometimes, people only get one or two photos of themselves from an event and it can be nice actually getting to see the photos a stranger took of you.  Supplementing that plan is my decision to carry around a little pink notebook so I can write down the names and a couple facts about anyone I spend a few miles (or even a few blocks) talking with so that I can actually recall, after the event is over, what their names are.  It's really lame getting home from a 3-Day thinking "That was a really nice talk I had with that one lady, pity I have no recollection whatsoever what her name is." 

And finally, while I'm cataloging the positive-experiences list, I've apparently done a good enough job trying to start conversations with people that by today, Day 3, I've had lots and lots of people greet me with a "Hi again, Jay".  Didn't get a lot of those walking far out in front of the pack when I did the Twin Cities 3-Day back in August.  

So in general, all is well.  I'm still not feeling physically 100% but I'm definitely feeling better than I did yesterday.  Whereas yesterday, sheer bloody-minded stubbornness kept me going even though I didn't feel well and my legs really, really ached at tmes, just absolutely refusing, to myself at least, to even consider the possibility of taking a sweep van, today I don't think there'd be any need to.  I've got four and a half hours until closing cerermonies and I only have 6.3 miles to go.  I believe I can probably make that without having to flee ahead of the ever-advancing caboose.  (Between you and me, I know it's ridiculous to tell people 'Yeah, there's no shame in taking the sweep van, you want to be able to walk on Day 3, don't wear yourself out today if you're struggling' when I refuse to follow the same advice.  There's showing a dogged, determined never-say-die attitude and then there's just stupidity.  I tend to blur the line a bit too much now and then.)

Time to go -- don't want to still be here when the caboose comes through!  :)

Comments

Good for you!

[birdnut.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you're having a perfect Day 3, what with the weather and the other things you mentioned. Don't discount either the "relief" that comes knowing that by Sunday afternoon, you can stop walking! BTW, I can relate to the "dogged, determined never-say-die" versus sheer stupidity problem. See my AZ 2007 3-Day story at http://mc3day5.livejournal.com.