Our Team of 5 has completed Day 1 of the Avon 39 Walk To End Breast Cancer – 26 miles! But it’s not over.  This is the Avon 39 – that means we have 39 miles to walk.  13 miles to go.

Morning comes – we pack our gear and break down our tents (I’m happy to say that I was in much better spirits and able to handle my own tent this time).

All of us are walking better and smiling and ready for breakfast. We can do this!

All of us charge across the footbridge back to Harlem.

We walk and walk and finally make it to Madison Avenue – window shopping certainly helps pass the time.

Kudos to the Crew

The crew on the walk were wonderful.  They are all volunteers, and many of them are former walkers.  They also raise money and meet months before the walk to train for their jobs – and they have to get up even earlier than we do!  Some even stayed in the tents with us.

They created themes around each rest stop, dressed in silly costumes, and cheered us on at every intersection.  One even rode a pink motorcycle and rode from rest stop to rest stop.  We would have not made it without them.  (Christa says we are going to forget this walking business and be crew next time – not a bad idea!)

We Walk On

Finally we make it to the Plaza Hotel and bottom of Central Park – a beautiful walk.

We are making good time and feeling ok.

We turn the corner around Central Park and start up the West Side. We walk and walk – past the Natural History Museum and on and on back up to Harlem – even past 103^rd Street where we were the day before.

Apparently we are slowing down a bit because at the next rest stop, they are starting to pack up – and whom do we see?

The Butterfly Lady! Who gives us a lecture that we need to get moving or jump in the van.  We look at her stony-faced and decide we are 5 independent women – and we will finish this walk even if they close the course.  We can find our own way to the finish.  Determined, we plow ahead.

Finally – we clear the last rest stop (or rather, got kicked out, since we were so late) – and knew we’d make it. We had plenty of time to reach the end, so we slowed down a little and thought about what we had done.

We came to the last mile and walked back toward Pier 97 on the Hudson River, where we could hear the cheers of the Finish Line.

We did it!

39 miles.

We rock!