Friday
Recently, Liam has been dealing with some seperation anxiety but wow on Friday it was definitely me dealing with seperation from him. As Grandma Debbie (amazing volunteer from the YMCA) picked him up to go to the gym and take care of him for the rest of the day I actually thought about not going to Vancouver as I could hear him crying in his stroller as it wheeled away. However, once I got my pack together and headed off to my friend, Pam's, house I knew this weekend was for the moms to take a break the sadness began to dissolve. It dissolved even more as we arrived in Vancouver to do some shopping...without any kids to bring into the dressing room or to entertain!! We had a great time shopping on Robson, eating at Moxie's then we headed back to our residences (Ramada Hotel and I stayed at Cam and Carmen's) early to get ready for a long day of walking.
Saturday
I got up at 5:30 am jumped in a cab to pick up the other ladies from the hotel so we could be at the Plaza of Nations by 6:00 am. We dropped off our bags, got some food and just relaxed but that's hard when you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. After a short opening ceremony we were on our way. We had a fantastic route through English Bay, Stanley Park, all the way to Killarney Park. Who knew walking 35 km would be so grueling? There was definitely a time during the day when we looked at the route marker and were blown away that we STILL had 17 km to go before camp. However, we sucked it up, had a great lunch, enjoyed the fantastic weather and made it to camp in one piece. Our friend Pam was even able to get all 8 of us signed up for massages!! We enjoyed a fine dinner and were treated to djayed music until 9:00 pm at which point it was time for lights out. Yep that's right 9 pm bedtime and let me tell you I was ready to hit the sack.
Sunday
Another early morning waking up at 5:30 when you have 2100 other people all camping it is hard to sleep in. So up we went for some quick brekkie and off walking by 7:15. The second day was ONLY 25 km and let me tell you it seemed so much easier! We made our way through Point Grey, Granville Island and it was pretty cool to know as we approached Cambie Bridge we were on the home stretch to Plaza of Nations. Even better was that as we walked into the Plaza of Nations we walked through a tunnel of people on either side of us cheering and high fiving us. How awesome is that?!!
The closing ceremonies consisted of all the walkers in blue shirts while the breast cancer survivors walked into the crowd with their pink shirts on...an amazing image to see since there were so many of them and knowing after all they had been through battling breast cancer they were there walking the 60 km with us. A woman spoke about how she battled breast cancer in her teens and now at 35 has dealt with 8 bouts of other types of cancer since and is currently fighting cancer again! Yet she was there walking the 60 km while battling cancer. I have to tell you there was not a dry eye in that stadium. So really the message was that as much as we whined about being too hot, being sore and questioning whether we could walk the 60 km these things were petty in comparison to the battle these men and women who have battled cancer and are currently battling cancer have to go through. Makes you really appreciate the health that you have.
Closing ceremonies as the breast cancer survivors walk in.
So here's a cheers to all the people that supported me through this walk!!! It was truly AWESOME!! Now how about next year...
Love,
Mo, Matt and Liam
2 comments:
Monique, what a great experience! I love all the pictures. Kylie
Me again, can we add you to our list of blogs we read, I keep forgetting! Kylie
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