Helping out the searchers

how ’bout getting off of these antibiotics
how ’bout stopping eating when I’m full up
how ’bout them transparent dangling carrots
how ’bout that ever elusive kudo– alanis morissette (Thank You)

You can tell that the San Diego Breast Cancer 3-Day walk is about to start. Next weekend to be exact. How? Because I am getting hits the last 3-4 days on searches like “2006 3-day walk route” and “2006 3-day walk camp site”. Clearly, participants for this year are scouring for info on last year to get an idea of what to expect. So, here, let me assist a little more with that since I am not sure if my posts from the event last year were all that clear. I did have some challenges after all and a tiny distraction called the Mighty Mite Chocolate Bowl in the middle of everything! For the last 3 years of the event, the walk has started at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. You drive in through the front with all your gear and find your tent assignment group and dump your gear on that truck. Already, there are crew members out to assist you with everything. Then you hurry up and wait 🙂 Basically they want to get as many of the walkers checked in as possible – if not all – before they start things up. Day 1 will be your slowest day since everyone will be starting out at the same time. Unless you are a true speed walker and manage to get yourself out in front of the pack (in which case IMHO you are missing the whole point of this event!), you will be walking at a pretty reasonable pace with everyone on the route. Some points will even be rather slow as you approach cross walks where you can’t help getting bunched up in a crowd. Relax. Be patient. Have fun. On this day you will more of your fellow walkers than on any other. Try to remember their faces. At the rest stops, say hi and chat a bit to get to know them and why they are walking. As you move along the route, do the same thing. This will help you in camp and on the next two days as you will always have someone with whom to share a smile and an encouraging word. Or, to bitch about the porta potties! Take note of the cheering groups and sweeper vans and safety crew along the route. You will be seeing them all weekend long as they move along the route with you. Day 1 takes you through the city of Del Mar, along Torrey Pines state beach and then UP Torrey Pines Hill. The first big hill of the walk. Get used to those. San Diego is not flat!! But then you go across the Torrey Pines ridge and then down La Jolla Scenic into La Jolla. Again, this is what I love best about Day 1 – to me it is the most beautiful route all around. From La Jolla you wind around the coast into Pacific Beach and then cut up towards Crown Point. And there you will find camp. Crown Point. It’s perfect really. Tons of flat area with fairly soft grass and the sound of the water lapping at the shores of the bay. In earlier years they used to move the camp between day 1 and day2 so that you were sleeping in different spots each night. But I think having this one base camp is really smart. Day 2 then becomes a wonderful journey around Pacfic Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma and down through Mission Bay back to camp. Night 2 in camp is really special. Dance your booties off! And you will. You think you wont be able to, but you will. Day 3 is what I missed last year with my t-band injury, but I heard from other walkers that it went up into Old Town and Bankers Hill and Balboa Park before descending into downtown and finishing at Petco Park – another change last year which I thought was brilliant.

I’ll be out there next Friday in front of my office as the walkers pass by at the top of Torrey Pines Hill, cheering like crazy. It’s a special event that I will do again in the future when Sportsboy doesn’t demand quite so much of my training time. I think I want to crew one year too. Have fun all you walkers! See you out there next weekend.