3 Days 50 miles 2022!

I was 16 years old and remember the very moment mom found out she had MS, which at that moment was nothing more to me than 2 letters. Over the years I learned that MS just sucks!!

Okay so about that walk!!

I promise to be completely honest with you all and will share the beautiful moments of this journey and the ugly ones also!!

Back 22 years ago in 2000 my sister approached me with the offer to participate in the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Walk, 3 days 60 miles. I decided it sounded like a great idea (still not sure why I thought that was a great idea but...) I signed up. Oh, let me mention that we also had to sleep in a tent those 2 nights! I didn't really train I mean it was walking, no big deal. Oh my gosh boy was I wrong. I quickly learned that walking 60 miles was anything but easy!! 10 years later I again agreed to join another breast cancer walk. During a fundraiser for this walk I first learned about a 40-mile biking event for the MS Society. I remember that day thinking, one day I am going to do an MS Event. Again in 2017 we participated in a breast cancer walk this time it was in New York City, 3 days 39 miles. At the end of this walk I told my sister NEVER again. I am done, done, done with these walks!!

In 2021 about a year after mom passed away, I knew I wanted to do something in her memory. I started researching MS events and stumbled across the Cape Cod 3 days, 50 miles. I asked Amanda who agreed right away, I asked 2 friends who didn't think it sounded so fun (perhaps they were a bit smarter than me the first time I was asked to walk 60 miles). For this walk I decided to train more that I had in the past, because I knew walking 50 miles wasn't easy...it's just not easy. So, we trained, weekend after weekend, building the miles we would walk each week!!

This walk was so important to me, and I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. So, with a plan, we trained and raised money. Thanks to so many wonderful and extremely generous people we were able to raise $5,184.59!!

September 8th Amanda and I left early that morning to get to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We had trained, had a plan, thought we were well "seasoned" and extremely excited!! We arrived in Cape Cod just on time, got our packets and had some dinner before we went to our motel for the night.

Day 1 - Friday morning we were ready to go!

Our name tags said rookie walkers, but Amanda and I both thought, who are they, calling use rookies.

The start of the race I was asked to carry the Virginia flag across the starting line, it was neat to see where people had traveled from.

Around mile 1 we meet a group of ladies who we were pacing with, and we all started talking, they immediately asked us why we were walking so we shared our story. Ellen shared with us that she has MS, and her friends and family were there to support her. Ellen then told us that she had done this walk 21 times, wait what!?! How lucky were we to meet her and talk to someone who had done every single Cape Cod Challege Walk.

Cape Cod is BEAUTIFUL!!!

At mile 19 they had a great treat waiting for us, shaved ice. It was the most amazing lemon lush ever!

I was hot, we were tired and well it was a great distraction!

I forgot to mention that we had to be finished walking by 4:00, so we had approximately 8 hours to get the day done, so that equals to 24-minute mile, factor in pit stops for bathroom breaks, snacks and lunch, we were trying to walk under 20-minute mile, sounds easy...right!?!!

Finally, Day 1 was done!

We got on a very crowded bus to be transported to the camp where we would be staying for the weekend. We sat with a group who asked us why we were walking so again we shared. Guess what these dang people had been doing this walk for 17, 16, 15 years, I mean what in the world is going on here. It was at that moment that I thought ok I am a true rookie; I have no idea what I am doing compared to these people. We got back to camp, and, in our exhaustion, we got lost and walked way too many extra steps trying to find our cabin. All we could do is laugh, you know that uncontrollable laughing that comes from exhaustion, that kind of laugh that keeps you from crying!

At camp we meet 2 amazing ladies who really took us under their wing, Barbara and Christa! We shared a cabin with Barbara and GUESS WHAT she had also done this walk 21 years, who we later found out also has MS. At this point I was really trying to figure out what the heck was going on. That evening was great they did a fun slide show and had a speaker. During that time, they had all the rookie walkers stand. There was just a few of us. The rest of these people have been participating in the event for years!!

Day 2 - Saturday we started a little sore, but ready to take on day 2! We got up early, ate some breakfast and was back on the bus that shuttled us to the starting point.

We knew this day was going to be a challenge and boy was it ever. The mental game your mind plays on you is ridiculous, but I was determined from the start to complete this walk! This was for mom and that was enough motivation to get me through each and every single step!!

It got hot and long and exhausting, and the blisters started to show their ugly faces. This day we walked a bike path and our turn around point opened up to a beautiful beach!

Pit Stop Treat!!

It's the little things that help and this gave us a surge of energy. During our walk back we meet a beautiful lady Mary Ann who carries a pole with bandannas attached, one for each year she has walked. I think this was her 15th year. On the bandanas were names of people she walked for. We walked with Mary Ann for some time, and she shared beautiful stories with us.

We were around mile 15 that day when I really felt it, 5 miles seemed impossible!!

Finally, we crossed that finish line and day 2 was done!! We had 40 miles done and we felt it, but we did it!!

Saturday ended with a beautiful candlelight closing and my camp bunk bed felt amazing that night!!!

Day 3 - We started our day at the medical center for a little blister care and then grabbed some breakfast. Mary Ann approached us and wanted to add Mom to her flag for this year. She hugged me and told me mom was so proud of us, she is one of those people who instantly makes you feel loved.

We were ready to get the day started and 10 miles never sounded so good!!

Day 3 was great, emotional and felt amazing. Don't get me wrong it hurt, and we were all ready to get to the finish line. But we had meet tons of wonderful people and realized this was family and now we were part of it. We had become known as the "Other Linda Team", the "Virginia Girls" or the "Simmons Sisters". We continued to meet people and share stories throughout the 10 miles. Around lunch time we made it to the pre-finish line.

From that point we were all bused to the area where we would complete our 50-journey together.

There was beautiful closing ceremony and we felt so lucky to be part of this amazing family.

We had made plans to travel to a halfway mark in New Jersey that evening, spend the night and head on home the next morning. Obviously, we were not thinking when we made these plans. We got bused to the car, shed our shoes, made a pit stop at a nearby gas station and got our snack for the ride.

Nabs for the win they were mom's favorite thing and what she would take for your lunch at work. I set the GPS to the quickest route...which we all know isn't always the best idea, but at this point it sounded great. So just picture this, dark, pouring rain and as we were getting closer to our destination, we were also getting closer to New York City. I am still not sure how in the world we made it but somehow after what seemed like 695 exits and turns, we made it to our hotel. I did miss a few of the tolls on the way, Amanda saying Umm Christa, I think you were supposed to stop there. Don't worry they sent me the bills. Needless to say, we did not stop anywhere to eat supper, we were exhausted so we headed up to our room. Amanda had packed some oatmeal cups and we decided that they would be great. I couldn't do anything but laugh when I got out of the shower and Amanda was trying to eat her oatmeal with coffee stirrers, because our room had no spoons and neither one of us had the energy to go downstairs to get some.

It was a perfect ending to a very eventful day!!

Day 4 - Was thankfully uneventful and we had plenty of time to reflect on our experience. If you look at the beauty in things, you will ALWAYS find them. So, mom's best friend's name was Barbara, one of her best friends she worked with at Camelot was Mary Ann. It was those moments when we knew we were exactly where mom wanted us to be!! We immediately decided that 2023 would see Lemonade for Linda again and we hope to bring with us a larger team!! So, we are asking you to join us, you can sign up to walk or join to be one of the amazing crew members. While this journey is not easy, luxurious or painless, the ending is beautiful and that is what matters!!

So as promised the good the bad and the ugly!!