Mary committed herself to the Avon Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk this past February. Since then, she has collected pledges from our generous friends and family and conditioned herself for this physical test of endurance by walking up to 20 miles a day. The following letter provides a good first hand account of only one of 4,500 walkers that made this commitment.
Dear Family and Friends,
My sincere THANK YOU for your support. I have completed the Avon Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk. This walk was 60 miles from Baltimore, MD to Washington, DC and I completed the 3 Day Walk the weekend of May 3-5 on my two feet. Another major accomplishment was that I only got 2 blisters on the last day and I did not know about them until I took my shoes off. I think my twelve weeks of training paid off.
The Opening Ceremony started at approximately 7AM Friday morning and the walkers left the Baltimore Convention Center around 7:20AM. I finished my Day 1 walk after 7PM; then I had to find my gear and setup my tent. Friday was a very long day and I got in my sleeping bag around 10PM. That night it was very cold and I ended up with ice on the top of my tent.
On Day 2 the pace of my walk was faster. The walk took us through parts of Columbia, MD where I saw two of my sisters cheering on the side of the road. About eight miles down the road, Sam was with a large cheering group. I arrived in camp around 3PM and set up my tent and took a shower. My sister Nancy Green (a breast cancer survivor) arrived around 5PM. She has been volunteering with the John Hopkins Breast Center and they were having a presentation Saturday night. The rain started Saturday evening around 7PM. When I got back to my tent after 8PM it was wet inside.
Day 3, the last day, took us near the US Capitol and the mall area. The final journey took us down Pennsylvania Avenue with friends, family, and supporters lining the streets cheering us on to the Closing Ceremonies. About 10% of the walkers were in pink shirts; they were the breast cancer survivors. There were also a large number of volunteers in pink shirts. The Closing Ceremony was very emotional remembering all of the women and men that have been affected by this disease.
The 4,558 walkers raised over $6,700,000.00 for breast cancer education, early detection, treatment, and research for breast cancer. Thank you for YOUR support. I raised over $9,000.00 alone in the effort to stop breast cancer.
I carried a list of 50 names of individuals that I remembered throughout the walk. This list included names of your family members or friends that are survivors and in memory of those that we have lost.
Mary Mahler
Here are some of the pictures I took along the way including some Mary took with her camera.
Friday morning cheering station