jillianduch
Special blister bandaids, two sizes. Check.

Shoes and extra shoes. Check and check.

Two ponchos (If I bring them, I won't need them, right?)

Walking clothes for three days, sealed in large ziplock bags so when they are dirty, they can go right back in the bags and not stink up the rest of my luggage. (Trust me, 20 miles of sweat is not something anyone should smell.) Check. Check. Check.

Tomorrow morning, very early, I will fly to D.C. for more than a week of visiting family, site-seeing, and walking in the Breast Cancer 3-Day. Yes, that walk I have been talking about for more than a year is almost here.

Soon, I will meet the other Ms. America Tatas - the team I found on the 3-Day message boards. Together, so far, we've raised $145,742 for breast cancer research, education and other important programs. That's enough to buy a townhouse in Woodstock!

But before I see exactly how far all that training (which has, sadly, tapered off in the last two weeks) will get me, I'm going to see the American History Museum, with the First Ladies Dress exhibit. I am going to walk past the White House and Jackson Square and the good ole Eisenhower Executive Office Building (or, in the tradition of government acronyms, the EEOC, where I donated a good amount of time to government service). I am going to the Newseum (and resist any jokes about how museums are the only places newspapers will exist in 30 years). I am going to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, which if I remember correctly, has rather expensive admission but is totally worth it. And then I'm going to hit up an art museum or two.

Ooh, and maybe I'll go shopping in Georgetown. Gotta have a souvenir besides blisters, right?

And hopefully that will provide enough walking to kind of count as last-minute training.

And then I'm going to strap on a fanny pack and walk with thousands of other people wearing pink. There will be funny slogans, lotsa porta-potties, moleskin, pink helmets, funny costumes and who-knows-what-else.

Oh, the sights I'll see.
2 Responses
  1. Mandy Says:

    It's so exciting, isn't it!
    I haven't even begun thinking about packing, but hopefully I'll get it done by Friday! Um, I mean, thursday. ahem.

    See you in DC?! (Yeah, I know how needle-in-the-haystack-y that is!) Good luck!


  2. jillianduch Says:

    Mandy -- Look for a woman wearing a tiara and a sash. My team, Ms. America Tatas, is going all out! I'm not sure how I'll feel about a tiara at mile 20, but the outfits are part of the 3-day fun, right?