Day 1 - A little rain, then the fun begins!

I woke up at 5:00 AM to the news that it was raining in the Twin Cities. What? It's NOT supposed to rain on the Twin Cities 3-Day! Every year, I tell new and returning walkers not to worry about walking in the rain, because it doesn't rain (except for a brief shower last year on Friday evening and a thunderstorm that delayed opening ceremonies in 2005). So, my wonderful Angel Wings teammates met me at Southdale in Edina and offered their constructive criticism of my meteorological expertise - or lack thereof.

Yes, it was a little wet and a little chilly, but really not all that bad. After rousing send-off from the Breast Cancer 3-Day national spokesperson, Jenne' Fromm, we took our first steps to U2's "Beautiful Day". And before I was even out of our fenced-in area, I had lost my teammates! Fortunately, I came upon friends Bobbie and Laura from previous 3-Days and joined them to begin Day 1.


We walked through the (almost) quiet Edina neighborhoods and in less than an hour, the rain stopped. And it would not return. Our route led us past businesses, whose employees were already out with donuts, cookies, coffee, and lots of well wishes. The sun started to peek through the clouds as we reached Lake Harriet and came to the first official cheering station of the weekend. It was great to see so many people out to cheer for us early on a Friday morning.

We continued around portions of Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis, familiar places to my teammates (who I still hadn't seen) and I from our many training walks. It felt so much more exciting to be walking those same trails with 2,500 other people. I imagine that my smile looked permanently fixed on my face.

After a quick stop in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden (where I'd never been before), we arrived at Loring Park for lunch. And while I sat with my "foster teammates", watching an ominous cloud pass overhead without dropping any more rain, my actual teammates showed up. We would walk together the rest of the way.

The sun came out for good in the afternoon, as we strolled down Nicollet Mall through downtown Minneapolis, then walked along the river past the Guthrie Theater and through another cheering station at Gold Medal Park. Our route took us onto the campus of the University of Minnesota, where we passed the new TCF Bank football stadium. I'm told other walkers elected to make an unofficial pit stop for a refreshment at one of the many establishments on Washington Avenue. I cannot confirm or deny this report. (well, I can, but I'm not going to!)

We left the U of M and once again found the river, following it into St. Paul, cheered on by spectators all along the route. I can't believe some of those people stayed out there for hours to cheer for as many walkers as possible.

Our 20-mile walking day ended at Macalester College, where we boarded air-conditioned buses for a ride in comfort to our campsite at Harvest Park in Maplewood. The 3-Day crew did a fabulous job preparing the site, having to do so despite two solid days of rain. Thank you!

Pink tents, hot showers, spaghetti dinner, a little evening entertainment...and then it was time to put on all my clothes (ok, not really all of them) and prepare for a chilly night's sleep under a clear star-filled sky.