A little more detail...

So, let's see. I left work at 2pm on Friday, to head down to register for the Weekend Walk. I got there at 3, and there were already a couple hundred people lined up, as well as all kinds of volunteers hanging out. Neither Whywhynot nor Mine were there yet, but Mine told me to get into line and she'd join me there when she arrived. A couple of coworkers who were also walking arrived and they joined me in the line. I had a lovely cherry lemonade with real lemons (but not real cherries) while I was in line. The music was loud and the place was crowded. I could feel my head already beginning to throb. 

We got up to the safety video, went in and sat down to watch. I turned my cell phone down, after it rang. Course I missed 2 calls while I was watching the video, but I paid attention to it, and not to the phone. Turns out it was both Whywhynot and Mine calling as they arrived and got into line. I headed along to the next stage to get my id card, and then to go register for luggage pickup. My head was pounding by this point, and I could feel it down into my teeth. More and more people kept arriving and they were really obnoxiously loud. Or at least, that's how it felt at the time. Called whywhynot and Mine back - they were both watching the video at that time. When whywhynot came out, we saw each other, so I got to explain to her about the luggage check. Then she came back to find me and headed to the shopping area because she wanted to buy a new shirt. Mine walked right by me.. three times. She got herself registered for the event, and signed up again for next year. She also got herself on a shuttle bus to and from the hotel ... the 5:15am shuttle. 

...

Finally I called her to find out where she was, and we located each other. When she told me she was all done and had even paid her $25 for her new shirt and everything, I was surprised and asked her if she'd registered for next year. She didn't mean to, and didn't realize that's what she was doing. Oops. Anyway, whywhynot and I were still able to get on the 5:15 am shuttle, so we would be together. Not that we were happy about 5:15 but the later shuttle was 6am ... not really any better. We got Mine her luggage tag and she and I collected our bags from our cars.

Once we were all done, we headed off to meet our shuttle. Walked outside the building to the roadside and there was a bus there, just waiting for us. So, tickedyboo, on we got, and it took us through a red light and off to the Delta Chelsea hotel for the night. I managed to not throw up all over the bus which I thought was an added bonus. In retrospect, probably so did everyone else if they figured it out. 

Checking in was simple and didn't take long and then up we went to our room on the 24th floor.  I took the opportunity to take some pain meds, and flopped out in the dark for a while. Mine called Grant and he came down to meet us. We went out to a Thai restaurant for dinner. By that time, I was feeling a little better, enough that I could eat. The appetizer had shrimp in it though, and it almost made me nauseous again - though I usually like shrimp. Main course was satay chicken with mango salad, and that was much better. Then we went back to the hotel, and to sleep.

Or we tried. ;) See, whywhynot's snoring wasn't a big deal, I could tune that out. But Mine couldn't sleep and was reading, with a light on, and that disturbed my sleep just enough that I kept waking up. As well, it's been a while since I've been in a hotel and I just have got out of the habit of sleeping through all the strange noises, especially the helicopters and airplanes. So, needless to say, there was maybe 3 or 4 hours sleep by the time the hotel wakeup call came at 4:30am. 

We got ourselves groggily together, and then headed down. Checking out was just as easy, and the buses pulled up to collect us, once more. I don't think we ran any red lights this time. 

We dropped our bags off at the proper trucks, as per our location tags, and then got breakfast. This consisted of raisin scones, muffins, danishes, bananas, apples, orange juice and coffee. The coffee wasn't the greatest, but I could drink it. Mine only managed a few sips before she gave up, and of course, whywhynot does not drink coffee. Other than that, the food was good, but there wasn't a lot of protein there which disappointed Mine and Val somewhat. 

Opening Ceremonies started at 7, and they were quite moving. There was a bit about these 5 walkers in a circle where the emptiness in the middle signified loss. A flag got brought along the line up to the front of the stage, a pretty empty flag at that. And we heard a story of one of the walkers. We also learned that there were 5521 walkers, and that we had raised $17.3 million. That is still just utterly mindboggling. Then we started walking, right through the Princess Gates at Exhibition Place. Underneath that huge angel statue atop the arch. 7:30am start time.

We walked and walked and walked... along the boardwalk, through high park, past neighbourhood after neighbourhood. I know we went as far west as Islington. And passed the corner of Dixon and Royal York - a corner I pass every day on my way home from work. Lunch was pasta salad, a mini croissant, a butter tart. It was good, and with all the rest of the snacks they kept feeding us, it wasn't like we were underfed. We walked for a while with a woman named Nancy, who was walking with a cane. Nancy'd lost a very close friend to breast cancer a little over a year ago, and was walking in her honour.  As we walked, we talked with some of the people who were walking around us. We saw some of the same faces over and over again, as we stopped and they passed us, or as they stopped and we passed them. 

The sweep trucks kept wandering by, honking their horns, playing loud music, cheering us on, all the while looking out for walkers in distress. They had team names like Bubble Boobs, or Putting on the Titz. There were the Cowgals, MASH, Agony of da feet, and so on. Crew... having fun while doing the work needed to keep everyone safe. 

Walkers too were in teams - the baker's dozen, with their high chef's hats comes to mind. One team had pink feather boas, another pink gloves to their elbows, a third had wings strapped to their backs, butterfly wings, another had angel halos, and another had pompom deelyboppers. There was a lot of fun and creativity in the outfits, that's for sure. Mimi - a breast cancer survivor - was walking with her husband, friend, bodyguard ... or at least that's what their hats said. I saw a couple young women wearing matching t-shirts that said "F*** Cancer." Then there were the MooMoos - with suitable cowprint shirts... and The Bull at the head of the crowd. Thanks for the Mammaries, IBTT - Itty Bitty Titty Team,  the Melon team, and many many others. Too many to remember them all, but this will give you a flavour. Lots of groups had comments about saving the breasts, tatas, boobs, etc. 

Whywhynot had cheerers at the first cheering station - folks from her work. Grant and akesteven came to cheer us on as well!

We finished walking at 5:30pm, in around 3900 or so, If I  remember correctly. Saturday was a really hot day, so I hate to imagine how much water and gatorade we drank. We heard that there were a couple of cases of heat stroke and even more of heat exhaustion. Thankfully, none of us suffered from that. I continued to use painkillers on the headache, and it actually went away somewhere throughout the day.

Collected our luggage and then went with Grant and akesteven to the second hotel. This one was up in Vaughn and we had a nice drive up. Or rather, Grant, akesteven and I did, while Mine and whywhynot waited. Because I had to get us checked in, shower, change and head to a wedding reception for my cousin Stephen. Grant went back to get Mine and whywhynot, while akesteven and I dealt with the luggage we had already. Then Grant took me over to the reception hall, and they all went out to dinner for ribs and wings. Me, I had an Italian meal. At a wedding reception. I missed the antipasto bar and the dessert cart, and I am not at all sorry. I had the salad, the 2 types of pasta, the chicken, veal, veggies, potatoes, and sorbet. More than enough to fill me up. I then danced for a bit, chatted with a number of my relatives, and headed back to the hotel to sleep. It was about 11:30pm when I got back, and we had another 4:30am wake up call...

Sunday, wake up, get ourselves together, check out, and then get the cab and head to Downsview park. We were there about 6am, after a trip through the drive through at Tim Horton's ... in the cab, yes. We had breakfast - waffles, sausages, fruit, buns, Tim's coffee, yogurt, and so on. Mine and Whywhynot had Tim's breakfast sandwiches as well, but I didn't.

We were serenaded by a bagpipe band and started out walking at 7am. This day was the east end of town. As far east as Bayview. We went by Queen's Park and the Princess Margaret hospital. And the CN Tower. Back through the same gates we started out through. The weather had changed though, and we started out in the rain, which didn't really abate until maybe 2pm. It was a much cooler day so everyone walked somewhat faster even with the bumps, bruises and sore muscles from the day before.

33km on Saturday and 27km on Sunday, finishing up about 3:30pm. The closing ceremonies were at 4:30pm. They were exceptionally moving, even if my poor feet were killing me. Blisters on the bottoms of my feet - can I just say ow ow ow ow ow ow ow. As we marched in, there was a receiving line, of those volunteers who were there, and those walkers who'd already finished. Whywhynot joined that line, but Mine headed off as soon as we were done. Both Grant and akesteven were there to walk across the finish line with us. That was really nice of them and much appreciated. 

The circle this time still had the same empty middle, but this time it represented healing, hope, and the memory of those who had passed on, but the reminder that we must continue to live. 

One person may not be able to change everything, but each of us can change something.