Day 3 - The End

As you can imagine, we had no trouble sleeping after Day 2. We got up around 5:15am and started our day. We got dressed, took our tent down, packed up our stuff and took it to gear check, and ate breakfast. After we got all of that done, we headed back to the medics. I had three more blisters popped and had my feet wrapped up in the hopes that no more blisters would form. That's not exactly how it ended up though. We got started a little earlier on Day 3 so we didn't feel rushed at every stop. Edie was freezing but I thought the temperature was comfortable. I think my favorite outfits were the ones we wore on Day 3. I loved the houndstooth applique. Everyone kept saying "Roll Tide!" It helped that Alabama had won their game the night before.

Our strategy was to keep walking. If we stopped for too long we knew that it would be over. We were worn out! We did have a lot of great scenery though. We walked through some beautiful parks. We went through some more beautiful neighborhoods. There was one lady in the afternoon that stood on her porch and sprayed the hose on us. It was a nice, cool refreshment. We also walked through the campus of Georgia Tech and Emory. Those campuses were much bigger than Judson :-).


A little after mile 7, I stopped and had a few more blisters popped and my foot wrapped again. I was hoping that it would last me to the end. As tired as everyone was, they were still having a good time. While I was having my foot wrapped, the Youth Corp were giving "Wobble" lessons. I didn't feel like I needed a lesson in wobbling on Day 3 but I realized they were talking about a dance move :-). The Youth Corp was awesome. It is a group of pre-teens and teenagers under 16 that help out with cheering stations, handing out drinks and snacks and trying to keep the general morale up and they did a great job. Their parents were walking the 60 miles so it was a way to get the whole family involved.

When we stopped for lunch we went ahead and got in the medic line...again. Same old, same old...I had blisters popped and the feet wrapped. The doctor said they were basically there to do whatever that could to make us comfortable enough to finish. Once we left there, Edie and I decided we wouldn't stop unless we needed to. Our legs were definitely on auto-pilot at that point and we just had to keep moving. Finally we came close to Turner Field and we knew that was it!

There were crowds of people on either side of the walkway that were congratulating us and thanking us for walking. There were families of survivors and survivors themselves. If we had had any energy we probably would have cried but I didn't have it in me. And then we were done! It was such an awesome feeling. We had accomplished something that many, many people couldn't do. We ended up not even staying for the closing ceremony. We both had to drive back to Tuscaloosa that night and we knew that would be harder and harder the later we stayed.

I pulled into my driveway around 9ish that night and I think I was still in shock. I had a gorgeous banner, that the kids made for me, hanging on the wall. I hardly said a word and I was out like a light. On Monday morning, I got up and headed to the day spa. Edie and I had lunch there too and I asked her if she kind of had an empty feeling and she said yes. We had participated in this outrageous event, met so many people and heard so many stories. We had been training and fund-raising for 6 months. We had been talking to all of our friends and family about it and we both felt like "now what?". It is very hard to explain. I'm so glad I did this walk and I am a better person for it. Maybe I'm just a little sad that it is all over with.

Thank you so much for all of the support that you have given me and thank you for following my whole journey. I don't know that I will participate in this event again but I do highly recommend it to everyone. You will come away with such a great feeling....I promise!