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2002 Boston 3-Day

"Never give up!  Never give up!  Never, never!" ~Winston Churchill

Day Two:  May 18, 2002

Devens to Lexington

The second day of the walk was a day I'll never forget!  It was also something I could never imagine or prepare for.

My day started actually around 3am.  Although I'm not a camper, sleeping in the tent was so comfy that I didn't move until I awoke to the....RAIN.  It was pouring and actually quite loud hitting the plastic.  After a quick panic attack, I realized I was dry and went back to sleep.  Everyone always said "Don't touch the sides of the tent if it's wet!" so I slept in a ball and managed to stay dry.

At 4am, Kathey got up.  She had been sleeping when two things happened - her sleeping bag was leaning against the side of the tent (whoever said that is RIGHT!) and the zippered door was leaking.  We got up, got dressed, in the dark, in a puddle, hunched over and not touching the sides, while trying to be quiet, we rolled up our sleeping bags, crammed everything into our duffel bags, put our sleeping bags and duffel bags in huge trash bags, duct-taped them and took them to the gear truck.  In ten minutes.

At 4:10am, we took our tent down.  And we were the first to do so in our section!  I had no idea how to take it down, let alone put it in the tent bag which is the size of a sandwich baggie.  But Kathey did it in about three minutes with the tent soaking wet.  It fit in the bag perfectly.  We didn't realize it until after we got home that we left our tarp on the tent floor - so that was inside the tent when she rolled it up.  I'm telling you - that alone was amazing!

We headed to breakfast.  By the time we got there, the food was ready so we ate under the giant tent.  It was nice to be out of the rain since it was pouring buckets.  And it was cold!  All of us walkers would be bused to the elementary school where the day's route started.  The first buses left at 6am and we were on the second bus.  

We started walking around 6:45am.  It was still raining - hard.  And it was cold.  But I had heard it was going to stop in morning so it wasn't that bad.  It was also supposed to warm up so that was good.  My raingear was great - it kept me dry for quite a long time.  There weren't many walkers out that early but everyone was as excited - rain or not - to be out also.

I pulled my hamstring during training and my calf on Day One so it was a little hard for me to get going that morning.  I was stiff but determined so we took it slow and I stretched a lot.  It was hard to hydrate since there was so much water coming from the sky and it was so cold.  We made it to the first pit stop and the first round of "Sweep Vans" were waiting.  I saw quite a few people take them up for a ride to camp.  Most people had no idea how cold it was and just weren't prepared.

But we were and we kept going.  The longer we walked, the harder it rained, the colder it got.  It got more difficult to stop at the pit stops - since that meant taking off your wet clothes to use the restroom.  That was too much!  Plus, my body got much colder when I stopped walking.  But we did the best we could and made ourselves rest and eat and drink.  The other walkers were all very kind - everyone kept an eye on everyone else.  We checked in at the pit stops and told them how others were doing.  It was nice.

We were almost to lunch, which was about halfway and it was about 10:30am.  Someone said lunch was inside which made me very happy!  My feet were totally soaked and my sleeves were started to drip into my shirt.  It was about that time the first people started getting hypothermia and that's when we realized how serious the weather was.  Kathey and I decided we could and wanted to keep going so we did.

Lunch was NOT indoors.  That was no fun - we had to huddle under a small tent and try to eat with our frozen fingers.  Several big buses were shuttling people back to camp - the small vans weren't cutting it.  There was also a "medical bus" with heat and IVs for those with hypothermia.  Several people around us had to go to it because they couldn't stop shaking.  Ambulances started coming to take really ill people to the hospital.

I was cold and pretty grouchy but wanted to keep going.  My extra pair of socks was wet so I couldn't change them.  Kathey had called Jerry and Jay, our husbands, and they were trying to find us to bring us dry clothes.  That was hard because we aren't given any information about the route - nobody really knows where we were.  

We left lunch and started walking just to get warm again. That's when I noticed the rain was bouncing on the ground.  It wasn't rain - it was HAIL!  The hail started out big but then got really tiny.  That's when it started SLEETING.

Somehow Jerry and Jay finally found us and at one of the pit stops we got to change our clothes!  We put on big yellow tarps over our raingear and dry clothes.  It was wonderful!  I knew I could finish with no problem.  Not to mention it was great to see my husband and father-in-law.  I was back into the 3-Day spirit and we got walking.  Right when we said goodbye to them, I notice the sleet was white.  And fluffy.  And sticking to the ground.  Yes, it was SNOWING.  On May 18th!

We cheered on everyone around us, we thanked the crew who was still out and gave huge smiles and thank yous to the police officers directing traffic.  And yes, there were some people to cheer us on!  They stood under umbrellas, they sat in their cars and they encouraged us to go on.  That was when we needed it more than ever!  My friends, Josh and Jen were supposed to come cheer Kathey and I on.  Because of the weather and our pace, I had to call them and tell them not to come.  I was disappointed but it was great to know they were going to be there.

If you check out my photo album, notice there only a few pictures of Day Two.  I wish I had more but because of the weather, I just couldn't bear to get out my camera.  Next year, I promise to take lots more pictures.

On we walked.  We walked through snow, snow and more snow.  A family stood under a huge umbrella, giving us tissues as we walked by - what a great idea!  They offered us "hugs and tissues".  We got to the 15.7 mile mark when Pallotta was forced to close the route.  There were so many people with hypothermia, dehydration or both that it was becoming an issue of our safety.  A dozen people had to be taken to ER and hospitalized because of it.  I didn't want to stop walking but we had made it as far as we could and we knew we could have finished the 21 miles that day.  The snow continued, which was better than the rain and sleet!

Kathey and I were among the first 30 people to the final pit stop.  All of us lined up and waited for the bus back to camp.  We were told at the lunch stop that camp would be inside - that was the best news I could have ever heard!  Waiting in line was tough because once we stopped moving, our bodies got cold.  Lots of people were wrapped in emergency Mylar blankets.   Kathey and I were lucky because we had gotten to change our clothes but most people were in their soggy, wet layers all day.

Finally, the buses came.  The first two filled up immediately and we were on the second bus.  We drove the rest of the way back to camp and arrived at Minuteman Technical High School to a crowd of cheering walkers and crew.  We were given high-fives and hugs as we got off the buses.

At 2pm, we walked into "camp".  There were people everywhere!  Walkers who had been swept back to camp earlier and walkers who had opted not to even walk at all that day had already staked their area.  People were sitting, standing, laying everywhere.  We walked up the stairs to level after level of people spread out for the night.  I don't think we could have fit anywhere if we had wanted to!  It was crowded with everyone on top of one another.  They were in the hallways, on the gym floor, in the locker rooms and in the stairwells.  Kathey asked me what I wanted to do and I said, "I want to go home tonight".  

Kathey called Jerry yet again and asked him to come pick us up.  I was all ready to stay at camp Day Two of the walk but the situation was not my idea of the 3-Day camp.  Right after we decided to leave, Pallotta asked everyone who could go home to please do so to make room for those who couldn't.  Hundreds of walkers opted to leave and after seeing everyone else make plans to get home (or to hotels in the area!), I didn't feel so bad. We finally sat down right in the middle of floor to wait for our ride.  I sat there, with my shoes off, soaked and tired when a crew member came over and told me I had done a great job today.  It made me smile.

Pallotta did a wonderful job keeping getting everyone inside for the evening.  I found out later that the superintendent of the Lexington area schools came to open the doors for us.  Thank you!  They set up water and Gatorade tables and got out the extra snacks and lunches for us during the afternoon.  Because they were still setting up the rest of camp outside (shower trucks, dining tent and our gear trucks), the walkers had to wait to get their bags.  When the trucks were finally unloaded, most of our bags were under plastic to stay dry.  That was really thoughtful of the crew!  Jerry fought traffic to get to the high school and after retrieving our bags and dragging them a half mile, we met up with him.  I have never in my life been so happy to get home!  I took a shower and went to bed, ready to get back to camp and start walking in the morning.

This is it!  Day Three...Check out the photo album