Today was the day I'd been waiting for for almost a month -
the March of Dimes March for Babies! I
signed up at the beginning of the month as part of my company's team. As of
that Friday (yesterday), no one else signed up for it! What the hell?!?
I rolled out of bed at the ungodly Saturday hour of 6:30a.m. (I
don't get up that early on a Saturday unless the day ends at Disney!) and began getting
ready. I put my hair up in a ponytail and threw on a robe, heading to the kitchen to make
some scrambled eggs and OJ. I watched the news while I ate and finally got
dressed around 7:15 or so. I was on the road by 7:30 and realized about 2
minutes later that I should have left much earlier! I underestimated the time
it would take me to get to the park, much less how long it would take me TO park! I found a spot next to a church on 8th Avenue and
hiked back to the park. Right before I got there, the 7:55 runners began, so I
cheered them on as I hoofed it into the park. I made my way through the throngs
of bodies to get a Walk Card, then made my way back into the crowd just as we
all began to move en masse into the street!
It took about 2 minutes to get from where I was standing to the road,
but once we did, I was off!
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| And we're off!! |
The first mile kind of flew by.
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| Walking up 16th towards 43rd |
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We headed down 34th, then veered into the
Fresh Market parking lot. This was Stop 1 (1.2 miles).
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| Why does that sign say Hollywood Video? |
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They were handing out
awesome purple reusable grocery bags with the MoD logo on it. I totally grabbed
one, because I love purple and I love bags!
There was a water stop and I grabbed a cup and proceeded through
the parking lot, coming out near the entrance for Thornbrooke Village. Back onto the road, we walked down and turned
onto NW 43rd Street.
Stop 2 (1.6 miles) was in front of FL Credit Union at the Nationwide booth. I grabbed
a water and kept on truckin'.
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| The sign never changed - I guess they wanted you to get a loan |
|
Up ahead, I saw a big rainbow made of balloons. It's the Campus USA booth at Stop 3 (2 miles)
with leprechauns and green fortune cookies. OK, whatever. I grabbed a few (I
think I'm the only one who actually EATS fortune cookies), a cup of water and moved on
down the road.
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| Really? I'm frugal, but reusing crap from St Patty's day is cheap! |
At the end of 43rd, we came upon our vet's office (Millhopper Vet Med Center is great) and cut through their
parking lot and behind a big ol' bank.
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| It's my vet's office! |
|
This
turned out to be Wells Fargo, Stop 4 (2.4 miles) and judging by the line of
grabbers, you would think they were giving away gold! I saw one of those dorky basketball hoops you
stick on your bedroom door and heard someone say they got speakers, but this
wasn't worth my time! I got out of line and got the hell out of the crowd! I hit up the Pepsi wagon, grabbing a few
mini-cans of Pepsi Max and a bottle of water, tossing them into my nifty purple
sack. As I walked across the parking lot, I ran into Stuart, one of my
coworkers. I didn't know he signed up, but he said he did on Friday, so that
was cool. I gave him a smile, put my earphones back in and took off.
The walk down 39th
Avenue was pretty uneventful. Kind of neat to walk
'in the middle of the road' on such a busy highway, but nothing important
happened. I forgot about the large hill on 39th, but I did okay. I took a photo
of the folks behind me at one point, just to be able to say that I wasn't LAST!
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| The line of people goes back so far you can't really see the end! |
We turned onto 34th
and crossed the street over to North FL Regional Med Center Stop 5 (2.4 miles)
and they had ALL sorts of stuff! There were bananas, OJ cups (sealed, I tossed
'em in the bag), water cups, fruit snacks, chips, banks, bubbled and little
Milky Way bars! Yummy I grabbed a few of everything (including two bananas for
my daughter) and maneuvered around the crowds to get back on track.
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| Veering off 39th onto 34th, headed for Glen Springs Rd. |
Walking through Glen
Springs neighborhoods
required us to stay on the sidewalks at all times. It was crowded and very
boring. At some times, as I walked near woodsy areas, it smelled like my
grandmother's property and I inhaled deeply. Other times it stank of road kill
or something fishy. Oh, and poo. I smelled lots of dog poo, too. That was
pretty bad.
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| You could hide a body down there and no one would know... |
While on GSR, we got to walk through Ambassador Mile, and
there were all these happy families with their little cute babies waving and
cheering us on. One little girl was
giving out lollipops and another one (she wasn't more than 2) was giving out
fist bumps. I totally got in on that one.
There was a great sign at Glen
Springs Elementary
School as we passed that I had to take a photo
of, too.
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| The only sign I saw that said Thank You. Thanks GSES! |
Up past GSES was the Tower Hill Insurance Group Stop 6 (4.1
miles). They had Planet Smoothie strawberry-banana smoothies, water, popcorn
(in a sports bottle) and soda. I grabbed a smoothie, popcorn, water and a soda
and took a quick break. As I pulled to the side, I was run into with a jogging
stroller. In all the years going to WDW, I've never been hit with a stroller,
but my very first MoD walk, I do? How weird. There was no damage (and even if there was, she was long gone), but I took
the moment to chug my smoothie (it was okay), drink the soda and head back down
the road.
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| Yo, where my swag be at? |
Further down GSR was the Memory Mile, which, frankly, was
depressing as hell. There were signs up
along the road listing baby names. Some had dates and some didn't so I assumed
the ones with dates were when the babies died? I don't know - it didn't say. I
know the point of the Memory Mile is to remind us why we are doing this, but
all it did was make me want to cry, especially when I passed one family who was
pausing to take a photo with their 'child' at one of the signs. I kind of put
my head down and pushed on at that point. It was hard.
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| It's like the Oscar In Memoriam show, but for March of Dimes |
Between stops 6 and 7 was my favorite stop thus far - the
Blue Bell Ice Cream Man! They had grape
or cherry popsicles, ice cream sandwiches and coupons. Be still my thrifty
little heart! I got a mini-ice cream sandwich and a coupon. Doesn't it look yummy?
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| Please deliver this truck to my house please |
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| It's small, but just the right size! |
Florida
Virtual School
was Stop 7 (4.6 miles) and they handed out little sling backpacks. I hate those, but grabbed one for my
daughter. She'd like it. This stop also meant that I was over halfway done. Apparently,
I didn't take a photo at this stop, but trust me, you didn't miss much. I don't
even remember what they were giving out, but I didn't get any of it.
By this point, I was seeing lots of apartment complexes and
I knew that we should be getting to 'civilization' again soon, so I was keeping
an eye out for the Social Security building on this street. I should have been keeping an eye out for the
huge freakin' hill!! Gainesville has a lot of hills. This was the
nastiest, I think. I felt like I was
climbing a mountain. The incline on my treadmill doesn't even go this high! But
I made it and I didn't even break tempo, either. Hell yeah! I think if I can do this hill, I'll be able to do the Contemporary Hill at the Princess Half in February 2013. Once up the hill, I
saw a few ladies take advantage of a well-placed bus stop, but I just smiled
and kept going. There's another stop ahead!
In front of Planet Fitness was the AvMed Stop 8 (5.7 miles).
Sonic and K-Country were also there. I scored a cup of cherry limeade from
Sonic and crossed the parking lot in front of Godfather's Pizza to the Pepsi
truck where I got another bottle of water and a bottle of Diet Sierra Mist. I
tucked them into my purple bag and continued to 13th Street.
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| The K-Country Guys all looked bored when I walked by |
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| What, no ice? C'mon that's my favorite part! |
Traffic was blocked in one lane again, so I just strolled
right down the middle of the street like I owned it. Walgreen's was Stop 10 (6
miles) and I got a plastic cup with water and another plastic cup with
crackers.
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| I'm walkin' right down the middle of Main Street USA.... No? |
I drank the water and tossed all the cups into my bag while heading
down to GHS, where Wal-Mart was Stop 11 (6.2 miles). They had a really good station with Gatorade,
water, apples, grapes and my favorite, Sno-Cones! I got a red one. I also grabbed a few granola
bars for later.
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| Too many people hate Wal-Mart; these guys were great! |
|
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| Cherry Sno-Cone. |
|
As I turned onto NW
16th Avenue, my body was beginning to realize what
the hell was going on and that I didn't plan on stopping. It's when I first began to notice my feet
hurting, but I kept going, knowing how close I was to being done. I grabbed a GNV sticker from the Gainesville
Airport Stop 12 (7 miles) and some water. The woman there tried to console me
and tell me that it was only 1 more mile, but I guess she forgot that there was
another .6 on top of that.
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| The stop is WAAAAAY down there. RUN! |
At this point, I saw sign saying "Victory Wagon Stops
Here."
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| Victory, my ass. |
This sign means, "If you give up, wait here so that other
walkers can mock you until the Sweeper Wagon can come collect you and take your
loser ass to the finish line." Okay, so maybe it doesn't mean that for
everyone, but it meant that for me. I'd been seeing them for an hour or more
(since stop 2 or 3) and every time I passed one, I smiled and kept going. This one, though, past Mile 7 made me stop to
take a photo of it. I believe the narrative in my head while I took a photo of
it was "no it DOESN'T motherf'r, not for me." I put that sign behind
me and out of my head and pushed on to the corner of NW 22nd and NW 16th.
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| Stopping takes away all my momentum. Hurry up! |
We
had to stop to wait for traffic, since we were crossing over to the left side
of the street, so I took the time to stretch my poor calves.
Giggle was stop 13 (7.1 miles) and they had
granola bars and dorky stuff. I kept going.
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| I wouldn't be Giggle-ing if I was right next to those! |
RTI Biologics was Stop 14 (7.2
miles) and had one thing that I loved - a cheap little checkered flag. I loved
it. I knew how close I was to finishing and that made me smile. The awesome
mister they set up for walkers to walk through was pretty nice, too!
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| The lady I walked behind was part of RTI's walking team |
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A bit past RTI, I finally made it to Wolf's house. I forgot
how far down 16th he was, but I made it damn it, here's proof! Hi Wolf!
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| I don't think he was home at the time |
After Wolf's house, I turned around and took another photo of
all the people who are still behind me and trudging up the big-ass hill I finished tackling. I'm still not last! Yay!
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| Still not last!!! |
A few minutes later, I look ahead and see an arch made out
of purple, lavender and white balloons. There is lots of cheering up there.
Could that be the finish line? No, we're not there yet. I think it was the One More Mile
Cheerleaders.
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| What is that? Is that .... the END? |
I won't lie, I got all
choked up when I went under the arch, though. I knew how close I was, how many miles were left (less than 1) and that I
could do it. Let's go, bitch, walk faster! (Yes, I call myself bitch
sometimes).
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| Not the end, but so damn close! |
Finally, we've made to the corner of 34th and 16th. Everyone
in Gainesville
knows this intersection. We've all driven though it. I've never walked through
it. Until now.
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| This intersection is usually MUCH busier! |
We turn left and we are on a straight away to the finish line.
I'm so tired, I know it's within my reach, I keep walking and FINALLY, I make
it to the Finish Line and walk through!!!!!!!
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| FINISH LINE!!!! |
Success!!! I got two stickers from the cute kids at the
finish line that say "I did it!" I stick those suckers on my shirt and
continue into the park. I run into another co-worker of mine who had just
finished as well and we chatted for a minute or so, but I didn't want my legs
to cramp up, so I took off in search of my Party in the Park food options.
There was Sonny's, Moe's, Zaxby's, a few local places and Domino's (ewww). I
settled on Zaxby's, grabbing my chicken sammich and sneaking out of the park. Halfway across the field, I realized I forgot
to look at my stopwatch, so I stopped for a moment to take a photo of my finish
time. 3 Hours, 14 Minutes. My goal was to finish in 3 hours, so I think
that I met that. I spent 5-10 minutes in
the park, so not counting that, I'm right at or a little over. I'll take it!
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| 3 Hours, 14 Minutes. |
I limped my way to the church I parked near (probably
another 1/2 to full mile away!) and opened the car, where I promptly took off
my sneakers! Oh, that felt so good! I
started the car and got the AC going, had some water, then headed for home.
Once home, I think it took me 5 minutes just to walk from
the car to the house because by then my feet hurt so bad, you'd think I went to
Disney! Well, that and because I still didn't have my shoes on.
I got hugs from Hubby, whose first question was, "Did
you finish?" HELL YES I FINISHED! I
want to scream it from the rooftops, I am so proud of myself! I plopped down on the couch and elevated my
poor feet and we all chatted for a bit. He brought me my Zax sammich, and I
finally ate it (it was pretty good) while my daughter and I watched the last 15
minutes of "The Princess and the Frog."
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| 2 Waters, 3 Soda, 4 Chips, 10 Granola bars, gum, lollipops, mints, awesome! |
|
When the movie was over, I forced myself to get up and get
moving so that I don't freeze that way and cause more pain, and I decided to
take all the stuff out of my Swag Bag. I
ended up getting LOTS of stuff! I gave
my daughter a bunch of stuff and she took off with it back to her room and I
headed in to my office to download all my photos and check out all the photos I sent to Facebook while I walked.
Wouldn't you know it, not a single photo made it to FB! Apparently my upload email was incorrect. Dammit.
Stupid Facebook.
I think it's time for some food. I'm STARVING!
