On-Line Check-In Complete!

With The Walk being only 11 short weeks away, on-line check-in opened this weekend. I'm official. I have selected my tent-mate, certified that I am medically cleared to walk, and paid for my towel service (best 12 bucks you'll ever spend). Also cranked out a perfect score on the safety quiz. As is to be expected, I guess, from an official card-carrying (orange badge-wearing) member of the safety patrol. Its starting to get exciting now.

It starts about 20 to 24 weeks out from an event: you start to gear up for it; plan it out; look forward to it. You start doing longer training walks and you amp up your fundraising. You meet new people who are just getting on board and you start running into people you've been seeing around the Expo's, shoe-fittings, Get Started Meetings, and local training walks for years. And you really do start to get excited. You get your web-page activated and personalized and every time someone posts something relevant to the message boards, or you get an e-mail alert about a donation, you get more excited. There's this countdown to something big and meaningful and challenging and fun and you can't help yourself. What's awesome about The 3-Day though, is that over time, it becomes a great deal more than a finite block of time that you devote every year. You become a 3-Day Walker year 'round! It starts to merge with your personality. You have to stop yourself from clapping when a group of people cross the street with you and you can fall asleep on any surface. You start craving icey cold PB&J between two graham crackers and you develop far less trepidation about public restrooms, because, let's face it, you've seen some pretty bad porta-pots. But seriously, you start to come across as a more determined person in general. You become stronger and more gracious in all aspects of your life. You never miss an opportunity to talk about the walk. You read about where the money has gone and feel proud to have played a role in that. Your patience with others expands noticeably as does your ability to adapt and be flexible. You tap into courage you didn't know you had. The beauty of The 3-Day certainly lies in what happens to a group of participants during the roughly 60 hours of each event. But to each of us individually, its what happens throughout the rest of the year that matters most.