This page is in honor of the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day - San Francisco. You will find here links to my own story and photos from the 2000 3-Day as well as those of other 3-Day walkers. You will also find links to my training walk maps and routes, links to the official Avon 3-Day site, and various others.
This year I am walking in honor of Deidre Rhinehart, a dear friend who has just "wrapped up" her second episode of breast cancer. She is a beautiful soul and my steps are for her.
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women in the U.S. This year, over 40,000 women are expected to die of the disease. There is no way to prevent breast cancer, but if it is detected early, it can often be treated successfully. There is no way to cure breast cancer, but medical research is closer to that goal than ever before.
The Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day is an event which will take place in 9 cities in 2001, sponsored by the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade and enacted by Pollata Teamworks. Although the walk only occurs over three days, it nonetheless occupies probably six months of a walker's life, on average. There is time spent fundraising (the minimum a walker must raise for 2001 is $1900), the many, many hours spent on training walks, as well as the psychological investment, which is huge. In addition, the even itself takes more than just a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There is a Day Zero on Thursday before and most walkers will need a day or two at least for recovery before returning to work.
And, of course, the physical investment is large, to the benefit of the walkers. It is not uncommon during training to suffer from blisters, shin splints, sore feet, pulled muscles, scrapes and cuts, and the ever-present aching from the butt on down.
All that considered, I think that most participants would say that the 3-Day is something truly awesome and powerful in their lives. The comraderie, love, despair, aching, and triumph experienced in such a short period of time makes us all a part of something special.
It's nice occasionally to find something great, even as we grieve.
Personally, I've lost two important people from breast cancer and there is a third who recently went through surgery. Some of the most poignant moments on the walk were shared with people, like my friend Christine, who had lost her mother. And some of the most hopeful moments came from people like my friend Natalie, who is a crusading survivor, and from other survivors who work tirelessly for the cause of curing breast cancer. I salute them every day of my life.
It is always interesting for me to meet a walker who has no personal experience of breast cancer and who have lost no loved one to it. I always ask these people why they are walking and the most poignant answer I've received so far is: "I'm walking for the future of my daughter."
So this page, then, is a salute to the walkers and to the survivors. I'd like nothing more than to shut it down before it's finished, in the face of a real cure. Let's hope that is real real real soon!
I support the San Francisco 3-Day List Serve mailing service. To correspond and communicate with other walkers, send an empty e-mail message to sf3day-subscribe@topica.com and they will reply with further instructions.
To unsubscribe, send an empty e-mail message to sf3day-unsubscribe@topica.com. They will reply with a confirmation.
I try to lead a training walk each Saturday and Sunday morning, meeting at Aquatic Park in San Francisco. All walks are at a pace of 3.5 to 4+ miles per hour and all involve challenging hills. Here is my current training walk schedule.
All walks meet at 7:45 AM and leave at 8:00 AM unless otherwise noted!
JUNE DATESJune 30 - Saturday - 22 Miles - MEET AT 6:15 LEAVE AT 6:30 AM
JULY DATESJuly 01 - Sunday - 23 Miles - MEET AT 6:00 LEAVE AT 6:15 AM
July 04 - Wednesday - 13 Miles
July 07 - Saturday - 16 Miles
July 08 - Sunday - WALK CANCELLED DUE TO CHRONICLE MARATHON.
July 14 - Saturday - 13 Miles
July 15 - Sunday - 16 Miles
July 21 - Saturday - 10 Miles
July 22 - Sunday - 13 Miles
SAN FRANCISCO 2001 AVON BREAST CANCER 3-DAY
July 26 - Thursday - DAY ZERO - Registration at Santa Clara Convention Center
July 27 - Friday - DAY ONE - Santa Clara to Belmont - Appx. 23.5 Miles
July 28 - Saturday - DAY TWO - Belmont to San Bruno - Appx. 16 Miles
July 29 - Sunday - DAY THREE - San Bruno to San Francisco - Appx. 20.5 Miles
July 30 - Monday - Begin to resume life as we knew it
Stay tuned for more parties and fun walks that will be listed in the future
My San Francisco Training Walk Maps
The walks on the linked page are thumbnailed - just click on a route and you can view and print it at full view, complete with detailed descriptions of the routes.
Aquatic Park Maps
The page shows how to get to our starting point for the training walks, Aquatic Park, in San Francisco, from Marin, the East Bay, and the South Bay.
From within San Francisco, drive all the way North on Van Ness until you pass North Point. There is parking in the middle of the street and on the sides. Aquatic Park is composed of two piers forming a nearly circular water break from the Bay. Along the beach, there is the Maritime Museum, a low, white building, with concrete bleachers to both East and West of it. We meet on the Western bleachers, nearest the parking area. Parking is for four hours, starting at 9 AM and ending at 1 PM, so all walks will conclude prior to 1 PM. Please note that restrooms at the park do not open until 8 AM and prepare yourself accordingly. Our first restroom break is 2.5 - 3 miles into any given walk.
Training Calendar for all San Francisco Training Walks
Official Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day
If you wish to make a donation to my walk, you may go to the above page and make a credit card donation electronically.
Pledge Forms
OR if you are queasy about entering your credit card info on the internet, you can download a pledge form in PDF format, print it out and send it in via snail mail by clicking the Pledge Form site above..
In either case, be sure to note my city - San Francisco - my walker number - 1110 - and my name, of course - Paul Baker.
Narrative
This is my Thank You letter to my donors and friends. It gives a brief description of my training and experiences during the 2000 3-Day walk and also contains the speech I gave on the first night of the 3-Day, "To Patti". You may need a hankie.
My 3-Day Photos
Here are most of the pictures I took during the walk. My thanks to all of the men and women who participated!
Lisa Stambaugh's Incredible 3-Day Site!
The BEST 3-Day Frequently Asked Question Site, powered by the POWERFUL Cheerios
The always AMAZING Dean and MJ McCully 2000 3-Day Site
Kaye Swafford's also inspiring site!
