Schrempp Walking Update #4 – July 2002

                Hello to everyone!! July 12th, 13th, and 14th are just around the corner.  In about 15 days, I will start the first day of the Walk.  Bob and I can’t believe that we have been training for 11 months.  Time sure does fly by when you are having FUN.  This last weekend, we took Friday off work, so we could walk 45 miles in three days.  We had such a good time.  If we were not weird before, we are now.  Our total mileage before the walk will be right around 985.  We will just miss walking 1,000 miles in 11 months.  We sure got close!!!

            Opening Ceremonies for the 2002 San Francisco Avon Breast Cancer Walk will be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center at 7:00am on Friday, July 12th.  Closing Ceremonies will be at the Marina Green in San Francisco at 5:00pm on Sunday, July 14th.  There will be Cheering Stations set-up along the route on each of the days.  At the time of this newsletter, we have not been notified of the Cheering Stations.  Please check Katie’s website around July 5th to see if we have the Stations listed (www.calpoly.edu/~kschremp), or you can call Pallotta TeamWorks after the 5th (the coordinating company for the walk) at 800-825-1000.  I know that all the Walkers would love to have people come out and cheer them on. 

If anyone is interested in volunteering to work at the Registration Day on Thursday the 11th, Opening Ceremonies on Friday the 12th, or Closing Ceremonies on Sunday the 14th, please contact Pallotta TeamWorks at 800-825-1000.  They always try to have locals help on these days, so the crew members can participate in these specific activities.

On May 19th I turned 30 and celebrated by walking in the San Francisco Bay to Breakers (B2B).  It started with an e-mail from our friend Tom.  He thought that we would enjoy walking it with him and his wife Stacy.  The next thing I knew, Bob had signed us up.  Our mileage for that weekend was 18 miles on Saturday and 10 miles on Sunday.  The B2B is 7.5 miles, so we figured with extra walking to and from the car we would end up with the 10 miles.  We decided to walk around SF for the 18 miles to get in some good hill work.  I was so glad that I had been walking the hills around Cal Poly on my breaks and lunch.  We made it up all the hills without passing out (actually we did very good and were quite proud of ourselves).  The day was beautiful and sunny, so we were able to look out across the bay.  There was a slight breeze which kept us from getting overheated.  All in all, we had such a wonderful day.  We stayed in Pacifica with Bob’s parents, Ben and Eileen.  Together with Jim and Angela, Bob's brother and his girlfriend, we went to out for Chinese food.   Bob and I ate like there was no tomorrow.  Then the Family surprised me with a birthday cheese cake.  You would think that after all the food we had just eaten there would not have been room for more; wrong.  Bob and I were able to eat the cake too.  We started my birthday off right. 

On Sunday, we woke up good and early (5:30) for the B2B.  We met Tom and Stacy and took the bus to the beginning of the race.  Tom and Stacy had all kinds of things to decorate me with for my birthday bash.  I had a flashing tiara, streamers that said Happy Birthday and Celebrate, color streamers, etc.  I was a walking birthday  (See the picture below).  Tom, Stacy and Bob had on birthday hats and some of the streamers.  I could not believe all the people.  Some were dressed up, others had nothing on but running shoes; people walking, running, pushing shopping carts with kegs.  What a blast.  It was supposed to rain Sunday night, but mother nature decided not to wait that long.  When we were about a ½ mile into the race, it started to sprinkle.  At mile 1, it was a full RAIN.  This was not a thick fog, but big raindrops.  All this was adding to the atmosphere, and we were still having a great time until about mile 7.  We turned the last corner coming out of Golden Gate Park and were facing the ocean.  That was one cold breeze.  Of course, we did not dress for rain.  Bob and I both had on shorts, hats, sunscreen (sure did not need that), but we did have on our windbreakers.  I made sure to cross the finish line before Bob this time.  I decided that I still wanted a t-shirt, so Bob and I headed back into Golden Gate Park, and Tom and Stacy headed for home (a wise decision).  By the time we got back to the car, Bob could not open his hands and we could barely feel our legs.  We got back to Pacifica, showered and an hour later we were talking about next year.  Tom and Stacy please hold that weekend to walk in the B2B again.  Check out my website for Bob’s B2B story.  www.calpoly.edu/~kschremp

            Now for the totally amazing news.  As of June 24th, you have donated $4770 for the fight against Breast Cancer.  Back in August, I set my donation goal at $5000, but I never thought that I would even get close to that goal.  I am blown away!!!!  I keep getting letters from Pallotta TeamWorks stating that I am a high fundraiser, and it is all because of YOU!!!  I want to thank you all for the support and encouragement during the last year.   I am so excited about the event!!!  I am ready to walk my heart out.  You will all be with me on my BELIEVE IN ME and INSPIRE ME shirts.

Thank you, Katie and Bob