Let me start by saying thank you to all of you who supported Erin and I with this Avon Breast Cancer Walk journey. And journey was truly what it was from the fear of taking on an $1800 fundraising goal which initially sounded so daunting to the very physical and mental challenge of walking 39 miles. During this weekend I went through every emotion known to man and I just have to say at the end of this 2 day voyage I am so proud of both of us and I feel so blessed to have a friendship that can survive this battle.

The first day (picture on the left) we started at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara at 0630 feeling ready, confident and a little anxiety for the 26.2 miles ahead of us that day. I can honestly say I walked into this breast cancer walk way TOO cocky. I thought hell I am in good shape, I workout almost everyday and this is walking how hard can it be right? I have never been so wrong in my entire life! The first 13 miles was pretty easy-we talked a lot, laughed a lot, enjoyed the people watching, the snacks at the rest stops and we were feeling pretty damn good. The 2nd 13 miles on day 1 was by far the hardest thing for me to accomplish as it was exhausting both mentally and physically. My hips hurt, I had blisters and my calf started cramping around mile 20. The scenery was gorgeous as it was through Montecito and into Summerland ending at the Santa Barbara Polo Club. However, it took everything we had just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. From mile 20-26 we did not talk not because we didn't have things to talk about...believe me it was not that peaceful serenity of silence...it was the agony of silence as both of us were trying to conserve energy just to get through it.

At the end of day 2 we amazingly completed a marathon but we were worse for the ware. Erin's knee was swollen, we both had blisters, we were both stiff and sore and thank god for the angel who set up our tent as we had to camp that night. However, even through that pain we were both determined to continue so we went and took showers in one of those giant semi truck shower trailers and I can honestly say it was one of the best damn showers I have ever taken. We went to medical and had them look at Erin's knee and she got ice to try and bring down the swelling overnight, we had our blisters popped and wrapped...yes I know way nasty. And we ate dinner and went to sleep in our pink tent with the mental knowledge that we still had another day and another 13.1 miles ahead of us which was such a psychologically exhausting thought.

However, day 2 arrived just as day 1 ended with the endless chatter of the random people in the tent next to us who really enjoyed talking very loud to each other even though they were in a 4x4 tent together. Love it...ok not really! So at 0745 we headed out for day 2...let me just say I was so impressed with Erin because her knee was swollen and wrapped in an ace bandage, her blisters were nasty and she looked miserable. The first mile was easy and then came more agony as we counted down the miles constantly trying to keep each other going and finding random landmarks and goals to accomplish...lets get to the next rest stop, lets get to mile 6 because 6+7+13, lets get to mile 10 because that is lunch and well we only have 3 miles after that we can't give up, right? We talked about everything on this trip from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to our families to how every muscle in our body hurt to how to have global peace (ok that was a little too deep even for us). The picture of us on the left is at mile 13 on the 2nd day and I was so impressed that we were still able to stand let alone smile for that picture.

This experience was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do physically, however for me it was even more taxing mentally because getting through day 1 was hard but knowing there was a day 2 was psychological torture. And getting yourself through day 2 with the pain of day 1 was truly a feat. But it was an amazing experience and a huge accomplishment...seeing and talking to so many people who had or were currently touched by the illness was such a powerful motivator. The Avon Breast Cancer Walk motto is "In it to end it," however we decided by the end that our motto was,"In it to end us," since we were in so much pain. But we finished and it was an experience that both of us will never forget and today over massages and lunch Erin said those fateful words to me,"I want to do it again." And so I said to her,"Ok." So we will be back for round 2 but we will not use diaper rash cream as it still gave us blisters and I got a rash, we will train for it and we will smuggle wine into our bags for our night of camping!

And I know this won't surprise you at all but what did I decide to do last night even with all the pain...well of course I wanted to cook. So I made Mediterranean Chicken Stacks and I will be honest there is no pic because I was just too tired but its a really good recipe with great flavors as it has chicken, eggplant, goat cheese and tomatoes...perfect for an end of summer meal. But I did pair it with a great Mourvedre and I took a pic of the label today when I was more mobile and here it is: