All last week I’d had a vague sense of the blahs. No energy, higher stress level than normal, worrying about all manner of little and not-so-little things. Along came the Avon Walk San Francisco, which I’d signed up to support several months ago. I prepared throughout the week and Friday afternoon packed up my single duffel bag and hydration pack/backpack and headed up to Rockridge BART to leave the car for the weekend and head into the city.
Got to the Westin St. Francis (the host hotel) in plenty of time to check in, pick up my t-shirts, and check into my tiny room for the evening. With an early-early start on Saturday morning and Sean out of town, staying in the city overnight was my best hope for sleep!
We had an all-crew meeting for a couple of hours, then I went and had a nice Indian meal nearby, and tried to get to sleep as early as possible. I managed to eke out about 5 hours of sleep before getting up and heading downstairs to the shuttle buses to take us to opening ceremonies at Golden Gate Park. From there, we met up as a team and took another shuttle to a lot where we picked up our vehicles for the weekend – a cargo van (which I drove) and a car (which another team member drove). We took those up to our quick stop location at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley (Marin County). When we arrived, all that was set up was the portable toilets – within two hours we had it ready for walkers.
We were ready plenty early but once the walkers started coming through we were kept very busy pouring water and Gatorade, answering questions, checking on health and welfare (and referring people to the medical crew if needed) and generally providing lots of energy and support at mile 16.2.
In the late afternoon we broke everything down and took it all back to the Wellness Village (aka camp) and set up our tents for the overnight. I had help from a couple volunteer “tent angels” so I was able to just relax a bit then put my bag inside for ballast. The camp was at Crissy Field at The Presidio. It’s a beautiful waterfront location but it’s also blustery as hell and, as an historic site, we were not allowed to stake our tents. When it was time to go to sleep (I ended up having the tent to myself) I scattered myself and my stuff as widely as I could to keep the tent from collapsing/blowing on top of me.
A wonderful hot dinner and socializing followed, and a speech from Suze Orman (who is just as annoying and self-promoting in person as she is in the media). I didn’t think she was the right type of speaker for this event, but that’s feedback I can provide when we’re asked.
A good night’s sleep, tent breakdown, and a hot breakfast, and we were ready for Day 2. Since the route is so much shorter the second day, our Quick Stop wasn’t needed, so we helped to break down camp, then returned our vehicles and waited to be bused to closing ceremonies. We had a few hours to relax and cheer on walkers, then the closing ceremonies began and were moving, as always. Next year I’d like to do a crew team that has assigned duties on both days, but for the most part, it was still a great experience. And I realized on my way home that in helping support others, it truly lifted my own spirits as well. I find myself energized rather than exhausted by the weekend’s activities!
During the weekend, I signed up to be involved next year as well! Full set of photos on flickr.