Making Our Way Downtown...

There is so much to tell and convey and talk about, that I have to break this up into sections over a few days...because I know you, my friends...you love a diversion (who doesn't?) and then you will get behind in your work or laundry or Tivo-viewing and you'll blame me...so...

Let's just say this...I am 100% certain that I will not be able to squeeze my delicate little toes into those hot black-suede, 4-inch heeled, fuchsia-bowed Kate Spade slingbacks for at least another week...but if I learned nothing else this weekend at the Avon 2-day Walk for Breast Cancer, it was that my sacrifices pale in comparison...and blisters don't need chemo.

But I am getting ahead of myself...let's start at the beginning...a good place to start...

Day 1, Friday the 9th

On Friday afternoon, maybe an hour and a half out from our planned 2 p.m. departure, I was still unshowered and proud with my suitcase and clothes and makeup and shoes and new sneakers strewn about the bedroom as I sat in front of the computer emailing friends, checking Facebook and surfing dlisted.com or epicurious.com or tylerflorence.com (midday eye-candy...Mary told me this weekend that she met him once, and that he is an arrogant pr*ck...oh, even better!)...I know, am such a procrastinator...(another story...). So the doorbell chimes, penetrating my web surfing trance, reminding me that I still had tons of stuff to do...and there on the other side of the front door stands my girl, Kathy...our team inspiration and de facto Jughead leader...and she is there, taking time out of her day -- and for her this is one day after a treatment and one day before embarking on this 39 mile Walk. So...she is there to thank me for making her family dinner the night before....unbelievable, really, with all that is going on, she is remembering her manners too...speaks a lot to what Kathy is made of. Ok, so I will take a little credit for busting out a turkey dinner and sausage-leek stuffing and sweet potato puree and homemade cranberry sauce on a Wednesday afternoon (thankfully, sistergirlfriend Lisa handled the dessert...a lovely warm apple crisp...)...but I love to cook, I told Kathy over and over...this was fun for me, the endorphin rush when I make a meal for another person is so steady and strong, I can only imagine it must be like mainlining some illicit substance... So yes, I couldn't have been happier to do it...especially for her.

So Kath and I stand on the front steps and chit chat and talk about how excited we are for the weekend, to bond and spend time with great friends...and then Suse drives up and drops off my official "Jugheads" t-shirt that she had just picked up from Kathy minutes before, and then tells me she is off to an eyebrow wax...even though now, we are only an hour out from our planned departure time. So I remind her..."we said drinks at 4, so hop to it..." I bid farewell to both the girls and run upstairs to finish my weekend prep...and I do so, in record time. At 1:55 we pull out of the driveway, Rob as chauffeur, and swing around to grab Mary before we head back to retrieve Lisa and Suse (the Beard Sisters) at Suse's house. And leaving weepy kids, frazzled husbands and Suse's inlaws behind, we jammed the Volvo with 8 billion bags (only one belonging to me, I might add...) and were off. Of course Rob was secretly enjoying the girl-centric conversation on the way in...you know, how many pairs and what kind of undies did we pack...whether or not we waxed...should we hire a set of buff masseuses to soothe us post-Walk...? He couldn't have been happier to drop us at the door of The Shoreham on 55th...our home for the next 36 hours.

So we settle and unpack and ready for the night and, still waiting for Sam and Helen to make their appearance, we head out for cocktails...Suse and I enjoying a spiked apple cider laden with bourbon that made Suse whoop at the top of her lungs and my eyes to immediately fall into "hi, I'm baked" mode while the others sipped their chardonnay or cabernet or malbec or sauvignon blanc. And we all batted our eyes at the bartender and sampled the salty breadsticky/warm and cheesy bar snacks...and we promised him I would write all about it...a nice start to the weekend, right?

Well, even better...after finally catching up with Sam and Helen over at The Shoreham, we headed out to meet ADP and Jodi over at BLT Steak for the ceremonial weekend kickoff...8 Jugheads at one table in the dead center of the room...and we toasted and laughed and the chatting was non-stop. All eyes were upon us, this group of animated, peppy women...even in this bustling spot. We scarfed the goose liver pate and gruyere popovers to start and segued right into our steakhouse salads and Wagyu beef and short ribs and roasted halibut and crunchy hash browns and baby brussels sprouts and cheesy potato gratin...all washed down with the Atticus John Cabernet that I chose after the sommelier brought me a 3-wine blind tasting...and of course, this bottle was the most pricey of the three at $70...even in blind tastings I overspend. And then there was the sticky toffee pudding and the peanut butter chocolate mousse at the end...yum. So we had the best time, and none of us stopped talking or laughing at one another's stories...further bonding for the big undertaking that was ahead of us. A clean cut preppy man in a suit and tie came over from another table and offered to take a picture at the end of our meal, and though he had some trouble with my little digital point and shoot, he captured our exuberant delight to be there with one another...and when he was done, he said: "for you...from New Orleans to New York City..." and he bowed and walked off...a fitting end to our night. We hugged and kissed and said goodbye outside on 57th Street...promising to see each other, and the extended Jughead sisterhood, bright and early the next morning on 12th Avenue and 44th Street...at 5:45 a.m.....

Day 2, Saturday the 10th

I don't remember the alarm ringing, but I do remember Mary telling me that I talked in my sleep as I rose to partake of a shower at 5:15 that morning...and I admit I wondered if I shared anything incriminating as I slept, but she insisted I had not. And I remember the Beard Sisters packing tons of "what if" items in their backpacks...Band-aids, Aleve, Motrin, Flonase, Polysporin, Tums, ice packs, needle and thread...virtual walking first-aid kits. And Mary and I laughed that we were so completely unprepared for any snafu...both of us youngest children in families of 5...thank god Mrs. Beard raised dependable women and that they were our friends. So, all dressed in our pink Jugheads team shirts, Mary, the Beard Sisters and I met Helen and Sam in The Shoreham lobby and grabbed cabs to our meeting spot on 12th Avenue. And it was there that the Jugheads first congregated as a complete team...

So we hugged and cheered and posed and Kathy's best friend, PJ, brought along her sister, Margaret, and Margaret's wife, Jill...and they carried signs that morning that said "We Support Team Jughead"...and Margaret and Jill took pictures our team against that early morning sky, all of us happy and bright...26 miles ahead of us. But soon after we met, we began our Walk up the Westside, along the Hudson River. And this is the part of the Walk that is easy...I met Rob's sister, Megan...the same sister-in-law into whom I bumped at the JoBros concert back in July...and she walked with me and Sam those first two miles. And at each of those early rest stops, we Jugheads would re-group and find one another and snap some pictures and eat some pre-made pb&j on graham crackers and refill our water bottles...and on we walked...up the Westside, through Washington Heights and back down to Harlem and then in Riverside Park, where Margaret and Jill awaited us with cheers and signs...a welcome sight, a boost...so then it was the Upper Westside and then to Central Park where we stopped for the mass Walker lunch...this was 9 miles in and we all still felt great.

After lunch some of the group became separated from the rest of the pack as we headed passed Lincoln Center, down 9th Avenue through Hell's Kitchen...and it was at mile 13 where most of us met up again. This was our midway point, and as we rested and snacked and re-hydrated, an Avon Walk volunteer approached us and said: "Ladies, you have reached your mid-point, we have shuttles waiting to take you to Wellness Village if you are ending your Walk here." And we saw these giant buses and these Walkers getting on-board and we all looked at one another...and we looked at Kathy in her pink bandanna over her scalp...the only Walker we saw the entire weekend who was sporting the obvious signs of treatment...and she was there, still on the go...still walking...and not a one of us wanted to stop.

So we headed off to our second 13 miles...through Chelsea and down to the Village...and that is where we started to run into some trouble. The twisty Village streets, filled with tourists who were stopping in front of us, had us moving at a sluggish pace...and as the frustration set in I began to notice a burning in my right knee...and I ignored it. Along Bleecker Street, we began to lose some of the remaining group...Sam and Mary and Helen and Pina and Nancy and Chris and Dana and Susan M. were no longer in sight...Ellen and Betsy and the YMCA posse had been long gone, since mile 9...as had ADP and Jodi and Kim... and I was walking with my besties, the Beard Sisters, when we noticed in the window of a pizza place, that same "We Support Team Jughead" sign that Jill and Margaret had been carrying with them since we met this morning at 5:45 a.m....so we turned around and saw them across the street, on the southwest corner of Bleecker and MacDougal jumping and cheering and yelling: "Go Jugheads! Go!"....and soon Kathy and PJ and Kerri and Wendy and Teri and Kristen caught up with us at the pizza window and saw our cheering section and the sign...and our spirits were so lifted by their presence...I had tears dripping from my eyes, as they had been all day, so overwhelmed by the emotion of it all...this inexplicable teariness gripped me...but I began a full-on bawl as we walked further up Bleecker and found the other sign attached to a fire hydrant: "Kathy Rail Welch Your (sic) My Hero"...Jill and Margaret cheering us on some more...

We snaked through SoHo to Canal Street at a snail's pace...and our moods were iffy at best (even a little Duff Goldman/Ace of Cakes sighting only entertained us briefly...). It wasn't until we hit City Hall Plaza and mile 14 that my right knee and ankle had become a real problem...I was certain they were sprained, and Suse said she heard it pop while I walked. But the Beard Sisters were by my side, and I wasn't stopping...I didn't care what price I would pay later or what damage I was doing...we stayed the course and with Kathy, we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, snapping pics along the way, dodging more tourists...me walking like Frankenstein or some amputee on this knee...trying to descend the steps once we hit Brooklyn, Wendy and Teri laughing their a**es off at me...and it was hilarious even though it hurt. You know...because we were laughing with each other...all of us felt the burn...Teri had these killer blisters and Wendy said her legs were practically numb and Lisa's foot was throbbing, so she began handing out Aleve as we trudged ahead...entranced...we still had 10 miles to go.

But there was Kathy...looking amazing...walking like a champ...not one complaint.

And then we reached the Manhattan Bridge...who knew this b*stard stepchild of the New York City bridges would hold within a critical point for Team Jughead....

...To Be Continued....

Friday Photos

1: The Goddess Herself...

2: Kathy and me, against the morning sky, pre-Walk...

3: A little sausage-leek stuffing about to be mixed...

4: Mary, Lisa and me amongst a small percentage of our luggage, pre-check-in at The Shoreham....

5: Spicy delicious bourbon on an Autumn Friday...what could be more fitting?

6: Sam, Helen and ADP taking in the scene at BLT Steak...

7: ADP, wine and fork in hand...about to attack the table full of tasty fat-laden treats...

8: (standing) Mary, me, Suse & Lisa (The Beard Sisters); (seated) Sam, Helen, ADP & Jodi...the pre-Walk dinner feast...

Saturday Photos

9: Sam, me, Mary, Lisa & Suse...all smiles at 5:30 a.m....

10: The Jugheads unite at the starting line...39 miles ahead of us...

11: A sea of Jugheads...

12: Dana at Mile 13...with aching feet and a busted knee, she joined the rest of us for 13 more...

13: Kathy and PJ...this Bleecker Street pizza joint loves Jugheads...

14: Suse, me and Lisa on the Brooklyn Bridge...swollen knees, exhaustion setting in and forced, pained smiles...but the best day ever...

15: That pink bandanna...the Jughead beacon of hope...Kath crosses the Brooklyn Bridge....