relay for life part 2

Still no aches and pains, I had my usual walk yesterday as well so I wouldn't seize up. I met other members of my team yesterday and they all feel great.

The candle light ceremony was hard, a very emotional time. Each team had ten candles to put around the track and there was over 190 teams so you can imagine just how many there were.

All those people laughing and singing and walking and then all of a sudden silence as the ceremony started, you could have heard a pin drop. They played two beautiful songs as a symbolic dinner table setting was wheeled around the track and then the commentator explained what it meant, well that set me off and then I set daune off then the other members so we had to have a group hug (with me stuck in the middle).

Nobody could really sleep, I dozed off for a while in a chair but we were all so hyped up we had to keep on walking. As the dawn broke and the mist cleared over the mountains the most beautiful rainbow appearred, the colours seemed to leak into the clouds and everyone stopped to look. The eternal sign of hope seemed to appear just at the right time and gave us all the energy to do the last three hours.

As we all packed up we said good bye to the new friends we had made, everybody helping each other out taking the tents down, all of us still on that wonderful high and as we did that last lap as a team for the closing ceremony we vowed we would be back next year.

Packing up was a lot easier than setting up, and one of the team members took the tents home so we didn't have to pack those onto the ute. Duanne as usual couldn't do the ropes and I wasn't much help so she spied some young dishy looking guy and grabbed him to do the knots. I'm going to buy her a book on knots for her birthday this year. The drive up the range was slow and careful both of us chatting to keep each other awake. I had a quick cup of tea and a loo break and then I set off for my 45 mins drive back home. Luckily the roads were clear and I took the back ones so I could drive slower. I fell into bed when I got home but couldn't sleep so I got up and pottered, I dozed off for half an hour in the chair and that set me up till bedtime. I am the one with the cow hat on, the look on my face is because I have just remembered I have the cow on my head, Duane is the one with her arm around me.

Waking up monday morning I felt great, no aches or pains and I was ready to do it all again.

The only casualty was my socks, I'd worn two great big holes in them, I haven't even checked the bottom of my runners to see if they had holes. No wonder they said to bring two pairs of shoes and at least three pairs of socks.

If there is a relay for life near you I recommend you join a team or get your own team up and running.