Welcome...

My name is Monica Schulze-Langowski, and Denver 2010 will represent my 10th walk since 2004. I have only walked twice (Michigan 2007 and Denver 2009) but have been literally married to the Chicago Gear and Tent gang since 2004. This year, along with crewing Chicago, I am traveling to Denver to be part of their Pit crews, and will walker-stalk Cleveland beside my husband.

I became involved in the 3 Day almost by accident. After moving to Chicago with my husband from Los Angeles, we were looking for a multiday event to do together. He always waxed poetic about the California AIDS rides and how great and life changing the events were. Well, there was no multiday AIDS ride here, but he stumbled upon the 3 Day. We signed up for Gear and Tent, and did the event. It was hard - that was the year there were dual camps, and in our case, dual relocations. Lots of rain and mud and tired angry walkers yelling at us, and more rain. Oh, did I mention it rained? I found the experience...well...exhausting. I met lots of people, some who had been affected by breast cancer, and was satisfied that I did my philanthropic duty for the year.

That December, my husband and I dutifully sent out our holiday letters to friends and family, telling of our summer adventure. A few weeks later, I received a letter in the mail from my grandmother in Germany, hastily written in broken English that in 1973, she had a double mastectomy. My jaw hit the floor....I was not aware that this ever happened. I immediately called my parents and asked why this was not ever mentioned. In typical German denial, my father simply states..."she had it. Now she doesn't. End of discussion. We didn't feel like it was important". Jaw...floor...again.

I looked at my husband and said..."sign us up again".

What we did that summer all of a sudden had a personal investment. Now I understood, now...I wanted to do more. Six years later...I am still at it, and every year become more and more attached to this event.

So, of course when Denver came available as a new city, my husband and I signed up to walk together, because this is where we originally met. We kind of trained - certainly not nearly as much as we should have - but I am proud to say that I had the full walker experience - knee problems, a visit to sports medicine, a ride in a sweep van on Day 3, being the last walker in to closing, a trip to the emergency room for 7 hours because of severe dehydration (oh, my very bad...) and some of the most amazing new friends along the way. Denver probably changed me even more that the other events, because of the intimacy of the walk, everyone eagerly shared their journeys with each other and at the end of it...almost everyone knew everyone else.

This year promises to be filled with amazing journeys and tales of inspiration and loss. I wouldn't trade it for anything, because today, we are one day closer to finding a end to breast cancer.