Oso nice

Last week I tried a new route, along Oso Creek. I stayed in the planned park portion of the trail. It is very pretty! The creek runs through the middle of the park and the trails make a loop around (and over) it. Part of the trail is paved and the rest is dirt covered in wood chips. The wood chip portion has some pretty nice little hills. I took pictures with my phone but I can't get them onto the computer right now :( In the meantime I found these:

The loop is about 1.5 miles, so I do it twice. Today two ladies stopped me and asked how far the trails run. I told them the route I take, and gave them the mileage. (There are other trails branching off to other areas, I'll try them sometime). Then I told them the reason I know the mileage is because I am tracking it for my training -- training to walk 60 miles.

One of the ladies immediately put it together with the 3Day for the Cure. She said she would love to do it, but was afraid of the $2,300. I told her all about the wonderful support available from the coaches, other walkers, the message boards and even about finding a team. I wish I had brought some of my business cards! Anyway, I really talked it up, and told her she should attend one of the Getting Started meetings to get more information and then make her decision. I hope she does!

spinning

I keep thinking about updating my blog, but recently my head is just spinning with so many other things. I am finding it difficult to keep my brain focused enough to make sense of anything longer than a few sentences. I'm going to try this anyway, so bear with me.

Training
I am right on target to reach my goal of 44 miles this month. Just two more walks to go - yippeee! I might go on a 5 mile hike this weekend, that would bring me above my goal =)

I'm still wondering about my cushy new shoes. There are little issues here and there. Plus I am still getting that left foot pain at 40 minutes into my walks. It doesn't last long, but it seems fairly consistent. I never noticed it before wearing these shoes.

Fundraising
I've passed out a few cards and thought I was generating some interest, but haven't received any new donations in the past few weeks. For the past week or so I've been trying to get my newsletter finished. Because of the aforementioned spinning brain, I am having trouble working on it.

My teammate, Becky, and I did our first GNO (girl's night out)for fundraising purposes. It was just the two of us and her sister. Becky made a super cute donation bucket that had our team name and logo on it! Financially, we were not as successful as we had hoped. Our first two donations came from the bartender and food server at the Red Robbin's where we had dinner. Our last few were from the bartender and food server at the bar/pool hall place where we ended our night. The bartender there was actually very excited about our journey and wanted to make an announcement over the loudspeaker. His boss wouldn't let him :( We are willing to try another GNO, but we obviously have to figure out something different... different clothes, different number of people, different types of establishments? Not sure.


...Insert strong, funny, insightful closing statement here...

How goes it?

Hat: I've never been a hat/visor person, but with all of this outside time I've been making an effort. Recently I bought myself a necklace (pink ribbon cross) and I got a free hat. It is black with a pink ribbon on it, nice and simple. Wow, I'm liking this hat wearing thing! What was I thinking before?? It was great while walking in the misty rain this morning, and it does wonders for my grey roots ;)

Shoes: Gosh my shoes are pretty! Not sure how they're working for me though :( During 2 of the 3 walks in these shoes, I've gotten a new strange pain in my left foot. The route is the same so it's not that. It's sort of a crampy/sharp pain starting between the balls of my foot and radiating to the toe(s).

Socks: Toe socks?

Training: So happy with the last few weeks of pre-training. I've been sticking to it. I've even lost 4 pounds - woooot woooot!

Fundraising: Wore my nifty free hat to pick up the girl from school yesterday. It got me noticed and I gave out two of my business cards - yeah, one person actually asked for it :) Sometime this week I hope to get a new newsletter out to update my friends and family. Hopefully a GNO this weekend, AND canning in front of WM in a few weeks. Let's go donations!

Hat Haiku

From the sun and rain

you protect, and hide bad hair.

What took me so long?

Shoe Clinic

Taaaa daaaaaaaaa! My new shoes! I feel like I'm walking on clouds : ) As a matter of fact they are called Cumulus 12 - by Asics.

I was the second person to arrive at RoadRunner Sports for the Shoe Clinic. Only "a few" other people had RSVP'd so they had decided to help everyone individualy. By the end of the hour about 12 people had shown up. More than the people at RoadRunner had been expecting... be sure to RSVP people. I was super glad I got there a few minutes earlier, the entire process took an hour.

The first step was the Shoe Dog evaluation. My feet were measured for size. My left foot is an entire 1/2 size larger than my right. Why did I not ever notice this?? (kinda reminds me of the bra fitting experience I had last week. Since that's not 3Day related, you will be spared the details) Next I stepped onto a mat on the floor to find out where I put the most pressure on my feet while standing, and to evaluate my arch. The treadmill test was next. As I walked on the treadmill (at a comfy pace for me), a video camera recorded from behind (not OF my behind, thank goodness!!). The video was used to check for under or over pronation, foot placement and the angle of my legs. From all of this it was determined that I needed a neutral plus shoe- neutral stability, and the plus for extra cushioning (for my poor heels, I am a hard heel walker).

We made a custom insert which involved molding the material to the bottom of my foot. It was nice and warm. Later I found out the insert costs $80 - yikes!

Then it was time to try on shoes! The lady helping me was very helpful and patient. She had to bring out 3 different sizes before we could even start. I tried on 3 different pairs of shoes - Asics, New Balance and Brooks. All 3 felt fine, but the Asics were just soooooo cushy! With the discrepancy in the size of my feet the shoe lady is a little worried that my left foot will get uncomfortable once it swells. I ended up with a size 9 (!!) because the smaller, right foot was just swimming in the 9 1/2. RR's policy, though, is that I have 60 days to exchange the shoes.... even after walking in them. Yay, go RR!

I left the store with my new shoes, 3 pair of wicking socks, and a RR VIP membership.
Not the $80 custom inserts. Shoe lady had specifically recommended I not get them.

This morning I was super excited to walk the Plan B and try out my cloud shoes. At first something was rubbing my heel, but adjusting the pad inside did the trick. My feet felt good, and I didn't have any of that strange lower leg pain :) My gargantuan left foot didn't feel cramped at the end of my (nearly) 3 mile walk, either. I know the longer walks will be the true test, but I won't hit those until next month. For now, I'm happy : )

Is there a sticker for that?

The Sticker Chart. Used by parents and teachers worldwide to reward kids for reading, good behavior, using the potty (yay!), getting chores done...the list is endless. Kids just love getting their sticker and placing it on their chart with pride. So simple, just little stickers. Nice.

The Sticker Chart is also being brought to you by... Susan G Komen for the Cure!
Yes, a sticker chart for us (mostly)adults. I had forgotten about my 3Day sticker chart until a month or so ago when I was feeling sort of down, as if I wasn't making any progress in my journey. I dug the paper out of my 3Day folder and felt a tiny bit of joy with each sticker I was able to place. Tiny round stickers of joy : )

Tonight is the Shoe Clinic just down the street from me. I have been looking forward to this, can't wait to get new shoes. On my Plan B walk this morning I suddenly had a thought that brought a smile to my face. I get to put another sticker on my chart tonight..."attended a clinic (in person or over the phone)". Yippeeeeee!

Here's my 3Day chart today. Can't wait until it's full 'coz then it will be time to walk!

Tuesday thought

It's easier to wallow in I can't than it is to admit you can.

Okay, I know that doesn't describe everyone. Certainly not my mom who truly believes she can do ANYTHING (and I think she's right). I'm not talking about things like changing the lightbulb or getting the lid off of the peanut butter jar. I'm talking about everyday lifestyle changes.

At about 10 minutes into another day of a perfectly executed Plan B (Yay Plan B!), my right knee started hurting. Not the left knee that keeps me from running (yeah, it's the knee that does that!), or my favorite intermittent anterior lateral right lower leg pain, either. This new small pain sent my mind into overdrive, questioning my ability to walk 60 miles in 3 days. Snippets of the sage advice I've gathered from the blogs of seasoned 3 Day walkers were swirling around in my head... "Something you barely notice while walking 3 miles, can become unbearable after mile 10" Yikes! What was I thinking taking on this challenge??

Training. Training is the key. I believed it even before I read all of those awesome blog posts about it. I KNOW I need to train, and that is my intent.

Yes my intent:( Why oh why can't I just stick with being motivated??

You see shortly after rallying myself with my "training will conquer all" pep-talk, I started thinking about reality. Very soon I'll have to be going back to work, and the kids will be out of school for the summer. In the past, each of these two things alone were enough to get me out of my exercise routine, but now the double whammy is approaching. All of the potential roadblocks.. time, energy, motivation... Yikes.

But here's the thing, it's easy to make excuses. I happen to know for a fact that there are people can make it all work. People who manage to work, have kids, be a good parent and spouse, and still make time for themselves. It's not going to be easy, but I have to make myself be one of those people.

Any advice?? Maybe I'll employ some of those (hokey) tools I learned way back in WW. Hmmmm... time to dig out those books. Maybe I'll share with you later : )

like S. Armstrong

All day I've been feeling like I need to stretch out my poor muscles!

Monday - or - should I let it go?

So... after that great start last week, I ended up not walking for the rest of the week...kinda. I can rattle off the reasons/excuses but why bother? I am not discouraged, however, and plan to wear walking clothes to drop off the girl in the morning tomorrow. Oh, and to walk, I also plan to walk.

The "kinda" part is that on Sunday my family took me to Disneyland for Mother's Day!
Yay! It was a fantastic day - not too crowded and not too hot. The thing is, we did A LOT of walking! Tons. In fact, my thighs are still sore from all the stairs (that darn Tarzan tree house). I would LOVE to know how far I walked yesterday. We were there for 11 1/2 hours. Granted not all of that time was spent walking, but still plenty of walking was done.

I tried to approximate the distance using mapmywalk.com but couldn't tell enough detail even with the satellite view. Is it wrong that I want to be able to get "credit" for all of that walking? Without it I fall short of my goal of 11 miles per week :( That's not cool. Don't cheat me out of my miles, man! Maybe I shouldn't obsess over this. On the other hand, maybe I should check out another mapping site!
Hold on a sec...

Okay I'm back. I figure at minimum I walked 3 miles, I mean seriously? Over the course of 11+ hours, I must have done at least that. I went and made a fake DL workout totaling 3 miles. Is that bad? Sigh. Obsess much?

Looking forward (now that my past feels somewhat vindicated) I'll be doing my girl school walk tomorrow morning, and at least two more mornings this week. Right? Wednesday night is my local shoe clinic - woot woot! I am really looking forward to getting new shoes. In fact tomorrow I am working for some of my shoe money - by taste testing potato chips : ) Nice!

She did what now?

First off, I'd like to give a big "woot woot" to my new bringthegirltoschooldressedinwalkinggearandgettowalkingbeforeeventhinkingofheadingbacktothecar Plan! Or Plan B for short. Day two was a success.

Did: do my walk first thing after drop-off
Did not: even contemplate changing my plan

Did: look at the houses I passed and give each a thumbs up or thumbs down
Did not: figure out how to ever afford a house

Did: peer into the cars parked around the local high school, looking for clues as to the personalities of the teen drivers
Did not: like that most cars were cleaner than mine

Did: see a lizard sunning itself
Did not: see anyone I know

Did: ponder wicking socks, shirts and bras
Did not: decide whether or not there is such a thing as wicking underwear

Did: pump my hands into fists to ward of some of the swelling
Did not: employ the use of jazz hands

Did: enjoy my walk
Did not: regret a second of it

Breaking my habit

I am a creature of habit. This can be either a pro or a con depending on what the particular habit is :)

I hate it when I need to go to a store that doesn't open until 9 or 10am. Target is my friend, open at 8 - yay! I can go and get my stuff done while I'm already out dropping the girl off at school in the morning. Once I get home I get sucked into all the other stuff and have a tough time getting out again. Sad, isn't it? I'm pretty sure it's nature over nurture on this one. I am what I am.

Well, now it's time for me get my pre-training into a more consistent schedule. Let's say, hypothetically, that my current morning routine is.. drop off the girl at school, come home and check my email, harvest my farm, read a few 3-Day blogs, etc... hypothetically. On Friday let's add in a stop at the (hypothetical) donut shop for a boston creme and the local paper. Hypothetically speaking. Where does my walking fit in to all of this? Unfortunately, for all of my good intentions the walking seems to get pushed to the back burner. No hypothetical there.

In the not toooo distant past I went to the gym about 4 days a week. I had decided it was something I needed to do, and felt strongly enough about it to turn it into a habit. Once summer hit I had to deal with the kid issue and as hard as I tried, the girl was NOT enjoying her time at the gym's kids-fun time-zone-club thing. By default, my habit was broken.

Over the weekend I spent some time at my fav new time waster,err ummm, website, mapmywalk.com. I mapped out a walk that would start at the girl's school. Yes that's right. This morning I put on my walking attire and once the girl was safely in her classroom I set out on my walk. It was a good walk, a relatively pain-free walk, and an introspective walk. I pondered more about this habit thing, and how much work it is to change once a routine has taken root. I liked this walk, and even more I liked that I got it done.

I plan on doing this two or three times a week to get myself going again. Not sure I'd be happy doing the same walk 4 days a week. That sort of conflicts with my creature of habit thing, huh? Oh well, I'm a complicated creature : )

50 %

Yahooooo!
I've raised $1,500!!
Half way to my personal goal of $3,000!!!

I am blessed to have such generous people in my life =)