60 MILES for BUSTS!

Missing it

2011-08-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

So here it is, months and months after the 3Day walk in San Diego. I had an AMAZING journey, which I wrote about here... http://debs3day.weebly.com

I doubt anyone checks my blog after all this time, but there it is, closure :)

Today out of the blue I got curious as to where I was at this time last year, and decided to log on and take a look. I was 16 weeks into the 24 week training program, and feeling good. Sometimes I really miss my whole 3 day experience. It made me feel as if I was DOING something, making a difference.

The 3 Day walks have started up again, and I do follow them a little. It kind of makes me sad, but I know there just isn't room for that in my life right now :(

Time flies!

2010-11-12T22:27:00.000-08:00

Wow. It's been a loooooong time since I've posted. I would like to thank my legions of faithful readers for not hounding me day and night while anxiously awaiting my newest words of wisdom and wit. In fact, you all did a great job of remaining silent. Oh. So. Silent.

So here's the thing - Life. It got complicated and it got busy (I'm now working 2 part time jobs, soccer season is upon us, kids have homework, etc etc etc). And as important as the 3-Day is to me, I was feeling as if the whole thing was taking too much time away from my family, and my duties as a family member. Ultimately, family wins.

No excuses, just reasons. My training has not at all been up to par for those same reasons.

I have my list of things I still need to buy (not sure I can get it all), and things I need to borrow. Pretty sure the borrowed part is covered - I've got great friends!
I could print out my credentials RIGHT NOW, but I won't. That would make this seem even more real, and I'm not ready for that yet.

So here I am, less than one week from the big event. (YIKES!!) I'm a little nervous, and a lot disappointed in myself. I wish I was more ready for this than I am, but I don't live in a vacuum. Life happens. Onward I will go - ready or not, here I come!

Money raised to date: $2,735 !!!

Help me #FightBreastCancer

2010-09-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

** Copied from the #fightbreastcancer facebook event page **

Today, September 30, may be our biggest event ever, as we ask people from around the globe to make a promise to take action against breast cancer — all through social media. This global effort starts with you, posting to your Facebook profile or Twitter and then asking your friends to do the same. We’ve made it easy for you to do.

How does it work? From midnight (EDT) September 30 to midnight October 1, we are kicking off Breast... Cancer Awareness Month by asking Facebook/Twitter users and bloggers to visit www.69-seconds.org. On that page, you can take action and update your status using the hashtag #fightbreastcancer.

What is a “hashtag”? Hashtags allow you to quickly identify special topics, and help spread information while organizing and making it searchable within social media.

Why 69 seconds? Because that’s how often a woman dies of breast cancer somewhere in the world. A statistic we’re trying to change. It’s also about how long it takes to #fightbreastcancer by choosing to drive change, share support or educate at www.69-seconds.org.

What’s the goal? We hope to mobilize millions to take 69 seconds to #fightbreastcancer AND break the Guinness World Record for Most Widespread Social Network Message in 24 Hours.

How can you join the fight?

1. Visit www.69-seconds.org and take action!

2. From the website, change your Facebook and/or Twitter status to one of the following:

• Every 69 seconds, a woman dies of breast cancer somewhere in the world. #fightbreastcancer at http://69-seconds.org/.

• Today is not about raising funds. It’s about raising virtual voices around the world to take action in 69 seconds or less. Visit http://69-seconds.org/, post #fightbreastcancer to Facebook and Twitter or blog about it before midnight and help turn the virtual world pink. How do you promise to #fightbreastcancer?
3. Use #fightbreastcancer in your statuses pertaining to breast cancer, Susan G. Komen for the Cure® or Breast Cancer Awareness Month several times during the day!

4. And lastly, make your Facebook posts public for the day. Facebook recently overhauled their privacy controls for personal profiles which could potentially compromise our Guinness World Record. In order to be considered eligible for our attempt, your statuses must be open to the public. Here are instructions to help you make your statuses public:
• In Facebook, click on “Account” in the top right corner
• Scroll and select “Privacy Settings” in the drop down menu
• Under “Sharing on Facebook,” select “Customize Settings”
• Under “Things I Share,” select the drop down menu next to “Posts by me”
• Select “Everyone”
• Your status updates are now public
• After midnight (EDT) October 1st, please be sure to change your privacy settings back to where you had them as we don’t want to compromise your privacy.

It costs nothing and takes just a minute of your time – or maybe 69 seconds. So blog about it, post it, tweet it, retweet it, use it in all your statuses and urge everyone you know to do the same.

Wooohooo!

2010-09-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

YIPPEEEEE YIPPEEEEE!!!

On September 19th I officially made it to my fundraising minimum!!!
A very generous donation from my friend Terry and his company ( http://www.yourenglishsuccess.com ) put me over the $2,300 mark. Terry has been an amazing supporter through his own donations, and in his efforts to help me spread the word to his friends and family. THANK YOU!!

When I got the email congratulating me on making my minimum I just sat there in tears. I couldn't help it! I was so overwhelmed with feelings of both relief and utter gratitude. I am so blessed to have such amazing, generous and supportive people surrounding me.

On another note, my knee sucks. After such great success on my 14 mile walk, I had high hopes for my knee. Extreme, out of season, heat has put a bit of a damper on my training. Last weekend I had mapped out a 14 mile route that would enable me to get in my miles while walking to, from and between my kid's soccer games. It was toooo dang hot =( Instead I walked almost 7 miles the next morning before the weather got out of control. My knee hurt before I got home. Maybe it was all the uphill walking, maybe I hadn't been stretching it enough during the week. Maybe the fancy strap doohickey that I bought really doesn't work as well as my homemade ace bandage/folded up napkin contraption. I'm not sure, but I REALLY need to figure this out. Darn you ITB syndrome and you pesky lateral epicondyle!!

Donations to date - $2,470
Miles to date - 243!

like a ray of sunshine

2010-09-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wow. Just wow. I am so thrilled today, I can not even express it. It's a calm, relieved excitement... such relief.

Yesterday was my 14 mile training walk. After the horrible knee pain I've had the past two weekends, I was pretty worried about my Saturday walk. Yes, I managed to make it through the 12 and 13 mile walks, but I was in a lot of pain at the end, plus the rest of the day and the next few days. This ITBS junk doesn't just go away when you stop your long walk. It sticks around and tortures you as you walk up and down the stairs in your house many many many times a day.

I did a lot more researching online, and have started using other stretches, plus I'll be working on strengthening other muscles to help support my walking. I also
tried a different way of wrapping my knee to try and simulate the straps/bands
that can be purchased to help with ITBS. There's no way I want to go to this 3-Day event knowing that I'll be unable to participate in the second day (at least)!
I need to be able to walk two (or three) days in a row.

I am thrilled to say that with this new technique I was able to walk 12 miles before the pain set in!! TWELVE rather than 8! Not only that, but yesterday afternoon and today there has been little to no pain while traversing the stairs. I actually feel that with some more icing I would be able to do a training walk tonight - with wrapping of course. Maybe not the full 10, but something, which was more than before.

This ace bandage wrapping I do will not cut it long term, so I'm going out tomorrow and buying one of the bands made for this kind of thing. The band will be easier to place and easier to tighten, and should do an even better job of keeping me going.

Yay!

short update, long time

2010-09-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

It's been over 2 weeks since I've updated... I'm sure my loyal followers have been worried sick - LMAO!

What can I say? I haven't been feeling my best mentally or physically. Guilt has kept me from writing about my failed mileage. So rather than dwell on what I didn't do, here's what I did do...

** 12 mile training walk

** 13 mile training walk (in the same amount of time it had taken to do 11 miles just 2 weeks prior)

** Had the raffle and did okay, not great, but it's more than we had before

** Got to $1,960 in donations! (not including any of the cash fundraisers)

** Handed out a few more donation forms

** did more research on the ITB pain - it's been super bad, hurting after 8 or 9
miles on the long walks which led to my dropping the shorter weekday walks..

** did a 4 mile weekday walk this week w/o knee pain during but questionable now... but at least I DID it

Trying to get back on track. Hoping my knee makes it through the 14 mile this weekend. Would LOVE to get to where I can walk back-to-back

bummer

2010-08-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

Okay I know I'm a chick, and chicks are known for being emotional... but sheeesh!

Today I am bummed.

Today I am bummed because:

- I could not get my 4 mile walk done (go back to school kids!!... I love you)

- After contacting at least 15 businesses for donations I didn't get a single yes

- ...

- .....

Huh....

Just those two things? Really?

Feels like so much more.....

Huh.

I was truly expecting that to be a much longer list of bum-worthy events.

But it's just two.

Heck, I think I can let that go then.

Nevermind.

Not bummed = )

Countdown - 12 weeks to go

2010-08-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

WHAT?????? Wow. Part of me thinks that feels so far away, and another part fears that it is so close. Wow. This week introduces the 12 mile walk. More 12. I am looking forward to the challenge of walking 12 miles, but just need to figure out how, when and with whom. Details, baby.

So here's how last week went:

Training:

Tuesday - 3 mile walk
Friday - 5 mile walk
Saturday - 4 mile walk
Sunday - 11 mile walk

Total = 23 miles

On Saturday's walk my knee started hurting around mile 3 ... bad knee =( It may
have been brought on by the stair walking I did at the beach the day before. (Yay beach!) At any rate, I ended up cutting that walk short by a mile to get home and deal with the knee.

On Sunday I met my friend/teammate Becky for our 11 mile walk. A portion of the route was along the beach, which was super nice. We stopped at the pier for some stretching, snacking and people watching. Since Becky has problems with foot pain, and I was concerned about my knee, we stopped A LOT and did LOTS of stretching.
At a few points during the walk I felt my pain starting (it starts up by my hip), and through stretches, Advil and a trick I learned from Kate I made it through the entire 11 miles pain free! = )

Fundraising:

Total - $1,750 yipeeee =)

Got two more donations this week - Yay! Thank you Keith (via Terry) and Dr. Tiegs (she's so awesome and I miss working with her)

I've got to keep plugging away. On Sept. 1st I hope to get another update sent out. I figure it's okay to send them monthly now that the 3-Day is so close.

Sunday was another Walmart day. We made $257. We've made less and less each time we've done this. Hopefully our raffle will go well. Maybe we should ask a grocery store if we can sit out on a Sunday. My weekends are about to get super full with kid's soccer, and I know my grocery store is always PACKED on Sundays... Hmmm...

I'm feeling pretty good right now, about both the training and fundraising. Hopefully everything will keep going this way.

other walker

2010-08-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

Dear morning walker,

You know, love and trust your dog.
I don't.
There's a leash law for a reason.
Please be considerate of others.

Sincerely,

Dog fan (yet cautious about dogs I don't know)

Week 13 or bust

2010-08-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

And so begins week 13 in the countdown to week 1... the walk! According to weather.com we'll have a high of 90 degrees today. At 11:30 am it's already 91... hmmm..... Bad news for me since I have no intention of slacking on the walking this week. I feel badly about the lack of miles in week 14. Which brings me to UPDATE!

TRAINING:

Did some nice x-training with workout dvd's. It felt really good. The walking portion of the program suffered a bit this week. I had planned to get in lots of walking prior to the camping trip, but that didn't happen. I did get some hiking in - lots of hills but pretty low miles as far as 3-Day training goes.

Twice I hiked in these hills and rock formations at 7,220 feet. Good for the thighs and rear :)

Did a walk around this beautiful lake, too. This was at about 4,600 ft.

Fundraising:

Total: $1,675 - Yay!

Got my new car magnets. Gave hubby some of my cards since he is enjoying talking with people to get donations for my raffle. Ooooh got the donation from Chivas USA.... FOUR midfield tickets to a game =) Yay! Got a Walmart date this weekend, too.

Thinking of going with a monthly newsletter now that the walk is just over 3 months away. Feeling pretty good about making the minimum, but it will be nice to finally be there.

Late update - Here's 14!

2010-08-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

Way late on the update here! Let's see what happened in week 15....

Training:

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 3 mile walk
Wednesday - rest the knee
Thursday - 3 mile walk
Friday - 30 min cardio
Saturday - 3 miles
Sunday - 8 miles

Week's total = 17 miles
Official Training total = 161.5 miles!

On Saturday I was hoping to get more miles done in the evening after my travels to the Preview Expo in SD. No luck there. Life took over :) I took it a little easy this week in an attempt to not aggravate my knee.

Fundraising:

Total = $1,675 - yipeeee!

Can't wait to get my new car magnets! Need to get moving on getting donations for the raffle (although I did ask a few friends). Trying to get a flyer done but keep getting distracted. Read a blog post about going door to door.. thinking about giving that a shot. I'm feeling okay about funds actually :)

Still waiting for the Chivas USA package!

LOOKING AHEAD: This week hold somewhat of a challenge in getting my longer walks done. We'll be camping at about 7,000 feet.

I know we'll be doing some hiking, but I'm not sure it will be 16 miles worth! My kids sure won't do that much!

We will be going down to the lake and doing a bit of boating too... row boat, kayak, peddle boat, not sure which, but we'll be moving for sure!

The people that you meet

2010-08-17T00:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went on an 8 mile Training Walk. I almost didn't go since there was only one other person signed up. Boy am I glad I went. The route was good, incorporating some moderate hills, but the company was better.

The Training Walk Leader (TWL)was Kate, a 24 year old who is training to walk in her 6th 3-Day! Kate's family has a history of early breast cancer (including an uncle), which was her inspiration to walk starting back in high school. She has participated in both the San Diego and the Colorado walks. Given her family history, she is diligent about doing her self breast examinations. Last summer she felt a lump, and was diagnosed with breast cancer.

As a 4 month survivor she feels good, but is not comfortable with the word "survivor". Not enough time under her belt, she thinks.

I was impressed with Kate's positive spirit. Despite losing her twin to a drunk driver while still in high school. Despite the fact that her long-time boyfriend is getting ready to do his SIXTH tour in Iraq. Despite fighting her own battle with breast cancer. Kate was upbeat, strong and so helpful.

The two other walkers (yup two others showed up - 1st time walkers as well) picked Kate's brain on everything from tent decorations to fundraising. She had some great tips and helpful hints. All questions were welcomed and she loved sharing her experiences.

It turns out Kate had had the same knee/ITB pain that I am going through. Her's had been so bad that her doctor wanted to to surgery to release the tendon. Through stretching and icing she was able to relieve the pain. She gave me some great advice to help me get through the walking, and some therapy tips for before and after the walks. Good stuff!

I made it through the 8 miles pain-free, despite my reservations based on the twinges the night before. At the end, Kate asked me to follow her to her house nearby. When we got there she showed me the camelbac she used before her recently purchased fancy model. On our walk I had mentioned thinking I should try one out just to know for sure whether or not I would like using one (I think it will bug me and make me sweat, but you never know 'til you try). She said I could borrow her pack for a few weeks to try it out. We chatted some more and by the time I left she said I could even use it for the event if I wanted "Just as long as I get it back by the end of the year" she said with a smile.

Not bailing out on that training walk turned out to be a benefit to me in so many ways. I was touched by Kate who is so young and has gone through so much, yet remains hopeful for the future. You just never know who you are going to meet and how they will touch your life.

Preview Expo

2010-08-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went to the San Diego 3-Day for the Cure Preview Expo. I am so glad that I went.

Although I didn't learn a whole lot of new stuff (I've read TONS online), it was great meeting some of the crew and veteran walkers, and getting a glimpse of the excitement to come in November. And I enjoyed getting to know Kim a bit better. Kim and I met through the Share List on the 3-Day website. She is walking in Philly, but doing her training here, where she lives... duh. Kim and I carpooled the 60 miles to the Expo.

There was some interesting spirit wear.

And some inspiration as well.

Luckily I was able to resist purchasing anything more than 4 buttons :)

Seeing double, double....

2010-08-13T13:18:00.001-07:00

....double digits!

Yes folks my walk is now a mere 99 days away!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeek! Just 14 weeks from today I will be walking, walking, walking. Wow.

Can I become a lean mean walking machine by then? (okay forget the lean part, that's just crazy talk) Will I have this knee pain in check? Will I find my other stick of BodyGlide by then? Will I have met my fundraising minimum?

So many questions.

Will I be working by then? Will I have had the time and energy to continue with proper training? Will it be cold at night? How long will the lines be at the showers? How many times will I trip as I make my way to the port a potty in the dark of night?

In less than 100 days I'll have my answers...

Here we go 15!

2010-08-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

Has it really been a whole week since I've posted? Yikes! What can I say? My fatigue continues, but may be improving. I'm having trouble getting the 5 mile weekday walks in. It seems to be a bit too long to squeeze in before hubby goes to work in the morning, and in the evening I always get too busy (or too tired).

This Saturday I'll be traveling to La Jolla for the Preview Expo!! I am soooo excited!! I can't wait to check out every single seminar, booth, table, station... whatever! The more info I can gather, the better =) Not sure how I'm supposed to fit in a 10 mile walk on that day, however.

WEEK 16 UPDATE

Training:

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 3 mile walk
Wednesday - 0
Tuesday - 0
Friday - 2.5 mile walk
Saturday - 5 mile walk
Sunday 10 mile walk!!!!!!!!!

Total this week - 20.5 miles

Total since June 7th - 144.5

Yes you read that right! On Sunday I went on a 10 mile training walk with 6 other local walkers. It was great getting to meet other walkers, most of whom were doing this for the first time (we did have a 5 time veteran walker there, too). We meet at 5:45AM, and set out at 6. There were 4 pit stops (2 Starbucks, McD's and a park), and we got back at 9:45. For the most part I felt really good. My endurance was fine, and my feet were blister free. At around mile 8, though, I got some knee pain on the right. It actually felt as if the pain was starting in my lower back/upper right cheek - but it didn't exactly hurt there. The lateral side of my knee hurt like heck, and it started hurting/pulling on the lateral side of my right foot as well. I finished the last 2 miles, and took some ibuprofen (thanks Becky!). Once I got home (after a trip to Kohl's... well I needed some new sandals) I did some ice therapy. The pain went mostly away for a few hours, then returned. Today it hasn't been bothering me much. I think it's my ITB (had trouble with this on the left when I used to run). Bummed about the pain, but I plan on adding in specific stretches for this area.

Fundraising:

Total to date - $1,650 ... up $40 YAY!

My newsletter went out to all of my FB friends last week. From this I received a $40 donation - the second donation made by one of hubby's cousins! At first I wondered if they had forgotten they had already donated. When I looked at the Honor Roll scroll I saw they had written "Just a little more for the cause". How sweet!!

After many days of playing phone tag with Jessica from Chivas USA, we finally got in touch. On Friday she sent out a package with some Chivas stuff for me to add to my raffle next month. I don't know what she sent, so I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival. This week I need to get moving on asking for more raffle donations. Oh, hubby got me a free meal from Denny's to add to the raffle, and the manager (Hi Fernando) said I could put up a flyer at the cash register. Thanks hubby :)

I also need to get my newsletter into PDF so I can email it out to non-FB people. Gotta get about a dozen into snail mail too.

Sweet 16

2010-08-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

Wow 8 weeks of training has gone by already. All geared up for week 16 in the countdown.... including a 10 mile walk on Sunday!

Update on week 17

Training:
It was a rough week. I was exhausted and busy.

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 3 mile walk
Wednesday - 15 min cross training
Thursday - 4.5 mile walk
Friday - 30 min cross training (scrubbing walls...don't laugh until you do it!)
Saturday - party day, no training done
Sunday - 5 mile walk

Total for last two months - 125.6!

Fundraising:

Total - $1,610 and holding

I started the "A Cure takes Change" FB challenge yesterday. Don't know if anyone is going to participate. We shall see. Got my newest newsletter done yesterday so I will get that out today. Still working on stuff for the raffle next month.

Saturday I was sitting in Laser Quest where my son was having his bday party. All the kids were playing laser tag and it was quiet. On a whim I decided to ask if the company does donations. The guy I spoke with said his aunt does the 3-Day walk and he went to the office right away and gave me 4 free passes to add to my raffle. Yay!

Go Cleveland!

2010-07-31T23:35:00.001-07:00

The amazing walkers and crew in Cleveland have finished their 3Day journey!
Great job everyone!

Support

2010-07-30T13:23:00.001-07:00

We all need it.

And bras are good, well kind of... okay, not really they are annoying and uncomfortable. But the kind of support I'm talking about is mental and emotional rather than physical.

In the past 6 months since I decided to participate in the 3-Day for the Cure I've seen and received such an amazing amount of support. Some from friends, some from strangers and some from strangers who have become friends =) I've seen support given selflessly to other walkers, by people who have no other connection other than our cause.

While some of the support has been monetary, much of it has been in the form of encouraging words, advice or a good laugh =) It comes in an email, a text, a phone call, a re-post of your donation plea, and even in person (gasp! I know, right??).

This morning as I dragged myself out for a 3 mile training walk, I was remembering the encouraging words of some of the other 3dayers, none of whom I've met. As I walked I thought about this wonderful group and smiled. I recounted a supportive email I received from a friend who knows a thing or two about endurance training (he recently completed the Paris 1/2 Marathon!), and I knew I would get through this slump that I am in.

As these happy thoughts ran through my mind I started feeling better and stronger. I ended up walking 4.5 miles rather than the 3 I had set out to slog through... AND I did it in my best time yet!

Support is an amazing thing, and I am so thankful to be surrounded with such wonderful people. Thank you.

so...tired..... no...... moti...vation....

2010-07-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

Man am I tired. Not just today. Not the past two days. For at least the past week.
I'm so tired that I'm having trouble finishing this post.

I did manage to do my walk on Tuesday, but I did it in the afternoon since I could not get up in the morning. It was the suckiest walk ever. I felt better on my 7 mile walk. On the training schedule for today is a 4 mile walk. Hubby and son were up and out early this morning (off to Magic Mountain... How can it be that my baby will become a teen tomorrow??), so I'm going to TRY to motivate myself to drag my 8 y/o out with me this evening. Blech.

I'm hoping this tremendously-tired thing is just a culmination of weeks of staying up too late and getting up too early. Every once in a while it all catches up with me. It's what I get for forcing my body to submit to MY sleep schedule rather than it's own. It's either that or those vitamins I had been taking really were doing me a whole lotta good...

Out with 18, in with 17

2010-07-26T16:21:00.001-07:00

Alrighty, so.. Yesterday I finised my 7th week of official training. It was a bit of an anti-climactic end - I was tired. SUPER tired. And didn't get up to do my 6 mile walk on Sunday :(
It's always a gamble whether or not I'll be able to do an evening walk. Life just seems to get in the way, ya know? I did manage to get 3.5 miles in, however. Blech.

Week 18 Update:

Training:
Monday - 30 minutes weights
Tuesday - 3 mile walk
Wednesday - 90 minutes of walking and tossing during an 18 hole game of frisbee golf
Thursday - 3 mile walk
Friday - off
Saturday - 7 mile walk - YAY!
Sunday - 3.5 mile walk

My 7 mile walk was great. I felt really good, and got to check out a trail I'd been coveting for the past few weeks. A non-3Day walkin' friend went with me, and it was wonderful having the company. Near the very end of the walk (the second half was all downhill) my right knee started hurting. That's not the one that usually hurts with downhill walking. Sigh. I'm hoping it's just because I forgot to stretch at the halway point. FORGOT TO STRETCH! =( Oooops! On a positive note, our walk inspired my friend to take longer, faster walks without her doggies - good for her!

Fundraising:

Total to date - $1,610 .......... look familiar? sigh..

Did a Walmart "canning" event on Sunday. Sitting outside the store from 10-3 brought in $356.. slightly less than the $426 we made last month. This is being kept until closer to the end, and distributed as needed.

I'm starting to get nervous about the $2,300. Hoping to get a newsletter out this week. "Change for a cure" starting August 1st along with a FB challenge. I'm trying to work out another fundraising event to be done at our local AYSO picture day in September. We have been involved with our Region for about 9 years,and know some of the board members. Plus hubby's been a coach for about 6 of those years. I'm hoping to get some cool stuff we can raffle off... Galaxy game tickets, a cool soccer ball, some free training... we'll see!

Boston!

2010-07-23T16:32:00.001-07:00

Tonight ends day one of the first of 15 3Day Walks that will be happening over the next 4 months. I have been following various walkers on their first day of the Boston 3Day and already I am filled with excitement! The support is pouring in from other Boston walkers/crew, walkers/crew from other cities, and amazing people who just believe in the cause. It has been so heartwarming to read. It's making me sooooooo anxious for my own 3Day experience!

Best of luck to the Boston walkers and crew - keep up the great job! Wishing you clear skies tomorrow =)

Start of a new week

2010-07-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

The weeks just keep flying by! This is the beginning of week 18 of the 24 week training schedule. By the end of this week I'll be 1/4 of the way through. Scary!

Here's what happened last week...

Training:
Monday: rest
Tues: 3 mile AM walk
Wed: 30 min Zumba with my daughter
Thurs: 3 mile AM walk, 2 mile PM walk with my son
Fri: rest (should have been 15 mins cross training)
Sat: 5 mile AM walk
Sun: 6 mile AM walk around Balboa Island with Becky =)
TOTAL = 19 miles

Fundraising:
Nothing new to report. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Of course, I did nothing to remedy that either. Feeling stuck.
TOTAL = $1,610

Table outside of WalMart again this Sunday. Cash will be kept until just before the event and divided according to need, so this won't change my current personal total.

Looking ahead... This week marks the introduction of the 7 mile walk. This will be my longest yet. Not sure I even have a route mapped out for that... hmmmmmmm. I think I'll have to do that quickly and see if I can get anyone to come with me, or multiple someones, or anyone anywhere to do any part of the mileage with me =)

Not so fab photos

2010-07-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

Someday, when I grow up, I will own only things that work as they should. Until then, I have days like today where I bring my 8 year old daughter's cheapy little digital camera on my 6 mile walk. Apparently there's no software to get the pictures downloaded from my phone onto the computer(what??) or something like that. Currently I am waiting for my 13 year old son's phone to receive all of the pictures I sent him from my phone... pictures from my AZ walks. His phone has software.

Onward!!

This morning my friend, Becky, and I met in Newport Beach at 6:30am for our 6 mile training walk - to and around Balboa Island. I had never been there before, despite living in this area for almost 12 years, so I was excited to see something new and share my fabulous photo collage. Unfortunately, a bunch of my pictures didn't come out well. Nor did these that I chose to share with you anyway...

'Kayso, there's boats and homes. These are actually in Newport just before we crossed the bridge to the island. Can you see the tiny crab on the rocks? No? You'll just have to trust me on that.

Then we have a few failed attempts to take pictures of the streets lined with cute little cottage houses and/or piers. The beachfront houses have piers and decks along the beach. Some decks are simple, and some have stuff... like the Statue of Liberty..

Some have wooden (??leaf??) llamas, and some just have pretty statues.
In that bottom left picture you can see Balboa Fun Zone in the background (or you could if the image was even 50% better). Can you spot the Ferris Wheel? Just FYI, we did not take the ferry over and go to the arcade.

For better pictures go here (if that link really works I'll be thrilled, Thanks LeAnne!)

snippets

2010-07-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Thoughts from this morning's 3 mile walk (miles 4&5 to be done this evening due to time constraints)...

* What's wrong with my legs? Why are they toning up differently? Why can't anything about me be symmetrical??

* When people see me walking, do they run through a mental CPR checklist?

* At seeing two in-shape women, walking slowly, dressed in their cute little outfits... Look at them just sauntering along. How nice for them, in their cute clothes. Here I am puffing along wearing my too-big, men's green tshirt with the sleeves stuck up into my bra straps. Blech.

* Ooooh another doughnut shop...

* At seeing a heavy balding man jogging with his 5/6 year old son.. Awwwwwwwwww how cute! What a wonderful thing for them both.

* Arf! What a cute little puppy. Awwwwwww look how one ear stands up and the other flops down. So cuuuuuuuuute. Hey, he keeps looking back at me. Maybe he thinks I'm cute too =) Or maybe he's doing his mental CPR checklist...

Walk on with your bad self!

Update

2010-07-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

I'm into the teens! Week 19 of the training countdown has begun. As per the schedule I began this new week yesterday with a day of rest =) Well deserved after the back-to-back walks on the weekends. Trying to figure out how to fit the two 5 mile and one 6 mile in this week...

From last week:

Training: 17 miles total walked, 30 mins cross-training

I've already posted about my 6 mile walk so I won't go over it all again. Happily, my hot spots were not an issue during the next day's 4 mile walk. Didn't feel a thing =) I did go out yesterday to purchase some Body Glide - yay!

Fundraising: $1,610 total

..sigh.. Just not sure what to do about this. I'm not sure my newsletters generate enough donations to make it worth the time to put out an extra one. I'll have to think about something a little more simple, maybe. Getting frustrated. Walmart canning date coming up at the end of the month, and I'll do the change jar challenge next month... Grrrrrr....

Aaaaaaaaah...

2010-07-10T14:51:00.001-07:00

Love these post-workout. Feels so refreshing on my red hot face!
(towelettes with Vit B5, green leaf extract and Vit E - CVS brand)

Did I do that?

2010-07-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

Wow. Did my first 6 mile training walk and it felt fantastic! Don't get me wrong, it was hot, there was sweat dripping down the small of my back and my feet got a little hot... especially that darned left foot. But, I DID IT! I'm pretty dang proud of myself. Not only did I complete it, but I could have gone on longer. It helped that a friend walked with me!

We left at 10:40 after dropping our daughter's off at a birthday party. From there we walked 3 mile out, and 3 miles back. At the turn around point there were tons of places to stop. I chose McD's, emptied the bladder and filled the water bottle. I snacked on my nuts and dried cranberries. Happiness. My friend did nothing, and hadn't even finished her water. Two miles later she was hungry and thirsty. We popped into an AM/PM where I got a Gatorade fountain drink (with lots of crushed ice .... ooooooooooh crushed ice!).

Now that I'm home and I've eaten, I am trying to remember to keep stretching. All i really want to do is sit :) I have a few hot spots on the bottom of my feet, but feel good otherwise. Mentally? I feel GREAT!

Friday already??

2010-07-09T11:04:00.001-07:00

...sigh...

I can't believe the week is gone. Between our trip and two sickies in the house, I feel as if I've done nothing at all. Still want to post about my AZ walks - I have pictures =) Didn't do the 15 mins cross training on Wed, and as of 11am still haven't done today's 30 mins. Keeping up with the walks, though.

Found a friend to walk my first 6 mile with me. Hopefully this nice cool weather will last until tomorrow around 12:30.... when we should be finishing up our walk! Bummed I'm missing the early morning 6mile training walk in HB. It would have been nice to meet other 3Day walkers in the area.

Enough whining for me. Time to get the kids moving...

So. Un. Motivated.

20

2010-07-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

On to week 20 I go. Actually I've already gone, today is Tuesday. Busy weekend =)This weeks brings with it the first 6 mile training walk. A training walk leader has set up a walk for that day, and I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally want to go. Anyone wanna come over at 6am to watch my kid for me while I go??

Not much to report, but here goes. From week 21..

Training: walked 15 miles, 30 mins cross training

** I finished out the week in AZ visiting hubby's family for the holiday weekend. I am proud to say that I did, indeed, get up and do both my 5 mile and my 4 mile training walks while there =) More on that in another post. **

Fundraising: $1,610 still, I'm stuck =(

** Nothing planned, nothing happening. Sigh. Oh we do have another Walmart date at the end of this month. I should have done my change jar challenge this month. Dangit.
Frustration is setting in and it's not time for another newsletter yet. Blech. **

rough

2010-07-01T08:51:00.001-07:00

This morning was rough. Didn't want to get up and walk. Guilt got me out of bed before 6am and out to do my 4 miles. It was tough going... no motivation other than knowing if I didn't do it this morning, I would not get it done today. Too much on my mind, too tired...blech.

So now I'm done. I should feel good that I actually did it, but I don't. Oh well. No pride, no sense of accomplishment. But at least there's no guilt. It will be interesting to see what happens on our trip this weekend. I have the 4 and 5 mile routes mapped out...

not fancy

2010-06-29T11:56:00.001-07:00

Sure wish I knew how to do all those fancy things the other bloggers do. Things like:

* Hiding a link behind a word
Check out a great post about hot weather training by Leanne..the walker "HERE"

rather than

Check out a great post about hot weather training by Leanne.. the walker at http://www.leannethewalker.com/2010/06/goodness-its-hot.html

(seriously, check it out! I'll be using these tips this weekend)

* tiny url's - so cute and little

* Changing the plain pink outside part of my blog into something with more character

Goodbye 22, Hellooooooooooo 21

2010-06-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

Another week of training has passed - whew! This weekend rather than walking in the nice "June gloom" of the So Cal morning, I'll be in the AZ heat. Wish me luck =)

How 'bout some updates on week 22?

Training: 17.5 miles walked + 30 mins cross training

Fundraising: $1,610 total

Training
Already posted about my 5 mile on Saturday, during and after which, I felt great.
For the Sunday 3 mile I woke up my (nearly) 13 year old son and had him come with me.
It's good for him, and gave us some mother/son time =) Later that evening my neighbor invited me on a quick walk before dinner. Early into the 2.5 mile jaunt, my shins started revolting... I hate when that happens :(

Monday I took the suggested rest day, and did my 3 miles this morning. Rough walk.
I don't know why. My shins gave me a little trouble, I wasn't out of breath, but it was rough. I know that I sighed audibly on multiple occasions. The second half was mostly up-hill and I actually felt better at that point. Maybe it was the water I drank, maybe it was knowing I was heading home. I don't know. Blech.

Fundraising
Ain't nuthin' goin' on. Sigh. A few days ago I did sign up for an Insider Pages fundraisier, so we'll see when that gets started. I'm also thinking of starting a
Finding a Cure takes Change challenge (not sure about the name). Basically I'll ask people to save their change for one month and donate the entire jar-full to my 3Day fund.

Looking ahead, this week is going to be challenging. We're doing some travlling. I think I'll move my Friday cross-training to Wednesday, and just suck it up and walk in the AZ heat... along roads that are completely void of shade and changes in elevation. Go me!....?

I did it!

2010-06-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

At 7am this morning I took off for my first 5 mile training walk. My neighbor came with me - she signed up for the walk last week =)

The route started at my house and made a big, well, rectangle. It was nice having someone to chat with while walking, and it made the time (and miles) go by super fast! We were feeling good, so we didn't stop at the 3.5 mile pit-stop (Bagels & Brew). I did make sure we stopped to get some nice stretching in.

When I got home, I still had water left in my 22 oz bottle, but was feeling fine. I finished it off, then polished off 20 oz of Pure Fitness by Crystal Light. Since then I've also had 20 oz of water and 20 oz of CL lemonade. Another 20 oz of water is right here calling my name =)

Things I would change for the next 5 mile(+) walk:
*Drink more during the walk.
*Put New-Skin between the balls of my left foot (got a hot spot right at the end)

Yay!

To each his own..

2010-06-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

Got up at 6am this morning so I could get my 4 miles in before hubby had to leave for work. Since he was concerned about my being out and about alone that early in the morning, I had mapped out a route that stuck super close to home. It was a double ring/loop thing that I walked 3 times.

During my walk I felt frustrated. Don't know if it was the route or me. It seemed to be taking too long to finish. I ran into two people that I know which slowed me down.

I did have one bright spot in my morning. Keep in mind that my entire walk was done in a residential area... not along a business route. I was about half-way done, when I saw a man. A handsome, well-built man. Carrying a lily white naked mannequin. With a bag over her head. Sweet! Wish I had had the nerve to ask him for a picture =)

Let's go Week 22!

2010-06-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, 22 is upon me. The training schedule for this week includes my first ever 5 mile training walk. Go feet, go! This week will also hold a different type of challenge for me... the kids are done with school Tues/Wednesday. This is going to severely mess with my already established training routine. Blech, change.

As I wave goodbye to week 23, it's time to tie up a few loose ends..

Training total (week) - 13.3 miles
Fundraising total - $1,560 (although we did make some money this weekend, to be distributed as needed closer to the event)

Training On Sunday my family and I went to the city in which hubby and I grew up. My parents still live there, in the same house. For the past year and a half my mom has been working very hard on improving her health. As part of her efforts she walks 5 days a week. On Sunday she participated in her second ever 5K event. When she asked if I would walk with her, of course I said yes!

It was a hot morning, no June gloom on this day =( The 3.1 mile route was flat, totally and completely flat. My mom did an amazing job and wond 3rd place in her age group. We walked the entire time, and I forced her to drink some of my water. Well, no one can really force my mom to do anything, but I kept pestering her about it until she gave in :) We finished the course in 58 minutes and some-odd seconds. She was struggling at the end (there wasn't much shade), but she did great! I was very proud of her (did I mention she's 74 years old?).

As for me, I was surprised at the ease with which I was walking. I paced myself with my mom, but it felt unnaturally slow. I was chatting away the entire time (I told my mom I was using the incessant chatter as method of distracting her from the heat). Our finishing time surprised me - it was slightly less than a 20 minute mile. It seems that the hilly routes I walk really do make a difference in my walk times. Just the day before I had been disheartened at my seemingly slow pace, but I had tackled some pretty good hills. After this easy flat walk, I no longer feel like beating myself up for being a slow-poke :)

Fundraising
I've started writing about this about 3 times already... sigh. I'll go for a short version now... WalMart cheated us by having TWO other charities there on the same day. They were inside the store and we had to sit outside by the exit. People were annoyed by the time they got to us, or had already given their spare change. Once Becky's daughter and my daughter showed up (they're both 8 and wanted to be there helping) they went to the entrance with an extra donation bucket. They were just too darn cute, and did really well! All told, we made $426.90 between 10am and 3pm. Becky and I are thrilled! We'll do another, but really feel as if we would have done better without the other two charities there. Someday this week I'll have to give the manager a call and figure out what that was about.

Whew!

2010-06-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

At 7am this morning I took to the streets for my (first!) 4 mile training walk. Along the way I learned a few things:

* Three kinds of people are out at 7am on a Saturday morning...
1) Serious exercisers, ie: cyclists (wearing their team logo/sponsor tighties) and runners
2) the wandering elderly
3) me

* I can drink from a water bottle and walk at the same time

* A "you can do it" really helps when you are looking at your last mile... and it's all up-hill

* It's tough to get proper nutrition before an early morning walk.

* Hydrating the night before really helps (I made it the whole way without having to use the restroom - and I drank all during my walk)

* I'm going to need some company when the walks get longer. Too much time alone inside my head makes me nervous

* My 3 mile/hr pace is too slow and it's tough to remember to make a conscious effort to increase my speed.

After a shower and some breakfast I was off to my canning fundraiser in front of Walmart. I'm happy with how it turned out, but I think it could have been better.
More on that another time, though.

So now I'm home, after many hours outside. I'm pooped! Hydrating is #1 on my list right now. After the walk and the heat I really need it. Plus, tomorrow morning for my 3 miler I am going to be participating in a 5K with my Mom =) I am seriously afraid she is going to leave me in the dust. Wish me luck!

shoe/foot update

2010-06-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

Catchy title, eh? I'm not feeling very creative today.

Wednesday I went back to RoadRunner Sports and turned in my wonderfully cushy Asics.
Darn left foot! The lady who helped me didn't offer any suggestions as to why those fantabulous shoes would do such a strange thing to just one of my feet. Oh well. I ended up with Brooks Glycerine. She said she's never had anyone bring them back to exchange them. Ok.

So I walked in my new shoes yesterday. I did still experience a little bit of pain in that left foot. The left is also where I've developed heel pain. The heel pain does not seem to be getting worse - I am stretching and icing it multiple times daily. But I'm wondering if that pain is effecting other parts of my foot? Have I mentioned the heel pain before? Morning heel pain - yup. I finally realized it about a week ago, after it happened about 5 days in a row... duh. The morning pain is all but gone now, but I do feel the pain once in a while during the day. yay. I'm thinking I started treating it early enough for it to not get too bad... hopefully.
Sigh.

Anyone know a pro-bono podiatrist? ;)

Week 23 begins

2010-06-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

Peek at week 23
The training schedule calls for three 3 mile walks, and one 4 mile walk, plus 30 minutes of cross training. One of my 3 mile walks will be done on Sunday when I participate in a 5K with my mom :)

Update: week 24
Training - 12.7 miles walked, 30 mins cross training
Fundraising - $1,560 raised to date

On Saturday Becky and I woke up early and traveled to SD for the official Kick-off Walk. It was held at a local New Balance store. The 3.5 mile walk was along the beach, and the weather was overcast... perfect for walking! My guess is that there were about 50 people at the second walk (there was no way we were getting there before 7am for the first walk!). The crowd was a mix of first timers and veterans, survivors and supporters. Our traveling blob attracted the attention of passers by, netting quite a few honks and "wooohooo"s. A new balance staffer presented a little clinic on how to dress for the 3Day. I should have asked my underwear question!

My Sunday walk was not good. I did it, but I didn't feel good doing it. My shins started hurting almost right away. A short way into the walk I realized I was going to wrong way and had to turn around (it was too late to get an accidental 4 miler in. Hubby would have been mad when it got dark and I wasn't home yet.) That stinking left foot pain showed up, but it came and went a few times, rather than just once like it used to do. Got that right lower outer leg pain, too. Haven't had that in a while. Blech. As tempted as I was to just go home, I continued on and made my 3 miles.

At what point does pushing through the little pains turn to pushing on and doing more damage?

X training

2010-06-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of cross training as dictated by the 24 week training schedule. I decided to do a cardio workout using my Wii Personal Trainer 'game'.
Since the workout was supposed to be easy, I choose to not use the weights or the step. (In the two workouts I've done with this previously - months ago- I used the step and it kicked my butt!)

My 8 year old daughter woke up 10 minutes into my workout and she joined me. Cute!

The best part, to me, is that mapmywalk.com (yay!) allows you to track all types of exercise... not just walks/runs. My training log now has a nifty picture of a person lifting weights on the spot for today. Too cool : )

Obsess, much?

2010-06-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

Today is the 4th day of the first week of training. According to the 24 week training schedule this means that a 3 mile easy walk is in order. Nice.

I had volunteered to go on my daughter's field trip for this morning partially because it entailed some walking. Our walk to the local grocery store was .82 miles each way... ummmm... approximately ; ) <3 mapmywalks.com <3 My plan was to go on the field trip and just continue walking another 1.5 miles once the kiddies were back at school. I even mapped it out. You're shocked, right? <3 mapmywalks.com <3

Before I continue, I must digress. I will admit that I am not in the best shape ever. ...ahem... But I was shocked at the number of 8 year old kids who were complaining and struggling with the walk to the store. Shocked and saddened. My kids are kept busy, mostly with soccer. Okay, the 1 winter month and 2 summer months when there isn't any soccer it does get tough to keep them from sitting on their butts all day. I'm not saying we are the perfectly fit family, but seriously, struggling to walk less than one mile.... at age 8???? Sigh..

Back to my obsession... All through the morning a little voice inside my head kept reminding me of the extra 1.5 miles that I needed to walk. Must. Get. To. Three. Miles. It's on the schedule. Has to be done.

Well the teacher asked me to stay for a bit. Good reason why, but not going to go into it now. So I stayed. Finally it's just about noon, and I head on out. I'm trying to decide when I'm going to walk, because now it's noon and I'm hungry. And the sun came out. And I'm hungry. You still need another 1.5 miles... Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

Who IS this voice and what did she do with the Relax, you can do it tomorrow voice??

My husband called and asked if I wanted to meet him for lunch. Heck yeah! I drove down to where he was working and he said he would be there in a few minutes. At first I went inside to wait, but I was too antsy. Instead I walked. Yup. Walked around the shopping center. My voice was happy. My legs were happy. So I walked around again. Aaahhhhh this feels good.
I walked for 30 minutes. It ended up equaling, you guessed it, 1.5 miles!

Finally my husband showed up and we went in and ate. The voice was quieted, my tummy was filled and I felt great : )

Ready. set, GO!

2010-06-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of the 24 week training countdown!! You may be wondering how the program begins. What exactly IS the first day kick-off workout? Rest. Yup. Chillaxin'. Sweet, I covered that one, no sweat (hee hee - no pun intended, really!).

Today was the first workout day. I did my 3 miles, and felt good. Well, after I got over the tired, sad, morning blues I felt good. It really was a struggle to get myself started this morning, but there was no way I was going to skip my very first training walk (as opposed to my pre-training walks).

The walk I did this morning is a slight variation of a walk I've done a few times before. There is a small hill that previously made me struggle a bit. This morning I was shocked when I realized was tackling this hill with no problem at all! Wow, it seems I've made some progress! Nice feeling.

No pain today. Wore my old shoes again... dangit. I really really want my new shoes to be awesome! Maybe they are, but apparently not for my left foot. I would like to give them another chance, but maybe I should just give it up... sigh.

Officially

2010-06-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

Guess what I found in my INBOX today?? My very first Virtual Trainer email! Yes folks,
my 24 week countdown starts this Monday, June 7th! I am truly feeling official now! I have the entire 24 week training schedule printed out and posted on my refrigerator, but this email really hit home. Thank you SGK : )

In other news, I....

- emailed out my newest newsletter to a ton of people. I'm working on getting it on my facebook, too.

- wore my old shoes for my walk again this morning. No pain. It's not looking good for my beautiful, cushy, comfy new shoes :(

- am looking forward to the official kick off training walk next weekend!

Unrequited love

2010-06-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

I love my shoes. My beautiful, cushy new shoes! Ahhhh Asics Cumulus 12's. Like walking on clouds... But I don't think they love me :(

In previous posts I've mentioned the pain I get in my left (larger) foot about 40-45 minutes into my walks. It happens in about 75% of my walks that I can remember... so maybe more if I would actually track it. For the past three walks I've been wearing my old Saucony's to see if I still get the pain. Nope. Sigh. The first two walks weren't at my usual pace (due to kids and dogs), so I wasn't convinced. Today I did the Oso walk again, with all the ups and downs, and uneven turf. No pain.

For the rest of the week I'm going to continue to wear my 'old' shoes. If I don't have the pain, then it will be time to say goodbye to my comfy cushy shoes :(

MAY RECAP
Fundraising:

Total by end of May $1,510

Last week I finished my newest newsletter! Yay! Unfortunately, it is stuck in Word Perfect, and I can't get it to publish as a PDF. I really wanted to email it in May. Hello June :( I am hoping the update will inspire more people to donate. Just have to figure out how to get it out there.

Training

May goal miles 44.00
May total miles 46.68! go me!

Monday, June 7th (just 5 days from now) is the official start of the 24 week training!! I can't believe it will be here so soon! I think I'm ready...

Oso nice

2010-05-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-05-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

From the sun and rain

you protect, and hide bad hair.

What took me so long?

Shoe Clinic

2010-05-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-05-12T10:50:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-11T00:27:00.000-07:00

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

Monday - or - should I let it go?

2010-05-10T23:42:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-05-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

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 %

2010-05-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

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 =)

Quitter

2010-04-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today I decided that I would do my walk during the girl's soccer practice. Since it was still light out I felt pretty sure my "beef stew" friend would not be hanging around (see my Feb. 19th post if your reaction to that was "HUH??").

I started off discouraged that I had chatted away too much of my walking time (Shocking!). The feeling did not improve when my stupid anterior lateral right lower leg muscle started hurting again. Hold on, brb.... Okay, maybe the tibialis anterior, maybe one of the peroneus muscles.
Whoever it is is very painful. 1/2 way through my second time around the sports park I could invision myself quitting... right before the hill too :) I was not happy, not having fun, and did not feel good. Thoughts of sweet relief filled my head, crowding out the "don't be a quitter" thoughts.

I felt really pathetic. What the heck made me think I could get through 20 miles in one day, let alone 60 in 3?? Here I am struggling at less than one mile. Damn. I got to the end of the loop and just couldn't do it. Up the hill I trudged and did another loop. Truth be told, had I not run out of time, I could have gone around again, and maybe again. Yes it felt really good when I stopped, but it felt even better that I hadn't stopped too soon.

Sure wish I knew what to do about this pain, though. It seems to show up on random days and I can't get a handle on any kind of pattern. Maybe when I get new shoes in two weeks that will take care of it. I will be sure to mention it to the Shoe Dawg people.

MapMyWalks .com keeps a running total of the miles you've logged each month (or maybe more, but I've only been using it for a month). My grand total for April is 36.05 miles. My goal for May is going to be 44 miles, an average of 11 miles a week. The first week of the 24 week training schedule is 12 miles, so getting comfy at 11 sounds good.... right? Right?

Man I hope I can do this...

60 MILES for BUSTS!

2010-04-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had lunch with my (only) teammate, Becky. (Hi Becky!) I would not be able to get through this whole journey without her, and talking with her always renews my excitement for what we are doing. It's just the two of us, but we wanted team shirts with our team name (60 MILES for BUSTS!) and our nifty fighting kangaroo logo. At the end of lunch, she gave me two shirts that she had made - yay!

One shirt is for wearing around, while walking/training, running errands, etc. Anything that gets people asking, right? The other has empty squares on the back which we hope to use as part of our fund raising efforts (for a donation people can write a name or message in honor of someone they love). The shirts are crazy huge, and I hear the scissors calling me, but I love them!

Training
As I've mentioned before, my walking hasn't been what it should be. Having my official team shirt, though, inspired me and out I went. (Good thing the kid who is home sick today is almost 13 and able to stay home alone. Plus, not all that sick anymore.) What a gorgeous day for a walk! I took some pictures and hope to get them on here soon.

I am looking forward to June 19th and the first official training walk! Hopefully having an actual schedule and a closer looming deadline will help keep my training going. I really want to be physically ready for my 60 miles! I'm more nervous about that than the fund raising at this point =)

Fundraising
Is going great! I am at $1,450! Only $850 to reach my minimum... and almost half way to my personal goal of $3,000! Yippeeee! Next month I'm going to send out my second newsletter, updating everyone on my journey. The one I sent in March got me a few more donations =)
Oh, I want to do the Insider Pages as well. Can't hurt, right? Becky and I have our first 'canning' event in June, too! Roll on donations!

Life lessons from the little one

2010-04-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight I took a nice walk with my 7 year old daughter... well she rode her scooter. We travelled
along the prettiest part of creek/bike path. On the return part of the walk, my daughter kept asking to stop and walk off the path towards the creek. When I walk alone I am very goal oriented - get out and get back, no side trips! I decided to oblige my daughter's curiosity...

We stopped at a little inlet of trees where someone has placed a picture of a little boy, along with the words "In memory of Nathan 1991-1996". So sad. I remember seeing this area all decorated at Christmas time. She asked questions, and I did my best to answer them. Next we stopped at a small clearing and made our way down to the creek. It was actually nice down there, not all gross and dirty like I expected. We hopped around on the rocks a bit and marveled at how clear the water was. There was a big tree with it's tangle of roots mostly exposed - it was amazing to see. The tree had a big hollowed out area and we peeked in. There was a small green plant just starting to grow inside. I really wished I had brought a camera. Next time we are bringing the boys - and a camera - to do more exploring!

We've been living here for 11 years, and I just found this today? Maybe I should be more of a stop and smell the roses kind of person.

Update

2010-04-10T23:08:00.000-07:00

MapMyWalk.com - Training Log for debmc4

Been having fun with this site. I moved my walks from gmap over here, and have even
bookmarked a few longer walks for when the official training starts in two months. I'm using the free membership, so it will only keep three months of training at a time, but that's okay : )

I've walked 7 of the past 9 days - yay me! One day I did a 3.3 mile hike that about kicked my butt. Some of the hills were murderous! Even so, I would do it again... I felt so great afterwards! Plus it was a nice time with family and friends. Later that day, I still did a short 1 1/2 mile walk to the girl's soccer practice.

Next week gets back to regular schedule.. kids at school and my walking buddy goes back to work: ( Hopefully walking with her this past week has helped to kick start my walking again, even when she's not around!

Great news on the fundraising front! We finally got our approval to solicit outside of WalMart.
We didn't get the dates we wanted, but we'll find others. Also, I've received a few more donations, bringing me to $1,400!! That's only $900 shy of my minimum, and almost half-way to my personal goal of $3,000!! Yippeeeee!

making progress

2010-03-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

Why has it been so long since I've written? I remain enthusiastic about the 3-Day Walk, and continue to spread the word. Other things in my life, however, have been dampening my spirit in general. I have some great news on the fundraising front, but was hoping to be able to announce it in an appropriately positive and excited post. Now I see that's not going to happen any time soon.

So..... I've raised $1,235!!! That's over 50% of the minimum!! Yippeeeeee!!

* I still wear my button every day. Recently it started a conversation that got me a $150 donation
* Still trying to work out some fundraising other than asking for donations. Girl's night out, canning, bake sale.... something!
* Sent out a newsletter type email, updating friends and family on my training and fundraising. This got me two new donations, and responses from a few people I hadn't heard from before.

Through everything else that's going on in my life, working towards a cure is one thing that is still bringing me hope. I am thankful for everyone's kindness and support.

Walk on!

up with people!

2010-02-26T10:47:00.000-08:00

Over the years I have found myself becoming more and more jaded. Thoughts such as "People are stupid!!!!!!!!" often flood my brain. Once saturation occurs, the words start leaking out of my mouth. (Oh hey, that sounds gross!!) Alright, maybe I took that analogy too far, but you know what I'm saying.

Recently, however, I am finding myself in awe on almost a daily basis. What I am seeing is a generosity and kindness in people, that I had thought was long gone. Friends and family are helping me spread the word. People that I thought would have only negative things to say about my journey, are being supportive. Some people are even spontaneously doing nice and helpful things to help my cause.

This morning I woke up to find a $100 donation from someone I don't even know!
My bank teller made a donation.
A graphic artist friend of a friend, made our fabulous new fighting kangaroo logo (don't you love the pink ribbon tattoo on his bicep??)
My husband is being the most wonderfully supportive man ever : )

The money I am working so hard to raise will all be going to the Susan G Komen foundation.
What I will gain from this experience, however, is priceless

stickin' it to cancer

2010-02-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

The other day I was feeling kind of stagnant in my journey. Maybe not stagnant, maybe more like I was treading water; as if I was doing a lot of work but getting nowhere.

I pulled out the "Journey of a Thousand Miles.." sticker sheet that came in my welcome packet. It felt good to put into place all of the accomplishments I've already made.. attending the Getting Started Meeting, setting my personal donation page, getting my first donation, etc.

Today, I get to place one more sticker... I've raised my first $500!! In fact, I am only $10 away from being at the 1/4 mark - woooohooo!

Perfect 10

2010-02-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

Tonight a man said to me, those 10 little words every woman longs to hear....
"You look like you would make a great beef stew."
HUH???

I was on my fourth time around the sports park, while my daughter was having soccer practice. I was feeling pretty good, thinking I would go for 5 laps, rather than the 4 I had promised myself.

Most of the path runs along the fields... lots of soccer and baseball were happening this Friday night. One part of the path, however, veers off a bit out of the way and up higher. The developers felt this would be a good place to put a few benches, and this was where my gentleman friend was sitting when he uttered those words. Wow, what to say? "Thank you, I think", I said as I continued along my way. "You just have that look about you!", he called after me. Sigh..

Next week one of the soccer girl's dads said he would walk with me. Might be a good idea.

making moves

2010-02-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

Today I volunteered to work the check-in table at the Blood Drive that was being held at my daughter's school. I ended up telling 6 people about the 3-Day For The Cure, and passed out 4 of my cards : ) Two were to people from the school, and two were Red Cross workers. I had quite a good conversation with the RC workers, one even thanked me for educating her on Breast Cancer. (Handy that I worked at that Breast Care Center those past few years!). Even if they don't donate, I am increasing awareness of the event, and even a bit of knowledge : )

I feel really good about making that step to pass out my cards. That's a tough thing for me to do! But you never know who might find it in their hearts to help such a great cause! You never know, right?

kind people and bad magnets

2010-02-16T15:25:00.000-08:00

* Not walking enough - booo me!
* Donations keep coming - yaaaay 3Day
* Big magnets I made for hubby's truck don't stick well enough. Lost one somewhere in AZ
* Left a business card or two in the restroom of each pitstop between CA and AZ (u never know!)
* Made flyers to put near the mailboxes in our complex. Flyers have pull-off tags with my URL

Had I started with family, rather than people I haven't seen in years I probably would have started off stronger in the donation department. Good to know incase I ever do this again : )

I received a donation that came truly from the heart, not that they don't all come from the heart.. This donation came from people who never met me, and made their contribution because they believe in hope for the future. It reminds me that people are beautiful.

Feelin' grooooovy

2010-02-12T12:24:00.001-08:00

I'm feeling good today, positive. This morning I got 3 new donations to the cause! Thank you, thank you!

My walking hasn't been as regular as it could be, but I did also start back at the gym this week.
The treadmill walking was nice, and different. Each treadmill has a tv screen - rock on! I set it on random, and walked for an hour... the longest time yet. I felt good, no pain! Then I went and did an upper body workout - GO general fitness!

Gonna check out gmap-pedometer and map out a route or two near where we are visiting this weekend. Get some new scenery : )

stressing already

2010-02-08T16:18:00.000-08:00

Freaking about the fundraising.
Still time, but still freaking.
It doesn't seem too much to expect a single response from the 60 or emails I sent.
Wearing a button that no one has asked about.
Just made some magnets to put on my car - fun stuff.

Freaking out.
Maybe I should walk...

Too early to be obsessed

2010-02-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

So I walked for 35 minutes last night while the girl was in her reading class. This morning I did the new extended version of my favorite creekside walk. I feel better about the walking thing now. At the meeting this weekend it was stressed that if you feel you must walk this early in the game, to keep it to 2-3 miles :)

Mostly though, I'm finding myself thinking about the fundraising A LOT! I finally sent out my first two rounds of donation letters. I'm using the same basic body of the letter, but changing the opening lines to fit a specific 'set' of people. I was sooooo nervous hitting that "send" button!!
I am still wearing my pink ring, and today I added the tiny 3 Day pin that came with my registration. I'd like to upgrade to a bigger pin at least :)

I've been thinking about making a shirt. Something that will get some attention (but isn't too crazy!) and get people asking questions. I could wear it on my walks and while running errands.

Aaaaaaaaaaaargh .... need ... to ..stop... the.. brain...

~~~~~~ I do have some very exciting news to share... I got my very first donation!!!! YAY!! Thank you so much to T !! It makes me feel so hopeful for the long monetary journey ahead! = ) ~~~~~

It's official!!!!

2010-02-02T10:26:00.001-08:00

I now am officially registered for the 3-Day walk in San Diego for THIS November!!

I am so excited! I know I still have a long way to go, and I hope my enthusiasm doesn't wane too much in the next 9 1/2 months.

Here's my donation page www.the3day.org/goto/DebMc

The very few of you who follow this blog will probably have seen this link already. I'm not sure how to go more public with this. Join a ring or something? Do they have those anymore? I don't really know! Maybe a few of you very few readers can list my blog as a place you like to go (whether or not it's true! LOL). B and Leanne are exempt of course, due to conflict : )

Yay!!

Not much walking has happened lately. I did go rollerblading briefly on Sunday. Monday (yesterday) the kids were home due to some goofball, made up, no school day. This afternoon I plan on walking during the girl's reading class. Usually I sit in the car and read. What?? There's lots of big ol' hills around there!

Making it real

2010-02-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

This weekend my friend, B, and I went to the "Getting Started" meeting to learn even more about this 3Day adventure. Neither of us had registered yet, and were hoping to hear something that would ease our fundraising worries. We both left the meeting totally excited and eager to get started!

We are both going to have to step out of our comfort zones on this one! B will do great on the fitness part (she'll have to carry me to the sweeper a few times, no doubt!), but we will both have to make some changes in order to get the fundraising done. Our new motto is "It can't hurt to ask!"

I've been wearing my pink on pink plastic SGK ring since Saturday. Today I had my first question about it... a teller at the bank. I told her all about what I'll be doing and she was very excited. She said she would love to donate :) Tomorrow I'll be printing out the business cards from the website... buying the pink paper tonight!

I am so exited about this whole thing! I have been jotting down every fundraising idea that pops into my head. Some aren't even full thoughts, just a list of people/places who might be able to help.

I have to give a HUGE THANKYOU to my friend B, who is brave enough to embark on this journey with me!! I couldn't do it without her :)

Can I??

2010-01-28T12:14:00.000-08:00

Walked. 2.2 miles, one big circle. Some uphill. Glad I did it, but not feeling great. I'm not happy about the continuing pain in my right calf, even though it's dull pain.

Doubt creeps in and I try to reason it aside. I have over 9 more months to get ready for this, but times like today make me wonder. 20 miles in one day? Three days in a row??

I was awake for about 45 minutes in the middle of the night going over and over possible fundraising ideas. Thinking of possible connections I might have. Wishing I was crafty.

The "Getting Started" meeting is this weekend and I am excited for that. Anxious to get more information on the whole thing, get inspired, and hear positive things about raising the money.

{sigh}

Really??

2010-01-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Tuesday, I was out running errands and got a call from my daughter's school. "Come pick her up, she has lice." {sigh} Less than an hour later I was at my son's school picking him up as well. "Mom, I got tripped playing basketball during P.E. and fell on my elbow. It hurts really bad and I can't bend my arm." {sigh}.

No walking happened yesterday.. just lots of washing, combing, and icing (and not the of the yummy sugary variety). No walking has happened today. Both kids are still home. I felt the need for a second comb-through on the girl, and although the boy's elbow (and wrist!) have greatly improved, he still lacks full range of motion without pain.

If hubby gets home early enough tonight, I'll head out before it gets too dark. My plan is to send both kidletts back to school tomorrow and resume my walking. I actually want to go! What's happening to me?? : )

Audio

2010-01-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the enjoyment and relative ease of last night's creek walk, I decided to do that one again this morning... and extend the creek portion. That increased the walk from about 2.1 to 2.6, so another 1/2 mile (gooooooooo math skills!).

I did not bring along an MP3 player. Instead here are the sounds I heard along the way:

* crunch crunch of the leaves under my feet

* vroooom zooom of the cars whizzing by

* babble babble swooosh of the creek as I left the main road and continued the rest of my walk

* "Are you suuure that's how he feels? Have you talked to him lately??" from the two women who passed me by as if I were standing still

* a chorus of "Mommy mommy, look at me!" spoken by children at the park with their moms... who were busy chatting and so NOT looking... we've all been there :)

* "Hello", "Good morning" and "Beautiful day" cordial greetings from other walkers and bikers

* at least a dozen versions of tweet, chirp, whoot, and tweedle-eee of the birds living along the creek

* "woof", "howl", "bark" ... figure it out

This may be my favorite soundtrack yet :)

Sunday

2010-01-25T08:56:00.001-08:00

My original plan was to take weekends off, and just spend time with my family. But by Sunday afternoon I was feeling so guilty (thank you Catholicism) about having walked just once last week.
At 5 PM everyone else was busy, so I took off for my walk. I did my favorite so far, the one that goes along the creek.

It felt great! The sun was going down, the creek was raging after the week of rain, and I saw some jack rabbits. On the way back, I was walking into the sunset - beautiful! My right calf barely bothered me at all, and I cut 4 minutes off my previous time of 49 minutes. Not on purpose, and I wasn't trying, I just felt good :)

Going back out today (Monday), and I'm going to try out an online walking log to keep track of my progress. If I can make it work, I'll get put the link on here. 'Coz who wouldn't want to check out someone else's walking log??

What week?

2010-01-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

Here's my lame reason/excuse... people were home. Yes, I had someone home with me every day this week, until today, Friday. It threw me all off, plus we were busy doing stuff. My lack of walking this week has nothing to do with all the rain. The mornings were actually pretty clear most of the week.

Today, everyone is where they should be and I was anxious to get back to my walking. It's not that I've grown accustomed to it, or crave it ('coz that would be crazy!), but rather the fear of the long long way I have to go in my training. I dropped the girl off at school already dressed for walking. The rain was coming down pretty hard (got some hail too!), so I drove to the mall. Yup, the mall.

The mall was dry and warm. I was not the only walker, although I was the youngest. With the help of some music, I kept up a pretty steady pace, and made it through a 55 minute walk without any shin/calf pain at all : ) I don't know how far I walked - and I lost track of exactly how many times I walked around... 6 I think. When I called guest services to find out the distance, the girl said it was half a mile from one end to the other, she didn't say around the mall.
That would make round trip one mile. NO WAY I walked 6 miles in 55 minutes. So maybe it's 1/2 mile all the way around. Still, not sure I walked 3 miles. Next time I'll keep better track of my round trips. Maybe I only did 5? Oh well, 55 mins at a fair and steady pace will have to do.

week's end

2010-01-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

I've completed my first week!

Yesterday I did route #3 which is 4 laps around my complex - a gentle rolling hill type walk (2.3 miles). I barely made it around the first time and thought for sure I would stop when I got back around to my front door. It wasn't so much shin pain as it was a terrible sharp cramping pain in the muscle running down the outside of my right calf. This time I had music with me and used it to distract myself, stretched often, and made it the full 4 rounds. Near the end Christina Aguilara's "Ain't No Other Man" got me through.

Today was route #4, a big circular route along pretty heavily used roads (2.2 miles). I decided to do the short uphill portion first. Again, not 1/4 of the way through I got that searing pain. I could barely go more than 20 feet without having to stop. After yesterday's pain I had decided to use the inserts I bought at a walking store a few years back (recommended after doing a test on where I put the most pressure on my feet). Well, after this horrible pain again today, I removed the insert and walked without it (just on the right). This reduced my pain to an ache and I was able to finish my walk fairly easily... I finished in 46 minutes, the quickest yet. Today's "get me through this" song was "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado (this is my 7 y/o's mp3 player!).

My goal for this weekend is to find a proper insert for my right shoe, let the muscle recover a bit, then start again Monday : )

The sky is falling!

2010-01-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

This morning it was raining. Well, more like heavily misting : ) I don't have anything that's waterproof - other than an umbrella - so I decided to skip the walk today.

"Giving up so easily after just two days??" you ask. No no no! Part of my goal (which will help immensely with the 3day walk) is to lose weight and get more fit. To that end, I decided to
try my new "My Fitness Coach" Wii workout.

I took the new stair stepper out of the box, and did my fitness test. The test wore me out! I thought about skipping the actual workout, but I did it anyway. It! Kicked! My! Ass!

Back to walking tomorrow. Gonna try 2 mile-ish route #3. (I have 4 routes mapped out, I'm lovin' gmap-pedometer.com !)

Woohoo, day 2

2010-01-12T12:27:00.000-08:00

Back from day 2's walk. Got a late start again.. left at 11:16 and 2.1 miles later, got home at 12:05. I took a different route this time and really enjoyed it. I feel very fortunate to live where I do. It's a nice blend of concrete and nature.

Today's walk took me along a bike path that is near the main road part of the way (but still with lots of trees around), then into a pretty little neighborhood with lots of trees and parks. I stopped by the stream to do my first stretches... so nice! I encountered other exercisers who had gotten a late start - mostly cyclists - and enjoyed the scenery.

Along the way I heard snippets of conversations, "Ooh so do you like Kylie's new haircut??" and
"I don't know if I believe her. She said the doctor said to just leave it there." A couple was walking towards me. The woman was wearing the same clothing as me.... same green tshirt, same black pants with a white stripe down the side. "I like your outfit" I said in response to her friendly "hello". She looked at me as if I had lost my mind. The man laughed, and I am hoping that he explained my comment to her. What if I run into them again??

So today felt good. I went uphill first, it was about 10 degrees cooler and slightly overcast, and I was stylin' wearing a homemade Metallica visor : )

In the beginning

2010-01-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)
Walking is something that I do every day, even on my laziest of days. Regardless,
I knew that I would need to start this thing off slowly. The beginning walking workouts that I've found all seemed to start off TOO slowly (15 minutes??) Instead, here's how my first day went.

11:05 - I left the house with keys, phone, id and a few $ in a little wallet purse thingie around my waist. After 10 minutes (of downhill walking) my shins were starting to hurt. It was time anyway, so I stopped and did some stretching. Apparently my shins were not happy, as I had to stop 2 more times to stretch them out. The second half of the walk was uphill, which actually hurt my shins less.

11:55 - Arrived home having walked 2.18 miles (according to www.gmap-pedometer.com ). Wow slow me! Grabbed some water and did my stretches.
Not a bad start, but I wish my shins hadn't hurt so much.

Plan for tomorrow- Sunscreen (hellooo it's sunny and 83 degrees! In January!), sun visor, and get an earlier start.

About this blogger

2010-01-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

I am: 40 years old
a wife of almost 17 years
a mom, to a 12 y/o and a 7 y/o
out of shape
laid off, but not for much longer... right?
excited for and wary of this challenge : )

About this blog

2010-01-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm brand new to this blogging thing. Not new to blabbing about my life, though : )

My main reason for starting this now, is to record my journey. This year I plan on walking in
the Susan G Komen 3Day walk. There are many reasons I have decided to take this on. The initial thought was that I wanted to do something to challenge myself. I'm not saying that living life each day, paying the bills, raising kids and a hubby, etc. isn't a challenge in itself! What I was looking for was something beyond my usual reality, no status quo here!

A friend suggested that I find something I was passionate about, or cared about, and work my challenge around that. So here I am. Cancer has been an enemy to many of my family members and friends. Some have won their battle, some have not. In both my personal and professional life, I have known people in all stages of dealing with breast cancer... from the initial scare of finding a lump, to post surgical life. I miss my work at the breast care center, and hope to return to it someday.

To add to my challenge of the 3day walk, I am also NOT currently in any kind of shape. Well, other than bad! Because of this, I am starting my training early. Everything I've read has been a 6 month training period. I have 10 months, and will use these first 4 to get myself up to where I need to be in order to start the more intense training when
the time comes.

My journey is about to begin. My weight loss journey, my training journey and my 3day journey through San Diego. A warning, though ... I can't guarantee that other parts of my life won't sneak in while I'm not watching : )

60 MILES for BUSTS!

Missing it

Time flies!

Help me #FightBreastCancer

Wooohooo!

like a ray of sunshine

short update, long time

bummer

Countdown - 12 weeks to go

other walker

Week 13 or bust

Late update - Here's 14!

The people that you meet

Preview Expo

Seeing double, double....

Here we go 15!

Sweet 16

Go Cleveland!

Support

so...tired..... no...... moti...vation....

Out with 18, in with 17

Boston!

Start of a new week

Not so fab photos

snippets

Update

Aaaaaaaaah...

Did *I* do that?

Friday already??

20

rough

not fancy

Goodbye 22, Hellooooooooooo 21

I did it!

To each his own..

Let's go Week 22!

Whew!

shoe/foot update

Week 23 begins

X training

Obsess, much?

Ready. set, GO!

Officially

Unrequited love

Oso nice

spinning

How goes it?

Hat Haiku

Shoe Clinic

Is there a sticker for that?

Tuesday thought

like S. Armstrong

Monday - or - should I let it go?

She did what now?

Breaking my habit

50 %

Quitter

60 MILES for BUSTS!

Life lessons from the little one

Update

making progress

up with people!

stickin' it to cancer

Perfect 10

making moves

kind people and bad magnets

Feelin' grooooovy

stressing already

Too early to be obsessed

It's official!!!!

Making it real

Can I??

Really??

Audio

Sunday

What week?

week's end

The sky is falling!

Woohoo, day 2

In the beginning

Did I do that?