Day 3 Completely

The 3rd day of our 3-Day journey started entirely too early. At about 4 in the morning we started hearing rustling and whispering from the tents nearby. By 4:30, people around us were full out talking, and Vikkie and I resorted to blurting out "SHHHHHHHHHHHH" like schoolgirls at summer camp. Our neighbors would quiet down very briefly, but before long they'd be loud enough for the whole area to hear, so by about 5 a.m. we were forced to give up trying to sleep completely.

It was actually kind of good that we got up when we did, because there was a lot of packing and cleanup to do before hitting the trail. On the last day, they are especially strict about people leaving camp at exactly 7:30 so that everyone has enough time to be finished before closing ceremonies at 4 that afternoon. When Vikkie and I headed off to the bathroom at different times in the morning we actually got separated, so I went and washed my face and ate breakfast while Vikkie was dressing/packing because I couldn't find her, and then she went and ate after getting dressed because she couldn't find me! Either way, we both enjoyed the standard breakfast fare with some slight variations (I think we had some fruit crepes that day) and chatted with a few other walkers while I ate. I was fascinated to find that all 4 of the people that I happened to talk to that morning had each taken a sweep van the previous day. I was really surprised to find that no one else had walked the entire time, but they all seemed pretty okay with it!

I realized at breakfast that I might be a little pressed for time, so I rushed back to my tent and dressed quickly, and then started packing up my stuff and sleeping bag. Everything was so damp from the moist ocean air, it was a little messy putting away wet sleeping bags. When Vikkie arrived back from breakfast we started taking down our tent, which was downright sloppy since it was so wet. We ended up rolling the tent up as best we could and stuffing it back into the bag from which it came, feeling bad that someone else might have to clean up our mess later. Later we found out that the tents aren't actually reused, but rather recycled! In bulk, these "disposable" tents (which are super duper thin) actually only cost the 3-Day organization about $1.50 each! They use them just once and then recycle the materials for next year. After hearing that, we didn't feel so terrible that our tent had been wadded up and wet!

As we headed to the "starting line" for the day, it was somewhere around 7:10 or 7:15, and there were tons of people heading in that direction around the same time. Thankfully we got there before 7:30, because there were hundreds of people all waiting to get scanned and out on the course before the deadline. We stood in line for 15 or 20 minutes, and finally got scanned and out on the route at 7:33 a.m. The route was only around 15 miles on Sunday, and while it might seem like we cheated a bit since we only walked about 21-22 miles the previous two days, I'm confident that we got a whole 60 miles in over the weekend just because the camp was so spread out!

Since I still didn't have my Garmin on day 3, it was again a little difficult to tell exactly where we walked on that day. We started out heading in the opposite direction as we had on the previous two days, walking north first and then east through some residential and small little business districts before turning back around the east side of the bay and going south. Just before a pit stop along this stretch was where we got passed by some tall power-walking woman. The path was so crowded it was difficult for us to keep up with her, because she was passing so many people so quickly! Two people can't pass as easily as one, so we gave up and let her power on ahead of us. We were disappointed, but it turned out to be our only "defeat" of the day. As we followed the bay south, we ended up passing by Sea World again and walking along the Southern Wildlife Preserve like we had towards the end of the day before. It was along this stretch of road that Vikkie actually demonstrated her superhuman power--a power I didn't even know she had.

We were walking along, and as usual we were passing large groups of people. Vikkie glanced over to her right and said, "Kim, I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I think I'm related to that lady over there." I assured her it really wasn't that crazy, since one time that I'd been in San Diego with my dad over 10 years ago, we were at the zoo when we realized the woman standing next to us at an exhibit was Dad's first cousin, who just happened to be visiting San Diego at the same time. I assured Vikkie that it was a very small world and encouraged her to go say something. We turned around, and Vikkie walked directly up to this woman and started the following (approximate) conversation:

Vikkie: "Hi, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I feel like I know you from somewhere. Are you from this area?"

Lady: "No, I'm actually from Ventura, just north of here."

Vikkie: "But originally...are you from there originally?"

Lady: "Well, no, I'm originally from Kansas."

Vikkie: "Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Where in Kansas?"

Lady: "Oh, it's a small town in northeast Kansas."

Vikkie: "Is it Sabetha?"

The woman stopped dead in her tracks. Her jaw dropped open and she literally grabbed onto Vikkie's arm like she was going to fall over and just stared at her. Vikkie exclaimed "I'm from Sabetha--I'm Craig's daughter!" The woman's eyes got huge and she said "YOU'RE Craig's daughter?!!!" Vikkie's dad Craig is apparently a cousin or something of this woman, whose name was Sandy. They went on to discuss the fact that the only reason Vikkie recognized Sandy was because when Vikkie was in high school she used to clean the home of Sandy's mother, and there were pictures of Sandy everywhere. This was obviously like 10 years ago, and Vikkie wasn't even sure at the time if she'd ever even seen Sandy in person!! She said it happens all the time, where she sees someone she's met once many years before and she immediately knows them. How's that for a super power!??

After our Sabetha sighting, we re-passed all of the people who'd passed us while we were talking with Sandy, and then crossed over a big bridge on the south side of the bay, and sort of started heading back in the direction we'd already come. This was probably the least scenic part of the entire walk, even though the wildlife area was on our left, because the highway was right next to us on the other side. It seems like we walked along this stretch for about a mile, but then we started heading through some pretty residential areas. There was a great pit stop in this area with the whole crew dressed in 80s prom clothes, which was great for a laugh along the way! The pit stops always had themes and were generally pretty entertaining, but this one was definitely my favorite of the weekend! I think it was soon after this that we skirted the edge of the Old Town area, but it wasn't until the next day that we even realized that's where we had been.

We arrived at lunch entirely too early once again, somewhere between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Since there had been even more supporters along the route than the previous two days, we'd eaten even more candy than the previous two days, which meant we really weren't hungry for a turkey sandwich at 9:45 in the morning. We snacked on a couple of side items and packed our sandwiches, did some stretching, and then headed back onto the trail by 10:15 or so. With only about 5 more miles to go, we were ready to get a move on!

We walked through a few residential areas before coming to the Hillcrest neighborhood, which actually happens to be near where my brother lived in San Diego many years ago. This is a cute little community that kind of feels like a smaller town in the middle of the big city, with lots of cute shops in a quaint downtown. We turned south somewhere in Hillcrest and then headed towards Balboa Park. We didn't actually walk through the heart of Balboa, but headed down the main street that runs along the east side of the park. The funny thing is, once again I had no idea we were walking so close to this major city landmark! I think we were just completely focused on finishing and not paying attention to the scenery! In our defense though, the entire stretch of Park Boulevard where we walked was littered with spectators cheering us on. It was a little difficult to pay attention to the area when we were busy acknowledging all of our supporters!

Once we reached the south end of Balboa, there was really only about a mile or so of walking through the downtown area before we arrived at Petco Park. The last few city blocks were already packed with people, and I think it was only a little after noon when we arrived. Although we didn't get an official finisher number when we arrived, we heard some other people who came in just before us say that they were around number 250. Again, it sounded like we got slower on the third day, but we still felt good about our time since we were among the last to leave that morning!

After crossing the finish line we picked up our victory t-shirts, took pictures by the Day 3 banner, then parked ourselves on a grassy hill outside the stadium where we stretched, ate our sandwiches and watched the other walkers coming in. It was actually a little chilly once we stopped moving, and when it started to sprinkle a while later we weren't too thrilled about the possibility of being cold and wet. We grabbed our gear and hustled down underneath the ballpark, where we had a great view of the incoming walkers. We started noticing that as they crossed the finish line they all looked a little lost, because there were several different ways they could turn, and they didn't immediately notice the greeting crew standing farther into the park. Vikkie and I decided that we would be helpful and encouraging and stand where we could direct them while cheering them on. Within a couple of minutes, a couple of women joined our line of two. A few minutes later, a couple of other women joined our line of four. At that point we started doing a wave of six for all the finishing walkers as they game by, which was pretty darn funny. Then some more people lined up across from us to cheer and dance and clap for the incoming walkers. Within 20 minutes, there were at least a hundred people who had joined our receiving line! It was huge! A woman a few people down from us said "What a great idea--who started this?" and several women pointed to Vikkie and I. Another woman took our picture, apparently wanting to remember the spirited organizers of "the line." It was so fun because we got to be goofy and dance around and clap for people, but it was also very moving because we got to see close up how overwhelmed with emotion people were as they finished their 60 miles. Many would walk down the line and receive hugs and pats on the back and just break down in tears, which would cause everyone in the welcome line to get teary as well. It was a pretty cool place to be, and of course it was all our idea. :)

After about an hour and a half of being on our feet dancing and clapping, when our line of two had grown into a line of hundreds, Vikkie and I said "our work is done here" and decided to go relax. We headed out the gates of the ball park to the La Croix tent, where our awesome foot massagers were just waiting for us! We pampered our feet while making calls to our families, and then headed back out to the street, where there were thousands and thousands of people congregating to cheer on the incoming walkers and prepare for closing ceremonies. I know I keep saying this, but it was so amazing how many people came out in support of the event.

We headed back to the holding area inside the ballpark and did a little shopping at some sponsor tents, and then decided to sit back and admire our beautiful welcome line, which looked like it was over 1,000 people long. People would walk through the line, pick up their t-shirts, and then go join the end of the line to make it even longer. We took a series of pictures, since it was way too long to fit into one frame. We thought it was pretty cool. :)

The last walker finished soon after at about 3:45, and the organizers immediately started herding people around to get set up for the victory walk to the closing ceremonies. By the time the 4,600 people were in an organized line, it was starting to sprinkle again. The entire mass of people marched about a half mile around the outside of Petco Park into what appeared to be a parking lot, where the stage was set up and spectators were gathered. We were actually fairly near the front, which meant we stood around for what seemed like an hour waiting for the other 4,000 participants to pour into the area. Thankfully we'd packed our ponchos that day, because we were starting to get a little damp!

The closing ceremonies finally started, and while very moving and powerful, they felt just a little bit long, probably because it was dark by this point and we were all pretty wet with drizzle and we'd been up since before 5 a.m.! When the ceremony was finished, we wandered over to the next parking lot where our suitcases were all waiting (in the rain). We drug our bags to a nearby corner and tried calling a cab, but since I only had an intersection and not the actual address of Petco, they wouldn't come and get us! We soon realized that the streets around the stadium had been blocked off anyway, so we just started following the crowds to the main downtown area until we saw a cab. We shared a cab with a nice woman from Iowa, and then arrived at our hotel, where the kind woman at the front desk upgraded us to a suite! I think she just felt sorry for us since she knew we'd walked 60 miles and were wet and cold!

Our suite was nice and spacious, and after unpacking and getting organized, we decided that because of the wet and chilly weather we'd just stay in for the night and order some pizza. Thankfully, the hotel had a laundry room just two doors down from us, so we were able to get our laundry done and enjoy a cozy evening in warm beds for the first time in 3 days! :)

Day Two Review

On Day 2 of the 3-Day in San Diego, Vikkie and I were unfortunately awakened by the chatter and clatter of the campers around us, who insisted on waking up at like 5 in the morning to prepare for the day. Ugh! Thank goodness we'd gone to bed early! We finally rolled out of bed at around 6 or so and headed to breakfast, where we had oatmeal, eggs, potatoes, yogurt, fruit and all sorts of things to start our day. Other than the soggy bacon (which neither of us actually tried), it was a very tasty breakfast!

We stopped off to wash our faces and brush our teeth along the way back to our tent, and then got dressed and packed up to head out onto the trail. We left camp at about 7:10, but the route had opened at 6:15, so we knew there were a lot of people who were way ahead of us! We walked right along the bay all morning, passing lots of beach front complexes and homes that were very nice (and passing lots of other walkers as well!). The weather was beautiful this day--a little warmer than day one and very sunny. Since it was such a gorgeous Saturday morning, the boardwalk along the beach was just packed with other bikers, walkers and joggers. We passed at least a couple of marinas as well as a couple of parks with pit stops, and all along the way there were amazing numbers of supporters, many of whom were the same people we'd seen cheering us on the previous day! I was so amazed that these dedicated people were giving up their entire weekend just to come out and clap, cheer and pass out treats--and pass out treats they did!! At some point before the walk started on day one, one of the returning walkers welcomed everyone to the "60 mile San Diego Buffet." I couldn't figure out what that meant at the time, but we realized very quickly that it was a reference to all of the walker stalkers, who were passing out huge amounts of candy around every corner! There would be entire Girl Scout troops and cheerleading squads with bowls full of chocolate and buckets of red vines, and you felt terrible refusing because you were so appreciative of them just being there! We were sick from too much candy by 9 in the morning!

We arrived at a section of Mission Bay Park on the south side of the bay for "lunch", which was just over 9.5 miles into the day. Even though it was before 9:30 a.m., we enjoyed a chicken wrap, a few chips and a fruit cup just so we wouldn't have to haul the food around with us to eat later. It was such a nice day and the park was so beautiful, it might have been nice to lounge around there all afternoon! The crew had decorated the area like a 50s diner, with oldies music playing and crew members in poodle skirts. It was really quite entertaining, but we only rested and stretched about a half hour before heading back out onto the route. We soon passed a dog park called "Dog Beach" on the northern end of Ocean Beach, and of course Vikkie and I both loved watching all the dogs romp and play in the sand and surf!

It was soon after this that the battery on my Garmin Forerunner went dead, which is unfortunate because I really had no idea where we were walking without looking at a map! I do know that we walked south for a little while longer before walking through a bunch of residential areas that had a ton of hills! These hills were killer--they were steep and there were lots of them! This was probably the only time during the 3 days of walking that we really got our heart rates up and worked up a sweat. We hauled up and down several hills before heading back north towards the Mission Bay area, where we walked past Sea World and around the park some more before heading back to our campsite, which was at Crown Point Shores in Mission Bay Park. We arrived about 1:30 p.m. and were the 112th/113th people to finish the 21.1 miles that day. While it might sound like we were slower than the day before because we came in behind more people, we actually felt better about our finish because we didn't have a single person pass us the entire day! All of those people finishing in front of us either started before us or took one of the "sweep" vans (vans that pick up injured/tired/wimpy walkers to transport them to the next pit stop or checkpoint) to get there!

In all seriousness, I was really surprised at how many people were eager to get on a sweep van and then weren't embarrassed at all about having done so. As Vikkie and I often discussed, after training for so many weeks we a) didn't ever feel the need to be rescued by a sweep van and b) wouldn't have been caught dead doing so because of our competitive natures. I mean how could we raise all that money based on the condition that we were going to walk 60 miles and then not actually walk 60 miles? It seems like false advertising, if you ask me. Call me callous, but I had a hard time feeling sorry for people who "couldn't" finish walking because of blisters. Vikkie and I made a lot of weekend sacrifices in order to put in hours and hours of training, and people who ended up with "hamburger feet" clearly didn't. That was their choice, so I have a hard time having any sympathy for them! That probably sounds cruel, but I'm just being honest!

So back to the review of our day, now that I've gotten off my soap box. :) After finishing on day 2 we did the same things we did the day before: foot massage, snacks, stretching, etc., and then we headed off to take showers, since our friend Tish (who used to work at KU Endowment before moving to LA), was going to come down to San Diego in the late afternoon to come hang out with us and go watch the KU/OSU football game! We skipped the dinner at camp since we planned to eat with Tish, who ended up getting to SD a lot later than expected, and then getting lost because we weren't able to give her good directions since we didn't really know exactly where we were! Finally, with the help of a creepy cab guy who talked Tish through getting there on the phone, she arrived at about 6 or so. Since the game had started just after 5, we were getting text message updates from Chad since we were missing the action!

Thankfully I had printed off directions at home to the local place which is famous for playing all the KU games, Kansas City Barbeque. They were listed on the KUAA website as the place to go for a watch party, but when we got there and glanced around the tiny restaurant the game wasn't even on! We asked the staff where the game was, only to receive some vague answer about them not being able to get it! ACK!!!! They suggested we walk down the street to a restaurant in a nearby hotel that was supposed to be able to get every game, which we did, only to sit around and wait forever for their staff to try to get the game on. What we eventually discovered was that somehow our game wasn't being shown in their area, even on satellite, because of some huge area rivalry that was superseding KU. We ate dinner and watched other Big 12 games, which provided us with updates of our own game to supplement the text messages Chad was sending us. Thankfully, our Jayhawks were victorious even though we didn't get to watch a single down!

We arrived back at camp right before 9:00, and since "lights out" was at 9 we made it back to our tent just in time for changing clothes, brushing teeth and crawling into out sleeping bags! Somehow, we weren't even quite as exhausted as we had been after day 1!

Day One Fun

On Friday morning, November 9, Vikkie and I got up just before 5 a.m. I'd called a cab the night before to pick us up at 5:30, and thankfully, there was a knock on our door by 5:25. We loaded up our stuff in the cab and headed south towards Del Mar, where the opening ceremonies were scheduled to start at 7 a.m. at the county fairgrounds. Our trip there was rather uneventful, except for the moment when we passed an adorable little downtown shopping area, which the cab driver informed us was downtown Encinitas, which we'd been trying to walk to the day before. I guess we just didn't walk far enough, which was probably better since we would have definitely put in more than five miles that day had we actually reached the downtown! It was an 8.5 mile drive from northern Encinitas (an area they call Leucadia) that was supposed to take us about 11 minutes, but once we got near the fairgrounds, the traffic slowed down to a crawl, since thousands of other drivers were also trying to drop off their friends and loved ones at opening ceremonies as well! We had guessed it would probably be about a $20 cab ride to Del Mar, but as we were inching our way into the drop off area I glanced up at the still ticking meter, which was ringing up at $23. Thankfully, a couple of minutes later the very kind driver shut the timer off, so that we only had to pay for any additional mileage, which couldn't have been more than a quarter mile. We sat there in traffic for another 15-20 minutes waiting to get to the unloading area, so we were very thankful that a) we'd left the hotel plenty early, and b) we had a very generous cab driver. What a blessing!

We finally got to the unloading area and dropped our bags off at one of about 10 semis, where one of the awesome volunteer crew members loaded it onto the truck specific to our tent area at camp. (There were 550 crew members who volunteered for the San Diego event this year!) We walked about a half mile through the grounds to where the opening ceremony would be held, and I quickly realized these fairgrounds weren't at all like the fairgrounds we have in Douglas County! The Del Mar Fairgrounds and the nearby equestrian park host several major San Diego events throughout the year, and the beautiful buildings all over the grounds are a far cry from the metal farm buildings that litter the fairgrounds here in Lawrence.

We stood around for at least 30 minutes before the staff started leading us in some stretches (which I've never really understood since I'm not sure why anyone would need to stretch before walking), and finally the opening ceremonies began. The national spokesperson of the 3-Day was the emcee of the program, and she did a really good job. Last year it was a different woman who was a little cheesy and very scripted, but this year's spokesperson was so much better. The program also incorporated these big flags with different milestones and events written on them, which were first presented by a group of survivors who were getting ready to start the walk themselves. It was very moving and also very cool because the flags were all carried by different walkers for all 60 miles of the 3 days! People would just carry a flag for a while until they passed someone else on the route, and then they'd pass it along, with the goal being that eventually every one of the 4,600 walkers would have carried the flag at some point during the 3 days.

After the program ended and the flag bearers began walking, there was unfortunately a lot of standing around, as all 4,600 people had to be funneled through a fairly small chute so that they could be scanned by more volunteers. (Each time the walkers go on or off the route, their credentials are scanned so that every walker is always accounted for.) We finally started walking at 7:26 a.m.! After the first few miles we came to the first really scenic area on the route, which was a long bridge along the ocean coming up on the hill to Torrey Pines State Reserve. It was along that stretch of road that we first came upon the many, many supporters who were out cheering for the walkers. I can't even explain how many people decorated their cars, costumed themselves and came out to encourage the 3-Day participants all weekend long. They called themselves "walker stalkers," because they followed the walkers all around town, offering trinkets ("flair" for our waist packs and lanyards) and stickers and candy and muffins and cheers and hugs and support. It was just amazing! It made the walk go by so much more quickly because around almost every corner there was a new group of supports cheering you on, many of whom were decked out in such hilarious outfits you just couldn't help but laugh!

Anyway, after stopping and getting a snack at our first pit stop we started up the very long hill at Torrey Pines. This hill was pretty killer--the elevation increased steadily for over a mile--but the view was gorgeous. We walked past the famous Torrey Pines golf course before the plateau final leveled off. Soon after leaving the reserve we hit the outskirts of the beautiful city of La Jolla. We skimmed the beautiful beaches and rock formations along the coast of that area until stopping in a beautiful grassy area for an early lunch at about 10:30, just over 11 miles into the day. Once we stopped walking, the breeze off the ocean made it really chilly, since it was a pretty cloudy day. After a rest of 30 minutes or so, we headed back out onto the trail, blowing through some residential areas, small business districts, a couple of cheering stations (which were difficult to distinguish since there were so many people cheering all along the route) and a few quick pit stops during the late morning. We made an extra stop at a hardware store since we forgot a flashlight, and then powered through the last 4 or 5 miles to end up at the beautiful Mission Bay Park at around 1:20 in the afternoon. We felt good about our pace over the 22 mile course that day, given that only 2 people passed us the entire time. We passed a few thousand people and were the 70th and 71st people to come into camp.

After arriving at camp and locating our campsite and gear, we set up our tent and got settled into our temporary home. We milled around camp for a while and checked out the post office tent, the snack tent, the stretching area, the 3-Day store, and the La Croix tent, where a La Croix rep provides these awesome foot massagers for walkers when they're finished, along with lots of different flavored waters. After a good foot massage we headed back to our tent to get our shower stuff and fresh clothes, and then headed off to the mobile shower trucks to enjoy a nice, hot shower!

By the time we were all cleaned up, dinner was being served in the dining tent, and we enjoyed a nice meal of pasta, salad and rolls. When we were done eating we went back to the "lounge" tent, where we watched a little TV, called our families and waved to them on the webcam, and then went by and visited the remembrance tent, where walkers memorialize their loved ones lost to breast cancer. We started getting tired by 7:30 or so, so we headed back to our tent and got ready for bed, and I'm pretty sure we were asleep by 8 or 8:30! It's amazing how tired walking 22 miles in a day will make you! :)

Hopefully soon I'll get finished detailing days 2 and 3, but until then, check out some new pictures I loaded onto my Picasa page that Vikkie recently sent from her camera!

Absolutely Amazing!

I'm so excited to talk about my 3-Day adventure, but it will be a while before I actually have the time to relay all the stories. All I've managed to do so far is upload my pictures, and as you might guess from the slide show, we had a great time and the walk was incredible! I promise I'll tell more detailed stories later, but for now, I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Honorary/Memorial List

Late last week I finished up the list of honored survivors that Vikkie and I are going to display on our shirts during the event this weekend. Originally I'd thought about ironing the names onto a couple of our shirts. The drawback to that was only being able to wear the t-shirt for one day, and therefore only display the names for one day. Then last week, the 3-Day staff sent out a link to a downloadable memorial bib (like a race bib that runner wears in a competition), that you could print on your computer and then write names on. That gave me the idea for a more permanent bib on fabric instead of on paper! I designed an image that I'll print out and iron on to a cotton t-shirt, and then I'll cut out the reusable bib for Vikkie and I to pin onto the back of our shirts every day! I think it's going to look really cool!

I'm not going to actually do the printing/ironing on until tomorrow, so please let me know if there's anyone else you'd like me to add to this list before it becomes permanent! :)

My Final Week of Training!

It's finally here! The final weekend of training before we head off to San Diego. I can't believe we leave in just a few days! Since we'll start walking in less than a week, it was another easy week with regards to training. On Saturday, there was only a 10 mile walk on the schedule, so I walked about 2 miles to and from and around the stadium for the KU football game, walked the dogs 4 miles after coming home from the game, and then walked another 4 on my own. It was a pretty unexciting day of walking, really!

Today I only had 8 miles to walk, and I did about a mile of that at the Humane Society with my doggy friends there. Upon my return home, my dear husband went with me to walk the dogs about 3.4 miles, and then I walked for another 4, in just under an hour, on my own. It's funny how 8 miles just seems like nothing when you're used to walking 13-18!

This week I'll probably only walk 2-3 miles with the dogs each evening, and then Thursday will be our day of rest as we travel out to San Diego! I can't wait! :)

"Winning" Logo

Last week my friends and readers were kind enough to help me decide on a logo for our 3-Day team. My poll actually had 29 whole votes, although I will admit that I did request votes from a handful of friends who I know aren't normal readers of my blog. It was kind of a landslide, as the voters overwhelmingly chose my first attempt at a logo, which was this:

What I just couldn't come to grips with was that this graphic wasn't the most symmetrical of the three options. I just like things balanced! The asymmetry was driving me crazy, so at lunch on the day of the voting, I moved the letters around to be like option #2, which was similar but had the word "for" in between the two jugs. I felt good about the decision when my friends Erin and Amanda both made that exact suggestion later in the day!

Later in the week, I took the modified version of the above image and ironed it onto a white t-shirt. The result wasn't so hot. The image resolution was really poor, plus the white on white just looked kind of weird. In order to change the resolution I had to start over from scratch, basically starting my "artwork" on a bigger canvas. My plan was to try to recreate the same image in a bigger size, and then put it on a colored background, which I set out to do earlier this week.

While I made every attempt at getting the new image to look like the original, since I didn't really remember the techniques I'd used to create the first logo, I wasn't able to reproduce it exactly. The biggest difference is the Jayhawk himself. In the new version he turned out entirely pink--beak and all! I didn't really realize it until I was pretty far into the process, and frankly, I was just too lazy to change it! I guess pink is the color of breast cancer awareness...

After adding the colored background to help the visibility of the whole logo, it looked very little like the image everyone voted for, but I guess that's what happens when you're a not-so-experienced graphic designer! Regardless, here's the final product:

Once I ironed it onto a t-shirt, it looked like this:


I can't help but notice that the whole logo/model/pose looks remarkably similar to my first attempt at designing a t-shirt back in August. Oh well. I guess since the overall themes of the two events (saving boobs from breast cancer) were similar, my lack of creativity is excusable.

Thanks to every who voted last week! I totally appreciate your input, even though the final product wasn't exactly like your favorite! :)

Week 14: Another Eighteen

If you're paying close attention, you probably noticed that I skipped week 13 entirely! Last weekend we were in Colorado, and while I didn't exactly skip my training walks, I didn't exactly finish them either! Thankfully it was an easy week, and I was only supposed to do 10 miles on Saturday and 8 on Sunday. On Saturday we were in Boulder, and we walked about 6 miles during the day, around the Pearl Street Mall downtown and to and from the CU stadium for the KU game. I thought I'd get up early on Sunday and get my 8 miles done, but when we woke up it looked like a blizzard outside! Later in the afternoon Chad walked about 3 miles with me, and then we walked almost another 3 to and from Invesco Field for the Steelers/Broncos game that night. Thankfully, this weekend I was still able to complete my 18 miles on Saturday despite slacking off last weekend!

The 18 miles on Saturday started off with a 1.5 mile walk with the dogs early in the morning, and I definitely had to layer up because it was only 39 degrees at 6:45. BRRR!! After dropping Celtic and Hope off at home, I walked over to my friend Amber's house--almost 3 miles away--and took a short break there before heading out for just over 6 miles. After that, I walked the 3 miles back home, and took another short break before taking the dogs out for another 2 miles, which brought me up to 15 miles on the day. A couple of hours later, Chad and I headed over to a benefit 5K in memory of one of my sorority sisters who passed away when we were in college. I was able to finish my last 3 miles catching up with old friends, which was really nice!

On Sunday, I walked my first 3 miles with my doggy friends at the shelter, which certainly wasn't at the 4+ m.p.h. pace I'd walked the day before, but I counted it anyway! When I got home I took my own dogs out for almost 1.5 miles, and then walked by myself for a very fast five miles. Since I was bored being alone, I picked up the pace and went an average of 14:12 per mile on my last 5. I was pretty sore upon my arrival home, but it was worth it to get the walk over with more quickly! I was telling someone the other day that probably anyone could walk 20 miles in a day if they did it slowly enough; the challenge comes with getting it done fast enough to enjoy your afternoon and evening!

Thanks!!

Earlier this week, we had our fundraiser at Set'em Up Jack's to raise money for our 3-Day team. Between us and our friend Mike (who decided about 2 weeks ago to do the 3-Day in Dallas this weekend), we brought in at least 40 people t0 the restaurant, so it was a pretty good showing! I just wanted to say thanks to all of my wonderful friends, neighbors, coworkers and family members who came: Amber & Jake, Dante, JoAnna, Brenda, Paula & Aaron, Christy & Chris, Joanie & Rory, Ann & Ben, Nate, Linda, Robyn, Faith, Debra and her mom, the Andersons and the Hilliards. Thank you all so much for your support, and a special thanks to Danny, our friend and the owner of Jack's, for his generosity!

The 3-Day Times Newletter

I finally finished and published my one and only newsletter of the year! If you didn't receive a link via email the other night, please feel free to check it out here. There are actually a few bits of information that I haven't covered in my blog yet, so hopefully it won't be entirely old news!

Logo Options

Last week I was working on making a logo for our 3-Day team, despite the fact that I really have no graphic design skills whatsoever. I just thought it would be fun to have something to put onto t-shirts, so that in a crowd of 4,000 walkers in a far away city, people will be able to tell that we’re a team. While none of my attempts at a logo are really that original or exciting, I’d still like some assistance from my few loyal readers to help me figure out which is the best option. So here are your choices:

#1–Pink KU Jayhawks on dark jugs


#2–Pink Jayhawks on lighter jugs


#3–Grey Jayhawk on pink jugs



So there are your choices!! Vote below for your favorite, and thanks for your input!

Week Twelve: Rain Delay and Record Day

This weekend was the most time consuming walking weekend on the entire 3-Day training schedule, and I'm really glad it's over! We were supposed to do 18/15 mile walks back-to-back, and because of the KU football game smack in the middle of Saturday, my plan was to get up super early on Saturday morning and walk around 15 miles before we had to leave for the game at 10:30 or so. At about one in the morning, there was a crazy load thunderstorm that rolled into town. When my alarm went off at 5 a.m., it was still pouring down rain with tons of lighting. I checked the radar and then went back to bed, hoping the storm would be over soon so I could start walking!

When I woke again at 6, it was still pouring and thundering, as it was when I finally got out of bed at 7:45. I called the local rec center to see if a treadmill was available and headed across town, where I started walking on the treadmill by 8:30. In a 55 minute period, I walked a very quick 4.3 miles, which was far cry from the 15 miles I had planned! I rushed home to get ready for the game, and then after a couple of long rain delays, didn't get home from the game until after 5 in the evening. I headed straight out to finishing my walking, looping back to the house every few miles to chat with my brother, who was in town from LA, and my mom, who was visiting from Topeka. I eventually finished my 15 miles (counting the 1.2 miles we walked to and from the car and the stadium) at 9:30 that night.

The bummer about finishing so late was that I had to get up at 6 the next morning to do my 18 mile walk with Vikkie in Kansas City. I drove the 45 minutes to her house, and we got started just after 8 a.m., but without the recovery time I was pretty much sore as soon as we started! We walked through some beautiful areas of Johnson County, knocking out our 18 miles with an average pace of 14:53 minutes per mile, not counting our two breaks of about 15 minutes each. We were done by 1 p.m., but I was pretty much spent the rest of the day! I'm so glad we have only one walk of over 10 miles left on the training schedule, and only 3 more weekends of training! YEA!

Good Food for a Good Cause

Next Tuesday is an important night you should mark on your calendar. On Tuesday the 23rd, we're having the second annual Breast Cancer 3-Day benefit night at our favorite restaurant, Set'em Up Jack's. Our friend Dan who owns Jack's has offered to donate 25% of each food and drink bill during the evening to the 3-Day, provided the patrons bring in this flier and give it to their server.

So, if you're looking for a good excuse to not cook dinner next Tuesday, come to Jack's for a great meal that will help a good cause. It should be tons of fun! We hope to see everyone there!

Easy Week Eleven

This last weekend was such a nice break from the long walks of the last few weekends. We only had to do 10 and 8 miles on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. I walked a couple of miles with my dad, who is visiting from Ohio, on Saturday morning, and then the remaining 8 miles with my loyal walking partner Amber. It was remarkably humid for a fall morning in October, but we had an enjoyable walk none the less.

On Sunday, the dogs and I took a 5 mile walk despite getting sprinkled on a few times, and then after dinner my dad and I went out for another mile and a half. In my final 1.5 miles, I practiced my speedwalking--it's much easier to walk quickly when you don't have to carry on a conversation! Plus, when you're alone with your thoughts and it's dark outside, you want nothing more than to get FINISHED with your walk!

I'm going to try to increase my mileage a little this week to prepare myself for next weekend: our back-to-back 18/15 walks! It's going to be a big time commitment, one that I would prefer not to have next weekend since my brother's coming to visit!

Week Ten: 30!

I was a little nervous about last weekend's walk because of the incomplete weekend before, but I managed to get my training miles of the weekend completed without incident! Saturday was a great day for walking with beautiful weather, and my friend Vikkie and I started out from our house just after 7 a.m. and walked the almost 3 miles to my friend Amber's house. We took a 6-7 mile loop around various neighborhoods, returning to Amber's house for a short break, complete with snacks, a change of socks, and a little Bodyglide on the feet to prevent blisters. After filling up with water, Vikkie and I were off again, heading out for 7-8 more miles in a route that ended up back at our house. We made one other snack/rest break at a playground, but for the most part we kept up a terrific pace, finishing 17 miles just before noon. Our average mile pace was 14:49, which means we were walking fast, as usual. I'm pretty sure I can't keep that pace up for 3 days, but at least the first day we'll be in good shape for getting done quickly!

Sunday I was scheduled for 13 miles, and after walking the dogs just over 2 miles in the morning, I had to break for church and lunch with friends. I resumed my walking at the Humane Society with the residents there, but only got about a mile in because I had so many pictures to take. My friend Heather and I met up on campus late in the afternoon and took an almost 6 mile journey around The Hill, but it was dark by the time we finished. I still had about 3 miles to go when I got home, so I took the dogs back out for a late night stroll and ended up at about 12.5 (recorded) miles for the day.

As Heather and I were walking she asked me if I preferred to walk in the morning or evening, and I told her I preferred morning just because you never know what your day might bring that will ruin your evening walking plans. After walking late into the evening on Sunday, I realized that I also didn't like evening walking because I'm just so tired by the end of the day! I was pooped Sunday night! Of course, it might have been the 17 miles the day before!

Week Nine: "I" for Incomplete

Unfortunately, last weekend I didn't even come close to getting all of my training miles done. ACK! I completed my 15 miles on Saturday, walking with our dogs for a few miles, with my friend Heather for almost 8 miles, with our dogs for a couple more miles, and then with just Fresco for couple of miles. With breaks in between each leg it wasn't bad at all!

My training began to go downhill on Sunday morning, when I woke up with such a terrible sore throat I couldn't get out of bed for church. The afternoon rolled around and I still couldn't get out of bed to go volunteer at the Humane Society. The evening rolled around and I still couldn't get out of bed to do any walking! I didn't get a single one of my scheduled 11 miles done that day!

I only felt slightly better on Monday, and while I was up and around the house by the afternoon, I still wasn't up for any walking. I got 3.5 miles in on Tuesday, almost 2 miles in on Thursday, and almost 4 miles in this morning. I'm definitely feeling a little unprepared for my 17 mile walk tomorrow!

Eight Weeks Down and Eight To Go!

Once again, I haven't found time to talk about my weekend of walking until now, when the week is almost over! It was certainly a busy weekend, which made it difficult to get all those training miles done, but I managed. Saturday was the first day that my teammate Vikkie and I were able to walk together. She came over to Lawrence with her husband Brett and Beagle Debo, and after an insanely wild meeting of the dogs we took them out for a 5 mile walk. Soon after we dropped them off and got some snacks, we headed back out for a 4 mile walk to the nearest Quinzo's, where our husbands met us for lunch. After lunch we took the long way home to finish off our last 5 miles. Breaking it up that way made it go pretty fast, although we didn't get finished until around 3:00. Because of some morning rain, we didn't get started as early as we would have liked!

Sunday was the super crazy walking day. After going to early church and then working at the nursery during the late service, I went straight to our favorite restaurant to have lunch while watching the Steelers' game. At halftime I headed over to the Lawrence Humane Society, where I started logging my training miles while I was walking shelter dogs and taking their pictures, completing about 3 miles in the 2 hours that I was there. Immediately after arriving home and changing clothes , Chad and I took the 3 dogs for a 4 mile walk. After dropping Chad, Hope and Celtic off at home, I went back out with Fresco for another walk just over 3 miles. After getting my 10 miles in, I went straight to the softball diamonds to play a double header! Wow, was I tired! I could hardly keep my eyes open by the time we headed home at 10:30!

Week Seven: My Feet Hurt

I have to admit that my feet are starting to feel the effects of all of my training walks! On Saturday morning, I walked the dogs a couple of miles before starting off with my awesome walking partner Amber on a 10+ mile trek. As usual, Amber's quick 4 m.p.h pace (which we kept up for 10.6 miles, by the way) really wore me out! I felt pretty good while walking, but for the rest of the day I could barely keep my eyes open! I was in bed, exhausted, by 9:30 on a Saturday night! :)

On Sunday, I got up and walked the dogs two miles before church, and then played a couple of softball games in the afternoon. To make my remaining 7 miles a little more interesting, I went and picked up Fresco the foster dog after softball and then took him back to the ballpark I'd just come from. After a quick hot dog and some chips (very healthy "fuel" food, I know), Fresco and I started out on the walk home, which was about 7.3 miles. He'd already walked 2 miles that day, but he didn't have any problem going an additional seven! It's fairly easy to keep a good pace with one dog (with 3, not so much) so we were home in just under 1 hour and 50 minutes of walking time (not counting stoplights and water breaks). During the journey I could definitely tell I'd walked almost 13 the day before--the bottoms of my feet started getting really sore. Although this was something I really struggled with last year too, part of it might be that my shoes are starting to wear out! My favorite walking shoes are some that I got towards the end of last year's training, which means I've had them for over a year, and I'm guessing I've put a lot more miles on them than the average person does! I'll definitely need to shell out the cash for a new pair before too much longer!

Fabulous Friday

Friday was a very big day! More specifically, it was the day I reached one of my most important 3-Day milestones! I'm so excited to report that on Friday I received a very thoughtful donation from my coworker Linda that brought my fundraising total to exactly $2200! Although my personal fundraising goal is still $3,000, I now have the minimum amount needed to participate.

Linda's gift was a very special one, not only because it was made in honor of her sister-in-law who was just diagnosed with breast cancer last week, but also because Linda had already given me a generous donation for the event many weeks ago! Her first gift was in memory of her grandmother who died of breast cancer, as well as two other friends who are survivors. When her sister-in-law was diagnosed, she felt compelled to donate again. Much like me, Linda has watched way too many women close to her battle this terrible disease! Through gifts like hers, someday we hope that fighting breast cancer will be a thing of the past!

An Easy Weekend

I'm a little late in reporting on last week's training, partially because of a busy Labor Day weekend, and partially because it just wasn't that exciting! It was kind of a "rest" week, where the weekend mileage is dropped back significantly just to give you a break in the midst of your training. I was scheduled for 6/5 miles on Saturday/Sunday (which seems like a piece of cake after doing over 10 the Saturday before), and my walking partner Amber and I walked about 6.5 on Saturday morning. Since I'd already walked the dogs about 1.5 miles before Amber and I set out, I definitely got more miles in that day than I really needed! The weather was pretty nice and we saw some new sites along a different walking path, which is always good.

Early on Sunday morning, the dogs and I headed out for a 5 mile walk. Because the weather was so cool and beautiful, Celtic and Hope were easily able to complete their longest training walk of the year! Fresco also came along, but 5 miles was no big deal for him since he'd already walked 7 with me last weekend. Hope and Celtic did one 7 mile walk themselves last year, but the heat and their advancing ages have prevented any walks of that length recently!

I'm looking forward to my 12 mile walk this Saturday, but Sunday's 9 miles might be a bit of an inconvenience since we have a softball double header right in the middle of the day. I'm crossing my fingers for cool weather! :)

A 17 Mile Weekend

This weekend I had some terrific training walks! The weather was much nicer than it has been, which definitely helped, but the best part was that I had a great walking partner again! My friend Amber walked almost 10.5 miles with me early on Saturday morning. She is such a trooper! I can't fathom that someone who isn't even training for the 3-Day would want to walk that far when she doesn't even have to! Walking with a good friend makes the time just fly by, so yesterday we were home before it even felt like we got started. It was probably the first walk where my legs felt tired after we were finished, because we never stopped to rest or stretch and we walked quick 15 minute miles. My feet were also feeling a little sore afterwards, but I think that was good because it means I'm building up some callouses!

This morning I walked another 7 miles, and although my walking partners for today weren't nearly the conversationalists that Amber is (okay, they don't actually converse at all), it was still nice to have company. I took Celtic, Hope and our new foster dog Fresco on the 3.4 mile out and back route from our house to Kasold drive. Since Hope and Celtic are technically "seniors" I don't want to push them too hard, so I dropped them off at home and got a snack, and then Fresco and I set back out on the same route a second time. He's only about 1 year old, so he has tons of energy and could probably do at least 10 miles without too much trouble! He was definitely pooped once we got home, but he didn't slow down while we were out on our walk! It was great to have a walking companion!

A Change of Scenery

Last weekend, Chad and I were on vacation at my Dad's in Athens, Ohio. It's a beautiful area of the country, and I was able to enjoy some new scenery while doing my training walks for the week. Dad did lots of walking with me, as did my brother (who was also visiting) and Chad. We took about a 3 mile hike in the nearby Hocking Hills State Park on Saturday, and then later that evening Chad and Eric and I walked around the Ohio University campus for another 3 miles.

I did my long walk of 8 miles on Sunday on a beautiful hike/bike path called the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway. Chad, my dad and his wife biked while I walked, so every once in a while I'd have someone loop back to keep me company. It was really pretty and the weather there was much better than it was here! It was definitely nice to have a change of scenery!

There and Almost There!!

Monday night, my friend and teammate Vikkie reached a BIG milestone! She has completed her $2200 minimum in fundraising! Yeah Vikkie! And to think she was worried that it would be difficult--she's there with 13 weeks to spare! :)

To be honest, I was a little discouraged about my own fundraising until a couple of days ago. In the middle of May, I sent out a solicitation email to about 55 of my donors from last year, and had about 24% of those people respond with a gift, with a few more of them giving me a verbal pledge. Then in late July, I sent out another email just to those friends who hadn't ever made a gift before, and initially only 8% of them responded. As of August 5 it had been 5 days since I had any donations at all, and I was starting to get a little bit worried! Then last Monday, a very generous gift from my dear cousin Darren was posted to my account, which seemed to get the ball rolling again! Soon after, I got gifts from a repeat donor, a brand new donor and two of my work friends! Suddenly my account was totaling over $2000! I'm so close to that milestone of $2200 and I'm so thankful for all of my supporters who helped me get there! :)

Is It Week Three Already?

I honestly can't believe I'm already into the third week of my training! The first three long weekend walks were so enjoyable, thanks to my walking partner Amber, I didn't even feel like I was training at all!! Yesterday we walked the dogs over 2 miles, and then set out on a 5 mile trek of our own, so we ended up doing more than our scheduled 7 miles without any trouble!

My six mile Sunday walk came in two parts, the first of which was at the Kansas City Race for the Cure this morning. It's a 5K race/walk that raises money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. I put together a team dubbed the Cancer Hating Boob Savers (the name was my friend Robyn's idea), which included about 9 friends and also my mother! We joined 20,000 other participants on a 100 degree day and walked 3.1 miles, which was a great accomplishment for Mom, who usually has difficulty in this kind of weather. Although the crowds and heat made the morning a little less enjoyable that it could have been, we still had a great time and were glad we participated!! If you're interested in pictures from the event you can check out our Picasa page.

My remaining 2 miles (we walked at least a mile to and from our car this morning) was supposed to happen this evening. I had planned to walk the dogs after our 6:00 softball game when I thought it would be a little cooler. When we left on our walk at 8 p.m. the temperature was over 90 degrees and the heat index was almost 105! The dogs only made it about 1.25 miles before they were completely spent. As I write this at 9 p.m., it's still 89 degrees with a heat index of 103! It's been so hot here the last couple of weeks my evening walks have been pretty miserable. There is supposed to be a high of at least 100 every day for the next 6 days, so I will definitely need to start getting up early in the morning for walking to avoid some of this ridiculous heat!

Week Two of Training

Week two of training wasn't especially exciting, but I'll give you the update anyway. I missed one of my 2 mile walks during the week because our Journey Group from church was meeting that evening, so I made up for it by walking 4 miles with the dogs Friday morning. I stopped the stopwatch on my Garmin Foreunner for a long potty break and a water break, so we ended up making in just over an hour, which meant that we were going pretty darn fast for being a 10-legged crew! :)

Saturday morning's 6 mile walk was with my friend Amber, and I have to say I didn't do a very good job of mapping our route! It was extremely hilly, which made it pretty darn challenging. Add that to the fact that Amber is a very fast walker and I forgot to eat breakfast, and we'll just say that I was pretty darn exhausted by the time I got home! Our average mile time was 14:55, which is super fast considering all the hills we took on! I took the dogs for a 1 mile stroll upon my return, but it was already ridiculously hot by 9 a.m. and I was super pooped out! It was clear I have a long way to go before I'm ready to walk 20 miles in a day!

Sunday I was supposed to walk 5 miles, but a softball double-header in the 100 degree heat made for another very exhausting day, to say the least. After cooling off in the A/C for a while I set out with the dogs at about 8:00 p.m., but it was still very humid and almost 90 degrees outside. We went for a slow 2.2 miles and the dogs were really pooped, so I took them home and started out on another journey. Thankfully, since my wonderful husband didn't want me to be walking alone at night, he strapped on his tennies and came along for the trip! Not only was it great to have him as company, but it also forced me to get done a LOT faster, since he was only interested in walking FAST! We were able to finish my remaining 3 miles in around 45 minutes. Yeah for my walking partners! :)

Training Week One: In Review

As you know, this was my first official week of training. While I'm usually a stickler for completing every single mile on my training schedule, I have to admit I was kind of a slacker this week. My plan was to walk two miles every weekday and then 5/3 on Saturday/Sunday. On Tuesday, my evening walking plans were scrapped when our friend Dan invited us to go out to the lake after work. We had a great time (I did a little swimming while the guys took turn skiing and wake boarding), but we got home too late to do any walking.

I made up a mile that I'd missed by walking 3 miles Wednesday morning, but then Thursday after my second steroid injection for my back (this time closer to my tailbone--ouch!) I was way too sore to consider walking. I made up another mile by walking 3 miles Friday morning, which was really okay since that pattern was a little bit closer to the suggested weekly schedule anyway.

The best part of my first week of training was this morning's 5 mile walk, because I had lots of company! My good friends Amber, Beth and Kristin got out of bed way before the sun came up to meet me at 6 a.m. for my first long training walk! It was great!! Having people to talk to makes the time just fly by, and these friends are always great company! I am so thankful for them!

Pre-Training Walk Walk

Although my 16 weeks of training doesn't officially start until tomorrow, yesterday morning I took the dogs for a 3.4 mile jaunt in preparation for my first "long" walk next weekend. The weather was overcast and 70 when we left, which was a nice treat for a July morning in Kansas! While I aspire to walk around 4 miles an hour during training, with all of the dogs' stopping and sniffing and peeing and waterbreaking, we took just about an hour to make it that far.

I'm really excited for my 5 mile walk next weekend, primarily because I have friends who are going to be walking along with me! It will be such a nice treat to have company of the two-legged variety! My friend Amber was the first to volunteer as my walking partner, and then a few of our other friends agreed to join in the fun as well. I've mapped out a 5 mile loop starting from Amber's house using MapMyRun.com, which is a great website for measuring routes for walking, running or biking without driving them in your car or using a GPS. Anyway, it should be a fun way to start my weekend walking!

A Week Away From Training Day

One week from today, I will officially start my training, and I'm very excited! During the last week, my 3-Day future seemed a little uncertain after an aggravation of the bulging disc in my back that happened on July 4. For five days I couldn't walk without excruciating pain, so I was having a hard time imagining how I was going to walk 60 miles in a few months. Thankfully, last Thursday I had my first epidural steroid injection (which was actually scheduled prior to the July 4 aggravation), and I'm so glad to report that it has already made a huge difference! Only two days later I was feeling almost normal, and tonight I actually walked the dogs for the first time! The steroid used was a time-released drug that should actually peak in a couple of weeks, so hopefully I'll continue to improve and be 100% healthy by later this month! I'm ready to walk!

Halfway Home!

This morning I awoke to find that I had received a couple of new donations late yesterday, both from friends of my mom's from high school. The exciting thing is, these donations put me over the halfway point in my fundraising! I now have $1150 towards my $2200 minimum! Very exciting!

Although I have set my personal goal at $3000 this year (which seems reasonable since last year I raised $4800), I am still very excited about this milestone. Raising just over $1000 in 4 months seems completely doable--that's only like $55 a week in the next 19 weeks before the event!

Workshop Milestone

Last night, Vikkie and I went to a 3-Day workshop at a Dick's store in KC, put on by a few walkers who are participating in their 6th 3-day this year. They presented information about shoes, packing, gear, apparel and event logistics. Although most of it was review, it was good to be reminded of some things I probably would have forgotten!! There were a few new tidbits of information that were helpful, and I was also glad that Vikkie came along to learn a little more about how to prepare for the event.

We also met a really nice woman named Beth, a breast cancer survivor herself, who is walking in the San Diego event this year as well. She actually grew up in that area and has walked San Diego for the last four years, and she says it's absolutely wonderful! She gave us a few climate and travel related tips, and also informed us that around 4,500 people walked in last year's event! It's going to be huge!

Another (very silly) reason I wanted to go to the workshop was so that I could put another sticker on my milestone badge! Although it seems a little childish, each participant is given a little badge that you can use to chart your progress as you prepare for the event. There are stickers for reading through the manual, getting your first donation, taking your first training walk, reaching higher donation levels, taking longer training walks, etc. There is also a sticker for attending a workshop, which I can now add to my badge!

I have to admit that before I registered last year, when my friend Cindy was telling me about the badge and how you record your individual milestones, I thought it sounded kind of silly. Then as soon as my milestone badge came in the mail and I started putting stickers on it, I realized it was kind of addictive, even if it is a little childish!

Last year the only milestone I didn't reach was securing a matching gift. I couldn't seem to find any of my donors who worked for a company that would match, which is ironic since both Chad and I work for companies that have matching gift programs! Unfortunately KU Endowment only matches gifts to KU, and last year I didn't have any donors who worked at Westar! I'll have to remedy that situation this year!

Training Schedule

Last year, I followed the suggested 24 week training schedule put out by the 3-Day organization. Not only did that feel like an eternity, but by the time the event rolled around, I felt completely over-prepared. The walk didn't really turn out to be that hard after 580 miles of training!

So this year, I decided that I'd use the shorter 16 week training schedule as a guide, and then create my own less time consuming plan instead. Last year, the walks that were difficult to fit into the week were the 5 and 6 mile walks on the weekdays. Trying to walk 6 miles before work means getting up at 5 a.m., which I'd like to try to avoid if possible! Instead of walking 3-6 mile walks on 2 different weekdays, I decided I would instead walk about 2 miles every weekday. Since I walk the dogs about a mile and a half almost every night anyway, it won't be much of a change in schedule, and all in all, the weekly miles will be about the same. So, here is my planned schedule:

So only about 4 more weeks until I get started! I'll definitely be looking for walking partners during those weeks, so if you're interested in joining me, definitely let me know! :)

San Diego Weather

Over the weekend I started thinking about the climate in San Diego, wondering what I would need to pack with regard to walking apparel. I've been there in the summer and know that the weather is generally sunny and 75 almost every day during that time of year, but I wasn't really sure what the weather is like in November. I did some Googling on the subject, and came up with this webpage (which is really a site to help plan your wedding) with some great info on San Diego weather in each month of the year. Here's what it says about November:

November has a normal maximum temperature of 69.9 degrees and an average minimum of 53.9 degrees which shows the greatest mean range of any month. It also shows a noticeable cooling trend and the mean temperature of 62.0 degrees is 5.7 degrees lower than for October. Since hot, dry easterly winds decrease during the month, maximum temperatures of 90 degrees or higher have occurred less frequently than in September and October. As a rule, temperatures seldom have gone above 80 degrees or below 40 degrees, although 97 degrees was recorded in 1977 and 1976 and 36 degrees in 1919.

Precipitation increases with the monthly average becoming 1.45 inches and the number of days with a measurable amount is 5. Regardless of the fact that there have been several Novembers with no rainfall, the rainy season May be said to begin during the month as amounts in excess of 2 inches have been recorded on several occasions. The greatest monthly total was 5.82 inches in 1965.

High winds have been infrequent but an unusually severe storm in 1944 produced a maximum of 51 mph at the National Weather Service.

More sunshine can be expected in November than any other month. Total possible sunshine is 74 percent. Clear days average 15, partly cloudy 7 and cloudy 8 with 4 days of heavy fog. The relative humidity averages 72 percent in the early morning, 57 percent near noon and 61 percent in the late afternoon.

More sunshine than in any other month--AWESOME! :) With average highs of 70, I probably won't really need to buy many other "performance" apparel items for cooler temperatures like I was thinking I might need to do! I think my tank tops and t-shirts will do just fine when it's 70 and sunny!!

Let's Get Serious

Now that the Relay for Life is complete, I'm ready to start getting serious about my 3-Day fundraising. I recently surpassed the $700 mark thanks to my friend and coworker Laurie (who is herself a breast cancer survivor), which puts me within a few hundred dollars of the half way point! This week I need to send out donation forms in the mail to a few people who requested them after receiving my email, as well as to a few donors from last year who don't have an email address. Since I have to complete my fundraising 30 days before the event in order to do online check-in, that means I have just under 4 months to get my fundraising completed! I need to get on the ball!

In other 3-Day related news: a new logo for the event was recently unveiled! Pretty exciting, I know. Although I'm not as big of a fan of hotter pink, I hope that means that we'll soon be receiving t-shirts just for registering like we did last year. They always serve as a great conversation starter and a great way to identify other 3-Day walkers around town. Last year I met a fellow walker at a softball game, and this year I met one at Mutt-n-Strut who will be walking in Cleveland.

Within a month or so I'll start my official training, so I'll be posting the details of that within the next couple of weeks. At that point I'll be looking for walking partners! :)

Gift Pyramids

Just because I think it's kind of interesting to break it down, I threw together some gift pyramids to help me figure out how many donors of each dollar amount I would need to get me to my $2200 minimum.

If I only have 5 people at $100 and 5 at $60, that means I need 100 people to give me gifts of $10 and $20 dollars. That sounds a little bit daunting!











Now, if I could only find 65 people who would donate, I would need a few more $60 donations, along with a few more at $20 and $25 instead of $10, but that seems a lot more doable!










In the best case scenario, I would find just a few super generous and compassionate people who could give me $250--then I'd be in business! That way I'd only need a handful of donors at the $60, $25 and $20 levels! Best of all, I'd only need 38 donors!












No matter what giving scenario actually ends up occurring, hopefully it will start occurring soon! I'll feel a lot better once I get a few more donation dollars under my belt!

My First Donations!!

Very early this morning, I was thrilled to receive my first donation, resulting from an email I sent out to those people who supported me from last year. Hooray for Aunt Meg--thanks for getting me started with a very generous donation! I got two more donations today and only have $1,930 more to go before reaching my minimum! :)

It's Official!!

California, here we come! Last night I officially registered the Jayhawks for Jugs for the San Diego 3-Day!! Thanks to those of you who helped us decide on a team name by voting. Although the event is still 6 months away, I'm already very excited. The good news is, we have lots of time to prepare and fundraise. The bad news is, November will take forever to get here!

I probably don't really need to start fundraising this early, but since I also need to secure some donations for the Relay for Life in the next couple of months, I'm thinking I'll just send out one email to handle both solicitations. That way, people can either give towards my 3-Day adventure, or they can honor/memorialize a loved one who has battled a different kind of cancer through the Relay. Plus, I'll be bothering my friends and family with one annoying "ask for money" email instead of two, which I know will make my husband very happy. He's convinced that people will start running the other way when they see me coming, since I'm almost always looking for donations for one cause or another. I can't help it--there are a few causes in this world (homeless dogs and cancer being two of them) that I'm really passionate about!

My friend and teammate Vikkie certainly hasn't wasted any time getting started with her fundraising. She registered this morning at about 9:00 a.m. This evening at 5:30 p.m., she had already raised $695!! She's a fundraising rock star! I'll definitely be sending out emails soon so she quits making me look bad! :)

Going to California

My friend Vikkie and I have been talking about it since my last post on the subject, and although we haven't registered yet, we're pretty sure we're going to walk in the Breast Cancer 3-Day in San Diego this November. We were originally leaning towards going to Chicago in August, but since Vikkie is the event planner extraordinaire at our Med Center office and her biggest event of the year is that month, Chicago wouldn't really fit into the schedule. We briefly kicked around the idea of going to Dallas/Fort Worth, since it's close and we have friends there to stay with, but we decided that DFW wasn't quite exciting enough for us. So at this point, we're planning on going to California, but we can't register until we think of a good name for our duo. There are over 600 teams already registered for the San Diego walk, and with each team having 2 to 10 people on it, that's already a LOT of walkers!

Most of the teams have names related to breasts or cancer or cures or walking or where they're from or who they're walking for, and many of the team names are quite hysterical. This year's S.D. walk has "3-Day Street Walkers", "Hoofin' for Hooters", "Babes for Boobs", "Girls Goin' Miles" and about 625 other teams! There is even a team called " 'Hawks for Hooters" (some of whom are from Kansas) that we could join if we wanted to, but we thought it would be more fun to think of a team of our own. So, here are some of the names I've come up with so far:

*Jayhawks for Jugs
*Jayhawks on a Journey
*Journeying Jayhawks for Jugs
*Kansans for a Cure
*KU Kansans for a Cure
*KU Kansans for Curing Kazongas
*Crazy KU Kansans for Cure

You get the drift. I could probably come up with a few more permutations of the same few words (or maybe replace Kazongas for Coconuts or something), but I'll spare you any more ridiculousness. I would, however, appreciate your input, so vote for your favorite below, or leave me a suggestion for something entirely different. If you need more ideas, you can check the complete list of already registered San Diego teams. Thanks for voting!

To Walk Or Not To Walk

Part of the reason I started this blog last year was to share my experiences in preparing for and participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day. It was an interesting journey, and I wish I'd actually started blogging about it back when I started fundraising and training in the Spring. I think it would have been nice to tell the story from beginning to end instead of just blogging about the end result.

When I finished the 3-Day last year, I wasn't entirely sure if I'd walk in the 2007 event. It was a wonderful experience, but not quite as life-changing as I imagined. I think this was partially because it didn't turn out to be quite as challenging as I thought it would be. Raising $2200 wasn't too hard at all thanks to my generous friends and family, and walking 60 miles was actually pretty easy after putting in 580 training miles over the course of 24 weeks. Even though I wasn't committed to participating again, I at least thought I'd have the option. Then a few weeks after the last 3-Day event of the year, the organizers announced that they were pulling Kansas City from the list of 12 host cities for 2007. Even though the K.C. event alone raised $2.5 million last year, they apparently decided the participation numbers weren't high enough.

So this year, if I do decide to walk again, I will have to travel to one of the 12 cities participating: Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Seattle, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Diego, and unannounced cities in Michigan and Arizona. Chad thinks I would be insane to travel hundreds of miles to walk 60 miles, but I'm thinking that this might just make it a more interesting and worthy challenge!

I should probably make a decision about this relatively soon, but there are a few things that are holding me back. 1) The bulging disc in my back still hasn't recovered from last year, so that's kind of my biggest obstacle at this point. Hopefully soon I'll get some relief from the new massage therapist and acupuncturist I'll be seeing in the next couple of months, so that will no longer be an issue. 2) There could be some significant expenses in traveling to the host city, and I'm cheap. 3) It's hard to imagine myself flying to another city all alone without any friends or family members, only to walk and camp for 3 days with thousands of people I don't know. The idea just makes me so lonely! If I'm going to do this, I really need to find someone who wants to take on the challenge with me! The experience would be so much more wonderful if I were accompanied by even one close friend or dear relative. If you think you might be that wonderful person, you should check out the inspirational video on the 3-Day website to see what a cool event it is!

I tried to convince Chad that he should walk with me, but he wasn't really very keen on (a.k.a. adamantly opposed to) that idea. Now I'm trying to convince him that I should walk in the San Diego event and he should join the crew there, so that we could go together and pretend like the trip was just a vacation. I would walk and he would work, but we could camp/eat together each day and then spend a few days relaxing in San Diego after the event is over. Chad isn't too thrilled about this idea either, since he doesn't really think it would be much of a vacation at all.

Maybe in the next couple of months I will build up enough courage to take on San Diego all alone. After all, it is my favorite city in the world--at least of those I've actually visited!