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!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
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!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
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! :)
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! :)
Sunday, August 12, 2007
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!
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!
Monday, August 6, 2007
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! :)
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! :)
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