You might have noticed that I never blogged about last weekend's training walks. That's mostly because Mom and I didn't walk together last weekend, and partially because I slacked off quite a bit on the walking I did do! After our 18/15 walks the weekend before, we were only scheduled to do recovery walks of 10 and 6. Mom did pretty well on her own, walking about 7 and 6 on Saturday and Sunday respectively. I, however, only walked about 6 on Saturday before going to the KU game, and then only walked about 4 on Sunday while walking dogs at the shelter. I was pretty lazy--but it was only because I had so many other things going on!
This weekend is another easy weekend since we did back to back hard weekends when we changed up the schedule a couple of weeks ago. We're supposed to do walks of 10 and 8 on Saturday and Sunday, but will probably only do 8 tomorrow since there's another early football game to schedule around. On Sunday we're taking a special trip and doing our 10 miles in a special town, so hopefully I'll have a good story to tell after our walk!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Fundraising Progress
I've been slacking on the 3-Day updates lately, but that's only because there's been so much going on! Last Thursday, on the same day we had our Pack Jack's event at Set'em Up Jack's, the Wellness Committee at my office (headed by a very dedicated and motivated Pam) put on a fundraiser for my team over the lunch hour. They sold donated pizza and baked goods and raffled off a bunch of other goodies and raised almost $400!! It was amazing! At the event, another of my coworkers gave me a $500 donation for the team as well, which will put my mom over her $2200 minimum once it posts to her account! Since Eric is only about $800 away himself, we are getting very close to being finished with our fundraising!
The evening at Jack's went pretty well also, with 40 or so people coming specifically to support our team. I haven't heard from Dan about how much money we raised, but hopefully soon I'll be able to deposit another $100 or so into Eric's account. I'm glad we're getting close, because there are only 23 days until the event!
Thank you to everyone who came to the work fundraiser, to the Jack's fundraiser or just made a donation to my mom's or brother's account recently! I am so thankful that fundraising is almost over!
The evening at Jack's went pretty well also, with 40 or so people coming specifically to support our team. I haven't heard from Dan about how much money we raised, but hopefully soon I'll be able to deposit another $100 or so into Eric's account. I'm glad we're getting close, because there are only 23 days until the event!
Thank you to everyone who came to the work fundraiser, to the Jack's fundraiser or just made a donation to my mom's or brother's account recently! I am so thankful that fundraising is almost over!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The 15 That Followed
As I mentioned yesterday, I was a bit worried about doing our 15 miles on Sunday after Saturday's 18, since Mom had been too tired for back-to-back long walks the previous weekend. When she got up Sunday morning, however, she didn't have too many aches and pains and was eager to get started. We decided to start with just a 5 mile loop, but about 4 miles in, Mom decided that she wanted to go for coffee. We went a couple of miles out of the way to McDonalds, where we enjoyed coffee and a fruit and yogurt cup! It was a very nice break!
McDonalds is only a couple of miles from home, so once we got home we had already knocked off about 7 miles of our day, which was great! After a short reload of fluids and snacks, we headed back out onto the walking trail, this time with a particular destination in mind! Chad was on his way to watch the Steelers game at Set'em Up Jack's, which is all the way across town--but in reality that's only about 6 miles! We decided that Jack's would be the perfect motivation, since as soon as we arrived we could finally eat lunch!
Since the restaurant was only 6 miles away and we needed to do 8 miles, we took our first detour up to campus, where we walked past the new football facility and up Campanile Hill. We stopped off at the Union to fill up on drinks, and the nice girl working at the gift shop there even inquired about our walk! It's really nice when people ask what we're doing instead of just staring/laughing at our fanny packs and water bottles!
We walked around campus a little and took in the fall beauty while I showed Mom all the new facilities that had been built since Eric and I had been in school. After our little tour we headed east towards Jack's, stopping once for a pit stop and more water at Kwik Shop. At that point we were only about 2 miles away, and we needed closer to 3 miles to be finished, so we took a slight detour to the Lawrence Humane Society, where I knew my friend JoAnna would be volunteering. I'd originally thought that I might be able to come join her after our lunch/walk was complete, but when I realized I wouldn't have time before they closed at 4, I thought it would be good to stop by and tell her hi anyway.
After chatting for a few minutes with JoAnna we headed off to Jack's, but since it was less than a mile away and we needed 2 miles, we sort of took the long way. We walked through some neighborhoods, past an elementary school where I volunteered in college, past a preschool where I subbed in college, and then back around to the restaurant. When we arrived we'd walked just over 15 miles on the day and Mom hadn't had any problems at all! I was so proud of her, and we enjoyed a huge, yummy meal at Jack's to celebrate!!
McDonalds is only a couple of miles from home, so once we got home we had already knocked off about 7 miles of our day, which was great! After a short reload of fluids and snacks, we headed back out onto the walking trail, this time with a particular destination in mind! Chad was on his way to watch the Steelers game at Set'em Up Jack's, which is all the way across town--but in reality that's only about 6 miles! We decided that Jack's would be the perfect motivation, since as soon as we arrived we could finally eat lunch!
Since the restaurant was only 6 miles away and we needed to do 8 miles, we took our first detour up to campus, where we walked past the new football facility and up Campanile Hill. We stopped off at the Union to fill up on drinks, and the nice girl working at the gift shop there even inquired about our walk! It's really nice when people ask what we're doing instead of just staring/laughing at our fanny packs and water bottles!
We walked around campus a little and took in the fall beauty while I showed Mom all the new facilities that had been built since Eric and I had been in school. After our little tour we headed east towards Jack's, stopping once for a pit stop and more water at Kwik Shop. At that point we were only about 2 miles away, and we needed closer to 3 miles to be finished, so we took a slight detour to the Lawrence Humane Society, where I knew my friend JoAnna would be volunteering. I'd originally thought that I might be able to come join her after our lunch/walk was complete, but when I realized I wouldn't have time before they closed at 4, I thought it would be good to stop by and tell her hi anyway.
After chatting for a few minutes with JoAnna we headed off to Jack's, but since it was less than a mile away and we needed 2 miles, we sort of took the long way. We walked through some neighborhoods, past an elementary school where I volunteered in college, past a preschool where I subbed in college, and then back around to the restaurant. When we arrived we'd walked just over 15 miles on the day and Mom hadn't had any problems at all! I was so proud of her, and we enjoyed a huge, yummy meal at Jack's to celebrate!!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Biggest Weekend
This past weekend was the biggest weekend in the entire 3-Day 24 week training program. This was the weekend of the 18 and 15 miles back-to-back training walks--a weekend so big that there's even a special milestone sticker to commemorate it! These big walks are actually scheduled for this coming weekend, but since I have the KU homecoming game and a wedding to go to on Saturday, I knew there'd be no time for walking 18 miles!
So Mom and I swapped last weekend with this weekend, and took on the big one right after our grueling 17 mile walk last weekend. I wasn't so worried about the 18 on Saturday--I knew Mom would handle that just fine--but I was definitely worried about the subsequent 15 on Sunday. Mom has struggled a bit on the long Sunday walks, so I encouraged her to stay the night so that I could help motivate her the next day.
For a new and different place to walk on Saturday, Mom and I drove to the little town of Baldwin City, which is just about 20 minutes south of Lawrence. It took a while to get there because of fog, but we arrived at about 8:15, just before the town came alive for the annual Maple Leaf Festival. It was still really chilly outside, so we layered up and started walking around the town, coming back to the car every few miles for drinks and snacks. For our first pit stop we went to Kwik Shop, where we had to wait for at least 20 minutes to use the restroom because the place was so crowded with tourists!
Instead of going downtown for the parade, we decided to go against the foot traffic to head out to the edge of town, where we saw the old train depot and the antique train to nowhere. As we headed back towards the festival we stopped for a quick stretch, and we'd already knocked off 6-7 miles. Our goal was to walk 14 in Baldwin before heading back to Lawrence.
After walking around some residential areas and seeing the train we moved into the downtown, where we milled about the hundreds of booths of crafts and art. We walked through the old-fashioned carnival area and actually stopped at the petting zoo and petted some farm and exotic animals for a while too. It was all very entertaining! We walked around the Baker University campus for the first time--it was really pretty! After taking in the sights and dodging the crowds for a while, we headed towards the north end of town and walked around some really nice neighborhoods there and walked around the high school.
After one last trip back to the car, we headed back down to the festival and bought a few items that we'd seen in our first walk through. We would have gotten finished a lot sooner had we not spent so much time milling about the festival and dropping by local shops! We were still able to finish our 14 miles by about 2:30, at which point we headed back to Lawrence to watch the KU/OU game.
Mom did a lot of napping during the game, and after it was over (a mere 4 hours later) we headed back out for our last 4 miles. We took the dogs along this time, which always takes longer for all the sniffing and squatting and leg-lifting, but we managed to finish the day by about 8:30 or so. Mom didn't get tired necessarily, but she did have some weakness and lightheadedness that we think was probably due to minor dehydration. We didn't wear our fanny-packs around the festival during the day so we probably didn't drink nearly as much as we needed to!
Since our 18 mile walk took so much time to talk about, I'll save the 15 mile story for tomorrow!
So Mom and I swapped last weekend with this weekend, and took on the big one right after our grueling 17 mile walk last weekend. I wasn't so worried about the 18 on Saturday--I knew Mom would handle that just fine--but I was definitely worried about the subsequent 15 on Sunday. Mom has struggled a bit on the long Sunday walks, so I encouraged her to stay the night so that I could help motivate her the next day.
For a new and different place to walk on Saturday, Mom and I drove to the little town of Baldwin City, which is just about 20 minutes south of Lawrence. It took a while to get there because of fog, but we arrived at about 8:15, just before the town came alive for the annual Maple Leaf Festival. It was still really chilly outside, so we layered up and started walking around the town, coming back to the car every few miles for drinks and snacks. For our first pit stop we went to Kwik Shop, where we had to wait for at least 20 minutes to use the restroom because the place was so crowded with tourists!
Instead of going downtown for the parade, we decided to go against the foot traffic to head out to the edge of town, where we saw the old train depot and the antique train to nowhere. As we headed back towards the festival we stopped for a quick stretch, and we'd already knocked off 6-7 miles. Our goal was to walk 14 in Baldwin before heading back to Lawrence.
After walking around some residential areas and seeing the train we moved into the downtown, where we milled about the hundreds of booths of crafts and art. We walked through the old-fashioned carnival area and actually stopped at the petting zoo and petted some farm and exotic animals for a while too. It was all very entertaining! We walked around the Baker University campus for the first time--it was really pretty! After taking in the sights and dodging the crowds for a while, we headed towards the north end of town and walked around some really nice neighborhoods there and walked around the high school.
After one last trip back to the car, we headed back down to the festival and bought a few items that we'd seen in our first walk through. We would have gotten finished a lot sooner had we not spent so much time milling about the festival and dropping by local shops! We were still able to finish our 14 miles by about 2:30, at which point we headed back to Lawrence to watch the KU/OU game.
Mom did a lot of napping during the game, and after it was over (a mere 4 hours later) we headed back out for our last 4 miles. We took the dogs along this time, which always takes longer for all the sniffing and squatting and leg-lifting, but we managed to finish the day by about 8:30 or so. Mom didn't get tired necessarily, but she did have some weakness and lightheadedness that we think was probably due to minor dehydration. We didn't wear our fanny-packs around the festival during the day so we probably didn't drink nearly as much as we needed to!
Since our 18 mile walk took so much time to talk about, I'll save the 15 mile story for tomorrow!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Pack Jack's!!!
Yesterday we finalized the plans for the 3rd annual "Pack Jack's" fundraiser for the 3-Day! Our extremely generous friend Dan, the owner of Set'em Up Jack's on 23rd street here in Lawrence, has agreed to again donate 25% of every bill from the evening of October 23rd to our 3-Day team.
If you can join us next Thursday at Set'em Up Jack's, Mom and I would love to see you and would very much appreciate your support!! Click here to download the flier! We hope to see you at Jack's on the 23rd!!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
An Amazing 17 Miles
It's Tuesday now, but I think I'm still tired from this weekend's walking! On Saturday morning, Mom came over from Topeka and we started our 17 mile journey, which we had to break up into parts. We walked the dogs almost 3.5 miles, dropped them off, and then headed back out for a much quicker 3.4 miles by ourselves. By 10 a.m., we were already finished with almost 7 miles of our walk and Mom hadn't even blinked.
There was a KU home game on Saturday, so I quickly showered up and got ready to go to the game with Chad while Mom relaxed and lounged around with the dogs. She actually dropped us off at the game so we wouldn't have to deal with parking, and while we cheered on the 'Hawks Mom did some reading at Borders coffee shop. It was pretty hot during the first half of the game, so I was a little worried that our last 10 miles would be a struggled because of the heat. Mom came back and picked us up after our victory (after I walked about a mile in flip flops!), and at home she decided to take a bit of a nap while Chad and I ate an early dinner/late lunch.
I let Mom sleep a little, partially because I thought she needed it, and partially because I was afraid it would be too hot for her after we'd gotten so hot at the game. However, when we headed back out on the journey at about 4:30, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We headed downtown, walked through a park, walked up the massively steep hill onto campus, passed one of my office buildings and the construction site of the future hotel, wound up another large hill beside the stadium, and wrapped all the way around campus until we came to the Union. The campus was so beautiful and was still filled with tailgaiting students who'd been at it the entire game day!
The Union stop was about five miles in, so we did a little relaxing and stretching before filling up with snacks and fluids and heading back out onto the trail. By the time we left the Union it was getting close to 7:00 and was starting to get dark. We wrapped back around the Campanile on Memorial Drive to the other end of campus, walked down through some neighborhoods of partying students near campus, headed back downtown, walked down New Hampshire to avoid the Saturday night crowds but still got some odd looks from people, and then started heading back west towards home. By this time it was pitch black outside, and Mom and I were both getting really tired! With about 2 miles left we slowed considerably, but we kept plugging along until we arrived back at home at around 8:30. Mom felt better about the fact that I was extremely exhausted too!
Needless to say, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow Saturday night! My feet hurt terribly when I got out of bed Sunday morning, but I walked about another 6 or so miles that day. Mom got in several miles as well, despite being extremely sore. Hopefully our next long walk won't be such an exhausting all day event!!
There was a KU home game on Saturday, so I quickly showered up and got ready to go to the game with Chad while Mom relaxed and lounged around with the dogs. She actually dropped us off at the game so we wouldn't have to deal with parking, and while we cheered on the 'Hawks Mom did some reading at Borders coffee shop. It was pretty hot during the first half of the game, so I was a little worried that our last 10 miles would be a struggled because of the heat. Mom came back and picked us up after our victory (after I walked about a mile in flip flops!), and at home she decided to take a bit of a nap while Chad and I ate an early dinner/late lunch.
I let Mom sleep a little, partially because I thought she needed it, and partially because I was afraid it would be too hot for her after we'd gotten so hot at the game. However, when we headed back out on the journey at about 4:30, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We headed downtown, walked through a park, walked up the massively steep hill onto campus, passed one of my office buildings and the construction site of the future hotel, wound up another large hill beside the stadium, and wrapped all the way around campus until we came to the Union. The campus was so beautiful and was still filled with tailgaiting students who'd been at it the entire game day!
The Union stop was about five miles in, so we did a little relaxing and stretching before filling up with snacks and fluids and heading back out onto the trail. By the time we left the Union it was getting close to 7:00 and was starting to get dark. We wrapped back around the Campanile on Memorial Drive to the other end of campus, walked down through some neighborhoods of partying students near campus, headed back downtown, walked down New Hampshire to avoid the Saturday night crowds but still got some odd looks from people, and then started heading back west towards home. By this time it was pitch black outside, and Mom and I were both getting really tired! With about 2 miles left we slowed considerably, but we kept plugging along until we arrived back at home at around 8:30. Mom felt better about the fact that I was extremely exhausted too!
Needless to say, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow Saturday night! My feet hurt terribly when I got out of bed Sunday morning, but I walked about another 6 or so miles that day. Mom got in several miles as well, despite being extremely sore. Hopefully our next long walk won't be such an exhausting all day event!!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Easy Weekend (Physically)
So last weekend our schedule had us only walking 8 miles and 6 miles on Saturday and Sunday respectively--sort of a recovery week after our 15/11 miles the weekend before. Mom was supposed to go to a friend's house near Manhattan, so she was going to try and get a few miles in here and there during her visit, since there wasn't very many miles to do anyway. Unfortunately, I never really got to ask Mom about her walking because a much more important issue came up on Saturday morning--her brother passed away unexpectedly. She zoomed passed Manhattan and onto Chapman to be with family, and has been there most of the week. I haven't asked her much about her walking, nor am I really worried about it. We're going to do our 17 miles this weekend and we'll just take it easy as we get back into the long miles.
On Saturday morning before I found out about my uncle, I took a 4 mile walk downtown, went to a yoga class, and then took the 4 mile walk back home. I kept a really fast pace on the way there, but on the way back, after 1.5 hours of yoga, I was pretty pooped! I struggled to keep my pace under 15 minutes per mile, but ended up with an overall 8 mile pace of about 14:40. Not too bad since we've not been walking nearly that fast during most of our training!
I'll admit that I didn't walk my full 6 miles on Sunday, which really isn't anything new since I've skipped a lot of my Sunday walks this year. I'm such a slacker! Hopefully I'll not struggle too much on days 2 and 3 in San Diego! :)
On Saturday morning before I found out about my uncle, I took a 4 mile walk downtown, went to a yoga class, and then took the 4 mile walk back home. I kept a really fast pace on the way there, but on the way back, after 1.5 hours of yoga, I was pretty pooped! I struggled to keep my pace under 15 minutes per mile, but ended up with an overall 8 mile pace of about 14:40. Not too bad since we've not been walking nearly that fast during most of our training!
I'll admit that I didn't walk my full 6 miles on Sunday, which really isn't anything new since I've skipped a lot of my Sunday walks this year. I'm such a slacker! Hopefully I'll not struggle too much on days 2 and 3 in San Diego! :)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Two-Thirds
I was going to post a blog just a couple of nights ago about reaching the milestone of being half way done with my fundraising. Thanks to some mustard money from Chad's fundraising efforts, I received the official "congrats your half way there" email message from the 3-Day coaches last night. The crazy thing is, thanks to an ultra generous gift from Chad's Aunt Meg, today I'm actually over 2/3 of the way done with my fundraising!! This is a big relief, since I have a feeling I'll be helping the rest of my family raise their $2200 as well!
Thanks to everyone who has so generously and faithfully supported me in my efforts!!
Thanks to everyone who has so generously and faithfully supported me in my efforts!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
