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! :)