The 3 Day: Week One Progress Report

You can also follow my Progress Reports on my Personal Page over on the 3 Day website.

I officially announced my participation in the 3 Day this week! This first week I really spent the majority of my time planning and preparing. I couldn't wait to tell the world what I'm doing, but I also didn't want to get ahead of myself and start spreading word before I got my Personal Page at the 3 Day's website ready. And I didn't want to do that before I read my Walker's Handbook. By the end of the week, I had done both.

No sooner had my Personal Page gone live, did I get my very first donation from a fellow walker! And then shortly after that, my man made a donation! I was at 5% of my goal. I was so happy, I could cry. The generosity and support that I received in those first few minutes from my sweetheart and from someone who's practically a stranger meant the world to me. The very next day, I received a contribution from one of my sister in law's putting me at 6%. My friend meri, offered to put my 3 Day widget (which will bring you straight to my donation page; it's on my upper right sidebar) on her blog to help spread the word. The amount of support that I'm seeing already, has given me such warm fuzzies and has made my heart so happy. Thank you all so much!!

I also took advantage of some quiet time at work without the bean counters around to print out some of the downloads that the 3 Day provides. I have a few fliers, some business cards (printed on pink card stock, of course!), and my personalized donation form for anyone that would rather mail a check. I was surrounded by a sea of pink paper!

I also spent some time brainstorming some fund raising ideas that I could do either through my blog or my shops on Etsy & Artfire. I'm hoping to do some raffles and auctions on my blog and to have some items in my shops where all proceeds will go directly to the 3 Day.

I made some nut butter & honey protein energy balls using this recipe from Women's Adventure. I figured they'd come in handy during my training. They're not bad. The consistency is similar to raw cookie dough and they taste like exactly what they are. They really work, though. I had two of them plus a banana and was good to go for a couple of hours while I did my walk and stretches.

Speaking of my walk this week... The official training walks for the 3 Day probably won't start for another month or two and the training schedule that I'm following (24 weeks of training!) won't start until the end of April, but that's not going to stop me from starting now. I did a really good job of maintaining a work out schedule for a while last year, but then I hit a plateau and my work outs became a bit... shall we say... erratic. I have a goal now. I'm making a commitment to walk 60 miles to kick cancer's ass and plan on being prepared for it!

This week's first walk took me to a local park that I had never been to before. It was a lot smaller than I thought it was, so I walked that same route over and over and over. I was glad I had music to keep me company since the scenery didn't change much. That said, I really enjoyed being outside and getting a good work out (despite the wind). I made sure to do some stretches at the beginning, middle, & end of my walk. I haven't set up my pedometer yet, but I walked for a little more than an hour, so I'm guessing that I did about 3-4 miles.

Even though the scenery didn't change much, I enjoyed checking out the flora. I carried my interest in herbs with me and was checking out all of the greenery growing. Where I'm from, dandelions grow maybe six inches, but I saw some that were about two to three feet tall! Most people consider many herbs to be weeds, so I really was looking at everything! There were tons of adorable air plants in the trees, too.

Enough about the flora, I want to share with you the fauna! I was making my way around one of the ponds when I saw some birds by a log. I walked get closer to get a look at them when I realized that the log was smiling. It was a freaking alligator. I stopped dead in my tracks. But, of course, my next thought was "I have to get a picture." I actually got a little closer to the damn thing to take the picture!!


It's kind of hard to see, but it's hanging out over by the water. It was probably about 6' long. I've only seen a gator outside of a zoo or aquarium one other time, but I was at least in a car then! I didn't go back to that side of the pond again, but I kept my eye on it anyway.

When I was done with my walk, I decided to have a little fun and play on the swing set. Oh, yes I did!

If you're enjoying keeping track of my progress, please consider supporting me in my effort to eradicate breast cancer. No amount is too little or much. Thank you!!