The 3 Day: Week Twelve Progress Report

On Tuesday, I went to a Super Clinic. We heard from one woman who is a five year survivor: this year she's doing her 7th & 8th 3 Day walks. She partially credits her survival to Susan G. Komen: one of the treatments that she received was actually discovered thanks to grants from Komen. We also heard from another woman about some fundraising ideas. And last, the owner of the store gave us some insights to proper shoes & socks for the event. There's a lot I didn't know about shoes and I found it fascinating considering what I'm going through with my feet. If you're doing the walk and there's a clinic going on near you, I highly encourage you to check it out! You will gain so much insight from it, get properly fit for shoes, and be able to ask experienced walkers and professional shoe people questions.


Training
I knew my official training start date was coming up, but I thought it was actually another couple of weeks away. Needless to say, imagine my shock when I realized that my training actually starts the week of the 17th... this current week. I had a bit of a freak out, to say the least.

At my last doctor appointment, he said that since I'm wearing the orthotic I don't need to get a $200 pair of shoes but that I also couldn't go super cheap either. I had tried on some fairly inexpensive Saucony's recently and liked them, but that store didn't have my size. For some bizarre reason, the pair that I ordered online didn't feel anything like the ones in the store. I was stumped. So, I figured it would probably be a good idea to try to get fit by professionals. Again. I did get fit at the clinic, but I was really hesitant to buy them simply because of everything I had been through with shoes and my feet to date. The girl told me to take them home and try them for a week and if they didn't work to just bring them back. Okay, so I tried them the next day and was in pain. I tried to bring them back and the store wouldn't let me return them. They only offer exchanges or store credit. The girl knew exactly what was going on with my feet and told me that I could return them and now I'm stuck with store credit that I can't use. Needless to say, I'm pissed. That's American Running Company in Dunedin, FL.

Getting back to that painful walk... I spent probably a good 15-20 minutes stretching before I even left and then when I did, I took it really slow. I was in pain somewhere around half a mile. I came home and cried. I was so upset and frustrated. Kristen over at Kristen Walks wrote a great blog post about the real goals of the 3 Day: to raise as much money as possible and to raise awareness. That helped put things into perspective for me: I am nearly at my fundraising minimum goal (and am hoping to surpass it!) and I have been out in the public and raising awareness every chance I get. Yeah, I'm frustrated that I got injured and I'm really disappointed that I may not be able to do the walk, but I have made a difference and I need to remember that.

In order to be proactive about my feet, I went to my physical therapy evaluation this week. Turns out that the therapist that I saw has done the walk three times already and said that she doesn't see any reason why I won't be able to do it. I nearly cried, I was so happy. She even invited me to join her team. She sent me home with some homework: stretching & strengthening exercises. When I go back this week, she said that she's going to work me and have me walking by the weekend. I have no doubt that this journey to recovery will be a challenge but I think that may be part of what the 3 Day experience is for me. This is a chance for me to step up and show my mettle.


Fundraising
On Friday, I announced the prize winners for my 3 Day handmade raffle. I just want to say again how grateful I am to all of my sponsors who contributed their time and talent (and promotion!) as well as to all of the donors who gave so generously to such a good cause!

I sold a scale maille piece from my Pink Warrior Chain Maille Collection (available on Etsy or Artfire; ALL proceeds to benefit Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure) before it was even listed online! I sold it to a co-worker. Another $25 to fight breast cancer! Woohoo!

I think I forgot to mention this last week, but I broke the $2,000 milestone in my fundraising!! I had hoped to be at 75% of my goal by the time training started so that I could focus on that, but I surpassed my hopes! I'm currently at 89% of my goal with only $251 left to raise!

Mileage to date on training walks: 42
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $2,049 or 89%
Remaining: $251
Countdown: 166 days until the event!

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 too much. Thank you!!