Magickal Mugwort for 3 Day Walkers

Did you know that Roman soldiers once put the herb Mugwort in their sandals to relieve aching feet on long journeys? Legend claims that the Romans planted Mugwort on roadsides, so that passing soldiers might pick it at will on long marches to soothe their sore feet. Some herbalists still recommend it in footbaths to invigorate tired feet.

Recommended Use for 3 Day Walkers: Place mugwort in your shoes to gain strength and to protect your feet from fatigue during your 60 mile walk. I'm just sayin'. =)

Thank you all for your support! I've officially surpassed my goal of raising $3,000 in my fundraising to fight breast cancer for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure! Next weekend, I'll be walking 60 miles to raise awareness with my fellow Pink Warriors.

The 3 Day: Weeks 18-26 Progress Report

So, I pretty much fell off the face of the internet for a while there. I have no excuse except that work again got the better of me for a while. I was also feeling very overwhelmed balancing everything going on in my life with all of the training that I'm doing for the 3 Day. I'm learning that I can't necessarily do everything when I want to do it or necessarily when it should be done and that I really need to pace myself and be patient. Easier said than done sometimes. Anyhoo, I'll try to give you an update for the past few weeks without turning this post into a novel.


Training
My feet have gotten so much better!! I graduated from physical therapy (celebrated with ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery with Scott) but continue to do all of my foot stretching and strengthening exercises (especially before & after training walks!). They do get sore & stiff from time to time, but I suspect that's perfectly normal for the mileages I've been doing.

I finally found a pair of shoes that seem to fit comfortably. Thing is, after I finally felt like they were broken in is around the same time that I was up to walking around 10 miles. I was told that at around the 9-12 mile mark is when you'll start to notice your problem spots. Well, I started getting bad blisters around my heels. I didn't know if it was the shoes or the mileage for a while; ultimately, I think the problem may be the shoes. I'm going shoe shopping again this week in the hopes that I can find something. As you all know though, I'm terribly wary about getting fit for shoes since that's how I got hurt to begin with but I don't think I have a choice. I also don't have much time left to figure this out: 10 weeks will probably be just enough time to find another pair of shoes & then get two pairs broken in in time for the event.

I did fall in love with my toe socks, though! I was having problems with my toes rubbing and these socks by injinji have individual little toes, so they solved that problem!

I am truly not a morning person, but it's looking like I'm going to have to get over that. The longer weekend back to back walks are kind of lonely and boring to do all alone & since I graduated physical therapy, I started going out walking with a couple of different groups. They all start between 6-7am which has me waking up as early as 4:30am!! The one good thing about it is that we will finish up around noon time when the sun is getting extreme instead of having to walk through that. The bad thing is that I've been pretty much useless for the rest of the day. I'll get home, stretch & ice my feet, have some lunch, take a shower, then pass out for a couple of hours before waking up to have some dinner and then go back to bed. It's nuts.

That said, I met a really great group of women with BRA Patrol (aka: Bikers Raising Awareness) and joined the team at the Preview Expo! More about those fabulous ladies and the Preview Expo in a separate post....

There have been a few morning walks where the humidity has been insane and I've had a really hard time breathing. I don't think there's really anything I can do about it, except be aware of it. The first time it happened, though, I did freak out a little: really shallow breathing and chills despite sweating like crazy. I stopped in the shade for a little while & drank my Gatorade while I just concentrated on breathing. I managed to get through my last mile taking little breaks like that. Luckily, it hasn't been that bad again.

I got myself a waist pack! I really like the Mountainsmith packs that I've seen online, but couldn't find anyone locally that carries them so I could try one on. Plus, they were a little more than I wanted to spend so I wound up picking one up from Target. It's not perfect, but it seems to be working out just fine for me. It only a little 4L pack, but from what I understand, the 3 Day really is like a 60 mile buffet between all of the grab & go's, pit stops, and people on the side of the route so it doesn't sound like I need to burden myself with something too big. So far, so good.

I've seen a ton of wildlife on my training walks: armadillos, snakes, bunny rabbits, cats, turtles, some baby ducks, and countless dogs. =)

There was a time just a few months ago when I came home from walking only 1/2 a mile and crying because my feet hurt so much. Yesterday, I walked for four miles and considered it simply a fun walk. Those few months ago, I never thought I'd get this far. It simply felt impossible. I've gone as far as 16 miles already at a time. I don't think of this often because I feel like my feet are still giving me challenges (albeit new ones with blisters) but I am proud of how far I've come.


Fundraising
I've made a few new Pink Warrior pieces over the last few weeks (some inspired by the 3 Day's bubble logo design) and actually had the time to take some pictures of them; just haven't had the time to get them listed yet. I still have lots of supplies (so generously donated by Blue Buddha Boutique) so there will be more coming!

I did one more big fundraising event with the Safety Harbor 3rd Friday Music Series. It's a street fair where I set up my tent and put my Pink Ribbon goods and Pink Warrior chain maille out for donations. I also made Pink Ribbon sugar cookies. Lots of them: 77 bags, 3 cookies in a bag, plus about a dozen for me & Scott to munch on... around 240 some odd cookies made! And I could barely give them away! It was crazy. Nobody wanted cookies! What was really amazing to me that night, though, were the little girls that donated. They didn't want to buy anything, just to donate. They were the absolute best. So heartwarming to see them give so freely to the cause. Those donations really meant something to me. In the end, I raised $181 that night!

All I had left to raise after the street fair was $35 to meet my minimum goal of $2,300. I figured, I'd bring some of the Pink Ribbon sugar cookies I made to work for donations. I met my minimum that day by $.35!

I received a motivational donation of $25 bringing me up to $2,326!!

Mileage to date on training walks: 254
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $2,326 or over 100%
Remaining: $0
Countdown: 68 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!!

Hey Pink Warriors! Come get some armor (really chain maille jewelry).
All proceeds to benefit my fundraising for The 3 Day!

The 3 Day: Weeks Sixteen & Seventeen Progress Report

A couple of fun things...
~The other night at work, the guy that's in charge of our retail department walked into my office and said "There's only one left and it needs to go to a good home" and proceeded to hand me a Pink Ribbon Sisterhood luggage tag. It's so cute and so sweet of him to think of giving it to me. It will undoubtedly be on my duffel bag for the event.

~The 3 Day is offering a gift card giveaway for both me and you when you register for the walk. We'll each receive a $35 gift card to use on 3 Day gear at Shop3Day.com™. So, if you've been thinking about signing up, here's how to take advantage of the special offer:
1. Register online at The3Day.org, over the phone at 800-996-3DAY, or at a Get Started Meeting.
2. Enter the discount code BRINGAFRIEND in the online registration form.
3. When the registration form asks for the ID# of the friend who referred you, enter this Participant ID: 4897011


Training
For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to go for a five mile training walk in the middle of the day in Florida summer heat. It wasn't the best plan, but I got through it. I saw a snake on that walk and I stood in someone's sprinkler for a minute. =)

I did another five mile walk, but did it in the evening this time. That made a world of difference! I was feeling pretty tired when I started out, but my energy seemed to pick up as I continued on.

Yesterday, I did my first six mile walk and miracle of miracles, had very little foot pain or discomfort while I was out!!! The bunions that I never knew I had (found out about them for the first time when I went to the podiatrist) were hurting but I'm not sure there's anything I can do about that. I'm also concerned if I'm making them worse. After 4 miles, I stopped by the house to have a little snack (ice cold oranges are amazing!! and some chips for the salt), refill my liquids, to use the bathroom, and of course stretch. The only other issue I had was at about mile 5 when I started to feel hot spots on my little toes and on the bottom of the balls. I stopped back by the house to change my socks, put on bandages, and reapply Body Glide. I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and try shoe shopping again so I can start wearing my moisture wicking socks (they don't fit in my current shoes with the orthotics). Shoe shopping has been such a horrible experience that I have been trying to avoid it. 6 miles!!! Woohoo!!! Oh! And I did it in a hour and thirty five minutes!

The past couple of weeks, my cross training consisted of a few five mile bike rides around my neighborhood. Tonight, I can't wait to go home to do some yoga; after yesterday's six mile walk (and cleaning two bathrooms!!) I need it.

Oh, and more good news: insurance approved four more physical therapy sessions. Seems like an arbitrary number since they aren't paying for any of it (I have to reach an insane deductible before they chip in anything) but it's better than nothing. I was actually so tired and so relaxed at PT this past week, that I actually started to fall asleep on the table. All of this PT actually is a lot of work and it's costing money, but I'm getting better (six miles!) and I really do enjoy going there.

Something that just occurred to me recently: come October, I'll be walking the equivalent of 2 1/2 marathons when I do this event!! I hadn't thought about it like that before. Saying it that way, it does sound kind of crazy. lol.


Fundraising
Things have been fairly quiet on the fundraising front lately. I have one donation that I'm hoping to see in the next week, so that's good. After this insane week at work, I should get more Pink Warrior stuff made. I'll be sending out a newsletter to my Athena's Armoury subscribers about the new line, so if you want to be included leave a comment below with your e-mail addy. I'm also planning on sending out an e-mail to friends, family, & co-workers that may not be following my blog just letting them know how things are going so far.

Mileage to date on training walks: 72
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $2,054 or 89%
Remaining: $246
Countdown: 131 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!!

Hey Pink Warriors! Come get some armor (really chain maille jewelry).
All proceeds to benefit my fundraising for The 3 Day!

The 3 Day: Weeks Fourteen & Fifteen Progress Report

I've been a little MIA from the blog and most of the internet for that matter for the past couple of weeks. Not too terribly much has happened, though, so there won't be too much to catch you up on. Let's see what we've got....


Training
I'm continuing to go to physical therapy once a week, do my stretching & strengthening exercises daily, as well as icing daily. Tara, my physical therapist told me to go for two miles and if it felt okay to continue on a bit longer for three. And I did!! There was some discomfort, but no pain. The next walk that she wanted me to do, she said to do three miles and again if it felt good to go for four. I was a little wary to try four: that's further than I had gone before I was injured. Around the second mile of that walk, I wasn't sure I was going to make it: I felt a bit stiff and a little sore. But I pushed through it. I did a full four miles!! I'm just thrilled that I made it! I made good time, too: four miles in one hour and five minutes. As soon as I got home I stretched and my honey made me an ice water foot bath. That felt amazing!! I was worried about stiffness later on, so I then did a hot foot bath, too. I took a couple of anti-inflammatories when I got home and used some Biofreeze when I went to bed. The next day: the tootsies weren't perfect, but they were feeling okay. Big smiles.

Aside from these walks, my usual walking at work, and maybe a quick run into a grocery store I really have not been on my feet at all (walking or standing) for the past 2-3 months. I went on two marathon shopping trips with my mom in these past couple of weeks and was miserable. I was on my feet for way too long and was hurting pretty bad the next day. I'm clearly not ready to be doing anything like that yet.

Also, I went to the podiatrist for a follow up. Talk about a waste of time and money. He basically said "keep doing what you're doing." Thanks. I'm so glad I spent an hour of my life and $100 on that.


Fundraising
I'm so glad that I got the bulk of my fundraising done early!! Somehow I knew that once it came time to training that I was going to need to focus all of my energy on that. I had that feeling even before I got injured. I'm still hoping to do another market or craft fair or something. I have some Pink Ribbon accessories that I'd love to be able to sell, plans for Pink Ribbon sugar cookies, and of course I want to continue to raise awareness.

I've had a few sales from my Pink Warrior Collection on Etsy but no bites from Artfire yet. I'm hoping to get some new pieces made next week when we get my mom moved out of my house. I'm really excited about making a few dream catchers for the collection! I'm also thinking about a charm bracelet and maybe a candle holder.

Speaking of my Pink Warrior stuff... check out this very sweet video of fellow 3 Day walker Kristen (follow her on twitter @kscincotta or her blog). Can you see the little bit of pink dangling from her ears?? Those are the Pink Warrior Earrings that she bought from me! Thanks to the generosity of Rebeca of Blue Buddha Boutique, ALL proceeds from the purchase of those earrings and every single piece of Pink Warrior Chain Maille goes directly to my fundraising. I've never seen such an amazing customer appreciation video. Thank you so much, Kristen!

Mileage to date on training walks: 56
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $2,054 or 89%
Remaining: $246
Countdown: 144 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!!

The 3 Day: Week Thirteen Progress Report

I've seen this on a few different blogs and thought I'd share it with all of you:

"If you still aren’t sure about making a donation, please remember that all walkers and crew members will be sleeping in 6x6 two person tents, taking showers in a semi-trailer, brushing our teeth at a sink outside the semi and there will be no electrical outlets for hair dryers and flat irons (Janine's edit: or in my case, my smart phone charger). We all have invested our own money purchasing the proper shoes (Janine's edit: that would be two pairs for training and another two pairs for the event), socks and other training gear necessary for the event and the training time alone takes away from our family time. This is a huge commitment for us and we take it seriously. Your financial support is greatly appreciated."

You can support my efforts and breast cancer research either by purchasing a piece from the Pink Warrior Chain Maille Collection (ALL Proceeds go to The 3 Day) on Etsy or Artfire or you can contribute directly to my fundraising on my Personal Page at The 3 Day website.


Training
I spent a lot of time this week dedicated to doing the stretching and strengthening exercises that my physical therapist gave me. It actually does feel like my arches are getting stronger. I had my first session with the PT this week since my evaluation: I warmed up my feet on the stationary bike, did some stretching exercises, and then I was on the table & she worked on me. I hate to say that she massaged my feet because that sounds so luxurious, but even though she really was rearranging things in there it really did feel nice. My next homework assignment: continue doing my exercises and go for a one mile walk. One mile may not sound like much, but after what happened the last time I walked... She seemed to think that I would be pleasantly surprised at how it would go. She was right. I did my exercises and stretched for maybe about twenty minutes before heading out. I did experience some discomfort, but I wasn't crippled and crying when I got home!! As soon as I got home, I stretched again and iced my feet: I wasn't going to mess around. I spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool and swimming: that night, my feet felt fine. Since that walk went so well, I decided to go for another one over the weekend. Again, there was some discomfort but it was even less than before. Apparently, all of the work that I've done and that the physical therapist has done has started to make a difference!!! I'm just thrilled . I have another therapy session on Wednesday: I can't wait to tell her how it went!


Fundraising
It was a very, very quiet week on the fundraising front. Admittedly, I've been focusing the majority of my energy on healing my feet and my work schedule was pretty screwy this week. I was hoping to get some more Pink Warrior Chain Maille made, but sadly never got to it. I did, however, get all of my raffle goodies organized for shipment and made some cute little thank you cards. I'm hoping to finish packaging everything up this week and getting it all shipped out. It took a little longer to get organized that I had estimated.

Mileage to date on training walks: 44
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $2,049 or 89%
Remaining: $251
Countdown: 159 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!!

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!!

The 3 Day: Week Eleven Progress Report

A little bit of fun...
I came home from Lowe's with a whole bunch of plants this week and... a 3 Day garden flag!


Another bit of random goodness...
I received a very sweet, very supportive e-mail through my blog from an absolute stranger. She's actually a fellow walker and Training Walk Leader in Denver and even though I know walkers from around the country through blogs & twitter, I had never "met" her before. She shared with me her experiences buying shoes for the event and tips for getting started training. She was incredibly kind and supportive of me and my efforts so far and basically told me not to give up on myself (the whole frustration with my feet thing). It was awesome e-mail and I really appreciate that she took the time to reach out to an absolute stranger for a virtual hug like that. Warm fuzzies...


Training
I nearly had a heart attack this week when I saw how much it's costing me to go to the foot doctor. They even charged for taping up my feet at that first visit! It's nuts, but I don't have a choice: I have to get my feet healthy.

That said... I went back to the doctor again this week for yet another follow up. If you follow my blog, you would have seen my announcement earlier in the week (I was too excited to wait for this blog post): at my follow up, the doctor cleared me to start walking again!!! I'm not 100% yet and he wants me to do some physical therapy, but he said that since there's been improvement I can go ahead and start back. He seemed to think that the semi-custom orthotics are working just fine for me for now, too. Obviously, I'm going to take it slow and be smart about it; it certainly wouldn't make sense for me to hurt myself at this point. I'm not going to go out with any goal. I'm just going to go for a walk for as long as it feels comfortable. He stressed that I shouldn't walk every day (obviously) and to include cross training (I would have done that anyway).

I can't tell you how happy and relieved I was when I left the office that day. I literally had perma-grin for the rest of the day. I was so happy, that I actually started to cry at one point. I know that it isn't going to be easy and that I'm going to have to take it slow, but at least now I know that I can do it. I feel strong again. I AM a Pink Warrior.


Fundraising
Four pieces from the Pink Warrior Chain Maille Collection sold on Etsy this week!! I thought it was cool that two of the bracelets that sold will be Mother's Day gifts and the other two pieces are for a fellow 3 Day walker. Thank you so much Blue Buddha Boutique for donating all of the jump rings that made this possible!!!

I contacted some of the very popular handmade blogs this week to see if they might be interested in sharing info about my handmade raffle to their readership. The amazing Tara of Scoutie Girl announced the raffle on her Facebook page. I haven't seen any donations as a result of it but there were a few comments, so I at least know that people did check it out.

Mallory over at Miss Malaprop also promoted the raffle in a post about a fundraiser that she's doing. It sounds like a really amazing cause, so if you're in her neck of the woods please be sure to check it out!

In order to try and drum up some more interest for this last week of the handmade raffle, I'm offering a gift to everyone that participates regardless if they win a prize or not. Hopefully, it will draw a few more donations! We're at $175 raised through the raffle so far, I'd love to get it up to a nice, even $200.

Mileage to date on training walks: 41
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $2,014 or 88%
Remaining: $286
Countdown: 173 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!!

Don't forget to check out my raffle benefiting the 3 Day!
This is the last week to make a donation in order to enter to win a prize: the drawing is on Friday, May 14, 2010.
Everyone that participates this week receives a gift regardless if you win a prize or not. Details here.

Pink Warrior Inspiration

I have really great news that I couldn't wait for my weekly 3 Day Progress Report to share with you. I went to the foot doctor again today for yet another follow up: he said that there's an improvement and that I can start walking again!!! I practically cried today, I was so happy. I've been getting pretty down for the past couple of weeks and, honestly, was fearing that I wouldn't be able to do the event. So, this news was HUGE for me today. I feel unbeatable. Once again, I feel like a Pink Warrior.

I feel like celebrating, so I thought I'd share with you the song that inspired my Pink Warrior Chain Maille Collection (available in Athena's Armoury on Etsy & Artfire).

The supplies for the Pink Warrior Collection were all very generously donated by Blue Buddha Boutique, so ALL proceeds will go straight to my 3 Day fundraising. Also, check out the special going on from now until Mother's Day for free breast cancer awareness accessories.

The 3 Day: Week Ten Progress Report

Training
Well, the good news is that my feet don't seem to be constantly uncomfortable and for the most part, I've been able to start walking normally again. The bad news is that it doesn't take long after I start walking for them to start to hurt. Now, I'm not talking about training walks here, I'm just talking about walking in my daily life. I have to be honest with you, I'm having a hard time imagining being able to walk the event with how quickly they start to hurt. I realize that I've still done a lot for the cause with raising the money and the awareness that I've been able to raise, but it really meant a lot to me to be able to participate in the event.

I think I need to pull myself up and stop thinking about it. Yes, training starts in just a few weeks and I may not be able to start training with everyone else. But, there is still a very real possibility that I can participate. I shouldn't rule it out yet.

And even if I can't do the 60 miles, I can either walk part of it or it's probably possible to switch and become a crew member so I can still be a part of the event.

In the meantime, I will continue to do my yoga & pilates. I also have a follow up with the doctor this week. Fingers crossed.


Fundraising
The Pink Warrior Chain Maille Collection debuted this week!! You can check out the announcement at this blog post. I also have a special going on from now until Mother's Day (Sunday, May 9): with the purchase of any item from the Pink Warrior Collection, you will receive a silicone breast cancer awareness bracelet, a pink awareness ribbon, and a breast self exam card all for free! The offer is good for a purchase of raffle tickets, too! Check out the details in this blog post.

I spent some time one afternoon calling up a few different stores to try setting up my fundraising table out front (Girl Scouts do it around cookie time). I had heard from many walkers who had done this and were quite successful: easily raising $400-800 over the course of just a few hours. It didn't work out so well for me, however. The answers I got included:
"No."
"That's solicitation. No."
"The store manager isn't here. Call back."
And, my personal favorite: "Isn't it a little early to be fundraising?"

Oh, well, if it's too early, let me just tell breast cancer to go on hold for a little bit while I wait for the appropriate time for fundraising to start. Breast cancer doesn't wait, why should I?

I also had one guy who said that they don't normally let individuals (as opposed to groups like the Girl Scouts) do fundraising because they have no way of tracking the money. I couldn't make him understand that I'm not doing this as an individual, that I am a part of a larger group (like the individuals that are selling Girl Scout cookies). I also offered three different ways for him to "track the money" through the 3 Day. He, apparently, wasn't satisfied with any of that.

Talking to these people was such an aggravating experience. I think I'm going to try asking a few local businesses who may want to do good and don't have to go through "corporate".

I also may try to contact the market that let me set up & see if they have any other space available for me before the market ends for the season. I really do want to get back out in the public eye with all of this.

Mileage to date on training walks: 41
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $1,964 or 85%
Remaining: $336
Countdown: 180 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!!

Don't forget to check out my raffle benefitting the 3 Day!

The 3 Day: Week Nine Progress Report

It's a long one: I've got a lot to share with you!

Training
I had my followup visit with the doctor and feel a little more reassured that plantar fasciitis really is what I have. I was questioning the diagnosis because my symptoms are so vastly different than what I've heard from so many other people. My problem is really in my arch and what he explained to me is that the plantar fascia ligment really is the only thing in the arch that could cause the pain that I experienced. Apparently, I'm not normal since everyone else's pain is in the heel. I guess it's all about the mechanics of how I'm built and how I walk. It seems that this is a condition that I may have had previously, but it just got aggravated & inflamed from overtraining (if 9-16 miles per week was overtraining, I wonder what's going to happen when I start doing 30-40 miles per week) and unsupportive shoes (thanks a lot New Balance).

For the time being, I'm still following the icing, splint, stretching, anti-inflammatory, resting routine... at least for another couple of weeks until my next visit with him. He prescribed a semi-custom orthotic to see how my feet respond to it before we go all out and order the custom orthotic. I really hope that the one I have now fits the bill! It cost handsomely and the custom one will cost even more. In addition, the one I have right now is just big enough that I really need to go buy some new shoes so that my feet aren't cramped. Apparently, if I have to get a custom orthotic I will have to get yet another new pair of shoes for it to fit into. Sigh... I hope after the inflammation goes away, I can wear some shoes other than sneakers...

The crazy thing about all of this is that my feet have felt worse this week than they did before I went to see him (and before they were taped up!). Ah, well... I can only imagine it's because they are being stretched so often. Here's to hoping that they start to feel a bit more normal soon.

Even though I can't go walking, I've decided that I can at least continue to stretch and strengthen with my yoga and pilates. I think that the yoga can only help at this point and I think that the pilates is going to be a huge benefit for strengthening my core for the event. I do hope that the inflammation calms down soon: training officially starts mid-May!

A woman that lives less than two miles away from me contacted me through the 3 Day's share list to see if we can do some training walks together since we live so close. She sounds like a nice lady & I'm looking forward to doing some walking with her, but I had to tell her that I'm holding off on any more training until I see the doctor again. Needless to say, she totally understood.


Fundraising
People are still offering to donate goods to my raffle! I'm so thankful for the generosity of the handmade community, but I've had to stick with the beginning of the raffle as my cut off date for item contributions. I have 23 amazing artists contributing $600 worth of products and am now working on selling tickets (aka getting donations). The handmade raffle has already raised $80 to find a cure & there's still three weeks left! I'm hoping to do a couple more markets or tables outside stores in that time, too, but more on the market later. It's just $5 for your chance to win one of these amazing goodies, so please check it out!

The lovely ladies at The Herb Society allowed me to set up my fundraising goodies at the meeting this week. It wasn't a huge success, but I walked away with $15 more towards the 3 Day than I had before the meeting. I also got to talk to one woman who has participated in the event and another who's considering doing it. It was also nice to be able to set up my goods in a fairly casual setting before doing the market on Friday.

The Tampa Downtown Market was a lot of work both getting ready for it and doing it, but it was also a lot of fun. I spent countless hours printing out breast cancer awareness literature, being crafty with banners and signs, figuring out my table set up, etc. So the time spent preparing for it isn't necessarily commensurate with what I raised but I have to say that I really enjoyed it!


I had quite a few sales of the Pink Ribbon Accessories that I got specifically for events like this. You can also get a little sneak peek of the Pink Warrior Chain Maille Collection that I've been working on in this photo. I'm hoping to have the beginnings of the collection listed for sale online this week.


I also had two raffles going: one was the handmade raffle and I also had another to see Cats at the Straz Center in Tampa. The handmade raffle was quite popular with many people wanting to buy the items outright!


I have to give a big old thanks to the Tampa Downtown Market who actually donated the space for me to use for my fundraising tent! They were also nice enough to include a blurb about me and what I'm doing in their weekly newsletter. One woman came to my tent to support me after reading that blurb. Every little bit helps and it does not go unnoticed!

I also am SO grateful to Scott who is by far my #1 supporter. After working crazy hours for the past couple of weeks, he could have slept in Friday morning, but instead he was up with me at 6:00am loading the truck for the market. He helped me set up the tent, ran back and forth to get the truck, made sure that I had something to eat, covered the table so I could run to the bathroom, and was just my overall rock.


When all was said and done, my tent at the market raised $119 to go straight to my fundraising for the 3 Day for breast cancer research and breast health programs!

Including the cash that I raised at the Herb Society and the market this week, I've surpassed 75% of my goal!! I had hoped to get to the 75% milestone by the time training starts simply because I knew that with what's been going on with my feet I was going to have to stay focused. I'm just thrilled that I was able to meet that goal! That got me to thinking about where all of the money has come from. Turns out that the majority of the money that I've raised to date has been from letters, Facebook, and word of mouth. Here's an approximate breakdown of where my donations have come from so far:

$1,390 Letters, Facebook, word of mouth
$55 twitter
$120 raffles (handmade & show tickets)
$60 pink ribbon accessories
$10 silicone bracelets

My goals for the 3 Day this week will include attempting to get a couple more market dates & finally listing my Pink Warrior Collection!!!

Mileage to date on training walks: 41
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $1,754 or 76%
Remaining: $546
Countdown: 187 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!!

Don't forget to check out my raffle benefitting the 3 Day!

The 3 Day: Week Eight Progress Report

Training
Well, I finally got a chance to go see a podiatrist on Friday. Turns out that I have plantar fasciitis which is an inflammation of the ligament on the bottom of the foot that runs from the heel toward the toes. I'm wondering if maybe we caught it early or if my case isn't that bad because the symptoms don't sound as bad as they are in other people I've spoken to: I don't have knee or back pain, the first few steps in the morning don't hurt, I'm not constantly in excruciating pain. In fact, after a week of not being on my feet, they seemed to be feeling better. It wasn't until after the doctor's visit when they taped my feet up that I was in pain again. Go figure. Anyway, I've been religiously following orders of icing my feet, wearing the splint, and taking anti-inflammatories. Now, that the tape is off, I'll add some regular stretching to the routine. I go back for a follow up visit at the end of this week: he wants to check the progress and I'll find out then if my insurance will cover orthotics. I'm concerned that it won't: I really don't know if I'll be able to afford them alone, but I may not have a choice.

One friend swears by a daily yoga practice (including down dog) and I must say that I would favor this (I do yoga already, I just don't have a daily practice). There are anti-inflammatory herbs that I may take after the drug regimin the doctor has me on is finished. I'm following doctor's orders because I don't know a lot about this right now and I have to deal with it promptly, but the more I learn the more comfortable I feel dealing with it wholistically. Which, of course, I would prefer, but aside from the anti-inflammatory drugs it's all stuff I would do anyway.

This is something that I have to deal with as soon as possible because my training officially starts in one month. I must admit that I'm actually quite upset about the situation. And I just don't understand how it happened. I've always been active, so why did this happen all of a sudden? I was really letting it get to me over the weekend, but then I remembered that I still have my hair. Dealing with some foot discomfort (and I am dealing with it) seems a small price to pay in comparison to the reason why I'm doing it. I will not let this stop me and I will continue to work towards ending the fight against breast cancer.


Fundraising
My first official fundraising event for the 3 Day kicked off this past week! Some truly amazing artists and crafters donated $600 work of gorgeous handmade items to be raffled off to benefit my fundraising! There really is a little bit of everything including artwork, jewelry, plushies, sculpture, and wallhangings. And believe me when I tell you, the work truly is spectacular!! The raffle is being hosted right here on my blog, so please take a moment to check it out. And if you're local to the Tampa Bay area, you'll also have the chance to check out the goods in person...

Which leads me to my next bit of exciting news: The Tampa Downtown Market is going to let me set up a tent for my 3 Day fundraising! I'm going to have all of my pink ribbon accessories, my Pink Warrior Collection, the handmade raffle, a raffle for theatre tickets to two different shows, and of course breast cancer awareness literature. I'm also considering making some pink ribbon sugar cookies and having some pink lemonade. I've been very busy this week getting crafty: I made raffle ticket jars and a huge donation jar; I also made a banner that says "Fight Like a Girl" and has some pink boxing gloves. I made a trip to Staples and had a couple of signs made that look like this:


When I picked up the posters, the girl behind the counter handed me a note from another customer that saw the signs. Apparently, this woman walked in the 3 Day in the past but will be unable to do so this year. She wants to help out in some way, so she offered to either host a wine tasting event or to privde the wine for an event. You just never know when you're going to find someone that wants to help. Amazing, huh?

Mileage to date on training walks: 41
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $1,545 or 67%
Remaining: $755
Countdown: 194 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!!

Don't forget to check out my raffle benefitting the 3 Day!

The 3 Day: Week Seven Progress Report & Giveaway Winner

Training
Not much to report on the training front this week. I had my mom in town visiting which always disrupts my schedule, but to be honest my feet have still been feeling not right so the break was actually welcome. I did speak to one of the coaches over at the 3 Day about what's been going on with my feet and she recommended making an appointment with a podiatrist. She basically told me everything I already knew, but didn't want to deal with: achy, tired, sore feet would be normal; pain is not. I guess I need to make an appointment.


Fundraising
I am just tickled with how well my fundraising is going! This week, I've officially surpassed the halfway point!! That milestone is huge for me. My biggest concern when I registered was being able to raise the money and now that I'm more than halfway there and training hasn't even officially started yet, I'm feeling proud, happy, and confident that I'll get there! I may even go a little crazy and see if I can raise $3,000 instead of my original goal of $2,300...

Mileage to date on training walks: 41
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $1,420 or 62%
Remaining: $880
Countdown: 201 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!!

************************************

And now, the giveaway. I'd like to thank all of you for entering: I had such a great turn out! I especially appreciate those you that donated to my 3 Day fund as well as blogged and tweeted not just about the giveaway but about the 3 Day. Yes, I've been wanting to host a giveaway for a while now and I had so much fun doing it (and finding out everyone's favorite pieces!), but the other purpose was to help raise breast cancer awareness.

The giveaway ended at 11:59pm EST last night. This morning, I counted up all of the entries and then went over to the Random.org website. I chose the Random Integer Generator and told it to select an individual number between 1 and 63 (the amount of entries). Here's the result:


Without further ado, I'd like to announce the first ever Athena's Armoury giveaway winner!! The number 9 selected by the Random Integer Generator matches.... Kristin, aka aquariann!!! Congratulations, Kristin!! I'll contact you directly to get your mailing address.

Thank you once again to everyone that participated! I had a lot of fun with this giveaway and hope to do another one, so keep following the blog!

The 3 Day: Week Six Progress Report

Training
Well, last Monday I went back to New Balance and my buddy Ken wasn't there. The woman that wound up helping me said that they only have one other shoe that has more cushioning than the one I already had. It didn't work. I wound up returning what I had and going to Fit2Run. They had me in easily six different shoes. The only pair that felt like they might work, they didn't have in my size. I walked away with nothing, feeling very frustrated, and in pain. I never in a million years would have thought that finding proper fitting, comfortable shoes would be the hardest part of doing the 3 Day.

I decided to give my feet a bit of a break this past week in case I did do something to them and instead spent some time cross training. I focused on doing Pilates to build up my core and leg strength; and yoga to stretch and strengthen everything. One day, I did venture a very short walk that was less than a mile: my feet were hurting. Thing is, for all I know this is a normal part of my feet getting used to endurance training.

I was talking to my mom and she told me a story about when I was a kid being fit for shoes. Apparently, even then I was a hard walker or, as I like to say, I walked with a purpose then, too. I'm going to start walking again this week with a pair of sneakers that are in my closet that I find comfortable. I'm going to start small and only do a mile at a time. Maybe I did too much, too soon.

Scott had suggested checking out the new Sketchers Shape Ups. I hadn't thought it would be a good idea because I'm not looking to get a workout out of my training walks per se (they supposedly really work your core & lower body), but rather something supportive that will keep me walking for up to 20 miles per day. I was also concerned about feeling secure on them since they do add some height and I don't want to worry about rolling an ankle. But I was just talking with one of the guys at work who is seriously accident prone and is on his feet almost the whole day and he highly recommends them. I'm seriously starting to reconsider. Any feedback is much appreciated.


Fundraising
The amount of people that offered to donate items for my raffle blew me away! I thought that if I was lucky, I'd get maybe ten or a dozen... I have 25 individual (some items are in sets) and amazing pieces!! I'm going to work on getting everything organized this week and hope to have the raffle live by Monday, April 12, 2010. I will, of course, post here about it so make sure you come back and visit or subscribe to my blog so you don't miss it! And tell your friends about it, too. Thanks! I hope the turnout for tickets is as good as the item donations!!

In the midst of organizing my raffle, I also contacted a couple of farmer's markets about setting up a booth or table with all of my fundraising goodies. I haven't heard back from them yet, though.

My third fundraising project of the week was to get some pictures of the first few pieces from my Pink Warrior Chain Maille Collection. I succeeded in getting the pictures, but unfortunately that's as far as I got. This week was really busy at work and also at home as I was getting the house ready for my mom's visit. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get this stuff listed yet, but felt a little better when I found out that I already have one of my co-workers interested in one of my Pink Warrior bracelets.

This week's extra special surprise donation came from a woman that I knew when I was still touring shows. She was my presenter in a few different cities, so we actually got a chance to get to know each other. I haven't spoken to this woman in about eight years and she was kind enough to make a donation to support me and to support the cause. Warm fuzzies.

Mileage to date on training walks: 41
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $1,120 or 49%
Remaining: $1,180
Countdown: 208 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!!

The 3 Day: Week Five Progress Report

I received a few fun packages this week. One was from the 3 Day Shop and contained a T shirt, some pinback buttons, a bandanna, & Body Glide! Yeah, those first three items are for promotion (and because I wanted them!), but I've been told that Body Glide is a gift of the Gods when it comes to blister prevention (that purchase was a no brainer!). I also received some stuff for fund raising: silicone bracelets, pink ribbons, & a fundraiser kit from Pink Wings.


Training Update
This week I tried out my second new pair of shoes from New Balance. The size definitely felt better and my heel didn't hurt at all in them. The problem this time was with the balls of my feet and arches doing both an easy walk and a more moderate walk. The moderate walk was a little bit more like power walking and I had to cut it short because of how badly my arches & balls hurt; in fact they were still hurting two days later. The easy walk was better on my arches, but the balls still hurt. I do think that these shoes may not be quite right and that I need more shock absorption in those places, but I also think that it's been a long time since I walked this much and my feet need to get used to it again. I'm going to go visit my friend Ken at New Balance again and see what he thinks. I feel bad that I keep going back, but 60 miles and countless training miles are too far to walk in shoes that don't fit properly.


Fundraising
I had a couple of big fundraising projects to work on this week. The first was the announcement of Blue Buddha Boutique's sponsorship of my forthcoming Pink Warrior Chain Maille Collection. Thanks to Rebeca's very generous jump ring donation, all proceeds from the sale of items from this collection will be able to go straight to my fund raising. I spent a good amount of time creating some pieces this weekend and hope to be able to debut the beginnings of the collection at some point this week. I am very excited about this!

The second fundraiser that I'm working on right now is my raffle. I started a thread in the Etsy forums and have already received commitments for some really fabulous items from a number of very generous people! Check out the thread if you'd like to contribute, otherwise keep an eye on my blog: the raffle will go live in just a couple of weeks.

Every time I get an e-mail with the subject line "A donation was made on your behalf" it feels like I've hit the lottery.
-An Herb Society friend's donation made me feel so much better after getting home from a walk frustrated & in pain.
-Random love from amazing twitter followers was a very happy surprise, too.

Also this week, I sent out my follow up e-mails to the friends, family, and co-workers that I haven't heard from yet. One of those messages resulted in a nice donation! I also sent snail mail to family that I don't have e-mail addresses for.

In last week's update, I mentioned that I wanted to be at about 75% of my goal by the time my training officially starts. Here's a breakdown of what I have in mind:
-Blog Raffle - I will be promoting the hell out of this, but I'm also hoping that my participants may be able to bring some some entries as well. Even if there's only the same number of bids for each of the twenty (so far!) items at a minimum of $5 that will come to $100 worth of donations!
-Pink Warrior Chain Maille Collection - I'm hoping to debut the beginnings of this collection this week. With any luck, I will sell around $200 worth within the first couple of months.
These two fundraisers will bring me up to half of my goal!
-The next big fundraiser for me will be setting up a table outside some stores and at some farmers markets. I've read about other walkers raising any where between $400-$800 by doing this! I have the fundraising goodies that I ordered, a pink ribbon cookie cutter for sugar cookies, and tickets to two separate shows in the area that I can raffle off. So, I have a few different ways of setting up which will allow me to do this multiple times. To get started, I'm going to try to get confirmations for two separate stores or markets and estimate on the low side that together they will bring in the $575 that will bring me to 75% of my goal of raising $2,300.

Mileage to date on training walks: 41
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $870 or 38%
Remaining: $1,430
Countdown: 215 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!!

The 3 Day: Week Four Progress Report

As of today, I am eight weeks away from the official start of my training. I would love, love, love to be at 75% of my goal of $2,300 by the time training starts. In order to do that, I just have to receive a donation of $31 per day until then. Will you help me reach my goal?

Lots to share with you, but first: I had a few random thoughts about the 3 Day this week...
-A funny visual: imagine having to put on a sports bra in a small two person tent with your tent mate trying to do the same.
-Who knew that doing a 60 mile walking event would require new styles of underwear?

In other news, one of my co-workers is thinking about registering to do the 3 Day! That would be so awesome to actually know someone on the walk!!


Training Update
So the sneakers that I got from New Balance were not working. I put about ten miles on them before I finally gave up and decided that I needed to bring them back. They did give me a blister, but more than that they were simply WAY too big. You are supposed to get shoes for the event that are a half to a whole size bigger than your norm to allow for foot expansion and swelling. Well, I typically wear a size 9 shoe, but the guy at New Balance said I should really be in a 10 so he fit me for a size 11 for the event. Needless to say, my feet were sliding all over the place, felt raw on the bottom, and did not feel secure. I brought them back to my buddy Ken at New Balance Westshore Mall in Tampa and he spent an hour working with me to find another pair of shoes. He totally hooked me up and even said that if these give me problems to bring them back again, no questions asked. Right on. I haven't tried them out yet, but I'm hopeful!

For some reason, it was very important to me to be able to walk a 4 mile hour. I think the average is 3-4 miles so really anything in there is perfectly acceptable so I guess it was just a little goal that I set for myself. I'm 5'9" so I have height on my side and I'm a fairly quick walker to begin with, so hitting that goal was actually easier than I thought it would be. Once I reached that goal and knew I could do it, I reminded myself that this is a walk NOT a race. If I feel like walking fast then great, but there's no reason why I have to. Turns out, walking 4 miles/hour has been my norm so far; we'll see if that keeps up on the longer walks.

Once I realized that, my walks started to turn into a meditation almost. I walked a very similar route a few times in a row and it was interesting to see the subtle changes each time: the green on the trees, new wild flowers. I'm also pretty sure I saw a hawk or falcon or something similar one day. I was close enough to see that it was huge, but not to identify it.

The weather has alternated between gorgeous and really windy and rainy this week and I walked in both. Breast cancer doesn't wait for the rain and neither will I.

Don't forget, you can keep up with how my training is going at Daily Mile.


Fundraising
One of my co-workers sent in a check and it cleared this week bringing me up to $780 or 34% of my goal! I need to send out reminder letters to the people that I originally e-mailed and see if I can maybe drum up some more donations from the folks that maybe forgot or are procrastinating.

Next step: approach the general public. One thing that I plan to do is sit outside stores with my donation jar and some fund raising goodies. I spent some time this week shopping around for said fund raising goodies including the classic silk ribbons and silicone bracelets but I also found a kit with all kinds of fun stuff in it! Things left to do for this project: receive the fund raising goodies in the mail, decorate my jar, approach stores (not necessarily in that order).

I also thought to approach local businesses about keeping a donation jar at their register. In order to keep costs down, I went to Freecycle to see if I could get some coffee cans to decorate. I had a few people reply with the massive plastic Folgers containers which isn't exactly what I had in mind. One of the women that offered was conveniently located near the Green Fest that I attended on Saturday, so I picked them up from her in case I couldn't find anything else. She was so sweet: she put a few dollars in one of the containers to get me started!

Another fund raising idea I'm playing with is doing an auction or a raffle right here on my blog. I know quite a few teams do a silent auction at a restaurant and make an event out of it, but I just can't do that right now. This virtual version is my take on it. After talking to a few people, I think I'm actually favoring the raffle idea... I'll keep you posted on how this progresses.

I talk about my FAE friends often on my blog and they really are such a loving, supportive family. Needless to say, I've been talking about the 3 Day incessantly since I registered for it and the wonderful Faes on the forum thread have donated to the cause, supported me through their own blogs, and are now helping me fund raise! There are a few members who are talking about creating a custom piece and donating all proceeds to my fund raising efforts! Are these amazing people or what?! I'm so touched by their kindness and support and so very excited to see what they come up with. I can't wait to share their work with you!


Teams
When I went to the Green Fest on Saturday, I saw a booth filled with pink and had to check it out. After some chatting, I was invited to join a team for the 3 Day: Bikers 4 Boobs or Bikers Raising Awareness (BRA). I don't ride but I think I'd fit in. The other team that I heard a lot about (recommended by my field coordinator at the Getting Started Meeting) and wanted to check out was Viva Las Chicas. I think I'll do training walks with both & see where I fit. I have a feeling it's going to be a tough call. From what I can tell, everyone involved in this event has a heart of gold.

Mileage to date on training walks: 30
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $780 or 34%
Remaining: $1,520
Countdown: 222 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!!

The 3 Day: Week Three Progress Report

I had a little giggle at work this week. There's a group of people at work that are doing the ALS walk. They're walking 1.5 miles. I overheard a few griping about how far that is and that they didn't know if they could make it. And that's when one of them said "Yeah, it's not like it's 60 miles!" They all went into shock when they heard that that's what I'm doing.

I am SO very excited about a fund raising option that's falling into place!! I'm bursting and can't wait to share it with you, but we're still finalizing details so it's going to have to wait. I'm thinking that I'll be able to share it with you hopefully next week and it will be available shortly after that for fund raising. Suffice it to say, it's perfect! Well, for me anyway.

I had to write a letter to a potential donor this week to explain that all money raised by the 3 Day goes to breast health and breast cancer only. I spent some time doing research at the Komen website,had a conversation with the Field Coordinator that organized the Getting Started Meeting where I registered, and even got input from someone at Komen headquarters. All of the information is available to the public and, although it's a concern that never even crossed my mind, I understand that it might be a concern to others. Perhaps I'll share what I learned in a separate blog post for anyone curious.

A friend on twitter introduced me to Daily Mile which is a social training log. You can track your miles, sync your information with your Facebook and twitter accounts, and even plan and save your routes. I had been looking at other routing websites and thought that this would be a great option since it does that plus so much more. I think it's going to be a fun way of keeping track of my progress and keeping my supporters updated as I go. I've only logged one workout so far and that was simply to get up to date with the miles I've walked so far in my preparation for the 3 Day. Check out my profile on Daily Mile and keep up with my progress!

In addition to planning routes, I was thinking about pedometers, too, for days that I just feel like getting up & going without having to map out my direction. I have a little cheapie pedometer that I bought ages ago and never set up, so I'll have to do that. I was also trying to find a pedometer app for my phone that utilizes the GPS in it. If you know a good one for the S60 5.0 Symbian operating system, please let me know!

Overall, fund raising was a little quiet this week. As I mentioned in last week's update, I think that the majority of the fund raising from the people that I know has happened so I need to start implementing other plans. One is already in the process of happening, I'm planning out others, and I'm still hoping to join a team once official training walks start, so all of that will hopefully help as well.

Training this week was a bit slow as well due to a few days of not feeling well and really horrible weather. On Saturday, however, I planned out a route on Daily Mile for three miles around my neighborhood. It was a really great walk! The weather was gorgeous, albeit a bit warm: it was only about 65 out, but it made me start thinking that the FL summer is going to be BRUTAL for training. I'm also in love with my phone. Whenever I exercise outside, I always have my phone with me for emergencies but my new phone is so much more than that. For this walk I used it to listen to music, be online to keep track of the route I was taking, and take pictures of some wild plants that I want to identify. Talk about handy. Oh and I was very pleased to discover that I walked that three mile route in 45 minutes.

1. Wild Plant #1, 2. Wild Plant #2, 3. Wild Plant #3, 4. Wild Plant #4

On Sunday, I went to one of the New Balance stores that's an outfitter for the 3 Day and got fit for a pair of sneakers. The guy that helped me was really great and reminded me that I should get a pair of shoes that are a 1/2 to a full size bigger than normal to allow for how much my feet will expand throughout the course of the event. I got home and tested them out with another three mile walk. In the front they felt fine but the bottom of my heels were hurting. It didn't feel like there was enough shock absorption back there. Also, one of the blisters that I got last week started to pop back up again. I'm honestly not sure if it's simply that my feet aren't used to walking yet or if the shoes don't fit me right.

Mileage to date on training walks: 19
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $730 or 32%
Remaining: $1,570

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!!

The 3 Day: Week Two Progress Report

Milestone hit! I was so excited when I hit 25% of my goal this week after registering only two weeks and three days ago!! Imagine my glee when that was bumped up to 29% by a very generous donation just this morning. My concern at this point is that I've already reached out to my friends, family, and co-workers and although I think there will still be a few more donations coming in from them, the remainder of my goal will have to come through some big fund raising efforts. I have a few ideas that I'm working on...

One morning this week, I woke up at around 4 am with Scott's alarm clock and then didn't really fall back to sleep again until maybe about an hour before my own alarm went off. This made me realize that not only am I going to have a lot of training walks for the 3 Day, but am also going to have to train myself to get to sleep stupid early. On the first day of the walk, I'm going to have to be up and functioning at 4 freaking AM.

I'm happy to announce that this week's walks did not include any gator sightings! One day I did see a cute turtle and some cool birds, but that's it. Well, there was a metal gator sculpture on someone's lawn, but I can deal with that.

For some reason (and I really have no idea why), I thought I would be a good idea to break in a new pair of sneakers on a training walk this week. Man, was I an idiot for doing that. I walked for one hour and fifteen minutes and had two blisters (on the same heel, no less) about the size of quarters for my efforts! Well, I hit that milestone this week, too: my first training blisters! The 3 Day actually has local outfitters (New Balance is an event sponsor, so they are one of them) that will fit you properly for walking shoes for the event. They even offer discounts on their gear for 3 Day participants. My blisters haven't healed yet, but I'm thinking that I will need to visit one of those outfitters soon.

I continues to be shocked and grateful for the support that people are showing me from very close friends and kind co-workers to people that I only know online. The outpouring of support that I've received so far has been truly touching and inspiring.

Mileage to date on training walks: 13
Goal: $2,300
Achieved: $670 or 29%
Remaining: $1,630

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!!

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!!