Milestones...

Walking my 100th mile!

This last week I hit some pretty big milestones. First of all on Friday I hit training mile 100! Crazy, to think I have already walked over 100 miles in just under 2 months. 110 miles as of today in fact.  I feel pretty accomplished. So I am going to give myself a little shout out.... YEAH! Go me!  Funny to think that I'll walk 60 miles in 3 days and I am so excited about taking 2 months to get to 100. Oh well, gotta celebrate the little things!  There, now that that is out of my system I can continue...

On the fundraising front I have almost reached another milestone!  As of today I am sitting pretty at $2155!  I have a pending donation of $50 that I will be receiving from my Stella & Dot jewelry fundraiser. Thanks again to my awesome Consultant for doing such a great job and of course for being a terrific neighbor!  Once that $50 goes through I will only need to raise $95 and the big weekend is still 16 weeks away!  So wonderful not to have to worry about fundraising. Now I just get to focus on training and of course helping out my team reach their goals. :)

So of my 110 miles, my husband has walked 98 of those miles with me. Pretty awesome for him, especially since he isn't even doing the 3-Day!  And yes, I know I have already written about how special it is that we get to spend all this time together, but I don't care, I am going to say it again... It is so great that we are doing this together!! (Well training together anyway).  I already told him that he is doing the 3-Day with me in 2013, if I survive the 60 miles this November!  :) But it has been good for us. The thing is that our work schedules for the past year and a half have been opposite each other. I work mornings and he works nights. One of us is always home to take care of the kids, but rarely both of us together. It has been tremendously difficult, but now we are finally getting on some kind of a schedule and really making an effort to do things together. The other thing that we had been struggling with is whether or not we really wanted to live here in San Diego.  We both have family here so that had been the main reason we have stayed. But San Diego is a very expensive city to live in and when you combine that with the fact that we have terrible work schedules it has been really difficult to want to stay. But sometime during the month of March we really put our feet down and said, "Yes! We want to live here!"  I think from that point things have changed for us. Our schedules seemed to magically open up (more like we are finding and making the time rather than just saying we never have any).  We have also managed to get out and enjoy the city we live in and what it has to offer. In fact in one week we walked 3 different places that we have never even bothered to go to before. Sure we have talked about it... but never actually gotten off our butts and done something about it. 

Admiring the view during a 7 miler along the bay

Taking a much needed break after 2.2 miles straight uphill
to reach the top of Cowles Mtn!

So now we have walked Lake Miramar (quite a few times), a nice stretch of the bay, and Cowles Mtn, (the highest peak in the City of San Diego at 1592 feet) all  because I made a commitment. And by the way, Cowles Mtn was incredible! A bit of a killer since of course we took the long way, but really amazing to stand at the top and overlook the beautiful city we live in and just be grateful to live here.  So Thank you Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. Thank you for making my life better by making me stop talking and start doing and just take the time to appreciate where I live! So that has definitely been a major milestone not only in my life, but my family's life too.

Life happens...

This last month has been a whirlwind!  Overall June's training went really well. The month started off great, I followed my schedule of what days I was supposed to walk and how many miles I needed to do.  I got my miles in...well, almost....We went on vacation for the last week of June through the 4th of July. I had this great idea that somehow I would magically be able to do all of my training walks on all the days they were scheduled. HA! Was I in for a surprise!  I think the trip was a real eye opener for me. In a good way at least.  I definitely learned a lot.  First off let me say we went to visit my in-laws on the beautiful shores of North Carolina.  It was a fantastic trip! The kids were great, the in-laws were great. My M-I-L is recovering nicely after all her radiation and had a fairly decent amount of energy. :)  So Sunday I got my miles in (on a treadmill) no problem. Then Tuesday comes along and I manage to do a mile. I was definitely frustrated! I was supposed to do 3! Oh well... and then Thursday... oops I blew it again and walked a big fat 0! I was frustrated again. So Friday morning my son decided to wake up at the crack of dawn (literally).  I needed to get him out of the house so he wouldn't wake up everyone. Aha! Light bulb for my thick skull- take him on a walk and let everyone sleep.  So off we went. It was great. My husband was awake so he came too.  We walked just about 3.5 miles.  We walked for about 5 on Saturday morning too.  Got a chance to just get out there and do it. I finally realized that it is no big deal if I miss a day. I just need to do what I can.  It is not the end of the world and somehow I had been missing the point. This whole journey is about finding a cure for breast cancer. Raising the money to support research and especially raising awareness is what is going to find a cure, not me making sure I get my 3 miles in every Tuesday.  Not to mention, "Hellooo, Jen!" You are on vacation to spend time with the ones you love! You don't have to go to work, you get to play with your kids on the beautiful beach and create new memories with them, you actually get to see your husband and spend time with him, and you get to listen to your in-laws tell all their stories, and just be. That is what life is about.

An evening stroll to the water with my son

Since we have been back home life has been an adjustment. We are getting back into a training schedule, but I have definitely learned to be flexible.  It's not the end of the world if I miss a day. I have been doing what I can and my husband has still managed to be my faithful walking partner throughout this journey. It has certainly brought us closer and has been so nice to spend time as a family.  These last few weekends we have been walking around a lake (about 5 miles).  It is nice to get out and have something pretty to look at instead of just the neighbors' houses.  But pushing two strollers isn't always so much fun no matter what you are looking at especially when the kids get hungry and antsy during the longer walks. So we have to figure out and adjust to what works for them too.  Today we brought some bread and let the kids feed the ducks.  They thought it was a great end to a long walk and we did too!

So the last month has been a journey all on its own. Both physically and emotionally. I am finally realizing what the 3-Day is all about.  It is more than just walking a ton of miles. It is about living! 

Life happens.  So live it, embrace it and enjoy it!

Finding my Groove...

So after a crazy and overwhelming week this last week did not start out a whole lot better. In short my Great-Aunt died, she was 97, and the sister to my Grandmother who just celebrated her 99th birthday.  So yeah, kind of a bummer.  Both of her siblings are gone now, I just hope she is in no hurry to join them. I would really like to celebrate her 100th birthday with her next summer.  Anyway, my brother did not get the job he was hoping for.  Another bummer.  I wish I had some kind of great connection or a string I could pull for him....Then my poor kids were crazy monsters all week due to the fact that they were out of school and feeling cooped up for the last couple of weeks. Between my work schedule, my husbands schedule, my kids,  and doing all the training walks I am just trying to figure out how to balance life.  So overall kind of a tough week mentally again.  

Me posing for the camera
before tackling another hill.

But now onto the good stuff... My Mother-In-Law finished radiation treatment! YEAH! Now we just pray that breast cancer (or any cancer) never comes back! And more good news...I have sort of managed to find some type of groove.  Somehow my schedule and my family's schedule is working. The kids started camp this week so they are a little more like monkeys and less like crazy monsters.  My husband has been faithfully doing the walks with me. It has been really great to get out spend time,walk with him, and just talk and clear our minds.  We are pushing the kids in strollers. Not always the favorite past time of my 5 year old, but she manages. Us on the other hand, well our shoulders and backs end up a little sore. Along with our calves, thighs, and our butts... I guess you could say that we are literally walking our butts off to find a cure for breast cancer. But hey, my feet still feel great in my awesome shoes and I am ready to tackle this week's 14 miles! :o) 

                                          

Feeling Overwhelmed...

It has been quite a week. Last week was the 24 week out mark, or my first official week of training.  Overall looking back it was an incredibly overwhelming week, both good and bad. Mostly good, but still emotionally draining. Last Tuesday my daughter promoted from preschool! My baby girl is going to be a kindergartner!  What the heck? Where did the time go? It was a great day we enjoyed very much, but man how the time does fly. At least my son is still in preschool! After her promotion my husband and I took the kids out in strollers for a 3 mile walk. It was nice to get out there and be a family. My son fell asleep, and my daughter just talked the whole time and sang all her promotion songs. It was very sweet.  Later that day I received an incredibly generous donation for my 3-Day Walk. Wow! Still amazed. I knew they would be my big donors, but I had no idea how generous they would be. Same day another friend I haven't really spoken to in a while donated too. Wow, it is just amazing how generous everyone has been and how many people's lives have been touched by some form of cancer. Sad, really.

Wednesday was back to work and then Thursday another 3 miles. We took the kids out again in the strollers. Did a really gnarly hilly walk. Fun, but man I was sore the next day! Especially from pushing a little umbrella stroller with a 40lb kid in it! Thursday afternoon I see on Facebook my brother has changed his profile picture to a picture of our family dog. We got Khan (she was a chow-lab mix) back in 1997 so she wasn't technically a childhood dog, but certainly my young adulthood, lick the tears from my face dog.  So uh-oh, got to love Facebook to tell you bad news. Called my Mom, yep, Khan passed away that morning. Ugh. Sad.

Friday my Grandmother turned 99! Wish we could have been with her to celebrate. Our plan is to be with her next year for #100!  Other than that, the weekend was relatively uneventful.  (Thank God!) We pushed the kids in the strollers for my 3-mile walks Saturday and Sunday.  My husband has been a real trooper so far walking with me.  Think he'll be willing to do the 18/15 mile back to backs? Ha! We shall see...

And now today, I finally got around to signing up my daughter for kindergarten. Again, where does the time go? I am afraid that if I blink she'll be a teenager, she already acts like one!  Then this afternoon I am poking around on the 3day website and realize I have another donation. What? Another one? Wait, what I am at 87%? HUH? Yes, I was incredibly surprised! Another big donation! This time from my step-sister! Who- Hoo! Thanks again Jess! Wow, just $300 more to be able to participate! Looks like I am going to have to raise my goal! I am thinking I'll shoot for at least $2500 now. Wow, such generosity, and so much love... very Overwhelming... in a good sense of course. So a big week, 12 miles walked and a lot of donations.  And now tomorrow will be here before I know it, and another 3 mile training walk.  13 miles for the week.  I am just so happy to know how much love and support I have through this journey. It gives me Hope.

P.S. My Mother-In-Law is looking forward to being finished with radiation. This is her last week! And God willing, never again!

Training has Officially Started!

Alright, so I didn't get around to writing about Saturday's kick off training walk. Oh well. Here is what you have eagerly been checking my blog for...  :o)  By the way, sad but true side note, I have no pink in my wardrobe! Anyway, Kick-off started at 7am that morning. I was not exactly as bright eyed and bushy tailed as I would have liked to have been.  It was a little intimidating not really knowing anyone there.  I do have a little shy bone in my body that sneaks up on me every once in a while.  But I did see a few familiar faces. Mostly people I had met at the shoe clinic or the Susan G. Komen Ambassadors that spoke at the Get Started meeting I attended back in March.  So first there was a very short little speech from the kick off coordinators and our local weatherman Matt Baylow.  Funny to see him in a pastel pink sweatshirt minus all of his on camera make-up. :o) We all made him promise us that the 3-Day weekend would be nothing but sunshine and comfortable walking weather. (Last year's event was a soggy, rainy mess!)  Then a brief talk from our walk leader and off we went down the beautiful coast line of San Diego.

Listening to the training walk leader give his safety spiel before heading out.

It was funny to see a line of mostly pink and black walkers. There were about 30 of us! Lots of people honked their horns and were happy to see us out there beating breast cancer!   I ended up chatting with another first time 3-Dayer. She was so nice. :o) We were both certainly glad to have someone to talk to!

So how did I feel at the end of 3 miles? And of course how did my shoes work out? Great! The shoes were fantastic! My body the next day...not so much. I was actually sore. My poor shins hurt and so did my shoulder. :( Lesson learned... stretch more! Before and after! And don't carry a water bottle in my hands! Use a pack of some kind! Overall a great day and a great way to start training for the 3-Day!

Time keeps on tickin....

So Wow! Where on Earth did the month of May go? How can it already be June? 170 days until the big walk. How much training have I done so far? A big fat zero! My pretty shoes- still sitting in the box along with the new socks still in their wrappers. :( Ok, so what is my lame excuse? Well May was just a super busy month! Not to mention,  I have been sick, and so has my husband and my poor kids too. We are all finally feeling better and it sure is a good thing too! This Saturday is the official 24 week training kick off! I will finally do my first little 3 miler! Yeah! I am actually really looking forward to it. It will be nice to FINALLY give my shoes a test walk. Not to mention get out there and meet some other 3-day walkers! I'll try to get my butt in gear and write about the event later that evening. I am sure you will want to know all about how I survived 3 miles in my exciting shoes. :o)

Well in other news.... May has turned out to be a relatively productive month.  I finally met one of my other teammates. Well, more like I re-met her. She is great and will be a lot of fun to walk with.  Our team is the BC Bandits, so we are starting to think of costume ideas and tent decorations too.  I am sure we will come up with something fantastic and of course pink!
  
On the fundraising front, I have some how managed to raise $588! That puts me at 26% of my goal. Still a long way to go but a great start! I  have a lot of unanswered donation letters out there so we will see what happens.  I have scheduled a date for my first fundraiser too.  I am going to host a Stella & Dot  party in July!  Once I get the details squared away I will be sure to post the link here and of course on the Susan G. Komen 3-day message boards.  They have very cute jewelry which sells itself! Should be fun. Now the question is do I have it at home or try and do it out somewhere around town?  I have a month to figure it all out thank God! I am sure it will be a great event!  It would be nice to hurry up and meet my fundraising goals. I would LOVE a chance to just focus on training!
  
So to end on a very personal note- my Mother-in-Law is responding very well to her radiation treatments. She is over half way done! Tiredness is settling in a bit, but she certainly has high spirits and a great outlook on life! Let's hope this is it!
 

Woo Hoo!! New Shoes!

So this morning I attended my first official 3-Day for the Cure Super Clinic. A shoe clinic- hence the shiny, sparkly new shoes pictured below. I have been really looking forward to starting my training and haven't wanted to without shoes.  So I am ridiculously excited about my new duds. I love shoes. Wait, let me rephrase that- I love new sports shoes. Fancy, pretty, girly shoes... not so much. I suppose that is because I am tall. 5' 9.25" to be exact. Oh, and I have big feet, a 10.5 or 11. Do they make cute, girly shoes in a 10.5 that don't cost a ridiculous sum of money? No. Do they make a size 11 that would actually fit my feet, not make me look like a giant transvestite and also won't break the bank? Not really. So I wear sandals (ok flip-flops), and sports shoes, and very rarely the nice pretty shoe that did break the bank and happens to make me tower over my husband. But hey, not really the point of this particular post... so now back to my new exciting shoes...

My new beauties!

Let me just tell you buying these bad boys was quite an experience. If you have never been to a technical store where they actually stick you on a treadmill and measure your gait, your balance, your arches, and all that other fun stuff then you need to get out there and try it, at least once. It was pretty interesting (and maybe a tiny bit intimidating) going through everything. The clerk asks you a bunch of questions and does all the little tests and then discusses all of your results with you. I was actually surprised at my results. I knew my shoe size- huge :o), my width was normal, again not really a surprise, good balance (yeah me!), and high arches. What? High arches? When did that happen? In high school, I had pretty flat feet. But hey, new studies are coming out saying that you can actually build up the arches in your feet by exercising, being barefoot, and blah... blah... Here is a link to an article if you actually want to read about that kind of stuff America's Podiatrist.  Anyway, back to my new shoes...  So after doing all the testing I was introduced to a "shoe expert" and fitted for my new shoes.  He brought out a couple of different brands, including a pair of Nike that were so soft they literally felt like I was walking on marshmallows. Not for me. So that's how I ended up with these funky Saucony. They are the Women's ProGrid Triumph 8 in case you want me to get all techie on you. ;o) Anyway, time to get training and believe me,  I can't wait to take them out, get 'em dirty, and start stomping out breast cancer!

P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there... or to any of you who have ever had a Mom!