The 3day

I guess a recap would be appropriate right? :)

I'm not even sure where I could start. It was an amazing experience, from the opening ceremony to closing. We started off the first morning in the rain, but as we stood there in the dark, and the flags started coming through with the music and the breast cancer survivors who were walking 60 miles with us, I don't think there was a dry eye among anyone.

We had more than enough crew who were volunteers and would stand on the streets dressed in ridiculous outfits dancing and encouraging us, sweep vans who were constantly checking on us to make sure we were still standing upright :) and so many supporters. It was amazing the amount of supporters. We had actual cheering stations twice a day that people could come and set up and cheer us on. Yet there were cheerleading squads at the pit stops, elementary schools lined up along the roads, people would would set up tents along the road and pass out candy to us. It was seriously like the worlds longest buffet. Supporters gave us candy, chocolate, homemade cookies, rice crispy treats, icees, donuts, coffee, buttons, stickers, water, trail mix, beads, the list was endless.

Every three miles we had a "pit stop" where there was gatorade, water, food (chips, sandwiches, peanuts, granola bars, pretzels, cheese, oranges, carrots, etc) -- did I mention it was the worlds longest buffet?

At night we ended up sleeping in tents inside because our campground was flooded. Before you start thinking bathrooms, etc... in order to use the bathroom we had to walk down rows of tents, down a hallway, outside, and then to the bathroom, which was also located across from our dining tent. But it was nice to sleep indoors because it was FREEZING at night. Saturday night it dropped down to about 38 degrees.

I could go on and on about the walking, the blisters, the support, etc, but when it came down to it, the experience could not be described. There was a lot of emotions, from laughing to crying in moments. The cheering stations were awesome with people handing out everything, but when one of the women you would pass would look at you and say, "Thank you for walking, I'm a survivor"... you lost it. There was no turning back. Then you cry for a few minutes for the pain you know they went through, and realize what pain you are in at the moment is nothing compared to what they went through.

Inside where our tents were, there was also remembrance tents with a little room holding pictures of all the women who had walked in the 3day and lost their lives. If you go to youtube, and type in "remembrance tent" there is a video that will come up from our trip that someone filmed, and it is worth the few minutes to watch. But have tissues with you. I spent some time in there, but after reading a few of the stories, it was hard to stay in there, but it helped you stay focused on why you were there, and to push yourself even further.

It was amazing journey, from walking the miles everyday to sitting down at dinner with people you had never spoken to before, and find out in a few minutes they were breast cancer survivors who were walking or crewing because they couldn't walk. I remember looking at Jenna when we were about 2 miles from the finish line and telling her, "I could never do this again." At that point, we were walking about .2 miles an hour. :)

Well, 4 days later, I still have fluid on my knees, and a couple blisters on my toes that are the same size as my toes... but I will do it again next year, and the next year, until there is a cure for breast cancer. And I will do it again in memory of my Grandma Margie because I didn't get enough time with her and my own brother should have been able to meet his grandmother, and for my mom's tennis partner who I know her daughter's heart broke when she lost her mom and she never got to see her sons graduate college, and for anyone else anyone wants me to walk for in honor or in memory of.

Last Post!!!

I was going to do my last post Wednesday before we left, and then I realized looking at all I have left to do (school/packing/friends/family) there is absolutely no way I will remember to post again!

4 days left and I am $86 dollars from goal!!! Which is freaking awesome!!! :)

Thank you to everyone for all the packing tips... I think I have everything ready now I just need to actually pack!!

I really have nothing left to say but Thank You to everyone, I got more out of this journey so far in just the training than I ever thought I would!

Also, since I already know ahead of time.... Thank you Mom, Shea, Lauren, & Kenny for writing me letters to Atlanta... you guys are awesome.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we walk this weekend!!!!

And cross your fingers that it doesn't rain!!!

10 days... and my next to last post!

10 days from right now I will be in Atlanta going to bed to get up at 4:30am!!! Woo hoo! This is my next to the last post (I will post before I leave) because I know in the next 9 days I will be super busy trying to do 2 weeks worth of school work, packing, and spending time with my friends & family.

But seriously, I can't believe it's only 10 days away. The past 6 months have flown by, not only with walking but just everything that has done a 180....

When I started training for this walk, I was working full time, crossing my fingers everyday checking to see if I got into graduate school (It was semi-scary since there was only one school I could apply to for my major), meet-up was just getting into full-swing, we were still waiting for Tri-Sports to finally send out a schedule (even though we were supposed to start softball in March), Jenna was living in Wilmington, I belonged to a gym with a personal trainer twice a week working my butt off to lose weight (little did I not know if I just changed my food/drink habits), and I didn't have some of the amazing people in my life that I do now....

Welcome to October of 2009.... I think this is the most changes I have ever been through in 6 months... and I don't think even one of them has been bad. I am no longer working (which I miss Jessica, but I am SO excited for her that she has so many friends and loves preschool so much!!), I'm in school full time and love my major... minus the statistics part (Did I mention I made some amazing friends who help me with that??), Jenna now lives 20 minutes away (YAY!), I belong to a gym that I never see which I plan on getting back into in a couple weeks--- but in the meantime I can now walk my neighborhood blindfolded, and I have lost 25 pounds... (and hopefully more to come!), and while Tri-Sports is still a big mess (Not gonna lie, we can start with our awful team name and go from there)we at least got some softball games going... :) I have made some AWESOME friends that hopefully I get to play with for a long time....

To single a few of you out..... and hopefully you are able to figure out who YOU are... (and some people may be able to figure out who others are... just don't say anything)


1. Thank you for all the encouragement along the way. For checking up on my eating habits and answering every single question I had along the way. Without you, I don't think my entire diet would have changed and I would have not had the energy that I have to succeed next week.

2. You two are one of the happiest couples I have ever met, together and apart. You are both so full of energy and so sweet/witty all the time. Congrats on your new house! I plan on having a slumber party one night there to break in one of the guest rooms... just forewarning :)

3. You are like having a little sister to fight with. Or pick on. I know you hate it, which probably makes me love to do it even more. But I love you. :) Thank you for being so encouraging and sweet and ALWAYS there when I need you.

4. While one of my newest friends, you are fastly becoming one of my closest. I love hanging out with you, and thank you so much for your concern last weekend. Even if you did make me drink buckets of water. I think I just got ANOTHER e-mail from you concerning cranberry juice.... are you aware of how nasty that stuff is? I guess I should trade it for the coffee I am currently drinking. :P I know it's bad, I'm an addict what can I say? I promise I'll chase it with 3 glasses of H2O :)

5. SHREK!!!! 10 days!!!! (yeah okay so everyone clearly knows who this is now)I love you & I promise I'll get you the matching hat this week so we can rock Atlanta together... ps. I need to teach you the Hoedown Throwdown this week... we can karaoke it together :D

6. I'm not even sure where to start with you. I feel like half the time we don't even have to talk but just shoot each other looks. :) Thank you for being so supportive the past few months, not just with this walk.... although you were able to earn your own bedroom that way. ;) I love you!

7. Thank you for being a great friend and for all the information/answering questions in the past months... minus your thoughts on chicken broth while running (gross). Thank you more for everything else outside of training you have helped me with (even if you didn't know it!) and putting up w. my ups and downs over the past few months.

8. What can I say about you? Thank you (ahead of time) for making me a *rocket ship cake* for my party :D haha... seriously, thanks for being there and encouraging and everything in between. Also, thank you for going out in public with me after I have walked 15 miles, wrote papers, and showed up with no make-up wet hair, glasses, and sweat pants. THEN laying down in the booth at the restaurant.... poor people at Brixx... I think that's why they started giving us tables....

9. Thank you for the awesome donation!! You are a great friend, and I still think you should have dyed your hair pink :D haha.... I'm so glad we became good friends over the past 6 months and that we continue to become even better friends in the future :)

I would continue... but the list is REALLY long.... I think I covered everyone a few posts back, this was just for the people I missed, or for things going on lately :)

This one is worth 5 minutes of your time....

This morning I received an e-mail that stated I needed to have some little square pocket thing and a lanyard. I stared blankly at my screen for about 5 minutes, finally realized I had seen these things before, then realized I saw them in umm.. January. If you know me well, you know there is a good chance what I need is long gone. Lucky me, I have a drawer in my room filled with information from different races, which everything was in there. That's when I realized there had been message boards all this time that gave information... of course I decided to visit the message boards to learn all about my two biggest concerns-- staying comfy at night & public showers. (Yes, I have actually gotten to the point where I have learned I have to face my porta potty fear.)

Long story short, I came across this website, with this guy who has been doing the Breast Cancer 3 day for years.... and had some really funny tips, it was over 50 pages long, and now I feel like I am completely informed about what's going on.... I wanted to share some of the tips with you guys, not only because some of them made me laugh out loud, but also to get an insight as to what will be going on during those 3 days...

Oh and PS.... Less than $300 to go!!! :) :) :) Please continue to donate if you can! 14 days!!!


Here we go... tips from the 3day guy:

On Sleeping...

"Many people who are sharing a tent with a close friend or relative bring a queen size air mattress, which will take up most of the floor space of the tent. This is fine if you are comfortable spooning with your tent mate. If you don't know your tent mate, a queen size air mattress is a bit presumptuous"

On bags...

"This is not the Ritz Carlton. Your bag may be tossed. Your bag may be dragged. Your bag may be dropped. Your bag may be on the bottom of a pile of other bags. If your sleeping bag is strapped to the outside of your bag it is likely that it will get lost, torn, or soaking wet in a rain shower. Or maybe all of the above!"

"If your sleeping bag is lost or soaked, you will go to the Medical tent where you will get a Mylar space blanket. A space blanket is a thin sheet of Mylar (sort of like Christmas tinsel, in a big sheet). I can't think of many things worse than trying to sleep on the ground, wrapped in Christmas tinsel, let alone after having walked all day."

On Tenting...

"Since it's a charitable event, and not a fraternity party, you won't be randomly assigned a tent mate of the opposite sex."

"Co-ed tents are permissible but the tents are not soundproof, so quiet is highly recommended when it comes to conversation or ANYTHING ELSE you do in your tent with your tent mate."

"As soon as you put your tent up, place something inside of it. Otherwise, when a breeze comes up, your empty tent will fly across the field. There is nothing funnier than watching someone running across a field, chasing their bedroom."

On sleeping...

"Tents are not soundproof, if a person is snoring 3 tents away, you will still hear them quite clearly."

On walking....

Because so many people have asked me this:

"You are NEVER allowed to run on the route. It is dangerous for all walkers. If you are uncomfortable keeping to a walking pace, and feel you must run, this event is not for you."

On Hyponatremia...

"You have to drink both water and sports drink." <---- This I am not a fan of. "If you drink too much water and not enough sports drink, you are at risk of hyponatremia" (There was like 4 more paragraphs explaining why the pretzels and everything I have been doing isn't enough, so I guess I'll suck up the Gatorade for 3 days.)

After all this it was followed by 3 pages of what happens to you if you don't drink enough.... let me just say this, "hooking up to IV" was in there 4 times. Stacie will NOT be dehydrated at any point. We all know how I feel about needles. Yuck.

On Showering...

"Go eat before you shower. If you faint in the shower from not eating, I promise the crew members will whistle, Getting to know you, getting to know all about you, the entire time we remove your soapy body from the shower."

It's a walk, not a diet

"Think of the walk as the world's longest buffet line. You will probably be eating non-stop from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep. If you thought you retained water in the past, you ain't seen nothing yet! It is non unusual to weigh SIGNIFICANTLY more on the Monday after your walk than you did on the day before your walk began, so stay off the scales!"


So, it was actually a lot funnier the first time I read it... so hopefully you did laugh a little... and if not... oh well, you were on facebook wasting time anyways in order to see this so I don't feel that bad. ;)

If you haven't yet... please... (you thought I was going to say donate) ;) .... send a letter or note or something before October 13th, we will receive it when we get down there, and I already know it will be of great encouragement when I'm attempting to set up a tent, sleep outside for the FIRST TIME EVER, take showers in a truck, get naked in front of lots of other people, use porta potties for the first time, and oh yeah, walk 60 miles! :)

Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office
ATTN: INSERT NAME OF PARTICIPANT
#370
880 Marietta Hwy. Suite 630
Roswell, GA 30075

<3

17 days!!! $357

I haven't blogged in a while as there as been nothing new and exciting in the walking world... just in the real world (keep reading) :) 17 days until we walk. 16 days until we leave. With $357 my goal is to get there before we leave! So please donate, just think if you donate even $5 that is equal to a large pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks.... you can pass on one of those. :)

This is a practice run for 20 miles/3 days and it has rained yesterday and today, so I am waiting until tomorrow to start. Then after that it is two tapering weeks (yay!) :)

In real news, many exciting things have happened over the past few weeks...I think the most exciting was...

Becky (who is mentioned and pictured in posts below) & Chris (her husband) had their first child on September 24th, a little girl, Nora! She is beautiful and she was born on Becky's 25th birthday!


And in school news, it is a lot of work, but it's going, it's almost time to figure out how many classes to take for next semester... which I also plan on getting a job full or part time, not sure yet... but I need to decide now how many classes to take. I won't be training anymore so that will free up at least 4 hours of my day... but a job would fill at least those.... Thoughts?

32 Days!!! The Thank you note.... to... EVERYONE (in no particular order)

Only 21% more to go!!!!!!

Wow! The walk is approaching so fast!! I think I might actually start to miss days of doing nothing but walking for miles on end... okay maybe not, but I will miss spending hours on end walking with my mom talking about anything and everything. Thank you for training with me and being there for me every step of the way mom. :) I promise I'll repay you someday... you know, when you are old and can't drive 90 miles an hour everywhere, and have to go to the doctor every other day. I will be there... to call Geoff and have him pick you up ;) Just kidding :)

On a serious note, Thank you mom for walking with me EVERY single day, washing most of my workout clothes EVERY day (not going to lie there, I only manage to get them in the washer and magically they are ready to go fresh and clean the next morning), for pushing me when I start wanting to cut the walk short, for going into the grocery store everyday and buying me an orange juice because I look ridiculous wearing a backpack, for coming up with stuff to talk about when I get sick of listening to my music and want to talk to take my mind off of walking and walking and walking, and for being my support system throughout this entire walk. I couldn't have done it without you.

Thank you to my dad, who always volunteers to walk with me (even though by the time he gets back from work I'm too tired to move) :) For all the support, cleaning out half of everything you own for me to raise money in yard sales, for sending out e-mail blasts to support my fund raiser (and being very successful at it), and for showing an interest in how much I'm walking and how much money I have raised. I appreciate all the encouragement.

Thank you to my brother, Geoff... who checks in once in a blue moon because he's too cool to call from college :) No but seriously, for donating even though you are a college student and for being so supportive. :)

Starting from the beginning...

Thank you to everyone who came to my first Breast Cancer party... I love you all...

Shea- Thank you for spending two of your Saturday's sitting in a hot garage with me for yard sales... and of course our favorite part, packing up... twice. I am sorry for driving you crazy with, "dolla dolla" ... not really. I just wanted to be able to say it to you again. :D Love you!


Becky (and Chris)- Thank you so much for all of the donations AND baking for the bake sale. As well as making muffins and cookies for our Saturday morning party. I love you guys, you are going to make the best parents... only a few more days!!!


Lauren- Thank you for donations, walking with me, and all the encouragement, as well as listening to me whine when something starts hurting from training. :) You are so sweet and I am soooooo lucky to have you as a friend. (and sometimes boyfriend) haha :D Love you!


Kenny- Thank you for donations, cooking and baking, sending out blast e-mails asking if I have walked yet today (haha), and all the support and encouragement!! As well as convincing me constantly I can eat desserts because I'm walking so much... bad influence ;) haha... I couldn't ask for anything more!! And you already know I love you too! :)


Adam- Your coconut squares were AMAZING!! Just had to get that out there. :) Thank you for baking and more importantly thank you for all the side help and information. Without you I would still be sweating out salt (sick) and eating and doing many more unhealthy habits! 20 of my pounds lost are all to you!


Chris- Thank you for helping me pick out my "bling bling" backpack as you call it :P And for helping me with my garage sale stuff, in the never-ending packing up. And just for all the support in general... and I hope that you even see this, since you didn't even realize I had a blog :D haha... dork.


Jessica- Thank you for the BOXES and BOXES of clothes and goodies!! You freakin' rock! And of course for getting me breakfast and hanging out with my crazy family!! I don't think I could ever forget the "putting the tables in the truck" with my aunt. Classic!


Beth- Thank you for the donations and for all of the support. Especially the pool days of relaxing after walking so far! Thank you (most importantly) for teaching me the Hoedown Throwdown. I will not disappoint you. :D


Laurie, Trannis, & Jessica- Thank you so much for your multiple donations and all of your encouragement and support. You guys are like a second family to me, I love you all!


Aunt Sandra- Thank you so much for ALL of your donations, letting me have the yard sale at your house, and for all of your support. I love you!!!


Aunt Cherry & Uncle Carver- Thank you SO much for hauling the tables from the church to Sandra's and for ALL of your donations. Thank you Cherry for helping out at the last yard sale and convincing people they needed to buy everything. :D Love you guys!


Grandma- I love you! Thank you for the sleepovers and the donations and the food and everything else you do to always take care of us!!!


Jessie & Brian- Thank you so much for letting me have the last yard sale at your house, and for getting up at 6:00am and setting up tables from the church for me. You both are amazing!! Love you guys!


Thank you to my softball team for all the encouragement and support... whether it's asking how far I walked, or teasing me because I walked so far, or just asking questions about how things are going!!


Jenna- If I could pick any friend to do this with, it would be you. I know that you will keep me entertained, take care of me, and put up the tent because I will have no idea how. Then you will yell at me to help you (because at this point I will be dazed and zone out), and eventually we will get it set up. (I know you are laughing right now because you know this is EXACTLY how it's going to go).

I am excited to spend 6 hours in the car with you jamming out to country music, visiting the aquarium, then getting up at the crack of dawn and starting our journey.


*To anyone who has made it this far...wow... you are amazing... please send letters if you get the chance, you can send them anytime between now and October 13th in order for us to get them in time. If you scroll down about 3 posts... there is an address. :)

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

9 miles in the rain. Fun Stuff. Yup, I'm lying. :) I was going to skip walking and decided I might as well see how much fun the rain is in the event in rains in Atlanta. It actually wasn't that bad, minus the fact that I hate being wet and cold. :) I have ponchos, but I thought to myself, self, everyone in the neighborhood already thinks you are weird for walking up and down the streets with a backpack. Not to mention the days you decide to go walk late and it looks like I am walking home from high school, middle school, and elementary school. (Yes they let out about 30 minutes apart, just enough time to end up at the same point of the loop each time to walk home with the kids). I have gotten over the weird looks, what I haven't gotten over yet is the fact that some of the elementary school children I "walk home with" are taller than me.

You can stop laughing now.

So the poncho was not a choice. I did however find out that my backpack works great in the rain. Yay!!

So later in the afternoon, I was getting some stuff done around town and my right leg started hurting like crazy. Especially around the knee. I stretched it out and nothing hurt until I started putting weight on it again. Ouch. I have a tendency to lock my knees when I am standing because they are double jointed, so I think that might have contributed to the problem, but needless to say I was pretty much limping around for a few hours. The pain subsided after that, and then when I went to bed last night I couldn't fall asleep they were aching so bad. I have yet to figure out what caused all this because I have walked MANY more miles then this in a day and had no pains at all. So if anyone would like to shoot me over some advice or suggestions or anything.... please do! :)

Today I have decided not to walk. I thought I would give my leg a break and tackle a few papers and some discussion boards. Thoughts on whether the drinking age should be 18 or 21? :)

35 more days until Atlanta!! I still need to raise $570. Please contribute if you can, every dollar helps!!! :)

37 days, $570

Maybe I should start posting everyday :) Thank you for bringing me under the $600 level so quickly!

This morning I was looking at other 3days and basically I like to stalk to see what we are going to be doing, and I have yet to get through someones photo album without tearing up by the end. Which if you know me, is not normal at all. I don't cry. :)

I also realized I should share with you guys, especially ones who have already donated why (in more detail) that I am doing this walk. (And some of this story has been told me as I was so young).

My parents were married 10 years before they had me (I am the oldest). My dad's mom always teased my mom that she wanted a grandchild. I was born in 85 and was her one and only. I vaguely remember little things, like sitting in the car with my granddaddy when she went to the doctors (she had breast cancer), and stealing candy from her glass jar in their living room that she kept filled for when I snuck in there. I remember little parts of her being in a hospital bed in my grandparents bedroom and me having to leave the room sometimes for my mom and aunt to take care of her. As I got older I was filled in on details, my mom and I picked up and moved in with my grandparents right after I turned 3 so that my mom could help take care of my grandmother. She passed away in May of 1988.

All I really remember about her is the stories that I grew up on from my granddaddy. My favorite one was that he met my grandmother before he went into the service. She was actually ENGAGED and he still wrote letters to her throughout his time in the service and she eventually broke off her engagement and married him when he returned home.

As I got older, I experienced other people in my life who had breast cancer. My aunt, some of my friend's moms, while I was in college one of my mom's tennis partners lost the battle to breast cancer.

So how did I end up doing the 3day?

Last year I had some things going on in my life and I needed a new focus to distract me, so I decided I needed something that I hated to force me to be distracted. I chose running. I hate running. With a passion. My mom decided on her "bucket list" she wanted to have that she did a half marathon. So we jointly decided to sign up first for a 5k and work our way into it. Did I mention I hate running? :) When I started looking at all the races, I realized I didn't want to do any races that weren't benefiting something other than me running on the street for X amount of miles and crossing a finish line. So of course I chose a breast cancer race. This got me really into the raising money for breast cancer. I decided I wanted to do it again this year, but raise money for it.

A few months past (yes we did end up doing a half marathon, and it supported our troops!) and the Krispy Kreme Challenge, because I mean you have to do it once. :) But I came across the Breast Cancer 3day walk. I read a ton about it, and felt like not only will I be raising money for this, but I will actually be doing something hard that I have to put a lot of time and dedication into. Not to mention I have to sleep in a tent for two nights and use porta potties. I have never slept outside in my life and I have no idea what the inside of the porta potty looks like. Sadly enough, I was walking with Jenna the other day and asked her what one looked like, and she actually started describing a large blue and yellow thing that normally sits at construction sites. Apparently she thought I didn't even know what one looked like in general I stay so far away from any restroom that isn't located in my own house.

So, back to the story, I started my 3day journey with my grandmother in mind and my goal that I would contribute as much as I could to help end breast cancer. So that one day, there isn't a 3 year old little girl who only remembers her grandmother by stories told to her because her grandmother lost the battle.

38 days, $620

Time to update! :)

Last weekend my awesome cousin (Jessica) and her husband (Brian) hosted a yard sale (yes, the 4th and FINAL one!) at their house. They not only volunteered their property but Brian woke up at 6am to drive to his church and bring us tables AND set them up. We had a great turnout and sold most of the stuff that we had left, then we drove straight to the Good Will and dumped the rest. Not going to lie, I was happy to see it go :)

Thank you again to Jessie & Brian, as well as Aunt Cherry for spending another Saturday helping us, Kim & Sara for making a breakfast run for us, and everyone else for donating the baked goods and more items!!


I finally got a chance to walk with Jenna for the first time Sunday for 4 miles around a lake I had never been to, so it was a great change of scenery.

This week is 17 miles for 3 days straight. Today was the first day I actually had to stop halfway through because I became really dizzy after about 5 miles. I made it home after many short breaks, and we decided to call it a day. So I guess the 17 miles will be broken up this week into Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.


So I have 38 days left and $620 dollars more to raise before I leave!!! Please help me in doing this, even if it's only $5 or $10 dollars, every dollar is one dollar closer to the $2,300 goal!!!

Vacation Over :(

Vacation was awesome and much needed!!! Lauren, Shea, and I explored all of downtown Charleston over the long weekend and were educated on the history of "Charles Town", as well as ate, shopped, and well, ate some more. :) And best part of all, 3 girls, 1 bathroom, 4 days, and we didn't kill each other :) That's a strong friendship!

Here are some pictures from our trip...

The first is the Pineapple fountain where you can actually wade around in, or for some kids, they actually attempted swimming in it while we were there. :) The second picture is the bench from "Forrest Gump". And the third picture is my future home. Now I just need a future husband with a lot of money. :D It is also conveniently located two doors down from where Lauren & Shea are both planning on purchasing homes. :)













And back to the real world, I am currently eating lunch while I write this, and I have already walked 9 miles this morning. 7 more miles to go this afternoon along with a 5 page paper, discussion board posts, and a quiz. Yay me! :D

Last Last Post

Okay so that ended up not being my last post b/c I received information from the 3-day today including this....

If anyone is interested in sending me "real" mail to the event.... you can do so but it has to be post marked before October 13th and in an envelope (no packages or boxes allowed) ....

Send letters to:
Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office
ATTN: INSERT NAME OF PARTICIPANT
#370
880 Marietta Hwy. Suite 630
Roswell, GA 30075

Last post before VACATION!!!

So I figured I should post one more time before I go on vacation for three reasons...

1. I am walking 15 miles for the next three days (it rained today and I was being a wuss and didn't want to get wet) and I have some school work to do before I leave, so in conclusion my next three days will not involve anything besides walking, napping, school work, and sleeping (yes napping and sleeping are two different categories) I re-introduced myself into naps a few weeks ago after hating them since I was a kid... although I have been told by Shea that "4 hour naps" are not naps, that is actually sleeping.

2. I got a backpack finally!!! I went to the store with my friend Chris this weekend, and after we tried on every backpack in the store I finally was able to choose one. Under Armor was the winning brand mainly because I love anything that is made by under armor (especially their hoodies)... anyways, it had to be able to carry two water bottles, have interior zippers for things I'm afraid to have left in my tent during the day, and two big pockets to seperate my shoes from my clothes and snacks. We had narrowed it down to an all pink one with black running through it (my personal favorite it looked more 3day'ish) or a black and pink one. Chris ended up selling me on the second one when he realized there were side pockets and placed the bookbag on his front and used them as "hand warmers" in the event my hands (and arms) got cold while I was walking. I can't really describe it, but he looked ridiculous (and funny) enough that I chose to purchase that one. I also discovered that there was another bag inside the bag so I could place my shoes in there and keep them from getting anything else dirty. YAY!!!

3. Just because I wanted to brag I was going on vacation :D That's all!

haha, jk....


I have 53 days until the 3day so if you have not yet donated by either money donations, bake/food sale, or yard sale, please do so!!! :) Time is running out quickly and I have to meet the $2,300 goal!!


Have a safe & happy Labor Day!!!

I will post backpack pictures sometime this week! :D

Time to Post?

I'm not really sure the last time I posted, so I thought it was time... Actually that's a lie, I needed a break! :) For one of my grad school classes (Alcohol & Drug Abuse) I have to do a Scavenger Hunt by Monday. For me, especially since I just created a scavenger hunt last weekend for my friends... I was semi looking forward to the assignment. I assumed it meant a lot of looking around the Internet/textbooks to hunt for the information etc... Clearly, I was wrong. It's just a fancy way of my professor to say, here is 12 pages of questions asking you what you read in 100 million different articles and then write half page papers on what you learned. So here I am, 3 hours later, approx. 2 pages done (if you think that sounds fast, I have a hidden talent of whipping out a 10 page paper in under 2 hours) anyways, I'm sick of learning about how many people were arrested for different drugs in 2005. --At least for now.

Yes, this blog may turn more personal as I spend more and more time alone in my recliner studying... but hey who doesn't like some personal information ;) I promise it won't get too bad. I do like to keep some things to myself :D

As far as walking goes, M-W this week were up to 14 miles each day. Which Monday was actually not bad at all. I did 9 and then 5, and the 5 felt like nothing. Never thought I would see the day where I said that :) Tuesday the feet were starting to hurt and the heat was kind of bad... but we pulled through and same for Wednesday...

Thursday I took off completely because I was just not in the mood to look at the same ground I walk on everyday (I desperately need to find a new route, I just do not find the point in driving somewhere to go walk when there are sidewalks right outside the front door.) And today, I did between 5-6 miles through the inside of the neighborhood. I honestly had to push myself just to do those miles as I think the bottoms of my feet get sore at the beginning of the week and then stay that way until they get a break over the weekend :) However, to be honest the best drive I have had (besides my mom being there every mile of the way, and keeping conversation while I train myself not to use my headphones!--yes, I just read they are not allowed!) Is how much my body has been changing from all the walking and everything that I have cut out of my diet to keep myself from being dehydrated or tired in the mornings. (Which again, I thank Dr. Adam for that!)

I still have yet to start carrying my backpack (I know go ahead and yell at me), but I think I'm going to go look for one this weekend and start on Monday. Someone told me last week that carrying a PB&J would help because I am sick of carrying crackers, but currently I have no place to carry one, so I guess that should force me to invest in something soon.

On the fundraising side of things: I am only $959 dollars short of the amount I have to raise!! I know that sounds like a lot but it's really not after raising over $1,300 already!! :) We are having a huge yard sale (and our last) on September 12th... my awesome cousins volunteered to let us have it at their house (Thanks Jessie & Brian!) and everyone I have talked to has either volunteered more stuff or offered to put their time into creating something so that we could have a bake sale as well!!! We are going to be purchasing bottled water and coke/diet coke cans to sell along with everything that is donated. --- Which btw, everyone who is baking/cooking anything for the sale, I need it by the night of the 10th. I also have no problem picking it up from any of your homes and you are welcome to use my house on the 10th to bake if you would like! :)

I think that's all for now... thanks for all your supportive comments on here and privately!! :0)


Here are a couple pictures from the Michigan 3day that was a few weeks ago.... (The tents are where we will be sleeping-- the big joke is trying to find YOUR tent after visiting the bathroom in the middle of the night).

1/2 way through the 3 days....

I completed-- well we, my wonderful mother walked with me yesterday... 13 miles yesterday and actually woke up this morning not feeling that sore. But def. not ready for another 13 miles. We were able to complete 7 miles today before it become 250 degrees (yes, it gets really hot here in the south) and I could only feel my legs when they stopped moving... plus on about the 6th mile, I thought I was actually crying from realizing how much more I had to go (It wasn't tears, it was sweat. I momentarily forgot I am unable to cry tears)...

Since I haven't really updated lately on our walks, here are some things that have been going on....

So far, I have been stung by two bees, luckily they both were sweat bees so apparently they aren't supposed to hurt "as much"

A mother deer looked like she was going to murder us because we were looking at her baby for a little too long while walking by

And I finally saw my first snake of the season last night a few miles from my house... it was one of the little ones that my dad likes to stomp on their head for me (brutal yes, but this is what dad's were put on this earth for... to kill whatever hurts their daughters) :D

We also travel almost daily to the grocery store, mainly b/c it's halfway in the route, and they have 3 liter waters for cheap to refill our water bottles... we have now done it so much that we no longer get weird looks... even when mom has started purchasing 1 banana everyday. (the highlight of our trip: grocery store a/c and guessing how much the banana will cost everyday) Today I discovered this chocolate milk type stuff called refuel... it was amazing, minus the fact there was milk and it was again 250 degrees outside... yuck... but if you are into weight lifting and stuff... it's really good!

Combination of mine & mom's snacks for the 13 miles (I'm not so sure if I can eat anymore crackers... ever.)


So I haven't started carrying my backpack with me yet... so all those snacks have to go somewhere...


Can you find them??

Walking Schedule until 3day!

60 miles a week---

August 13- 9
August 14- 9
August 15- off
August 16- 3
August 17- 13
August 18- 13
August 19- 13

August 20- 5
August 21- 8
August 22- off
August 23- 5
August 24- 14
August 25- 14
August 26- 14

August 27- 4
August 28- 8
August 29- off
August 30- 3
August 31- 15
Septem 1- 15
Septem 2- 15

(Next two week combined due to vacation)

Septem 3- 7
Septem 4- off (vacation)
Septem 5- off (vacation)
Septem 6- off (vacation)
Septem 7- off (vacation)
Septem 8- 16
Septem 9- 16

Septem 10- 16
Septem 11- 7
Septem 12- off
Septem 13- 7
Septem 14- 17
Septem 15- 17
Septem 16- 17

Septem 17- off
Septem 18- 3
Septem 19- off
Septem 20- 3
Septem 21- 18
Septem 22- 18
Septem 23- 18

Septem 24- off
Septem 25- 2
Septem 26- off
Septem 27- 1
Septem 28- 19
Septem 29- 19
Septem 30- 19

Octobe 1- off
Octobe 2- off
Octobe 3- 3
Octobe 4- off
Octobe 5- 20
Octobe 6- 20
Octobe 7- 20


Octobe 8- off
Octobe 9- 3
Octobe 10- off
Octobe 11- off
Octobe 12- 10
Octobe 13- 3
Octobe 14- 7

Octobe 15- 3
Octobe 16- 10
Octobe 17- off
Octobe 18- 6
Octobe 19- 4
Octobe 20- 3
Octobe 21- off

ATLANTA!!!!

10 weeks left!

These 6 months are flying by, I can't believe there is only 10 weeks left until the walk! I reached 52% of my goal (well the "breast cancer you have to meet this in order to walk a billion miles goal")Yes, that is it's official name. :)

I want to thank my aunts and uncles again for helping so much with the yard sale, I couldn't ask for a better family, everyone helped more than I could even have asked for. (I know corny moment, but deal with it) :)

So what is the plan for the next 10 weeks??? To get my feet in shape for the walk is the most important, they do not tend to like me on day two of walks, so that is my ultimate goal so I am not whining to Jenna for 40 miles (which if any of you know Jenna, basically that means she would leave me and make new friends rather than listening to me whine... or yell at me, and we all know I'm afraid of Jenna) :D

2nd goal (which I feel they are both the same in importance) is to raise the remaining 48% I need to head to Atlanta. Right now on the list is two more yard sales, one in Raleigh (so if anyone has anything else left in their closets I am more than happy to take it off your hands, or if you want to come visit, we have a ridiculous amount of clothes and shoes especially if you are my age and wear a size 0 to 8) We are also kicking it up with a bake sale, a small one though, as we don't have as many people come to the Raleigh yard sale, we are doing it mostly to raise some money and make room for more donations in Burlington. --- which btw, Thank you Shea for volunteering to help me AGAIN, you are the best!!

The second yard sale, we are really excited about, my cousin Jessica has offered her place to have our last one, and we are planning a huge bake sale to go along with it in hopes that some of the amazing cooks I know (cough Kenny) will bake a few things to sell :D There will be more details on this later, as we start working out the dates, etc...

Lastly, I just want to thank everyone for supporting me so much through this and constantly encouraging, I don't think I have yet hit a moment where I was discouraged or anything, I love you guys :D


PS... if anyone would like to leave comments at any point, you do not have to have a blogspot to do it, you simply write you name and your comment... :)

Kickoff

My mom has decided this is kickoff week to up the milage... she also decided this after 1 too many cups of coffee...(see how happy she looks so early in the morning in the picture) we got up at 7am this morning to beat the 100 degree weather (which didn't really work). We walked 8 miles before slowly dying in the heat :) but it is the beginning of what i feel will be a really long week with a lot of miles....

The before and after of today...

Success!

This weekend we had a yard sale near Burlington and made almost double what we made with the sale in Raleigh!! I could have never done it without all the help I received this weekend....

Aunt Sandra-- Thank you so much for letting me have the sale there, and letting us take over your garage all weekend (even letting your baby sleep next door and outside) ;-) haha.... Love you!

Aunt Cherry & Uncle Carver-- Thank you for everything!! For bringing the tables over from the church, donating so much, and for all of your help... Love you both!
(And of course Uncle Danny for letting me borrow the tables from your church) :)

Jessica- Thank you so much for coming over and entertaining us and getting me the most amazing breakfast!! And of course for ALL of your donations and for helping us clean everything up, including the tables :D hehe

Thank you also to.... everyone who donated (again!!!)

We were so busy during the sale we weren't able to get a picture, but we did take this one the night before (I was trying on donated clothes while pricing them) :D


And of course last but not least, Thanks to my mom who went to Burlington with me and collected everything, helped price it, talked people into buying things I'm sure they didn't need, and all the heart to hearts and bonding time inbetween :) I love you!







The story behind this picture: I was starving by the time we had lunch and wanted to get a sandwich and a side. I didn't have enough money so my genius idea was to take the lettuce and tomato and make a side salad. I ended up having to eat my lunch in the car so that was a no go. So we stopped at the grocery store on the way back to my Aunts. I was following Adam's 90%-10% so I was allowing myself to have my 10% and have chex mix that had the m&m's in it.... now because it was 550 degrees outside I put the bag in the fridge, I was working on the garage sale stuff, and finally got the chex mix out after a few hours. By this time I was so excited to finally have my chex mix it was pretty ridiculous. I had maybe had 2 handfuls when a bee started flying around my bag. My mom picked up a sponge bob stuffed animal and whacked the bee... and my chex mix. In the event you couldn't tell by the picture.... there was maybe a handful left in the bag...

Kicking it up...

Because walking and fundraising isn't enough, after spending some time talking to Kenny & Dr. Adam (thanks guys)... from their own experience and knowledge... I have decided to eliminate fried foods, chocolate (desserts), coffee, and soda from my diet until the walk. Or, I should say as Adam puts it 90% (I can have something on the weekend) :) Basically everything that would cause me to be sluggish training. I decided to do this after attempting to do a long walk Monday when I had not drank enough water the night before and didn't eat well either. I could barely break 5 miles which was not usual. I looked at the journal I keep to know how each walk goes, and realized there was a trend with the food/drinks. So until then, I'm cutting myself off. Which also means if you are reading this, DO NOT tempt me with these things (CHAD).

So, in honor of kicking off 16 miles tomorrow and my last chocolate, Kenny captured the last chocolate on film (and we realized after we took the picture it probably wasn't the smartest idea to do the night before 16 miles but oh well) :D

16 miles

So someone asked me to put a picture up after a day of training to see what I looked like... (apparently it is more realistic to see the training taking place)

This is today, but I'm not going to lie, this was only after 7 miles when I took a break to stretch & eat lunch (the luxury of doing a 20 mile all day walk, there are stops) :D



So, nothing really exciting happened during the walk today... other than the people at Harris Teeter give us really funny looks when we go in there to purchase water... oh and apparently I managed to sweat out salt today... which looked like I had been to the beach it was weird. So apparently after doing some research (and talking to Dr. Adam), I learned I need to keep drinking gatorade, even if I'm not a big fan.

I also keep getting the same few questions in e-mails and when people ask me about my training...

1. Where do I walk that far? ... I use the website mapmyrun that I saw one of my friends using and I am able to map out different routes so that I'm not circling the neighborhood (however the neighborhood has about 7 miles of sidewalk from one end to the other so it's not that hard to make up routes)

2. Am I losing any weight from walking so much? Yes and No... I am, but I don't think it's solely from walking. Even though I have the two long walks a week, it's only twice a week.... I am however now working with one of my friends who is an ex-body builder and he is helping me do the right things to keep everything I need in my body for the long walks and also lose weight at the same time... (Thank You Adam, you kick butt!) :) So far I'm down between 10-15... which I'm hoping will be around 30 by the walk :D

3. Are you running? Nope... I'm doing this walk completely, because I learned the hard way you aren't using the same muscles to train... and then after the walk, I want to start training for my first full marathon (with my mom!). :)

Cuts for the Cure

Yesterday we had a hair cutting/pedicure party for donations for the 3 day.

Kenny came over yesterday morning and made crepes for Lauren, Becky, Beth, Shea, and myself... yes ladies, he is single... grab him while you can :D

Becky made the yummy blueberry muffins and her husband made the cookies and even made a breast cancer cookie!! Becky is the winner for cutest husband! :)

Here are some pictures from yesterday...

Gym Change!

Update for this week!!

Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: 10 miles (AND was not sore Wednesday!!) Huge accomplishment!
Wednesday: Circuit Training so I biked 10 miles + Rowed a few miles + stretched for a really long time to make sure nothing was sore for today!

Today: 14 miles!! This is the largest amount of walking (in one day) I have done yet for this 3 day :)

So updates outside of training: I switched gyms, which was probably good, the last time I was at my old gym a man broke into one of the cars right in front of the gym. To give you a better picture, the entire gym on one side is glass windows.. so literally the 20 people on cardio machines could watch this man break into the car.

Now I have switched back to the one I went to before this one. Mainly because it has a pool, and water aerobics (yes, I'm 80 years old, did I forget to tell you?) :)

Donations, Donations, Donations

I am 14 weeks away from leaving for Atlanta and 31% towards my goal!! :D yay!

To break it down, I still need to raise approx. $115 a week until time to leave! Please help me in this journey!!



There are multiple things we have going on for donations...

1. If you are in the Raleigh area, you can donate and ask to be placed into the drawing for the $75 gift card to Skin Sense! This is going on from now until the end of August. For every dollar that you donate, that many tickets with your name are placed into the drawing. The winner will be pulled on August 31st!

2. I have connections with a great hair stylist :) Who is providing her services free through October 1st, with a donation! She is offering, hair cuts (for guys and girls) as well as highlights, and pedicures! E-mail me if you are interested: scallen1485@gmail.com

3. I will be wearing t-shirts throughout the three day walk. With a $10 donation or more, you can have your own name or someone who you are donating in honor of "put on one of the shirts" to be worn in the walk. If you are interested in doing this, again please e-mail me. :)

4. Lastly, if you are interested in donating to the yard sale, please contact me asap, it will be held on August 8th, so I am collecting everything before August 1st.


Training Schedule for the week as you follow me on this journey!

Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: 10 miles
Wednesday: CT
Thursday: 14 miles
Friday: off
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: off

The Month of Changes

While I have not been posting, I have been training... I will start posting my weekly training charts this week, now that the milage is starting to become collective... I am working up to 60 miles a week, then working up to pushing those 60 miles to 3 days together... I am averaging around 6 miles a day right now, which puts me at a pretty good target to do this, I am upping it by 1 mile a day per week so (for those of you who do not have a calculator in front of you) in 2.5 weeks i'll be at 60 miles a week.

Saturday: 6 miles (for those of you who are wrinkling your eyebrows because you know I did more... I am not counting the milage that is done on the elliptical)
Sunday: 7 miles
Monday: 6.5 miles + water aerobics (anyone else who is training this is the best exercise in the world to stretch your muscles and make you not sore the next morning!) Plus it makes me feel young... i'm at least 30+ years younger than the next oldest person in the pool :D

Updates on fundraising:

The garage sale was a success! My friend Shea assisted me all morning (Thank You!) and with signs that we had made explaining the 3 Day Walk (TY Shea, Lauren, & Becky) Customers also were very happy to donate to the walk as well! :)

I will be having another one in August (August 8th is looking very good) in the Burlington area, however, if anyone has anything they would like to donate, from Raleigh (or Burlington) please contact me! Anything and everything is greatly appreciated!!

Shea (being the organized person that she is) made a list of things that went the quickest...

Jewelry
Clothes
Shoes
Books
DVDs
Games

And baby items were the high sellers! (Thank you Kenny!)

And of course the yard sale couldn't have been complete without a funny story...

A lady came in and wanted to purchase a clock. She picked up the clock, mentioned she liked it and laid it back down to look for more items. A man walked up (with a cane) and went straight to the clock. He brought it over to purchase it and we informed him we thought the other lady was about to purchase it. The man turns around and starts nudging this woman in the side with his cane until she looks at him, in which then he asks her if she is buying the clock. Very defensively she says, "YES!" And he tried to inform her that because she was not holding the clock technically it wasn't considered hers to buy. This went back and forth, and eventually the lady won.... but it was very entertaining for us. :)


Another fundraising event that has been done in the past month was a "Breast Cancer Party"... I hosted a party at my house and charged $5 a head to "get in" This was a huge success, I earned over $100 dollars (and thank you to those who I know put in more than $5 to the fund-- I really don't know which ones you were, but I really appreciate it!)

Here are some pictures from the party... (including an amazing cake Adam made!)















That's all for now, I will be posting later (in August) with another give away (worth $75) for the month of August... so please be on the lookout for that!!

And again if you have anything you would like to donate to the August yard sale please contact me! :)


Please donate whenever you can, every dollar is one dollar closer to the finish line!!! :)

"The Climb"

This song reminds me of the little engine that could. And I thought it fit perfectly for this 60 mile walk, because it's more about the adventure along the way... so I decided to break the song down to relate to the 3 day... enjoy :D

The Climb- Miley Cyrus

I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it" <---- That's actually my knees telling me that :)

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction <---- possibly b/c sometimes I'm on a treadmill
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high <--- otherwise people at the gym think I'm staring at them

There's always gonna be another mountain <---or large hill
I'm always gonna wanna make it move <--- or make it flat
Always gonna be a uphill battle <--- aka the large hill on our street i cannot avoid
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose <--- or avoid dying of a heat stroke

Ain't about how fast I get there <--- because it's not timed
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side <--- because there isn't anything
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing <--more so thinking of sleeping in a tent for two nights
The chances I'm taking <--- sleeping with jenna for two nights
Sometimes might knock me down <--- again would be jenna if she gets mad at me :D
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah <--- especially the days there are cute guys at the gym
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on <--- with bodyglide on my side... i can do anything ;)



See, this song completely relates ;)

In other 3day news... Yard sale this weekend... Thank you to everyone who contributed!!!! :) I will update with how much we raise!!

Raining

I figured I should post since it's raining and I'm really not doing anything else with my time :)

I left off Wednesday... so Thursday, I went to the gym in the morning for 2 miles, followed by personal training.... which apparently kicked my butt because my trainer told me I gave her the most evil glare ever during walk-outs. If you don't know what these are, I'll be glad to fill you in, I have yet to decide if they are better or worse than holding planks with someone pushing on your back.

Thursday I went back to try to kick up the mileage and did 12 miles at night. There was a little bit more entertainment than usual, probably due partly to the fact I brought along my phone to entertain me since I knew I would be there for a while :)

When I got in the parking lot there were people (not 2 or 3) but bunches of people running around the outside of the building. I cannot figure this out for the life of me. You sign up for a gym, why on earth would you run outside in the parking lot. Anyone could just come up an start doing the run along with you, furthermore if your going to sign up for a gym and take a class in running, I would request to run in the woods or a trail or something that isn't around the parking lot. I walked inside and saw the list of classes and snagged one on my way to the elliptical. I figured I had enough time on my hands I would figure out which class was labeled "Run around Building for hour" ... There wasn't one. But at this point, I feel like everyone who thinks we (yes I did it too) are crazy for running two miles eating a dozen donuts are running two back, should talk to the people who spend a good amount of money a month for a gym to run around the outside of it.

It started getting dark, and I zoned out for a while, then realized there were these random people peering into the window from outside. I sort of felt like a zoo animal and then realized how retarded they looked. Then I realized (yes for those of you who were with me) how retarded I must have looked last week when I was doing that at Rudino's.

Anyways, so that was my Thursday with a grand total of 14 miles, Friday was a slack day at 3 miles, Saturday I followed up with 8 miles, and I am off to the gym again... :-)

5%

Apparently little ipods are a hit I'm up to 5% now! :)

So this week at the gym has not provided a lot of excitement although I have gotten a good amount of miles in...

Saturday: 4 miles
Sunday: Rest Day (and played softball... which we lost) :(
Monday: 8 miles... I went right after work which is supposedly the "social time" at the gym, so I people watched... nothing happened that was too entertaining.
Tuesday: 4 miles + personal training.
Wednesday: I am heading to the gym tonight, maybe because I'm going later there will be more entertainment... :D

Donations/Fundraisers

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to fill you in on a little more than the working out aspect of the 3day!

In October, Jenna & I will be traveling down to Atlanta joining thousands of other women and men who are also taking the commitment to help end breast cancer by raising money & taking the 3 day, 60 mile journey.

During these three days, we will be sleeping in tents (poor Jenna, I promised I would bring nose strips) hehe :) And eating dinner & breakfast in a dining tent. They will also provide shower & sink trucks for washing up. Between breakfast & dinner we will be on our 20 mile journey through Atlanta, rain or shine! (Pray for no rain for us!!)

We are so excited to be able to take part in such a huge event and meet others who are as committed as we are!!

Between now and September, I will be having a yard sale donating all proceeds to the money that we need to raise. If anyone is interested in donating anything to this, please contact me through e-mail or give me a call. I would like to receive everything before June 1. Thank you to all those who have already donated some of their things!!!

I will also be asking a few restaurants to participate in donating a % of their profit to the fundraiser one night, when my name is mentioned. I am working to do this in Raleigh & in the Burlington area. I will let you know when I get this set up!!

If anyone is interested in donating straight to the website, it is tax deductible you receive the receipt immediately after you donate in your e-mail. Every donation is appreciated, even if it's $5 or $10 dollars, and you can do this in honor of someone or anonymously.

Thank you so much!! If you have any questions or anything please feel free to e-mail me!!

5:30 AM!!

I'm posting this a day late, so pretend above the date is Friday, May 1st. :)

I felt really bad about being slack this week and not pushing more miles so I went to the gym at 5:30am mainly to try to get in some miles (the other reasons were to see if I could actually function if I tried to do this a few times a week, and if there were any exciting things that I was missing in the morning).

I learned a few things during this early morning workout.

1. That whole staring into space, staring at someone problem that I mentioned before, def. does not happen. I think somewhere between 5:45 and 6:00 I dazed out at the tv screen and never looked away for a good 20 minutes. I don't think my body even realized I was working out until about 6:15, which I kind of feel like that's a good thing, then I'm getting in more exercise without my body realizing it :)

2. My trainer has a really long day. I have worked out with her after 6:30pm, and she was def. there by 6:00am. Although, because I didn't realize I was even there until about 6:15, she stood in front of my machine a good 2-3 minutes before I realized someone was trying to get my attention.

3. The front door person acted like it was noon, he was very chipper as if he had been up for hours... I think next time I go in I'm going to ask him what brand of coffee he drinks, I may switch.

On the upside, by 7:00am I felt like I had been up for a while and was ready to start my day like it was 9 or 10. I decided to follow up and go to the gym after work as well and try to get in a few more miles.

I actually enjoyed doing both, so I think I might start a routine of that a few days a week.

Oh and nothing exciting happened in the afternoon. The Friday "after work workout people" like to keep to themselves. But I did get in 6 miles total!! Yay! :)

P.S. If you are reading this because you joined my facebook group, Thank you for reading and joining!!

Lauren, we failed to get the tables for the yard sale... again. :D

The third elliptical was free!!

This made my day :) I could basically do whatever I wanted on the third elliptical knowing nothing would creak or pop out of socket!

So first off there was a man working out with sunglasses on, I have never seen this before, but now I'm semi-jealous. I think I'm going to bring my sunglasses next time. That way I can stare at wherever or whomever (cough cute guys) and no one will know where I'm looking. On the flip side, I would look retarded. Sorry man who wears the sunglasses, you look retarded as well.

So I had the entire elliptical area to myself (the bright side of working out during the work day)... and this woman comes and gets right next to me.. invasion of personal space as I've said before, but maybe she knows how bad the first elliptical is, so I decide to let her slide. She however, after maybe 10 minutes is fully staring at my machine. I don't know if she decided we were in competition or what, but I tried my best to ignore her. Then the TV watching started. So there we are both watching Gilmore Girls together, although I wasn't getting the same warm and cozy feeling as if I were watching it with someone like, I dunno, that I knew?? So I kept glancing at her screen like look you have one too! And finally about 5 minutes later I glanced over and she had actually changed it! I was impressed to the point that I thought about how I should bring stickers to the gym. Jess always gets stickers "when she goes potty".. same concept... So this lady was almost rewarded a sticker, until she started watching my TV again...

4 Miles Today!!

Summary so far...

So the actual "3 day training" begins this Saturday, but I am doing my weeks Sunday-Saturday b/c if I'm behind that week I know ahead of time to catch up on Saturday (I'm clever like that) ;)

1st week total miles: 27.5
2nd week total miles: 24
3rd week total miles: Saturday (2), Sunday (1), Tuesday (1) = 4 miles so far
(I have an excuse though I am either highly allergic to tree pollen, or I have a cold, I think it's the first of the two) Either way, I have taken over most the characteristics of the 7 dwarfs --Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Sleepy... if I would go see the Doc, I would probably be Happy (haha)

Anyways, I am shooting for 40 miles next week. And even though I have been slacking off this week, I fully intend to still try to get in at least 20 miles. :)

And Thanks everyone who has been telling me they have been reading... :D

3 Day Summary

So if you haven't noticed I haven't written in a few days, that would be because nothing exciting has really happened and I didn't want to be a bore :)

Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: I only did 2 miles... but I also did personal training and an abs class, so there was no going back to try to walk after that :)
Today (Friday): I did 6 miles outside (it was in the upper 80's!).

Tomorrow, I am going to do sums of the past two weeks to get the totals of my mileage... Then I will boost it next week by attaching 10 more miles to the weekly total.

I also wanted to send out a few Thank You's...

To:

Annie, Kelly, & Becky for already donating or getting ready to donate things for the yard sale...

Kenny for giving me information on shakes and things to drink afterward to avoid the soreness the next day...

Daniel for reading every single one of these right after they are posted to make sure I don't need to fix things in them...

Lauren for going with me to purchase cheap body glide (and listening to my stories) even though you were not interested in the sports store :D


Anyone else who is interested in donating anything to the yard sale I am having in May, 100% of the proceeds will go towards the amount I need to raise to do the 3day!

The trainer

So I felt like I needed to add some more pictures to make this blog more interesting... so I figured I should give Body Glide the attention it needs.. I can't work out without it, I love this stuff! And when I googled it, I found out they make it in 4 different kinds now... I'm so excited!

So today I woke up and took some advil thinking that would take away most of the pain from my legs before heading to the gym, which I think it did... I have a very fond love of Advil, it relieves all my pains :)

So I got to the gym, did a mile on the treadmill, and told my trainer about my pains. What did she do? Had me do wall sits.... apparently she found it entertaining to watch me almost cry. Then this lady walked by and goes, "your going to be feeling that tomorrow!!" I wanted to growl at her...

After training, I walked 3 more miles outside, because it was beautiful out and my legs were starting to feel less pain!! The only downside is spring makes me sneeze, and I realized when I sneezed that apparently my stomach was sore as well. Which then resulted in me spending approx. a mile and a half trying not to sneeze so it wouldn't hurt my stomach...

note to self: self-- buy some icy hot

Thank you for the yard sale donations so far!!! I appreciate it so much!!

S weekend

That's my clever name for this weekend, it was S weekend... Saturday was slacker day because I failed to work out at all. And Sunday was softball day, because I played two games and felt that was enough workout for one day... which we are now 1-1! But more importantly, my team is a lot of fun to play with!

So today is a whiny day, due to the double header, I woke up with sore upper legs but decided I could "walk" it out. Not the best idea... (which I believe the idea came from my mother...) :) I went straight to the gym after work and should have just turned around when I looked for the handicap ramp because it hurt to step onto the sidewalk. If I didn't get the clue then, I should have taken it when I tried to climb up the stairs to get to the front door. After signing in, I had to go up more stairs which was even more tricky because there were people all around so I couldn't show my "I'm in pain face"... yeah if you have ever worked out different muscles.. you know the face.

I made it up the stairs and the 3rd elliptical was taken... so since I'm not a creeper I got on the 1st one to give the other person their space. I did 4 miles... then 3 walking, and was feeling good. By the time I was out the gym door I know I was walking funny, my knees felt like they wouldn't bend. To top it off I had a guy walking out at the same time on my heels. When I got home it took me about 5 minutes to get out of the car...

The best part of this story... I have personal training in about 15 hours... so if anyone has any terrific tips on how to make this pain go away, before I am driven to more pain by my trainer... please share your wisdom :D

8 Miles!

I hit my 8 miles today! This made me especially excited when I got an e-mail from the 3day organization that said we would start training on May 2nd with 4-6 miles a day the first week. I'm ahead in the game! :)

So today I went back to the gym, but I timed it so that I could watch Rachael Ray & Gilmore Girls in the event I got sick of listening to music. So I walked in the gym, ipod already on... and the front desk guy stops me to ask if I'm planning on enjoying the day today (75 & sunny)... I wasn't really sure if he was trying to kick me out or tell me I was an idiot for not working outside, but either way I responded with, "It's supposed to be 80 and sunny tomorrow". Dumb move Stacie. I see the look appear in his eyes. It's the same look I saw the other day when a lady randomly started telling me about how 20 years ago she gave her nephews from Switzerland Krispy Kreme donuts at midnight and they weren't aloud to have sugar ever. I kid you not. I'm also the girl who is always asked to take random pictures of strangers or to listen to life stories in the grocery line. Not that I don't love listening to strangers stories... I learn lots of random facts, like that same Switzerland nephew, also had a parasite at boy scout camp one year. Anyways, you get the point... so the guys eyes locked in, and out came the story of how his best friend is getting married tomorrow and so on...

So I finally broke away and started working out, and nothing excited happened for a while... I watched Rachael Ray while listening to my ipod (multitasking at it's best) :) Oh, and by this point, I have found my favorite elliptical (I intertwine the elliptical and the treadmill so that I don't become bored with using just one to get my mileage in) So out of the 4 of the kind I like... the first one, no matter how much you weigh makes a weird creaky noise which draws attention to whoever is on it, it's not enough to hear through your ipod but other people can hear it so I try to avoid it. The second ones TV area shakes some especially if you don't want to put your hands on the arm rests which makes you feel like your watching a movie on your computer in an airplane with turbulence. Since I would like to avoid a stomachache from working out I try not to get that one. The last ones right arm is out of socket and likes to move if you are holding onto the arm rest. Which leaves the third one. Thankfully, no one else has figured out all the quirks in the different ones, so typically the third is always left open because it's in the middle.

So there I am, completely empty gym on my third machine, and my favorite thing happens... the random creeper that is way older than me that always has to get on the machine right beside me. I thought it was like a secret gym law that you always take a machine at least one away from another person, but no. And on top of that, he has an interest in my TV as well. I think one of these days I might turn the station just to see what they do.

That's all for today! Now that it's been about 10 hours since I did those 8 miles... I'm having a little bit of trouble walking, but hopefully that will work itself out by tomorrow mornings workout :D haha

Outside!!

I finally got outside today to do 4 miles, and it wasn't as exciting as the gym!! Other than a student driver who stopped at a stop sign and mom started to walk and then the S.D. hit the gas again. It was okay though, I managed to pull mom back, I figured I should keep her safe so that she could at least make it to her big 5-5 birthday Sunday :D

My goal was to do 8 miles today, but this morning I did personal training followed by practicing softball so that my team wouldn't yell at me this weekend for not touching a softball in 3 years :) So, I have moved my 8 mile goal to tomorrow... :)


If anyone is interested... I am looking for a few friends to do some of this milage with especially when it gets higher up... My mom is a great walking partner, but after training for the half marathon last year, she was having to eat half gallon ice creams at night to not disappear :P

So def. let me know if you want to walk a few miles with me! I'm ipod and talking friendly :) Although, if you do something stupid,crazy,etc while out walking... this is your forewarning it will end up on here :D