24 days until we head to the mitten!

Crazy week!!!

My finals are this week (a huge final paper and final exam), training is impossible in 101 degree weather, and I am $393 away from goal!!

Please pray for us as we make it through the next few weeks!! :-)

We are going to lay off training this week while the weather subsides... which hopefully it does, because if not, we are in trouble. For those of you who aren't here, the weather has gone up into the 100's with the humidity... last week when we were out walking, I became so hot that I started having chills and was freezing cold. Luckily, my dad was at home and picked us up...

So... we are going to play it by ear, which means finals the first of this week, having a break and an awesome time with Phil's brother and sister while they are in town, then training like CRAZY for one more week, then Michigan!!

Thank you to everyone who supports us... we love you all :-) *** and of course, we will be throwing another 3day party this year for our amazing friends!

I woke up this morning to...

Pink Hair?

I didn't really think anything about it yesterday. I'm doing this for the Breast Cancer walk to honor my grandmother who passed away from breast cancer and donations to be part of the 3day walk. Then I looked in the mirror this morning and realized, I have pink hair. I will have pink hair for the next 5 weeks. Holy cow. You should really donate, I have pink hair. :-)

To answer your next question, yes Phil is getting his hair done, it was a matter of deciding how much of his hair we should do (Phil wants it all, the amount that my scalp was burning, I said he should make a fo-hawk... he wasn't amused.) So my mom will be doing his this week while I am doing interviews for a project, so I guess I will be as surprised as everyone else!

So basically, mom had to bleach out my entire head white, and then wait until it dried (with sunglasses on, I looked like Hannah Montana--- or so I thought, Becky laughed at me) :-) Then we died my whole head pink once, then again. And pictures are below.

The "during" and "after"

What I really wonder though, is how my grandmother (who I am walking for) would have reacted to this? :-)

For the next part, you may want to stop reading, or at least don't look at the picture if you have a weak stomach, as one of my best friends, described it as "EWWWWW" .... but when training last year, I would take breaks and go swimming at the gym. Well one day my pinky toenail decided to come off... which hurt like none other. I couldn't figure out why so I did research (aka texted Phil) and he informed me to keep my nails extra short that during training season they would come off.

So this year, I have been so proud of myself, cutting them as far as they would go, etc. Until yesterday, when my klutzy self tripped and took a fall down the stairs...

And this is my new owwie. Apparently I was not to make it through the season without taking out a toenail. Oh well. I tried. :-)


Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue this journey, we only have 4 weeks left of training.

Pink Hair, A walk in OUR shoes, and our training walks

I hope you guys all enjoy this post as it is filled with lots of information, fun facts, pictures, and a look inside at what we are doing to entertain ourselves during hours a day of walking, eating, talking, and laughing.

As you all know, in order to do the 3 day, 60 mile walk, we have to EACH raise $2,300. If you know us, you know that although we are never going to see a penny of this money, and it is for a good cause (as to the reason we choose to train over 500 miles to get ready for it, spend endless hours raising money, and doing dumb things like dying our hair pink!) So when we ask to you please, please donate. Please look at what you are donating to, not to us to continue when we are humped over and dragging the last mile, but to the money that is being used to find a cure for Breast Cancer. And for those of you who do not know, they have made a vaccine that has worked in rats, and will be tested in humans in the next few years. Which means your children and grandchildren could be Breast Cancer free.

We do this because my grandmother probably would have liked to have known that she had a grandson in addition to her granddaughter. A mom who would have liked to see her kids graduate college. Fill in the blank, the situation has happened. Last year, I walked with a girl who started the year training with her mom for the 3day, by the Atlanta walk, she was walking FOR her mom.

So first, I'll explain the two fundraiser ideas that I cannot take credit for, but really liked... so please read!!

To amp up donations I am issuing a challenge to everyone... today is July 3rd, and I have $873 to raise. If I raise $200 by next Saturday night/Sunday (The 10th/11th) I will be dying my hair pink through the 3day walk (From July 11th until August 17th I will be a pink-head!). Anyone who has not dyed their hair before, this consists of bleaching out all of my hair, dying it pink, and then after the 3day dying it back brown until the pink wears out. IF, we raise $400 by the 11th, Phil has volunteered to die his hair pink until/through the 3day. Mr. and Mrs. Lowe if you are reading this, this is not my idea, I promise you. :-)


The second fundraiser... A WALK IN OUR SHOES

On Friday/Saturday/Sunday July 30st/August 1st, mom and I have to walk an 18 mile back to back (to back) before tapering for the 3day. On Saturday, we are offering YOU the chance to take a walk in our shoes. We have a route mapped out, and will have a sign up calendar to walk a mile (or more if you would like) for $10 a mile to support the boobies. Mom and I will be walking the entire time, and you will be able to "train" with us during our longest walk. On top of that, we will be having a cook-out that night to celebrate the longest training walk, including a pool party, volleyball, and our wonderful friends!!


A few pictures of our walks... We walked a lot at the lake last week as it creeped over 100 degree multiple days... at 7am the wildlife is amazing....

Our super old turtle friend

These ducks were all sitting on the grass when we walked up, one by one they made their way into the water staying in a row. We watched as every single duck entered the water, and the one duck (who looked the oldest) sat on the edge and watched but never entered the water.

I tried a clif shot for the first time yesterday. It was interesting but they work wonders. Today I purchased a Vanilla Gu, so we will see which one tastes better!

Thanks for reading if you made it this far! And if you did please leave me a comment either here or on fb, it's sometimes good to know I'm not always writing to myself :-)

Also, think about donating in the next week, you know you always wanted to see me with bright pink hair ;-)

44 Days + $873

Thank you to everyone who came out for the Breast Cancer Cook-Off!! It was awesome, the food was amazing, and our chef's really need to open their own restaurant!

I could not have done this without Chris, Kenny, and Phil... Thank you so much!! And to mom and Shea for always helping out with everything!

To everyone who could not make it... the guys each made three course meals and provided samples of each course... we all sampled and voted after each course, then added up the votes at the end.


Here are some pictures (keep reading after there is still more to follow!)







Updates: We have been walking out in this heat. Currently, we have 6 training weeks left including the one we are in right now, and very behind where we were last year. I have suffered a few times from overheating and somehow mom is walking along with no complaints. She has to be the best partner in the world, she will not mention a complaint at all, although the second I start wearing down, she lists everything that is hurting on her. Typically it is her entire body, but I love the fact that she won't let me know until I finally break. For anyone who is wondering 6 weeks is plenty of time, and we will be completely trained by the time we go walk, we just spent about 5 weeks last year training 15 miles a day for three days a week, and that will not be the case this year.

For those who are in Michigan: I have the info on the walk. I will email you in the next week or so with all the information. Phil will be up there the entire time and will be able to let you know where all the points are (they are secured by police so we do not know ahead of time)... and we are hoping to get a group together to go out afterward. Once we get the address of the hotel, I will send out information to everyone!!


Please keep donating and supporting!! We only have 44 days and I still have $873 to raise!! Most importantly, any morning you are bored, send me a long e-mail, a puzzle, some problem to figure out, I have to get my mind off of the tiredness and the heat! :-)

Thank you again for all the support, I love all of you!

It's 90 WHAT~!

After almost passing out on the softball field after an hour yesterday, we thought it would not be the best idea to try training today. The forecast for this week (on the days we will be walking) is 93, 93, 92...

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week as we walk lots of miles, we are having to play catch-up a lot because our training has not been as consistant as last year when I was not in school. We have only 8.5 weeks to be fully prepared, which means rain or shine, whether it is 100 degrees or not we will be out walking.

I have not much to report on, our training will become hours longer starting next week as I finish up one of my summer school classes, and can pretty much concentrate on training alone.

Thank you everyone who has contributed so much, we are looking forward to having a garage sale this Saturday, followed by the Cook-Off next Saturday, which we are EXTREMELY excited about. If you have not gotten information on this yet, please contact me!! We are expecting to have a great turn out, and all the chefs have been practicing their dishes and are excited to compete.

Sorry to wrap it up so short, but back to the homework!!

SEND MAIL PLEASE!!! :-)

During the 3day getting cards is pretty much the most amazing thing ever. You receive them after walking your first 20 miles and have to set up your tent, your exhausted, etc.... and then you receive encouragement mail!!

Here is the address this year for those of you who would like to send it, to either my mom or me, or both. You can send it anytime from now until August 3rd.

Send letters to:


3-Day for the Cure PO

ATTN: INSERT NAME OF PARTICIPANT (If you are sending it to mom, she is listed under her legal name- Debra)

P.O. Box 611

South Lyon, MI 48178



Envelopes only, please. No boxes or large packages. Mail must be postmarked no later than August 3 in order to ensure delivery at the 3-Day for the Cure Camp Post Office. This address is not the actual location of camp, but a PO Box for mail delivery only.

Breast Cancer --- the end is in sight!

So after hearing more information about the Breast Cancer vaccine (follow-up from the last post), and Phil looking at the proteins and the "scientific" knowledge... Basically the way it was explained to me was that the researchers were able to locate something in the body that was there only when breast cancer was present. They were able to create a vaccine that causes your body to fight off the "cell/protein" <--- (we are calling it both because Phil is not presently here to tell me which one it is).... all on its own.

So they are hoping to start experimenting with it within the next year, which according to my pharmaceutical engineer, it could possibly (if it works) be available in 10 years... while it sounds like a long time, it's really not. My main focus is knowing that there is now a possibility that by the time I have a little girl, she could receive a vaccine that would make her breast cancer free.

In present time...

Training went well yesterday, it was SOOOOO hot and humid. After 4 miles I could barely breathe. Thank goodness that we will be training in this heat and then traveling to a colder place!

Saturday is another garage sale!! Thank you everyone who has given us stuff again, we have so much, we are having to have it at home again instead of traveling because we could not fit it all into two cars. THAT IS AWESOME!!!

Also, this was pretty much the most awesome surprise of all.... Ana, who reads the blog and postings and has followed everything, said she was not able to receive a breast cancer jar so she made her own, filled it up, and gave it to me when we went to visit her this past week! Hands down, I think I have the best friends in the world...