Curing Breast Cancer, Promoting Skin Cancer

Not really. But I didn't realize how sunny it was outside today. (I know Laurie, you are shaking your finger at me right now). :-) Tomorrow, there will be sunscreen involved. And tonight, aloe. =)

Today was the first of the official training until August 1st, this week is the 6 miles, then it goes up to 7 miles... and so on. There is 16 weeks until August 1st, and based on training from last year, the weeks that were the hardest were mile 11, 15, 18 ... so those will be repeated for two weeks.

Basically training is broken down into M,T,W - long walks (the same everyday for that week, so this week it is 6 miles), Thursday is a break day, Friday is a short walk, this week will be 3 miles, the most the short walk ever becomes is 6 miles. Then Saturday will be a swimming/elliptical day, and Sunday is off.

If anyone is ever interested in walking with me during my short walks, I will switch my Friday and Saturday so just let me know! :-)
Thanks to everyone who has already donated this year, you guys kick butt!! My mom and I will be looking into our shirts soon, so if there is anyone you would like us to walk for in memory of or in honor of, please let me know and I will be happy to add their names to the back of ours shirts!

Time for many, many papers, almost done with spring semester!! =) I promise I will update with more exciting adventures!!

4 months.... WHAT?!!?!!?

I received the April newsletter from the 3day today and realized, I only have 4 months left to train and raise $$ for breast cancer!! 4 months!!

I started talking to my mom about it, and told her I would be happy in the future that if I continued to walk the 3day every year, I would be working and could donate the money myself. Then, she made a really good point. As much as I hate asking everyone else for money (even though it is required to walk) she pointed out  that through fundraising, it is making others more aware of the fact that more than 465,000 die from the disease each year. If that is not scary enough try this fact: A woman dies from breast cancer every 68 seconds. So in other words, the donation hair cuts have started, the garage sales are about to start, and thank you to everyone who currently has a coin jar. Thank you for making others aware and for continuing to donate to the cause. Last year alone the 3day, which had 15- 3 day walks... raised $91 million!!!!! IN ONE YEAR!!!!

I heard on the radio the other day that breast cancer pre-scanning for cancer has pretty much gone as far as it can go, and now the focus is on nutrition and exercise. Taking care of yourself is the largest preventative. So with that, here are my goals for through August, and as a few friends informed me last year that they started walking more after reading the training schedules, I challenge you (guys and gals) to take out two things from your diet that are not healthy and make at least 3 goals.

Until August these are my goals:

3 long walks per week
3 short walks
weight training 2-3 times a week---  (for this I had Adam put together a short program for me using almost nothing-- if anyone wants a list of things to do, I will pass this on to you)

Deleting from my diet:

Soda
Sweet Tea (I have an addiction)
Sweets/Desserts down to 3 times a week (yes, this is cutting down A LOT)

So if you are around me, yell at me if I try to order sweet tea at a restaurant. This is really my largest weakness. :)


** Thank you everyone who continues to read and support, love you guys!!! :) I'm so excited this year to walk in Michigan, and I am currently trying to convince Phil to walk with my mom and I as well. He has been training (and entertaining) us... I'll keep you posted if he becomes one of the fifty guys to walk among the thousands of women. :-)

If anyone happens to have anything left after last year :) we are having our first garage sale on April 24th.... so please contact us, and we will come pick anything you have up and take it off of your hands!!

It's Training Time!

Apparently I'm not so good at writing on my blog this year as I was last. I blame grad school and the 20 page papers that are typed out on a semi-monthly basis. :-)

I received the breast cancer stickers for the jars yesterday, so I will be giving them out to everyone when I see them, I haven't forgotten about you!! So far, I have raised over $150 in change alone which is awesome!!

Training started last week, truthfully I was having some trouble getting motivated. Mainly because I had not worked out in about 4 months, it was still cold outside, I had no desire to go the same route as last year, and lets be truthful here, Christmas gave me a +8 from where I was at on the pretty scale in my bathroom. :-P

I discovered that there is a GPS on my phone that allows me to track where I go so I can now stop having to map beforehand. It also allows me to have challenges, so since I'm trying to get back in shape for the walking this month, I am on a 100 miles in 30 days track. April will be 150 miles in 30 days, and hopefully by then I will be back up to full training for May, June, and July!

A few people have asked for my training schedule to copy and use for themselves... and I will continue to post it as a train, but as of right now, I'm shooting for 6-7 miles, 5-6 times a week. In April this will increase to 9 miles, 5-6 times a week... after that it will become a set schedule.

Goal for the Michigan 3-day:

Raise $2,300 (it's required!)

See 30 pounds disappear on the scale (same amount lost last year) :-)

Get some friends from Michigan out on the roads during the 3 day to cheer us on (and/or eat olive garden with us after the closing ceremony!!)

Create shirts with names of anyone you want us walking for, in honor or in memory of !

Figure out where the heck the other walkers get speakers to hook to the outside of their backpacks so they can listen to music!

The Coin Jars

Training started today! Yay!

Instead of asking for donations this year toward the $2,300 it costs to walk for Breast Cancer, we are distributing coin jars to anyone who wants to help with their spare change.  (we will not track you down and force you to take one --- well, some of you we will... you know who you are) :-)

Every little bit is one step closer to curing Breast Cancer!

Pre-Training Schedule...

January (elliptical)

Sunday: 5
Monday: 10
Tuesday: 0
Wednesday: 10
Thursday: 6
Friday: 10
Saturday: 5

February (elliptical)

Sunday: 5
Monday: 15
Tuesday: 0
Wednesday: 15
Thursday: 5
Friday: 15
Saturday: 5

March (walking)

Sunday: 5
Monday: 7
Tuesday: 7
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 7
Friday: 4
Saturday: 5

April (walking)

Sunday: 6
Monday: 10
Tuesday: 10
Wednesday: 5
Thursday: 10
Friday: 5
Saturday: 0

And the training begins....

I hope everyone had a terrific New Years!!! I spent mine in NYC @ Times Square with 2 of the best guys ever. And some random people who were highly entertaining.

This was our first location before we went for a second dinner and then moved in closer. At this point we were so pushed together that I could not move back to face the front without help.








Time to start training... I am going to work on a schedule this week. And hopefully it will warm up a little outside! :-)



And in other news, this is why my boyfriend ROCKS....

His donation to start my 3day off this year. :-)