Boob Crew Mini-Reunion!

About eight to ten of us got together to walk and then eat at Denny's on Sunday morning...an easy, flat five miles...we needed our breath to be able to talk and catch up on the past two weeks. Considering we've spent three to four days together a week for five months, two weeks is a long time to go without walking and talking face to face with one another! Some of the crew skipped the five miles and just walked straight into Denny's for breakfast and few more joined us after the walk. In spandex or jeans, it was just so good to see faces and catch up on each other's lives.

The toe is doing okay, at least it looked better after the walk than it did after Saturday's walk! I was most relieved that the rain did not hit until many hours after the walk! Hey, it's not training season! I'm not walking in the rain just for the fun of it!

First Five Miles

I did a short, quick five miles this morning. A test to see how the toe would do. It did okay, I'm glad I didn't push for a longer walk. It felt good, though, to get out there! The boob crew is planning a mini reunion tomorrow morning with a five miler...but I'm a fair weather walker! It's not training season, so if it rains harder than a sprinkle, I'm skipping and just walking with "Leslie"!

The First Step

I signed up to train with the West Coast Road Runners for the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon next June!

Did I really just do that?!

I'll sign up for the marathon itself on the 13th...there's a discount for signing up on the 13th of each month...if I remember correctly, it's in celebration of the 13th anniversary of the marathon (or something like that!).

Wow, I've wanted to walk a marathon for at least a year...so now it's time to start making that desire a reality.

I wonder how early I'll be getting up on Saturdays now?!

"The Toe"

I've gotten my first toe nail blister and really, the first black & blue toenail (hitting a rock with my toe while hiking last year doesn't count!). The offended toe is my "piggy" toe on my right foot. It has a funky callous that sometimes bothers me so I wasn't worried when it started bothering me towards the end of day 2. Hah, that wasn't a fun surprise to find when I started peeling off my socks and bandaids after Day 2! The blister wraps around from under my toe to all around the top of my nail bed, pushing the whole nail forward. It definitely threw off my gait on Day 3 for the ten miles that I walked on it and I ended up with pretty sore hamstring and calf muscles on my left leg (probably from overcompensating). It also looks like I've got a bruise under my big toe on the right foot, probably from all the pressure of trying to not put any weight on the baby toe as I walked.

My doc diagnosed it as an "infected ulcer" so he instructed me to keep the toe from touching it's neighboring toe (so the infection wouldn't spread). Which has meant that I have kept a gauze pad stuffed between the two toes, thus requiring me to wear flip flops to work. Not something my boss was thrilled about in our business casual attire office. It has taken about a week but the baby toe is finally sporting a nice purple shade.

I really want to start walking again but for now, am working out with non-shoe activities. It'd been a while since I'd done my Yoga Booty Ballet DVD--it was fun but I miss my walking shoes! If you are brave, check out the pics below!

My toe on Saturday night--Day 2 of the 3 Day


The Toe a week later

Thoughts on Three Day #2

Kim J., who walked with Laura and I last year, made it to Souplantation the night before the 3 day. It was great to re-connect with her, as I hadn't actually seen her since last year's 3 day! She is planning to walk the 3 day again in 2010 and asked that I share with her, once 2009's 3 day was over, what my insights were on doing walk it again.

Honestly, I think it was better the second time!

The first walk was absolutely fantastic but it wasn't in anyway anti-climatic to do it again. In some ways, it was easier as I knew what to expect...it was nice to simply know the route for one! But while the "high" of the second walk wasn't quite as high as the first, it just went deeper. It was so meaningful to experience 2009 with the Boob Crew. I loved sharing all of the training and then the actual walk with them. Coming across the finish line and then cheering each other on was one of the highlights of the entire experience.

Not all of the same things that made 2009 so special didn't happen in the same way. I didn't see all of my favorite cheerleaders as often. The cops weren't quite as fun as they were last year. And the constant lines at the portapots on Day 1 were beyond frustrating. But there were so many more cheerleaders out there, it was INCREDIBLE! Their energy was so contagious and they were so much fun. Their signs, their costumes, their dogs, their coffee and snacks...and I have to mention, their beer and tequila shots. There didn't seem to be as many 3 day walkers out there on the course, but they all seem to have shown up on the sidelines.

In all honesty, I can't wait to do it again, again! 2010 here I come!

Team Jil Carb Loads at Souplantation!

The night before the 3 day, Team Jil got together one more time...to carb load at Souplantation. It was great to finally see Kim! I brought some posterboard and pens so that people could make signs. Got to love what Wendy and Steve came up with!

Yay, it's Kim live!


The gang hanging out at SP


"Put Your Boobs to Work!"

Last Walk to Pat & Oscars

We got together the Tuesday before the 3 day to thank Bekki for all that she does for us. It's like a second job with all of the efforts she goes through but not one she gets paid for! Not only does she know how to train us for the walk, she spoils us with snacks and drinks and awesome cheerleading along the way. Three cheers for the amazing Boob Camp Bekki! We love you, Bek!

The infamous Bekki!


Tim just trained with us for the exercise...hence the nickname, "Walker Stalker"


With my gf Melissa...oh she cracks me up!


The boob crew! See you guys at the 3 day!

Early Thanksgiving...Planting Ideas

I was invited to an early Thanksgiving with a good high school friend's family. It was so much fun to hang out and I also got to see Shayna's pictures from her 50 miler at Oil Creek in PA. That got us talking about endurance events. I've been wanting to walk a marathon for the challenge of working on my MPH. Shayna's running group has a twelve hour event coming up in December...a chance to walk 26.2 miles without the pressure of a time limit like there will be at an event like the Rock N Roll Marathon that is coming up next June. (The San Diego RNR has a seven hour time limit.) I'm definitely going to check out the Big Cat Challenge!

With my ultra chick gf Shayna!

Final Training Walk 11/14/09

It was really bittersweet to go on the last training walk of the season...exciting that the 3 day is so close, sad knowing that I won't see these folks regularly until next summer. The theme of the walk was "Why We Walk" ... we wore our team shirts or just fun costumes and you'd better believe ... Pink abounded!

Team Mardi Bras


LOVE those pink wigs!


Hitting the road, showing our pink


LOVE the pink glasses, Mike!


Walking with Vevaless


Waiting for the rest of the group before hitting Mission Trails together


Ready to roll


Posing on the rocks

Pink Pajama Walk!! 11/8/2009

It was so good to finally walk with the Boob Crew...after weeks of fighting an upper respiratory infection, I haven't been able to train but there was no way I was missing Bekki's Pink Pajama Party Walk. The outfits did NOT disappoint! I love this group of walkers, they make training so much fun! Check out some of our get ups!

Our men in pink! They all made it clear that they were dressed in pink for 3 day training LOL!


Rosie and Tim...pretending that he has a night shirt on!


Mother and daughter cuteness!


The boob crew!

5K Pics!

Oops, I forgot to post pics from the 5K! We had an amazing time--hope you'll join us next year!

Goofing off before the race!

Laura staying a brunette...

I am the Cure! Hey you stole my color! :0)

Laura is the cure!

Meeting the Geico Gecko

The Survivors, our honored VIPs!


Releasing of the doves...remembering those we've lost

Laura and Amy

Laura and I

Glamour Nails!

A Sea of Pink...as far as you could see, there were walkers ahead of us...and behind!

Slower traffic keep right! Okay, we were way too excited about getting to walk on the 163! Granted it was obviously closed to cars but still...we thought it was cool.

Trying to keep under the speed limit!

Finished! The Sisterhood of the Decorating TShirts!

The Power of Pink

The local Torrid clothing store invited me to come out and advertise for the 3 Day during their "Power of Pink" drive in October. The funds they raised went towards the Breast Cancer Foundation. I got attention at the store...but only because people thought I was an associate! The manager offered me a job at the end of the afternoon.

I found a "Save the TaTa's" shirt and my pj's for Boob Camp Bekki's Pajama Party walk...check them out!

Sisterhood of the Decorating T-Shirts!

The goal with team t-shirts was to have them to walk in the Race for the Cure 5K on 11/1. Our T-Shirt guy moved his shop last month and his new place wasn't wired correctly so he had to fly some repairman from Atlanta to rewire his dryer. Needless to say, he got behind on his orders so the shirts weren't ready for this weekend. We'd wanted to decorate/personalize our shirts anyway. I bought some green shirts from Michaels and we all contributed crafty materials. Sadly, the bedazzler hid itself but we still had many fine decorations to work with. Laura, Mylinh, Amy and I got together last night and had some fun making some pretty amazing shirts!









Since this is the second time this year that Laura, Mylinh and I have gotten together to make shirts for an athletic event, her husband has nicknamed us the "Sisterhood of the Decorating T-Shirts." I love it! And I can't wait to wear them tomorrow. I'm so excited for the 5K. We have to get up at the crack of dawn early--at least tomorrow is when our clocks fall back an hour so we'll get a little more sleep. I'll post pics of the 5k tomorrow!

Whew! What a crazy couple of months!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. It's almost overwhelming! Training got pretty intense in August and September, and I was pretty much sick the entire month of October (not exaggerating). I'm worried about the impact of taking a whole month off of training so close to the event. But I'll do what I can and enjoy the walk no matter how much of it I walk versus riding the sweeper van! Quite happily, I've raised all the money and have even started my 2010 account. Kim raised the minimum, too, and is generously putting her excess donations into my 2010 fund!

The walk is less than three weeks away! I will try to post some photos from the time I wasn't able to blog but I will at least stay up to date from this point on. Tomorrow's the Race for the Cure 5K and I cannot wait to experience that. You should see our Team Jil shirts!

The Agony of De' Feet!

Everything is not the same as it was in training last year. My body is just responding differently and my feet are kind of freaking out. I'm walking faster than I did last year, walking in the heat much more than I did last year, and my feet are swelling much sooner than they did last year. I'm trying to stay patient and figure out what will work this year. So far, it seems to be nightly ice baths and sleeping in compression socks that keep my feet from being the stay-puff marshmallow feet! Yep, I'm sporting some sexy compression socks this year. Check them out!



I am still getting the same blisters this year. Go figure.

T Shirts, Get Your T Shirts!

Last year after closing ceremonies, my parents and I stopped for Mexican food and they immediately started talking about "what we are going to do next year." LOL, no rest for the weary! One of the things they talked about most was having a team t-shirt. We also talked about team names and as the months went by, we concluded that the 2009 team should be named "Team Jil" in honor of my aunt. And even though pink is considered "the" color for breast cancer awareness, we decided the shirts should be green.



So after months of discussion, we are proud to officially announce that we will be selling Team Jil shirts. They will be offered in green (in a unisex, regular t-shirt style) and white (available in ladies sizes only with a scoop neck) with pink lettering. The front will be simple. A breast cancer ribbon and our team name. On the back, we are selling advertising space for corporate sponsors. Team Jil T-shirts will sell for $20 a shirt.

I can't tell you what it meant to see the same, faithful cheerleaders out, every day, time after time, cheering us on. The "TAG team", "Hakuna Ma Tata's" (with their 'free hugs' and "Body By Three Day" girls were special stand outs. I know that Team Jil will go along way in encouraging weary walkers with their eye catching shirts and crazy cheers. I can't wait to see Team Jil out there in our matching team shirts!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

It has been HOT HOT HOT in San Diego County these past few weeks. Summer took a little while to come but now we're all living for air conditioning! Last summer, I was not as good about training in the elements. If it got too hot, I just headed for the gym. And I avoided rain at all costs.

The weekend before the three day last year, it was freakishly hot. In the 90's, I believe. Had it been that hot the next weekend, I would have been in trouble. Even though I slow down in the heat, I'm trying to carefully make headway in my walking habits. I join Boob Camp Bekki's group even if it hasn't cooled off by our 6:00 PM call time. Bekki is very careful and keeps us from doing too much (going too long, doing too many hills) in the heat, but even what she plans for us is more than I tried last year.

As for training while walking in the rain, well. It might be awhile before I have to worry that! In the meantime, I know how to keep hydrated (plenty of water plus Gatorade to replenish electrolytes) and it never hurts to pick up a slurpee help cool off after a walk! 7-11's now offer Crystal Light flavored slurpees, all that icy goodness sans the sugar and calories. Woohoo, now THAT is a treat!