23 Weeks (and Count Down!)

I thought I was fighting off allergies but I realized Saturday morning it was probably a head cold. :0( No bueno. I took myself to CVS, bought some generic cold medicine and spent the weekend resting up. Sad to miss seeing the boob crew but there's always next week!

Week 24 (and Counting Down!)

Week 24 (and counting!) ended with the official Komen kick off walk! Ahhh, it was in Encinitas! It was nice to have it near my part of the 'hood! I joined with some of Marcia's teammates at the New Balance store off of the Birmingham exit (just a mile or two from where Aunt Jil's condo was). New Balance did a great job with a shoe and clothing presentation. The presenter was informative but also pretty funny. I loved it when she talked about the process of picking shoes. "You can't just go into the store and say, that is the cutest shoe! I'm so going to wear it on the 3 day!" SO TRUE! I don't even want to think about finding new shoes to deal with my blister issue. I'm actually thinking about getting a pair of walking sandals! I've got to do something; what worked year 1 did NOT work year 2. I didn't want to admit it but I actually got a little blister on Bekki's walk...I hadn't slicked the toes up with body glide and it got hot out there the last half mile. Sweaty toes lead to blisters. :0(



The walk was a quick 3 miles along the coast. It was overcast but beautiful! I'd been more careful with my body glide, so no blisters!



Channel 8 is one of the sponsers for the 3 day. The channel 8 weatherman was there...for years, he's done his weather reports for the 3 day weekend down at the 3 day tent city while his co-worker, Barbara Lee, walked with the troops. This year, he's walking with us, too! Brave man He even showed up in pink...though Marcia speculated that perhaps he'd borrowed his wife's hoodie!

I am a little sad that you can't judge a walking shoe by it's cover...they had some pretty amazing shoes there!

6/5/10 Back in The Saddle--Pre Training Boob Crew Walk!

Training using the 24 week schedule officially begins this coming week. I started getting excited, finally really excited, when I thought about getting to be with the Boob Crew. They are some of the finest people I know and I'm honored to share in their journeys with them. I don't just walk for my family, I walk for their families and loved ones.


This first training walk was a short easy four miler (or was it 3?). Just around part of the lakes and back. It was great to have my long time WP Laura along as well as my friend Marcia from Foothills. I was so excited to see new faces amongst the familiar ones in the Crew...but while I was happy to see Bekki, Mike, Q, Donna, Terri...there were also several missing. Where in the heck was Tim? How can I train without him? LOL


It was just so good to be back with these amazing folks. Sadly, the walk wasn't just a kick off walk, it was a memorial walk. A member of "Bippity, Boppity Boobs", Sherri Wallace, had just lost her fight with breast cancer weeks ago. It's a sad reminder that it's a vicious battle we are fighting. She left behind two teenaged daughters and a husband. She's mourned and missed by us all.

3 Day #3!!

It's admittedly a little hard to get back into the swing of things. Here it is, time to start training and I haven't even written my fundraising letter. Eek! (It's great, it's funny, profound and moving...it's just all in my head still!) I've moved 40+ miles north west so it won't be easy to train with the Boob Crew. But I love those walkers enough to make the drive a couple times a month. Can't wait to keep you all "posted." To give you a sense of the countdown I keep, I'll be posting at least weekly with the proposed training schedule (cough, cough) and how I'm doing. And of course, you KNOW there will be lots of pictures involved! Stay tuned and enjoy the ride!

January Blues

January was a difficult month and I just had to resolve that my new year needed a "do over." So I declared February 1 the second start of 2010! It's going well, though my eating habits have NOT improved. For inspiration to get back in shape, I joined "Being Fit" gym in Mira Mesa. I just need more cardio in my life! While working out at home is usually something I enjoy, I just feel too worn out after work to...workout. I figure as long as I can make it to the gym immediately after work, I have a better chance of getting my work out done. Now if I could just resist those Little Debbie Swiss rolls!

All Red in the Face

Despite my nerves, the new training crew seems like it will be great. We did a three mile timed walk/run for the runners sake, so they'd see what pace group they fall in. Each pace group is named for a city that a well-known marathon is run in. I'm in the LA group, 14 minute and up pace. I can usually do a 16:15 if I put thought into it but I ended up with a 16:45 average. That includes my warm up mile (after sitting on the cold asphalt for an hour for orientation), so I can live with it for now!

The morning didn't really go as I thought it would be. I thought we'd do the walk/run BEFORE orientation and for some reason, I thought that the walkers were just doing a mile. So I didn't go completely prepared for the morning. Meaning, I went sans my ball cap, sunglasses and sunscreen. Ugh, on that last mile, I could feel the morning sun beating down on my face. I took so many rounds of an antibiotic that causes sun sensitivity, before my sinus surgery that the meds affected my skin's tolerance to the sun. I can burn even at 10:00 AM on a January morning, so I was a bit worried at how RED my face was when I got back to my car. I think I lucked out, my skin tone seems back to normal, but I really need to be more careful! It goes to show that going overprepared for what you think you are up for in a new situation isn't a bad idea.

I'm curious to see how things go with this group, but over all, my first impression is very good! I also will get a chance to see my Boob crew friends tomorrow...I don't think another group will be able to take their place!

Back in Training...Again

It's time to get blogging again! It's been nice to take some time off and just chill but the RNR marathon training group meets tomorrow for the first time and RNR training officially begins! I am actually a little nervous. Like the new school year is starting and I'm the new kid in town. I realize that most people won't know each other either, but I'm afraid they will kind of laugh at my desire to walk it...not run it.

In all honesty, half-marathoners, marathoners and ultra'ers (that's a made up word for people who do ultra marathons) have always treated me with respect. It's that whole, 'you get up and do it again and then do it all again a third time' deal that gets them. So why the apprehension?

Maybe it's my own nerves. When I first signed up for the 3 day, I never doubted my ability to be able to train up to a 3 day. There's a certain power that comes with a 12 hour limit (about the time that the sun shines during the day in November...the 3 day pretty much goes from sun up to sun down). But now I've got this seven hour deadline hanging over me. I mean, if I don't end up being able to do it, so be it. I guess it's just back to that "acceptance" I hope to find with with other people who are training for it, too.

Well, if some of them are as nervous as I am, I guess it will all work out. But training season means early to bed, early to rise. So it's time I turn in. Yikes! Wish me well for my 1st training walk tomorrow!