New Kicks!

Tonight I stopped by Marathon Sports to pick up my 1st pair of new sneakers for the 2008 walk. For the past 6 weeks I've been training in my sneakers from the 3Day last year - and they are NOT in good shape. I brought them with me to the store and the saleperson pointed out that the tread had been completely worn away. See, I really did train hard last year!!! Anyway, I have my 1st new pair of kicks for the season, and I'm itching to get out there and break them in!

I also picked up a Fanny Pack accessory. Bet you didn't know such things existed! As I'm sure you remember, I wear a fanny pack w/ 2 water bottles, foot care, clean socks, etc. I also have a small pouch attached to the front for easy access to my cell phone and camera. The pouch is a hair small, and lo-and-behold without even looking, I saw a slightly bigger one at the store tonight and I've already attached it to my fanny pack. I'm all set to go!

Catch up

Where have I been? Walking, of course! So much to catch-up on from the last week.....

In the last week I've been playing around with a couple of websites which allow you to map out a route for a walk and it measures the distance. Thanks to these tools, I've finally been able to figure out how long the "sugarbowl" route in Southie is. The Sugarbowl is down by Castle Island, and it's a really beautiful route that actually has a walking/bike/rollerblading/etc path which starts out on land, and then loops out on the water so the path is surronded by the Atlantic ocean on both sides before it meets up with land again by an old stone fort. I love the walk, but because I wasn't able to measure the distance with my car I never included it in my training. Now I do - it's 2 miles exactly to make the loop. So I can add the Sugarbowl into any distance I want to walk and have some pretty scenery along the way!

Last weekend I met a couple of fellow walkers. I went out for an 8 mile walk and noticed 2 girls walking the opposite direction. The pink jacket on 1 of them made me wonder if they were 3Day walkers. You can't wear pink without me wondering! Well, when I saw the girls again hours later on my way home I knew they were - who else would walk that long?! So, as we passed each other I asked them and chatted a bit. Emily and Heather were very nice, and it's always great to meet fellow walkers!!!

Yesterday I went to the "Training Kickoff" and "Shoe Clinic" at the New Balance store in Burlington. I don't wear NB sneakers, but I went to see if there was any other gear I wanted and to go on the group Training walk. I was able to find a great hat for walking. The one from last was so grimey it needed to be retired!!! Then a group of about 25 people went on a walk of 3 or 6 miles. I met Gia when we were waiting for the clinic to start so we walked together. She's a 1st time walker who lives in the city and it was great chatting with her....probably do some more training together soon! In fact we were so gung-ho yesterday we actually went on a third loop of the route and ended up walking 9.3 miles! I love the sense of accomplishment.....but me knees were a little sore yesterday! All better this morning, so I just need a little breakfast and then it's off for a walk. :-)

iPod

Well, you definitely can't accuse me of being either knowledgable about music or a gadget person. It took me until December to join the iPod generation. And do I ever LOVE it!!! Last year during training people asked me if I listened to music, but the answer was always no. I think out of embarrasment for even owning it, I finally did throw away my Walkman a few years ago. Thats right folks, I had never even upgraded to a Discman! All my shame is gone now that I own an iPod Nano. What a difference music makes during training. A special thanks to all the girls from KU who put together a bachelorette CD for my friend Kat about 5 years ago. It's made up of 2 discs with every classic chick song you can think of (Jesse's Girl, GreaseMegamix, etc) so that's currently in heavy rotation during training!

Save the Date

I'm sure you're probably not thinking about what you're doing in August at the moment. But you should be!!! The 3 Day Closing Ceremonies are being held on Sunday, August 17th. Location TBD at the moment, but make sure to add it to your calendar. I LOVE seeing family and friends after such an incredible and long 60 mile journey!!! After having seen the set up last year, I guarentee you'll have a good time. You can cheer on the walkers as they finish, make signs with materials they provide, bring beach chairs and even a picnic if you want. Just a fun time. And then you're rewarded with the actual Closing Ceremony saluting all the walkers, crew members and especially Survivors. Very heart-warming and emotional. Hope to see you all there!!!

Pink Posse

Yesterday I joined a group for a training walk around a lake up in Wakefield. It was great to meet more walkers and chat with folks during the 5 mile walk. I was also re-aquainted with some of the Pink Posse! The group I walked with is called the Pink Angels and they have close to 100 members. A few of their husbands dress up during the 3-Day and cheer on the walkers all weekend. Here's a picture of the Posse last year.....the guys looked a lot different yesterday in regular clothes!

Poetry

Here's a little inspirational poem I found on the 3Day message board. The board is open to all registered walkers and crew members and I read it faithfully daily for new ideas and inspiration!

If it will Save a Sister
Give me a Blister

If it will Save a Mother
Give me Another

If for a Cure to Unveil
I must lose a Tonail

Then Take all Ten
And LET THE CURE BEGIN!!!!

They're in the mail!

After 3 weeks of designing and creating trial runs of Thank You notes, I've finally completed the 2008 version of my handmade notes for all of my wonderful donors!!! So, for all of you folks who were kind enough to donate right away, I apologize for the delay, but I'm happy to say all of the notecards went in the mail today! Be sure to stalk your mailbox to see what simple design could take only ME 3 weeks to finish! Must be the type-A perfectionist in me that made them take so long! :-)

What a difference....

30 degrees makes! This morning was my first walk when I wasn't freezing! The temp was 51 degrees when I left the house and it was a BIG difference from walking this weekend in the 20's and 30's. Maybe you folks in warm climates don't think of 51 as warm, but let me assure you it most certainly is. Instead of wearing 2 pants, at least 2 tops, gloves and a hat, I only had to put on a pair of pants and top before walking out the door. I almost felt naked with so few items of clothing on! :-)