Flag Bearer

Today I received a huge honor. I've been selected to participate in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as a Flag Bearer. I'm not sure of the specifics of my role, but I really am touched to be even a small part of these ceremonies. These are the flags from last year which other participants carried. I can't wait to be part of this amazing tradition!

Cheering Stations!

The locations have been announced! If you're around Friday Aug 15th - Sunday Aug 17th, I'd love to see you along the 60 mile route. :-)

According to the 3Day site, here's what a Cheering Station is:
"Cheering Stations are a great way to show your support along the route to encourage walkers and let them know that you are with them every step of the way. Seeing familiar faces cheering them on can provide that extra burst of energy that gets them to take that next step or go the next mile. Create banners, hold up signs, bring some music and make some noise - anything to make them smile, get energized and keep walking. "

My tips - bring a chair and/or cooler for comfy cheering! Also, give me a call the day you're coming and I'll give you a time range of when I should arrive at each Cheering Station...it will definitely NOT be early as I'm a slow walker! ;-)

Friday Aug 15th:
9:00 am - 12:00 pm Shaw's Plaza, 780 S. Main Street, Sharon
12:00 pm - 3:00 pm Cobbs Corner In Front of Starbucks, 95 Washington Street, Canton

Saturday, Aug 16th:
10:30 am-1:30 pm Shaws Parking Lot along Highland Ave, 121 Memorial Parkway, Randolph
12 pm - 4 pm Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 457 Oak Street, Brockton

Sunday, Aug 17th:
9:30 am - 1:00 pm Quincy Shore Drive between Fenno St & West Elm Ave, Quincy

Here are pics from some of the Cheering Stations last year:

Only place a guy wearing a Pink boa isn't weird, it's MOTIVATING!


Gotta LOVE seeing Kids involved in Cheering Stations, or charity work of any kind!


Wish I knew what those Christmas Tree signs said. Imagine how long it took them to make!


Mom, cooling us off in the heat....I think she got a blister on her "shooting" finger from all her hard work making the walkers happy!


The Flamingo Trainers (aka Mom & Dad) in action! Like how they're wearing Pink?!

Supporter Guide

Seeing as I have AMAZING Supporters, this is all "been there, done that" for you folks! But, just to be thorough, wanted to post the Supporter Guide the 3Day just listed on the website. The gist is, write me a letter, come to a Cheering Station (stay tuned as the locations haven't been announced yet), organize a group to help set up tents, and attend Closing Ceremonies. Hope to see/hear from you on the 3Day!

R & R

Finally had a chance to go on vacation this week and am loving a little R&R! Spent the last week in Florida with Heather and we've been beach or pool bums every day. The perfect relaxing vacation! Even found this great place, Doc's Beach House, where we spent the entire day yesterday. It's right on the beach, with some water activities, and night time activities and completely casual. Had breakfast there, hung out at the beach all day alternating on the beach chairs or our new favorite rafts. Had lunch at Doc's, went on some Wave Runners, and about 5pm closed up shop and went to Doc's for a beer and eventually dinner. You gotta love a place where you can get 3 square meals a day, wave runners, beach chairs, and beer all while in your swim suit! Guess you can probably tell I didn't walk 10 miles yesterday? I figure I need to rest my legs after 33 miles last weekend! :-)

300 Miles!

Yup, you read that right. I've now trained a total of 300 miles in preparation for the Breast Cancer 3Day Walk! How far is 300 miles? If I walked from my place in South Boston to New York it would only by 215 miles. Guess I'd have to keep walking into NJ to hit that magic 300!

Bathrooms, Ducks and Mooning!

Another 15 miles completed today! So that's 33 miles walked this weekend....and I'm still feeling pretty good! It was overcast most of the walk, with high humidity this morning, but it eventually became more tolerable. Or maybe I just got used to it?! Who knows, as long as it wasn't bothering me as much! We had 9 people in total today (half of them the hearty folks who walked 18 miles yesterday!). I completely turned into my Dad taking all sorts of photos regardless if people wanted to be in them, or they were weird places. But heck, how often are bathroom photos actually relevant to what you're doing that day?????

The Omni Parker House Hotel is always kind enough to let us use their restrooms. Not only are they clean, beautiful and air conditioned, but with about 20 stalls, no one ever has to wait! Poor Steve missed this photo-op b/c I thought it might be pushing it to require him to come into the Ladies Room!


Unfortunately these are the types of bathrooms we're going to have to get used to in August:


A visit with the ducklings in the Public Garden....


Stretching in South Station after lunch. Why is Emily laughing so hard? She just tried to moon the camera! I wasn't quick enough to get in on film, but can't you see her mischevous look?! ;-)


About Mile 11 I decided to introduce the group to my one and only 3Day Cheer! It's actually something I learned back in my college days for Sorority Rush, but it's easily adapted for the 3Day. After a rough start where they didn't seem to have the coordination to be able to walk and clap at the same time they finally got it down like champs! Hey, whatever it takes to keep the energy going on these longer walks!


p.s. Lucked out with the weather. I've been home 1 1/2 hours and now it's DOWN-POURING rain with a lot of lightening. Glad I'm not out there testing out my rain-gear!

18 miles

This weekend is the BIG back-to-back training. We walk 18 miles on Saturday, and then follow it up with 15 miles on Sunday. This is the biggest training weekend all summer and it really lets you see how your body is going to react on Day 2 after walking a long distance on Day 1.

Wouldn't you know it it was 94 degrees today with the worst triple threat a walker can encounter - Hot, Hazy, and Humid! It didn't seem to effect the turnout at the walk though as I had 17 people show up today to walk. A hearty group no doubt!!! Not to mention I had plenty of great people to chat with all day! Of course, the fast walkers I never get to chat with because they're long gone while I trudge along at my comfortable (ie SLOW) pace. Luckily for me, there are usually a good group of folks who go just my pace for me to hang out with!

Today was a brand new route for me and I finally conquered my previously mentioned Cambridge boycott. We started in South Boston, walked through Boston, Brookline, Allston, Cambridge, back to Boston, and finished in Southie. 18 miles is a long way to walk, but when you think about the fact we walked through 4 different parts of the city it really puts it into perspective. I think the group was shocked when I mentioned in Southie at 7 am that we'd be eating lunch in Harvard Square at the 10.5 miles. Why does it seem like these places are SOOOOO much farther away when you're driving?

Here are some pictures from today.....

The group started walking at 7:15 am ao we were able to get in several hours of walking before the real heat and humidity rolled in.


I warned the girls for MILES that we were going up a really steep hill once we got to Brookline. How come I think they were all silently cussing me out when they actually saw it? It wasn't like they didn't have fair warning! ;-)



This is the view from the top of the hill. Notice how you can't even see the actual bottom? I was even cursing myself out for including it on the route!


Leaving Cambridge over the bridge. I LOVE this photo-op with the Hancock and Prudential as the photo bookends! Actually brought the camera along today specifically to take this shot!


You know it's an Aimee Floyd created route when I actually PLAN an ice cream stop! I even listed it on the direction card so the fast walkers could plan ahead for a treat too! Heck, did I mention it was 90+ degrees today? The only motivation we had towards the end was knowing that at the 16.7 mile mark we were stopping for Ice Cream!

One thing I've learned from training is that you never know how good, or bad, you'll feel after a long walk. Tonight I feel great considering I walked 18 miles today. Managed to do a lot cleaning and stuff around the house getting ready for vacation when I got home tonight. And continued drinking a ton of water to stay hydrated. But I'd better go to bed now so I'm ready to lead a 15 mile walk tomorrow at 7 am. Wish me luck!

Dog do-do and Sleeping Bags

Walked 5 miles with Caroline and Bailey last night. We had a LOT of dog stuff going on. First Bailey decided about 30 seconds into our walk to do #2 so Caroline was walking was the dog leash in one hand and the baggie in the other hand. Pretty much there wasn't a good side for me to stand on! (Notice how I was kind enough NOT to add a photo to go along with this post?!)

About a minute after that another dog decided to pick a fight with Bailey. Luckily some of the doggie drama died down a little so we could walk without my blood pressure rising! And managed to squeeze in a great tip from Caroline. She suggested storing my sleeping bag in my trunk in case my car ever breaks down in the winter. Seeing as I have no other use for the sleeping bag, now I know exactly where to store it in the off-season (ie. all but 3 days in August!).

Frogger???

It's a well documented fact that I have no sense of direction and get lost frequently. BUT, I always manage to get where I'm going and I'm almost never late. I figure out a way to work around my "disability." Cambridge is the one city I have never been able to conquer. After getting lost every single time I went there, I finally boycott the town about 5 years ago. All that is about to end.....

This weekend I'm leading an 18 mile walk on Sat, and a 15 mile walk on Sunday. I have a great, scenic 15 mile route I've used many times. For Saturday I wanted to come up with a new route so we don't feel like it's Groundhog Day doing virtually the same walk both Sat & Sun! I started mapping it out online about 4 weeks ago and knew we'd need to walk through Cambridge. Ugh. On Sunday I drove the route to note where bathrooms were and confirm it was a good route. My trip back to Cambridge did not go well. After Harvard Square the route was no good. And the bridge we were crossing over back into the city ended at a rotarty that simply isn't safe for walkers (insert image of the walkers being "Frogger" trying to dart across the road). Back to the drawing board. Consulted a friend at work and we found a better bridge to cross and I found an easy way to get us there! Took a drive Tuesday and it looked as good in person as online. The 15 mile route is still my favorite but at least I no longer have fears of losing some of my walkers in the midst of a rotary!

Windy City

My CUTEST donor!!!!

Yesterday was Lauren's 4th Birthday party, so I decided to hold a quick fundraiser at the Super Stop-n-Shop in Hudson (closest "Super" store to her house). It was a Tropical themed party, and Lauren is wearing a Flamingo top, and her shorts have tiny Flamingo's on them. Of course, I could help out with that theme thanks to my fundraiser last year! So, Michelle and Lauren stopped by and picked up the flamingo lawn ornaments to decorate her yard, and I gave Lauren a lei w/ a flamingo dangling off it, and of course the glasses. She was very happy with all her loot! Wish I could have kept her there all day because how could someone NOT donate to her?!

The day did not get off to a good start. It was about 85 degrees, sunny with strong winds. Perfect weather to walk 60 miles, but wind for a fundraiser is the enemy. Have you ever tried to get a plastic tablecloth to stay on a table when it's blowing all over the place? Disaster. Literally took me 45 minutes just to get the tablecloth on. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

But, I've learned that the FIRST thing you do in the set-up process is to put up your sign on the building. This way, when you're setting up, people know you're collecting for Breast Cancer. EVERY time I've done one of these fundraisers, I get donations before I'm even set up because people walking in the door know why I'm there thanks to the sign. My routine is: 1. Put up Sign 2. Tablecloth 3. Donation Jar 4. all the other stuff (signs, pictures, giveaways, etc). Because I couldn't get the tablecloth to stay I ended up putting my donation jar and stuff on the table as weights while I worked on securing the tablecloth.

About 30 minutes into this process the GLASS donation jar blew off the table and broke into a million pieces. I was about to cry. I just bent down and started collecting all the pieces of glass. A customer offered to tell someone inside I needed a broom. Once it was all cleaned up, I had to go back to try and finish getting the tablecloth on. But how was I going to collect donations?

A car drove up with a woman who was about 70 in the passenger seat and her daughter driving. She said she wanted to give me a donation. I walked over, pretty dejected, and she stuffed a couple of bills in my hand. I said "Thank You. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. My donation jar just fell and broke." "We heard, sorry" she said. "Thanks for the donation" Then we parted ways and they drove off. Without a donation jar, I went to put the donation inside my fanny pack. OMG!!!!!!!!!! She had just given me $40! I was about to cry again from her generousity.

But I couldn't enjoy it for long because I had to go back to the tablecloth. About 10 minutes later I was in good shape having just conquered securing it to the table using about a roll of tape and literally 15 clothespins. Up drives the 2 women who donated. For a second I thought they realized they gave me too much money. Instead, without a word, the older women just reached her hand out the window and had a white pail in her hand. For me to collect donations. Speechless I walked over and said "Thank you" and they drove off before I could even say more. This time I was about to cry from their kindness. I don't know where they drove to to buy the bucket, although I'm forever grateful!

Once all that got settled, I had a pretty good day! The wind never settled down, so I had to keep my hand on my photo display to make sure it didn't blow away, but I got used to it. I got my fun visit from Michelle and Lauren, and then recognized another shopper as someone who grew up on my street. As my mind was processing her face, I just said "Danielle?" She looked up so I knew I guessed right. I re-introduced myself and then had a quick catch-up session with her and met her beautiful 10-month old daughter. Probably haven't seen each other in 15+ years. I love nice moments like that!

Grammy

As you may remember I walk in honor of my 92-year YOUNG Grandmother who is a Breast Cancer Survivor. She lives in Florida, but just decided to come up in August to cheer me on and come to Closing Ceremonies!!!! I'm so excited Grammy will be part of this amazing event! She's always been a walker herself. Her complex holds an Olympics every year and she's been known to participate in the "Walking" event doing a couple of loops around her building. She'll have you know her team has been known to win in the past! Hopefully the weather will coorporate and she'll feel up to walking a little bit with me during the weekend. I know she'll LOVE the attention!

30 miles

I walked 30 miles in a 30 hour span this weekend. I led 2 training walks, 1 for 17 miles on Saturday followed by a 13 mile training walk Sunday. Although the weather forecast wasn't promising and it started raining about 2 minutes before we were about to start walking on Saturday, we actually ended up going 2 straight days without rain (it stopped as soon as it started on Sat). Wish I had known the weather-people would be wrong and I could have left my rain poncho at home for 2 days!

Saturday there were 7 of us in total, but 2 different pairs headed out and were well ahead of my pace from the get-go....not suprising! But, that gave me the chance to walk the whole day with Caroline and Eileen, 2 of my previous Training Walk buddies. We had a great day topped off with an ice cream at Sullivan's on Castle Island. I swear ice cream is the motivator I need to keep walking! Clearly these 2 girls are like-minded and I like that way of thinking! Not to mention it was actual Caroline and not me who suggested stopping for a cone. How could I say no?! ;-)

Sunday their were 10 of us in total, and 8 stayed together for most of the route. It seems like we all really like it when there's a bigger group walking together because you have the chance to talk to a variety of people during the day. Caroline and Eileen were real troopers and came back to join me for 13 miles today after walking 17 miles the day before. Then there was my buddy Cecelia from last years walk. And Lee, a 71 year-young woman I met last year, who is walking in THREE events this year, and will have walked a total of 20 walks over the last 9 years come September. She manages to do all of this with arthritis and scoliosis of the back. What an inspirational lady!!!

Then we had 3 newbies to our training walk: Ann, who had just walked 19 miles alone on Friday. I know from first hand experience that the pro of walking alone is you go much faster, the con of course being you're walking faster because you're bored and hoping to finish soon and hang out with someone! Then there was Danielle and Mandy who are close friends but were kind enough to slow down their pace to hang with the rest of us on the walk. Great talking to both of them and I found out what a small world it is. Danielle's parents live in the same neighborhood as my parents, and as soon as I heard her last name I knew her parents had been Flocked by the Flamingo's last year! Mom, I know you're reading this - remember Colin & Ofelia Reddy? :-) Turns out Danielle's Mom had even passed on my fundraising letters from this year to Danielle. Who knew!

Both walks went great! The only downside is my knees. They were hurting a little after walking yesterday, but after another 13 miles today they are really sore. I've spent a good chunk of the afternoon googling Knee Ice Packs. If you have one you really like, can you post a comment here or shoot me an email? Seems like this might be a $100 investment for a good one I can use with heat or ice, and can re-use for years, so would love some first hand reviews! You gotta love getting old.

Dog Walker

Last night Caroline, Bailey and I walked 5 miles around Castle Island. Who's Bailey? Caroline's Jack Russell Terrier. OK, so I'm not a dog person, and I'm the first to admit it. But Bailey is a small dog and I know he's been training w/ Caroline a lot so the 5 miles would probably be easier for him than me! When we met up to start walking I said hi to Bailey - literally said hi while looking down at him. None of that bend down, scratch his back, let him lick me kind of stuff.....remember, I'm not a dog person!

But Bailey did a great job walking around Castle Island! Something interesting I noticed was that other folks with dogs always asked about Bailey. The weird thing is I think they asked becasue they really just wanted to talk all about THEIR dog because they'd shift the conversation from Bailey to their dog in a nano-second. But at least all the dog people were friendly. Those of us without pets sure as heck don't stop and make small talk with one another as we're out for a walk. If only I could figure out a way to get the social aspect of having a dog in, without having to actually own a dog it would be perfect!

Dear John...

OK, so that's not exactly the type of letter I hope to receive, but I DO hope to receive lots of fun notes while I'm on the 3Day!!! Last year I got a ton of mail while on the event and LOVED reading the letters, cards, and looking at the cute pictures your kids drew for me! In fact, I picked up my mail on Friday of the walk, re-read it Saturday, again the next week, and even again during the last year. Guess that means I really loved getting all your letters! If you're up for sending a note this year, I'd love to hear from you!

Here's the info.....

*** all mail must be postmarked by Aug 5th

***Envelopes only please, no boxes or large packages can be delivered.

Mail letters to:

Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office

ATTN: AIMEE FLOYD

P.O. Box 1234

N. Kingstown, RI 02852

2 more things

Forgot to mention 2 other things about my fundraising this weekend.

I mentioned in the past that on occasion while I'm training someone driving by knows what I'm up to and honk the horn to cheer me on. This happens a TON on the actual 3Day event, but it's very rare during training and it really keeps me motivated. On Saturday as I was driving to Walmart I got to be on the other side of that experience! I was about 1 mile from the store and up ahead I could see a group of 6 women walking with fanny packs and just knew they must be 3Day Walkers. As I got closer and saw some pink clothing I beeped my horn and gave them a thumbs up as I drove by. They were SO cute and waved back! So, the Walmart experience might not have gone as planned, but it was a real emotional high to be able to cheer on fellow walkers!

The other thing I forgot to mention was the reaction to my posters below. The "Thanks for the Support" poster with the big pink bra got two very distinct reactions. Women would comment it was "cute" while men would look at it and kind of chuckle and say they REALLY liked it, or it was "quite the attention grabber!" Funny how women just saw a cute pink bra and men immediatly had their minds in the gutter with a little 6th grade humor. I've had this similar reaction to my business cards which sport the same logo. Hey, whatever it takes to get the cause noticed and bring in the donations!

btw - My friend Mark drew the logo for me a while ago and although it was exactly what I wanted, I was a little suprised at how robust the image was......pretty much said to him, "I should have known if I had a guy draw the image it would be a C-cup, while a woman probably whould have drawn an A or B cup!" But it's so cute I don't care what the cup size is!