I need a team name!

That's right - I now have someone to do the walk with!

The other day, my friend Mike came over to my cube and told me that his wife Steph, with whom I'd also gone to college and might be one of the nicest people I've met, was interested in doing the walk too. So we've been emailing, and she's in!

I am, needless to say, very excited to have a teammate!

We need a team name...feel free to toss out some ideas!

First Week of Training!

This is my first day of training for the 3-Day! Today's assignment: rest. So far so good :)

Seriously though, this week looks like this:

Mon - rest
Tues - 3 miles
Wed - rest
Thurs - 4 miles
Fri - 30 min easy cross-training (i.e. anything other than walking)
Sat - 5 miles
Sun - 3 miles
TOTAL: 15 miles

Easy enough - I could do that in my sleep.

Just for fun, let's fast-forward and take a look at the week of August 18th:

Mon - rest
Tues - 5 miles
Wed - 45 min moderate cross-training
Thurs - 6 miles
Fri - 45 min easy cross-training
Sat - 18 miles
Sun - 15 miles
TOTAL: 44 miles

Whew! That might be a bit more of a challenge! Not to say the least because 18 miles is a long-ass time to be doing nothing but walking. Aiming for roughly 3 mph, that's 6 hours of walking, all in a row. I sure hope my ipod holds enough music - and charge - to keep me entertained for that long.

Regardless, I'm really, really excited to begin training for this. Please remind me of that in August.

I'm also excited to start fundraising - already have one event in the works...I'll write more about it as the time approaches!

Peace out!

Donation Website!

Oh yeah - this would probably be a good place to post my personal page for donations!

Here it is:

http://08.the3day.org/goto/supersalwa

Please help me exceed my "required" goal of $2200 by pledging a donation! Thank you!

Officially Registered!

I am officially registered for the 2008 3-Day walk for breast cancer! I went to an informational meeting on Wednesday but I think I'd pretty much already made up my mind to register. I felt some initial doubt when I walked in and one of the first things they asked me to do was pick a color-coded sticker to identify who in my life had been touched by breast cancer. I am fortunate enough to say that I do not personally know anyone who has had to deal with this disease, and when I told this to the girl at the desk, she looked a little startled, but quickly covered it up and said they were happy to have me anyways. So I moved through the room, looking at picture albums of past walks until the meeting started, and I couldn't help but notice that most people at the meeting, and in the pictures, were there with someone else. As of now, I'll be walking "alone"...or at least, not on a team of friends. I admit to a little trepidation at that thought - training alone, walking alone, camping alone...didn't sound like a lot of fun.

Then I gave myself a little mental shake. I'm not doing this for myself, I'm doing this to further a good cause. I'm doing this to help raise money to help find a cure for a disease that affects 1 in 8 women, and I see no reason to wait until that woman is me or someone close to me. If I go at it alone, so what? Besides, I have a feeling I'll meet lots of really great people anyway, even if I don't start out on a team. So, newly resolved, I filled out a registration form and wrote a check, and here I am.

This walk is going to be a big challenge - this I don't doubt. I have to raise a minimum of $2200 in order to participate, and walking 60 miles in 3 days is no easy task. I've been told by everyone that no matter what kind of shape I'm in, to take the training seriously. Plus it's just common sense that this isn't something a person can just get up and do, no matter what kind of other exercise I normally get! So I'll be walking lots and lots (and lots), to build up endurance for the 3-day - which, by the way, is September 19-21.

I can't wait to get started!