Did you get a Thank-You??

Shortly after posting this, I did in fact go through and send out thank-you emails to everyone who'd made a donation. Since then, I've stayed caught up and have sent out emails as the donations have come in. However, a friend of mine said something to make me think she hadn't gotten my email...and now I'm worried they're not going out properly.

If you donated, did you get a thank-you email from me??

It's NOT a fanny pack! (aka WALKING GEAR)

Last Saturday I went to a shoe clinic at Marathon Sports in Edina, and it was fantastic. I'd bought running shoes from them before, so I knew they'd do a good job, and they did not disappoint. The owner, John, ran the clinic and was super-nice and very helpful. Because I sat in the front (like a good little student), he ended up being the one to fit me for a pair of shoes. He didn't rush me, had me try on about 4 or 5 pairs, offered advice along the way, and made sure I was totally comfortable with the ones I liked best.

I plan on alternating between the new pair and my old running shoes, which he looked at and said are still perfectly viable. (I wouldn't have believed him otherwise, b/c I retired them as running shoes and have been doing my walks in them for awhile now with no trouble at all).

Here's what I ended up with, and no, I didn't pick them b/c they have pink in them!


Almost (or just?) as important as the shoes are the socks. Again, I've worn their socks for running and loved them, so I bought another pack (even after they gave us each a free pair).


Now, when I first registered for the walk, I said to myself, Self, we're NOT getting a fanny pack. We will find another way to transport water and food on long walks, because we'll be darned if we're going to walk around looking like we came out of the 1980s.

I thought maybe a mini-sling bag would do. Ha. One short walk on a hot day and I knew that wasn't going to fly. I'm not going to chafe for fashion! So at Marathon Sports I picked up a great hydration waist pack and tested it out (w/my own water bottle) on my 10 mile walk. I loved how comfortably it wore, but unfortunately, it didn't have pockets large enough to hold anything but my keys. I know I'll want to take my camera on some walks, and especially on the 3-Day Walk itself. So it must go back.

I bought this to replace it and will test it out this Saturday (again w/my own water bottle). Please note that as it's seated on my back, it is NOT a fanny pack. Thank you.


As lovely as the weather has been thus far this spring (that's highly sarcastic for the non-MN folk), I thought it best to be prepared in the event of rain. I haven't been able to bring myself to wear these yet, but if it's pouring on a long walk day then I surely will.

My rain pants:


But anyone who's lived in MN knows how out of whack our seasons are these days, so I need to be prepared for hot weather too.

With that in mind, I bought this:


But wait! you cry. What kind of sense does it make to wear a skirt on long walks? Has she no sense of practicality?!

Ah, but look again:


I wore this skort on my long walk last Saturday, and LOVED it.

As I may have mentioned once or twice, last Saturday I walked 10 miles. This was my longest walk yet, and I anticipated being utterly useless afterwards. However, I felt great the whole way, and wasn't even particularly tired afterwards! The next day's 6-mile walk was another story. I hated every minute of it. My energy was low, and I was exhausted and crabby during and after the walk. Besides the fact that my legs were sore to begin with on Sunday, the other difference was that on Saturday I drank water throughout the walk, and also had some Jelly Belly Sports Beans when I felt myself getting a little tired. On Sunday I did neither of these things. Turns out that even 6 miles is long enough to warrant water and/or food! Lesson learned!

Here are some sports snacks I bought to try:


Hopefully now I'm all set with the basics! Bring on the long walks...

"Triple Negative"

I came across this article on a rare form of breast cancer called triple negative.

Read on...

http://us.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/06/16/hm.triple.neg.breast.cancer/index.html

Planz

That's right, folks, I am officially over my mini-panic and back into the realm of excitement.

Because Team Rack Attack gots planz. Oh yes.

What's that? You want to know more? Well, ok!

One idea I had was to host a bowling party, and instead of making people pay to bowl and rent shoes, have a suggested minimum participation fee. Obviously that's contingent on getting a bowling alley to donate lanes, because let's face it, if I could eat that fee, I wouldn't be so worried about getting donations!

A few years back, I helped my friend Kim fund-raise for her Team-in-Training marathon, which benefited the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I remember spending some time on the phone with the manager/owner of a local bowling alley, explaining to him what a nice thing it would be for him to give up a few lanes for this great cause. It took some gentle persuasion to get him to agree, but agree he did, and if I remember right, it was a great success.

So now that I live in the Twin Cities (oh so much bigger and more impersonal), I fully expected to have to call up multiple bowling alleys till I found one that wouldn't laugh me off the phone, and then sweet-talk them into donating a few lanes on some obscure night that wouldn't cost them too much business. Can't say I was looking forward to it.

Enter Park Tavern in Saint Louis Park.

Steph and I had planned on dining and strategizing there yesterday, so I was checking out their website. That's where I saw it. They actually have a POLICY on fundraising, which is basically this:

"Wanna host a fundraiser here? Ok."

That's it. No cajoling necessary. Free lanes and shoes for all.

Todd, the very nice man behind the desk, was not only extremely friendly and accommodating, but actually shared a few tips with us from a fundraiser they held for a staff member who got - and beat - breast cancer. (They raised $12,000 - yes, that's the right number of zeroes. Inspiring!!)

Needless to say, Steph and I are pumped for this event!

Stay tuned for more details, because if you're reading this, you're invited. I don't care if you live in Alaska, or have never met me. You're invited.

Mini-Panic

It's going to be fine. I know it is.

But when I think about the amount of money I still have to raise ($1050 to meet the minimum to walk, $1350 to make goal), and the fact that I don't have any more fundraising events planned as of just yet, and the fact that I have plans (ranging from tentative to concrete) for all but one weekend from now until August, I can't help but feel a small twinge of panic.

It almost - almost - makes me want to run to my 3-Day page and send out a reminder email to everyone on my list, mentioning casually that although 3 months and 8 days might seem like plenty of time to get their donation in, it's not, in fact it's hardly any time at all and seeing the number on my little donation thermometer thingy stay stagnant for so long is kind of freaking me out so FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE WORLD WON'T YOU PLEASE GO TO MY PAGE AND DONATE RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE?!?!??!?

Deep breath.

But I won't do that of course, because it's fine. The most recent donation was made 9 days ago, which I suppose isn't that long, is it? And I do have $1150 so far, most of which was raised in about a month, which is kind of a lot, isn't it? And I'm meeting with Steph tomorrow (yay!) to plan some mutual fundraising events, and I'm sure we'll find a way to schedule them sooner rather than later, won't we?

I'm a glass-half-full kinda girl, most of the time.

It's going to be fine.

Thank-You Letters

When I first started getting donations, I envisioned waiting until I reached my goal before sending out thank-you emails. I'm not really sure why that is, and as the money kept rolling in (almost half-way there as of today!), I started feeling uncomfortable with my decision. I don't want people to feel like their donations are going unnoticed and unappreciated, when the case is very much the opposite!

So I've decided I need to start sending out thank-you emails as I recieve notice of the donations. I haven't had time to catch up yet, but I am going to start working on that soon.

So if you've donated and haven't heard from me - THANK YOU! I promise I'll get you a "real" thank-you letter soon.

If you haven't donated because you've heard from someone who has that I'm a real ingrate who can't even be bothered to send a thank-you note, rest assured that that's not the case, and donate away ;)

Today's Walk Sighting

A tall man wearing black dress pants and a long-sleeved white dress shirt.
And wrist guards.
Roller-blading.