Bowling for Boobies this Thursday!

Our Bowling Fundraiser is coming up in two days, and I'm really excited for it! As I may have mentioned 1 or 4 trillion times, absolutely everyone is invited. Even if you haven't RSVPed and want to show up, please do - the more, the merrier!

Because the Park Tavern is so cool, they're charging us $0.00 for shoes & lanes, so 100% of what you pay goes towards our fundraising efforts. Additionally, we're holding a silent auction with such cool items as a gift certificate to my favorite spa, a gift bag from Trader Joe's, some cool Caribou mugs, and more!

Here are the details again. We hope to see you there!

Where: Park Tavern in St. Louis Park, MN
When: Thursday July 31, 6pm
What: BOWLING!!! For a suggested donation of only $20, you'll get free snacks, free shoe rental, and free bowling all night! Remember, you could easily spend $20 on a couple of games and shoes anyways; this way ALL the money goes towards a great cause!
Who: You, your sweetie-pie shmookums, your kids, your best friend, your arch-nemesis, your neighbor, that guy at the bus stop you always say hello to in the mornings...you're all invited!

Walmart Fundraiser

Steph and I spent a good chunk of this weekend sitting outside the Eden Prairie Walmart, selling pink ribbon merchandise. I have to say, I had pretty high expectations for sales (from what I'd read on the 3-day message boards), and unfortunately, we pulled in a lot less than I thought we would.

However, we both walked away with a nice chunk of change and a greater appreciation for the efforts entailed in fund-raising. I think we each privately vowed never to blow off someone who is trying to raise money for a cause like this! We had plenty of very nice people approach us and make donations (some asking for nothing in return), and thank us for what we are doing.

Here are some pictures from the event, including some shots of our merchandise. We do have some of everything left over, so if you're interested in making a donation/purchase, let me know!

On Saturday, a sudden rainstorm blew in. Luckily there was an overhang outside the store, so we just moved everything about 10 feet back, and stayed mostly dry!

Duckies watching the rain...

Steph

Me

Pink ribbon rubber duckies in their pool

They're really cute, and were a great hit!

People also really liked the assorted yellow rubber duckies.

Pink ribbon post-it pads

Pink rubber bracelets: Faith, Hope, Strength, and Survivor

I've started dabbling in acrylic painting, and painted a few 4x4 canvases. One sold, four to go!

Today we had a visit from Jessica and her friend! Here she is picking out triplets.

Thanks for coming down, we really appreciate the support!!

Upcoming Fundraisers

Steph and I have two fundraisers coming up that we're both really excited about!

Where: Eden Prairie Walmart
When: Saturday July 19th, 1pm-ish
What: After breezing through a 7am, 14-mile walk, Steph and I will be sitting outside the Walmart in Eden Prairie selling pink ribbon merchandise and cold beverages, and soliciting donations. If you're in the area, please stop on by!

Where: Park Tavern
When: Thursday July 31, 6pm
What: BOWLING!!! For a suggested donation of only $20, you'll get free snacks, free shoe rental, and free bowling all night! Remember, you could easily spend $20 on a couple of games and shoes anyways; this way ALL the money goes towards a great cause! Additionally, we're gathering some great items (like a $50 spa gift certificate, Trader Joe's goodies, and more!) and will be auctioning them off.
Who: YOU! If you've gotten an evite for this, please RSVP - feel free to bring anyone you please! If you didn't get an evite, you are reading this so you are invited! Please leave a comment if you plan on attending so we can get an accurate head-count.

I will definitely post updates to let everyone know how these fundraisers go!

Vacation!! (er...training update)

Last weekend we got back from a wonderful vacation to Glacier National Park in MT! Given that we spent about 17 or 18 hours in the car each way, and a good bit of time driving around there, I'm happy that we still logged at least 37 miles of hiking for the trip. It was a pretty active vacation, so I'm not too worried about having gotten behind on my training, even if I didn't quite get all the miles in!

I think the best part of it was that we were there over my birthday (I'm 27, folks!) and we did our absolute favorite hike on that day, to Iceberg Lake. I like the concept of doing something special on one's birthday, and I would say this sure as heck qualified!

The mountains were just beautiful. We got weather ranging from 55/rainy to 95/sunny, hiked over all sorts of terrain (plains, fields, rocky, creek-filled, snow-covered), went white-water rafting (nowhere near as cool as the river we did in Costa Rica, but that's ok), saw some wildlife (moose, deer, a toad, cows - yes, cows - mountain goats, a marmot, prairie dogs, elk from a distance, and a large, black spider in the snow, which just didn't seem natural) and generally just had a fabulous time!

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Day 1 in Glacier National Park!


Gorgeous mountains


From the Going-to-the-Sun Road


On the Iceberg Lake Trail


By Iceberg Lake!

My Legs are Considering Leaving Me

Girl pulls on her workout shorts, then her socks, then her shoes.

Legs: Oh. We're doing that thing again, aren't we?

Girl: Yep! You pumped?

Legs: (pause) Not really. How far are we going this time?

Girl: 13 miles.

Legs: Yikes. The longest we've done is 10.

Girl: I know! Isn't it exciting?

Legs: Whatever.

At 1.5 miles

Legs: Our feet kind of hurt.

Girl: Don't worry, we're just getting warmed up. It'll go away.

Legs: Well...ok.

At 5 miles

Girl: How's it going down there?

Legs: Ok, we guess. Our muscles are warm and we've found a rhythm, so that's good. We're a little tired though. I mean, we know it's only been 5 miles, but we haven't done this in awhile.

Girl: What about Iceberg Lake? That was 10 miles AND up a mountain.

Legs: Yeah, but that was over a week ago. And a few days later we sat in a car for 17 hours, so...

At 6.5 miles

Legs: Good God. We're only halfway there?!

Girl: You're not really the glass-half-full kind, are you?

Legs: We're tiiiiiiiired.

Girl: You're whiiiiining.  That's not going to get us there faster, so quit.

At 9 miles

Girl hangs up the phone.

Legs: HI! HELLO! WE'RE STILL HERE!!

Girl: Oh - you again. I'd forgotten about you.

Legs: We know. That's why we're saying hello. Because you seem to have gotten distracted from what we've been trying to tell you: OW OW OW. THIS FREAKING HURTS.

Girl: Yeah, yeah. I hear ya. 

Legs: No, we don't think you do. We. Are. Tired. We're sore, and its so super-special that you're giving us constant water and energy snacks and all, but nothing is a substitute for NOT WALKING. Give us a freaking break! Literally! 

Girl: No. We're training. We've only gone 9 miles and have 4 to go, which is nothing next to the 60 we're slated for in September.

Legs: 60 MILES?! [expletives] Why the [expletive] would you something so [expletive expletive expletive] stupid?!?!?!

Girl: To fight breast cancer! We've had this conversation before! Sometimes I swear you have no brains...

Legs: What's a breast?

Girl: (sighs) Never mind. Just trust me: it's for a good cause.

Legs mutter to themselves.

At 12 miles

Legs: We're sorry we got mad.

Girl: It's ok.

Legs: We're just tired. 

Girl: I know.

Legs: Only 1 mile to go though, right?

Girl slowly looks around.

Girl: Uh...

Legs: Right?

Girl: Hold on a sec.

Girl shakes her head. 

Girl: (to herself) Did I miss the turn-off?

Legs: Did you WHAT?

At 12.55 miles

Girl hangs up the phone.

Girl: Ok. I have a plan.

Legs: Does that plan get us home in 0.45 miles?

Girl: Well, no.

Legs stay sullenly silent.

Girl: But it'll be faster than going all the way around this lake twice. 

Legs still silent.

Girl: Look, I'm sorry, all right? I zoned out. I didn't mean to miss the turn. Do you think I wanted to walk longer than 13 miles?

Legs: (curtly) It's fine.

Girl: No, it's not fine! You're tired! I didn't bring extra snacks! I only have a third of a bottle of water left! We're totally unprepared to walk longer!

Legs: (sigh) It's ok.  We're tired, but it's not like we can't do this. We don't need more snacks or water, really. We'll be fine; don't worry.

At 13.5 miles

Legs: How are we doing?

Girl: We're doing ok. I know where we are, so that's good.

Legs: I'll bet we're not far. We're tired...oh, sorry. We know you know. Can't help talking about it though.

Girl: I know. It's ok, I'm tired too.

Stomach: Excuse me, but I couldn't help overhear your conversation, and would like to take a moment of your time to make an announcement, if I may.

Girl: (tiredly) What is it?

Stomach: GURGLE!! GARBELTY-GOO! GARGLEY EMPTY GOORRRGLY HUNGRY GEAROODL SPORTS BEANS ALREADY PROCESSED GARGLE GARGLE BIG JUICY BURGER GARGLE GEEGLE GOORGY-GROG!!!!!

Legs: Pipe down up there! Don't you know she's tired? She doesn't need your two cents!

Stomach: (sniffs) Grumblies.

At 14.5 miles

Girl: Look guys! There's the building! We're there!

Legs: We're not climbing any stairs.

Girl: What are stairs? We're going to step into a magical box and push a magical button that will take us all the way to the 3rd floor without a vertical step on your part! Oh glorious day!

Girl enters the apartment

Girl: We're home!!!!

Legs: HURRAY!! Now sit down and never move again.

Stomach: Get thee to a kitchen, woman, and fill me with foodstuffs!!

Girl: Sorry, stomach, the floor's closer. Peace out.

And that's the story of how I accidentally walked 14.5 miles, my longest training walk to date.

For the record, I did take the stairs - but only b/c they were closer than the elevator.

I would also like to thank Veronica for fixing me a salad when I got home!