Lucky Penny!

Look what I found on my walk today.

A heads-up lucky penny.

I'm going to save it to give to you, Kiera, when I meet you in October.

The training is going well Trudy. I walked every day while on vacation ... and today I walked for two hours ... and found some new hills to climb! (I know ... Long Island hills are wimpy!) I'm leaving the car keys at home when I can and relying on the size 8s instead.
I have to find some other kind of training ... any suggestions for a non-athlete?

(Stay tuned for a post on petroleum jelly!!!)

Breast Cancer Bandanas

Here's a shot from our Boston 3-day.

It was hot and we wore those bandanas filled with cool gel.

It was a fashion statement!

Still can't find pictures from the New York walk.

I'll have to dig a little deeper.

FEEL BETTER KIERA!!!

Whining?

Ah yes ... the "No Whining" signs were all over the place. Please note ... we were only pretending to whine!

So you West Coast girls think that my "East Coast Hills" are wimpy ... eh?

ok.

maybe ...

But don't forget ... I have Beth to push me up the hills of San Francisco!!!

the hills of Long Island!

I finally went to see MILK last night. It was a great film and Sean Penn was amazing. While I thoroughly enjoyed it ... I couldn't help focusing on the hills of San Francisco.

Here are a few shots of the hills of PoWa ... my route ...

...

Now ... this doesn't look like much of an incline, but it is ... at least it feels like it is!

a little steeper incline here ... but not as long as the first one.

Sometimes walking down a steep hill is just as hard as climbing up one!

Why does this look so wimpy when I'm always out of breath at the top?

Sweep Me Up!

Here's another "sweep van" from the Boston 3-day.

"Spa Van?" Har!

The sign made us smile ...

and that was FREE!!

I'm trying to do more hills while walking. Ronnie, who rides his bike around town, pointed out the best hills. He forgets that I've trained here a few times already!

When I go out later I'll take pictures for tomorrow.

Thank you Allison for visiting.

Ladies ... Allison has a wonderful blog ... please take a look!

As always ... thank you for supporting me!

I don't know who "dizzastardly" is ... but he/she left a link to some pretty fancy shower vans!

Spring Training

Just want to show you how I looked this morning when I went for my walk.

YIKES!

It was 30 degrees when I returned to the house. Might have been a little colder when I started.

I'm feeling better climbing the hills around town. That's good.

I hope it doesn't snow tomorrow. I want to take a little longer walk.

What a delightful self-portrait! This was taken in the mirror (If you hadn't guessed!)

I'm wearing some kind of Yankee knit cap in honor of their spring training!

Hey ... please leave a comment if you're reading this.

(Auntie Bee ... I hope you're having a lovely cruise!!!)

You were correct!

Portable showers!!!!

That's what they are ... If you biggify you can see people waiting on plastic lawn chairs to get into those luxurious showers. Just one of the experiences that make the 3-days so special!!

Now that I'm on vacation, I have been walking outside. It's a real pleasure. (I hate the treadmill!) I'm trying to walk the hills. Going down a steep hill is sometimes just as difficult as going up one when your legs ache!

I'm doing it for us ladies!

Anybody know what these are?

Now I know that there are visitors ... (unless I have looked at this blog a couple o' hundred times myself)

So ... if you're visiting ... please leave a guess as to what this is a picture of.

It's from the Boston 3-day.

San Francisco ... 3 day style

http://www.the3day.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SF_landing

Wow. I sent this to a friend in New York who thinks she might want to do this walk.

"up and down terrain"

"challenging walk"

Sisters ... I have a lot of work to do!

235 Days!

Boston Sweep Van baby! Not everyone was in the fantastic physical shape (yikes!) I was in ... so, for those who couldn't walk the entire distance, there were sweep vans. "The Best Pick-up Ever!"

I just checked and there are 235 days until the walk! 235 days to train ... fundraise ... read my manual another 235 times ... and get even more excited about doing the 3-day in San Francisco!

I actually walked outside yesterday. I have been sick for a few days so I didn't walk too far ... but it sure was great to get outside! Next week is our February break so I'm hoping to have 9 straight days of walking ... and I hope I can do more than just a few miles!

I'M DOING IT FOR YOU LADIES! (You too, Kiera. And Kiera ... $.35 is a lot of money! I'm proud of you!)

Fundraising

Our team in Boston

"please tell us about how you do your fundraising"

Well Nora ... that's a great question!

On page 11 of my "Walker Handbook" it says: The golden rule of fundraising is: You raise money when you ask for it.

The three building blocks:

1-Fundraising letter; 2-personal webpage; 3-fundraising party or event

As you know (and have generously responded to my first step in fundraising) I set up this blog. Jeter's blog has a link ... my Facebook page has a link ... Kimo and Sabi have a link ... and little Kiera has a link. There is a link (as you know) to the SGK blog that I set up, as well. This is only the first step and I so appreciate your response to it.

I wrote a personal letter for the last 3 walks. I'm waiting for Debra to come home for a visit so we can have a picture taken together for this walk. (The picture I used for my first letter is on this blog. It's the one of me with my two girls.) SGK provides templates for brochures that can be personalized. I actually printed some copies of the brochure. It was costly, so I only printed 25. I also printed a "calling card" with the link to my donor page. I'll start giving them to the teachers this week.

I had a cocktail party to raise funds for my last walk. Beth's husband Christian is a musician and he offered to entertain my guests. That night I raised the most money for SGK.

The fundraising part is difficult for me. I just have to follow the golden rule!!

Thanks for asking Nora... and thanks for visiting my blog.

I put a little counter on the sidebar so I can see how many visitors I have ... so, if you're here, please leave a comment!

Wow!

Oh my! I can't believe I haven't posted since Monday!!!

I will answer Nora's question tomorrow! (It was a great question!)

Training

Here's a shot of the beginning of the Boston walk.

It was very exciting ... especially since I'm from Boston and I felt as if I had gone home to walk!

Alissa ... you asked about training.

The 3-day provides a walker handbook that includes stretching exercises. There are training walks and trainers who will work with us.

How have I trained in the past?

I start out slow ... just a few miles a day (I have been doing that on the treadmill ... but will be walking outside when the ice melts!)

As a teacher, I have vacations and a summer to train. During the summer I walk between 6 and 8 miles a day. In Provincetown on Cape Cod, Beth and I have walked the bike trails by the National Seashore. I guess that's around a 10 mile walk.

3-day trainers hope that we will be able to do a back-to-back "double digit" walk (12 miles or more.) When I start walking outside I will try to walk the hills ... to get ready for SF.

***

Thank you ... thank you... for "being by my side" ... and for being so supportive!