2010 (the year we made contact?)

Let me 'splain. [pause] No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
-- Inigo Montoya, Princess Bride

Sometimes there's just a bit overabundance of life. You'd like to spread it out, like peanut butter on a piece of bread, so that it's mostly smooth from one side to the other. You don't get a mouthful of plain bread here, and a wadded up bite of nothing but peanut butter there. For one thing, it makes for a lumpy sandwich, and for the second thing... ah, metaphors are over-rated.

My house is finally empty of guests. Thank you.

I got overwhelmed this year - and this year I was trying to "take it easy" for the holidays. Easy seemed to mean that I had four unexpected guests (who let me know on WEDNESDAY that they were joining us!) for Thanksgiving... three guests before Christmas and one after. I only didn't spend time with my dad this year because of a freak snowstorm that dumped more than our fair share of white shit all over everything.

Exciting things that happened this year:

I got a new (to me) car. My husband started riding his bike to work. This meant I could actually leave the house from time to time.

I joined a gym and I take yoga and spin classes semi-regularly.

I got a concussion, hitting my head on a coat-hook. In a bathroom. Seriously, how the hell does that happen?

I broke my toe. Resulting from walking oddly while my toe was broken - ingrown toenail on the other foot. That got infected.

Got bitten by a spider. This *also* got infected.

I had a blender-full of boiling soup explode on me. I got some severe burns, but thankfully my daughter wasn't in the room, so she wasn't hurt as well, and I managed not to burn my face. It cost me a great deal of pre-holiday planning time (I was still in bandages and on pain medication for Halloween and I didn't start really feeling like myself again until halfway through November. As a result of all these annoying injuries, I named November "No Injuries in November" and astonishingly enough managed it.)

I've gained about 15 pounds since the beginning of 2010. This 1) puts me firmly back in the overweight category and 2) has pissed me off so badly that I did the most stupid thing possible, which is to say, I said Fuck It, I'll worry about it later. Yes, it's later, now. That being said:

I've decided to do the 3-Day again this year. 2009 was a banner year for me, and the 3-Day was definitely part of it. Also, apparently if I don't have a crazy goal to work towards, my work-outs fall off alarmingly. So, if you want to donate, please do.

I can't really think of anything else at the moment. It's been a bland, slip-sliding sort of year, and I'm just as happy to have it behind me.

Hope it's a better year.

How Breast Cancer Changed My life

Excerpt from my old blog:

October 3, 2007.

My mother has breast cancer.

Why is there never anything helpful to say about these sorts of things. "Sorry you're sick. Hope you don't die." "Hmmm, can I have all your stuff when you're dead?" It sucks that I sit there on the phone, gaping and just having no idea what to say. Maybe they should teach a college course on "shit to say that doesn't sound completely stupid in the face of a tragedy." I know I should have signed up for it.

Yes, they caught it early. Yes, breast cancer is survivable. Yes, it's still one of the leading killers of women in the United States. I know all this. I knew it even before she told me she had it.

And people keep asking me "If there's anything I can do..." and there's a bitter, nasty part of me that wants to scream at them... "What the FUCK do you think you can do? Because, really, if you're sitting on the cure for cancer just so you can offer it to me at a convenient time, you're a real jackass." I don't say that, though, because it's rude. And I do know that people love me and care, and they wish there was something they could do. And I'm not even mad at them, I'm just mad at the situation. Still... "What the fuck, man, what the fuck. No, there's nothing you can DO. There's nothing I can do. We have to just hope that there's something the goddamn doctor can do aside from sending my mom a BIG HUGE bill."

Ditto, I'm mad at my mom. One of the first things she said to me was "Don't tell your dad, ok?" Oh for fuck's sake woman. Look, I know she's vain and self-centered from time to time, but jesus h christ, get a stepladder and get the fuck over it already. She's been divorced for fifteen YEARS. It's about time that she stop giving a royal FUCK what he thinks. What does she think he's gonna do, anyway? Gloat? My dad may not have been the most wonderful husband on the planet, but jesus, he's not like that. And even if he used to be, he's not anymore.

I feel sort of alone in this... my friends don't really like my mom much. She's sort of neurotic and immature. I don't have any family support in this; I've disowned (and been disowned by) most of my aunts and cousins and the like. It might be nice to talk to someone else who actually cares about my mom, you know? My friends care about me, and believe me, I appreciate that. But they don't generally care about my MOM. That's ok, and I don't blame them for it, but gods, I do wish I had someone to talk to who does care about her.

I can't decide if the timing of the rest of my life is good, or bad. I have Darcy's birthday party this weekend, and Carol's baby shower next weekend, and I still have a ton of stuff to do, so I'm staying really busy. But I'm also having a lot of trouble focusing on the tasks at hand. I stood there blankly at the bank the other day for like ten minutes with my mouth open, disconcerting the teller, while I tried to remember why I'd gone there in the first place. (To get quarters.)

I dunno. I hate feeling lost and useless like this.

And I don't know what to do.

This followed a doctor's appointment in July where my doctor said "I'm not liking your A1C results... I'd like you to try to lose 10% of your body weight - about 22 pounds - by the time I see you in January or I'm going to be forced to put you on diabetic medication."

And was followed by this picture being taken of me.

I weighed about 227 pounds.

My asthma, my ankle, and my fear of falling down (every time I've fallen in the last few years, I've broken a bone... I have crappy bone density from years of steroid use, and I'm a klutz on top of that. All in all, it doesn't add up to a happy and safe life.) were my excuses to keep from working out. My attitude was an excuse to not diet ("diets don't work!" "I can't lose that much weight!" "It's pointless!").

But after those three things - and they say these things come in threes... oh, wait, that's celebrity deaths... whatever - I decided to change my life.

I might not be able to change my genetics - I now have breast cancer history on both sides of my family - but I could change my eating habits and weight.

My husband and I started "watching what we ate" just after November of that year. And started weight watcher's "officially" the first week of January, 2008.

You all know the rest of the story... my husband's lost 90+ pounds. I've lost 87 (ish) pounds. I started walking; he started running. We've changed our lives a LOT.

Two weeks ago, I walked the Susan G Komen 3-Day... sixty miles.

Today, I read this article in Fitness Magazine:

"Women think breast cancer is mainly related to family history," says Melinda Irwin, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and public health at Yale School of Medicine. "But in truth, only about 10 percent of cases are. That means 90 percent of breast cancer may be caused by environmental or lifestyle factors like weight."

It's a good article, and I highly recommend it. It's encouraging to think that - what I did in the depths of "I need to do something" fear - I made the right choice.

This is me, today. (Well, technically, two weeks ago.) And my mom. I weigh 134 pounds. I can walk sixty miles. My mother's been cancer free for almost 2 years. And her surgery scar is really minimal.

4 Ways to Beat Breast Cancer

1. Watch your weight.

If your BMI (body mass index) is 25 or above, work to lose 10 percent of your weight.

2. Get moving.

Exercise for two to three hours a week for the ultimate protection, says Melinda Irwin, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and public health at Yale School of Medicine. "Aim for 60 percent of your maximum oxygen intake, where you have to take a deep breath every other word if you're talking," she adds.

3. Schedule regular sweat sessions.

Chores don't have the same anticancer effect as working out, because "they tend to be start-and-stop," Irwin explains. "You could spend an hour in the garden and raise your heart rate for a total of just 15 minutes. When you exercise, you get continuous moderate-intensity activity."

4. Veg out.

Eat cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and kale. They contain isothiocyanates and indole-3-carbinol, compounds that may prevent the growth of tumors.

BLOG CONTEST!!

I've been enjoying my subscription to Fitness Magazine (I got to try it on the cheap through a special offer on my Sargento Cheese sticks...) I'm going to renew my subscription. When I do this, I'll be getting 2 free subscriptions to give away as gifts.

If you'd like to win one of these free subscriptions, leave me a comment!! Post about this contest on your blog!! Or twitter about this contest!! On November 1, I'll select two lucky winners and you'll get a year's subscription to Fitness magazine! (yes, if you do all three things, you'll get three chances to win!)

173,942 (Now What?)

I'm having PMS. Post-marathon Syndrome.

Otherwise known as the "now whatism".

For the 3-Day event, I trained for over eight months. I raised a lot of money (no where near the amount that one woman did... she got the taj matent... $24,000... impressive.) and basically had one driving goal for most of a year.

In the process of meeting that goal, I also lost another 22 pounds, worked my endurance up, whittled myself down to a tiny size 4 - I'm still astonished by that, just so you know - did 200 squats, 100 pushups, 200 situps. Walked countless miles. Wore through three pairs of shoes. Bought a sleeping bag, ground pad, and a crapton of gear for the event.

At the event, I met a bunch of really wonderful women (and a few pretty cool guys, too...). I felt strong, impressive, happy, sad, angry, frustrated, empowered, triumphant. I walked all 58.5 of the route miles, plus quite a bit more wandering around camp, crossing the pit stop stations multiple times to go pee, get food and drink, and stretch. My total steps for the weekend were 173,942. As my stride length says it takes me ~2200 steps to get a mile, that's ALMOST 80 miles over the course of a weekend.

I got to see my mother for the first time since right after her surgery. I carried a dozen or more rally flags. I met survivors, both of breast cancer and losing someone they loved to the disease. I danced on street corners. I made the same two jokes about 40 times each. ("I spy with my little eye... something that is pink!" and "I live in a swamp! I'm not used to hills. Where I live, the only hills are the man-made ones that are on the golf course, and oddly enough, they don't let me walk there!")

And now I'm home again.

And I've been here for two weeks.

And I don't really know what to do with myself.

I mean, seriously. How do I top this?

Some of my friends are being a little funny about it. "Why do you have to top it?" Me, "Well, because I'm only 37 years old... if this is the pinacle... wow..."

My husband was more like, "Well, what was the really big part of it for you? The endurance training, the fund raising, or the emotional aspect? If you can figure that out, you'll know which direction you want to head next."

I've been considering doing Hershey's Tour de Pink next year, if I can get a bike.

I don't know. I just feel a little... down.

It's hard to go back to doing the dishes after you've spent the weekend feeling like a goddess...

0 to 60 in Three Days

Watch this space for updates... there will be some, and I have a ton of stuff I want to say about the Three Day, but right now I'm digging my house out of complete pit-dom (ok, not complete... Thomas DID do dishes while I was gone - much to my shock!) and recovering from the inevitable "I spent 3 days around a bunch of strangers and now I'm sick as all fuck" that happens whenever Thomas takes vacation.

But this is me and my mommy at the Dupont Cheering station on Day Three and has now become my most favoritist picture of myself. Ever.

I am strong.

I am awesome.

I have endurance.

I have hope.

I am a goddess.

Picture Pages

Have some photos.


This is the hat I'm wearing for the 3-day...

And here as some scenic pictures from my training walks...



One of Lady Bump's cousins... Astonishingly enough, the wild turtles act the same that she does, which is to say looking up at me pleadingly so I'll feed them.

When I say "hills" around here, I mean, small heaps of dirt with grass on them, like this... Chesapeake is FLAT flat flat.

But there's LOTS of water...

This is one of my favorite spots on my walk. I don't know why, really. Maybe it's just the big rock seems incongruous with the rest of the scenery.

Scattering of leaves
As if trees threw a party
And forgot to clean.

The local library... I love the round side of the building. It's just nifty.

Squirrel!

I also saw a river otter, but he was a fast little bugger and I didn't manage to get a picture.

Expanding on 140 characters...

(If you haven't donated to my 3-Day walk and you want to, please take a few minutes to go here http://tinyurl.com/SGK3day and make a donation in honor of yesterday's training walk. You could donate 1 cent for every 100 steps I took yesterday - ~50,0001 steps! - or $1 for every mile - 23.7 miles! )

# - I could get to like my new super ability. Auto alarm clock. Told myself, Self, we need to get up at 6am and look, I'm up! (dressed, too!)6:27 AM Aug 20th from web

The even nicer thing about my super power was that I didn't wake up 15 times in the middle of the night to check the time; a hazard when I try to set a body alarm clock. It was astonishingly dark when I woke up, but by the time I got dressed and ready to go, the sun was mostly up. The grass was still dewy and it was already in the low 80s. Yeah....

# - Prepping to head out for my 24 mile walk; if I leave by 7am, I should be able to get there and back by 5pm....6:32 AM Aug 20th from web

I'd frozen my water bottle as an experiment in keeping cold water with me. That didn't really work as well as I might have hoped. For the first thing, having a water bottle that cold built up a lot of condensation on the bottle, which then proceeded to drip down my leg, and secondly, by the time it got really warm, it had already melted completely. On several occasions during the day, I was drinking hot water.

I wasn't feeling the walk, so to speak, those first couple of miles. My back hurt a bit - not sure why - and I was a little cranky.

# - first rest stop... 2.5 miles... I am a bit sweaty already...7:40 AM Aug 20th from mobile web

I stopped in the park for 10 minutes, refilled my water bottle. My ice was more than half gone already, and the left half of my waist pack was soaked. I have decided I will not try to freeze my water bottle again. The park was completely empty. I've never seen it quite so dead before. Even when I brought Darcy and her little friend here last weekend at like 7:30, there were a few other people. Guess there aren't many people who get up at the crack of dawn on weekdays who aren't headed for work...

After the park, I stopped a half mile down the road at the 7-11 and bought a soda.

I used to think that caffiene no longer really has much affect on me. I've been so addicted to it for so long that I don't feel caffiene much. Except yesterday I did. Within about ten minutes of drinking my Coke Zero (absolutely my favorite soda these days!) I felt loads better. My back stopped bothering me, my low-grade headache cleared up and I felt much happier. Truly, caffiene is a wonderous substance.

[Note to self: go down to the Rite Aid and buy some of those caffiene strips and put them in your walking pack. They may come in handy later...]

# - second rest stop... hardee's at princess anne. note: take dif route back. farrel has no sidewalk. had to walk in median. no. fun.about 23 hours ago from mobile web

Here's where I made my first mistake of the day... When I hit the 5 mile marker and turned onto Indian River Road, I didn't check my directions. When Thomas and I are driving to the mall, we take Farrell Parkway... my googled directions took me down Indian River to meet up with Lynnhaven Parkway further down... Well, I made the mistake of going via Farrell. Which did NOT have sidewalks.

But I didn't know that for a bit... the sidewalk ended about 1/2 mile in. And for a while, there was a bike path on the side that was perfectly wide enough for one person to walk in it and be reasonably safe.


View Larger Map

However, at Pleasant Valley Road, the bike path ended. Kaput. And the bushes were very, very close to the side of the road. There was no way I could walk on the side of the road; no one would be able to see me, and I'd get squashed. Squashed didn't sound like a good way to go, really.

The google app for my phone, while fairly good at providing turn-by-turn directions, isn't too great for exploring alternative routes (what I should have done at this point was go up Pleasant Valley to Homestead, take Homestead to Providence, and Providence to Princess Anne.) but I didn't know that. The neighborhoods in our area are like vast spider-webs of roads that may or may not interconnect, come to maze-like dead ends, and are otherwise scary, even when you know where you're going. (For example, I have been going to my best friend's parent's house for 17 years and I only within the last 3 years or so, have been able to get there without a map!)

Instead, not really knowing how to get where I wanted to be from where I was, and not wanting to turn around, I did something beyond stupid. I crossed halfway and walked up the median.

(Now, I do want to say that I did the majority of my walking in Virginia Beach, and for the area, Virginia Beach has the BEST sidewalk system. But really!! This was absurd!)

The median is made up of mulch and trees and flowers. Mulch is unpleasant to walk in. It's not very firm, and while it fortunately hasn't rained tons recently (so I wasn't squelching) I was still sinking in with every step.

And then I got up to where Farrell blends in with Princess Anne. There's a little bridge that goes over the road, and then Princess Anne. Well, I couldn't go that way. The only space on the bridge that isn't taken up by traffic is a narrow K-rail (concrete highway divider. I call them K-rails because I like the movie Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones a lot more than I should, given that it's patently absurd.)

I stood in the median and pondered my options.... go back (fuck me! forget that!), attempt to walk on the K-rail (no, bad plan, do NOT do that, idiot!), or take the wrong exit to Princess Anne. That sounded like the best option... I mean, I'm on foot. It's not like I can't pick which direction to walk down the road no matter what side of the street I'm on.

So I got onto Princess Anne, walked about another half mile or so, and decided to stop and have something to eat. I went to the bathroom, and was a little concerned. As I had already had 40 ounces of water and a 20 ounce bottle of coke, I would have expected to pee just a little bit more. But I guess I was sweating enough to bypass the kidneys. My tank-top was absolutely drenched at this point. (Good thing that snotty woman from the grocery store on Monday wasn't around... she complained that I smelled after 6 miles... by the time I stopped at the Hardeez, I'd done 8...)

# - having a bit of protien... egg and sausage biscuit sans the biscuit. ug. butter flavored crap that thing...about 23 hours ago from mobile web

I got a sausage and egg biscuit, some orange juice, and had the lady refill my water bottle again. My tastebuds have changed a LOT in the last few years. I literally could not eat the biscuit. I took a bite and promptly spit it out. Gyah! what is IN that crap? It tasted like... lard and congealed flour. I used to love biscuits. My favorite meal from Hardeez was the biscuits with sausage gravy... anway, I peeled the bread off and ate egg and sausage with my fingers, which was still slightly greasier than I would have preferred.

# - i am 7 minutes ahead of schedule... waiting for CBiP to open so I can have lunch. hope it is soon... am out of waterabout 22 hours ago from mobile web

Lynnhaven parkway is under contruction. I ran into another spot where suddenly there just wasn't any sidewalk. Fortunately, the sidewalk on the other side of the road was still there. (It was listed as "closed" but I ignored that. For the most part, the sidewalk was intact... altho there was an annoying spot right by Holland where the traffic was horrid and the sidewalk was gone for a block... I ended up having to detour down Holland for about a quarter of a mile until Holland had a divider in the middle of the road so I could cross half the road at a time and not risk getting smoshed.

I did some calling around earlier this week to resturants in the area. I figured the worst they could tell me was no, and I thought I'd make a plea for a free lunch, and maybe some donations from local businesses. Cheeseburger in Paradise came through for me. I had lunch on the house (grilled shrimp salad with some little crunchies and an apple crisp for dessert) and talked about the walk with the manager. I also drank a lot while I was there. Two glasses of water (one mixed with a gaterade2 packet from my walking kit, a glass of milk, and most of a diet coke.

I also went to the bathroom twice. [Get out your passports, I'm going to TMI land for a minute...] I started menstrating on Tuesday, and I was concerned that Thursday was going to be my OMGKILLME day, but fortunately, it wasn't. On the other hand, I'm worried about one particular aspect of the 3-Day... that's the fact that I cannot seem to have a BM unless I am relaxed and seated for most of an hour. (When I weigh in, first thing in the morning, that's not exactly what I do... I get up and putter around the house, check emails and whatnot, until I've been awake for about an hour, go to the BATHROOM and then weigh in. On days that I don't, I always have at least a 1 pound "gain" that really isn't a gain... that's more information than you wanted, I'm sure, but it seems to be a side effect of my high fiber diet...) Despite a couple of attempts, I did NOT have a BM until after I got home. I'm a bit concerned about the effects that's going to have on me for 3 DAYS...

# - puttiny my life in googles hands to get home...about 21 hours ago from mobile web

Not wanting to walk back down the median on the way home, I fiddled with my phone's google app for at least 10 minutes before leaving.


View Larger Map

This is what it gave me.

# leslie_z @tisfan PA has sidewalks all the way up to Kepmsvile but I think that would make your walk a good bit longer about 21 hours ago from web in reply to tisfan

(PA, Princess Anne, would have added another 2 miles onto the route as planned, and one mile to the route as I walked it...)

I refilled my water bottle, changed my socks, and headed out. I was a little stiff after having sat down for about 45 minutes, but that faded off pretty quick. Within a mile, I was feeling ok. A little tired and pretty damn hot, but ok.

Round about Salem, I noticed that I'd accidentally shut off my pedometer. I'm not entirely sure when I did that, altho I'm guessing it wasn't off for very long. By the time I hit the 15 mile marker, I was checking my watch and step-count entirely too often. I think I might have clicked it when I went to answer a text message from @bwjen (here's my shout out to Jen, who texted me several times during the day, made me laugh and was encouraging and helpful) and then noticed less than a quarter mile later.

I stopped at a 7-11 and got another refill to my water bottle, doctored it with a gatorade packet, and on an impulse, bought one of those 5-hour energy drinks. Eurgh. What the hell is in those things? Nasty stuff.

My pedometer/watch/heartrate monitor is programmed to ping me when my heart rate gets into high range. Usually this only happens when I'm on the elliptical and deliberately trying to get my heart rate up. Since I didn't have my watch's booklet with me, I couldn't remember how to turn that alarm OFF. So I had to deal with my watch pinging me for ... well, quite a while. I turned my music up and attempted to ignore it.

I walked down Lynnhaven. And walked. And walked. And I was looking for a road called Dalrymple. And not finding it. And not finding it. And then I passed a huge sign that said "Lynnhaven Parkway ends, 7,000 feet!" (And in truth, if you look at the map, it does end shortly after Dalrymple. But I couldn't see the map on my phone very well and I was starting to get very nervous about being lost.) Also, the sidewalk vanished on me again a few times. Usually it popped up again on the other side of the road, but really, I was getting sick of crossing the road to continue to be safe while I walked.

Finally I came to a sign that said "To Kempsville Road". I know where Kempsville is. And I was getting nervous about Lynnhaven coming to a screeching halt. I wanted to finish my walk. I wanted to not wimp out. And I especially wanted to NOT have to call Thomas to come get me because I was lost.

# - thanks random guy who gave me a cold juice and directions... having a sitdown for a bit about 19 hours ago from mobile web

About halfway down Albright (that's the road I took, and looking at Google Maps today, I added about 3/4 of a mile to my trip by not following the directions I was given!) some random guy wearing an OBX t-shirt and blowing grass clippings around on his lawn, waved at me. I stopped. "If I go straight down this way," I pointed, "will I get to Kempsville?"

"Surely will," he said. "You look hot... would you like something to drink?"

Me: "Absolutely. Thank you..."

He went into his garage and brought out an Ocean Spray juice. "I have water, too, but it's not cold...."

"Thank you."

We talked for a bit, and he was very nice. He offered to let me come inside and sit in his air-conditioning for a bit, but at that point, I figured it would be a mistake. I was likely to not be able to get back up. I waved goodbye and headed down the road.

About half a mile later, I had to stop.

# - giving serious consideration to vomiting. god it is hot. about 18 hours ago from mobile web

I wasn't actually that serious about throwing up, but I was getting really tired, and the juice wasn't sitting entirely well on my stomach.

I've been sporting a persistant blister on the little toe of my right foot on and off for a few weeks. Usually it doesn't hurt, it just looks ugly. Knowing that I'm prone to this particular blister, I proactively treated it. I wrapped my toe in moleskin and changed that out when I checked my socks. I got 19 miles before it flared up on me and when it did, OMG OW. It was like stepping barefoot onto a lit match. I promptly sat down on the side of the road and peeled my shoes off. The moleskin had slipped a bit (I was pretty sweaty) and so I re-wrapped it and then sat for about 10 minutes or so (exchanging text messages with Jen, and also with my husband).

# mbroooks @tisfan Been a bit since an update. Everything going okay? about 18 hours ago from web

# - @mbroooks yeah... having a sit down near kempsville and albright. not sure exactly where I am... about 18 hours ago from mobile web

# glossaria @tisfan If you're going Kempsville down to Volvo and thence home, you've got about 3.5 mi left from where you are now. ^_^ about 18 hours ago from web

# mbroooks @tisfan Looks like you're about a mile away from Centerville, assuming you're going SW down Kempsville. about 18 hours ago from twhirl

When I got back up, my pace dropped. A lot. I'd been maintaining a pretty good pace of 3.4 - 3.7 mph and when I started walking again, I was down to about 2.7. Which really isn't bad, mind you, it's just slower than I'm used to walking. (and you know, the really annoying thing is, when Thomas and I walk together, if he's not slowing himself down to match me, I still end up feeling like someone's third harem wife, walking about 20 feet behind and slightly to the left of him... there's some disadvantages to being less than five and a half feet tall... and one of them is I have short little legs.)

I finally made it to Kempsville about a mile away from City View park.

# when i get home, i am rosa lee parksing my self on the sofa. "I ain't movin'."about 17 hours ago from mobile web

I got to the park and promptly collapsed onto a metal park bench. It was shady and a bit breezy where I was. I took off my waist pack - which was still wet, but this time I'm pretty sure it was sweat - and lay down on the bench. Keeping in mind this isn't a solid metal bench, but a steel mesh, it was astonishing how comfortable it was. Pop! Crack! Pow! My back snapped several times as I settled myself down and squinched around to keep my head from hanging off the side of the bench. The last pow sent a surge of endorphins into my system and I sighed happily.

I closed my eyes.

I don't think I fell all the way asleep, but I did drowse a bit. I got to the park around 3pm and I didn't get up to leave until like 3:26...

When I got up again, my blister wasn't bothering me as much, but my elbows and wrists felt really strange. The backs of my hands were swollen. These days, you can clearly see all the bones in the back of my hands. Not yesterday. I looked liked I'd never lost any weight at all, the backs of my hands were smooth and puffy, almost shiny. I felt like the one of the demon guys in Big Trouble in Little China.

In the vein of too-much information a little late, I got this email this morning from the 3-Day coaches:

Recent scientific research has underscored the benefit of remaining well hydrated before, during and following physical activity. Hyponatremia (low sodium) is a rare but serious condition that can cause weakness, cramps, swollen hands and feet, confusion, and even seizures. To decrease your risk of hyponatremia you must replace fluids lost through exercise and consume food with salt. Maintaining fluid balance takes a concerted effort on your part in modifying your drinking behavior throughout your training day. The goal for fluid intake during exercise should be to fully replace fluids and salt lost through sweating. The physiological and performance benefits of doing so are well documented.

The best way to estimate the amount of fluid you are losing through sweating is to weigh yourself before and after exercise. You should drink at least one pint (2 glasses or 16 ounces) of fluid for every pound of weight lost due to sweating. If you weigh more after your training session, you may have drank too much fluid. Another way to estimate your hydration status is to monitor your urine output in terms of frequency and color. If you are urinating a small amount of dark-colored urine, then you need to increase your fluid intake.

Rapid and complete rehydration following exercise requires the consumption of a volume of fluid and salt that is equal to that which was lost as sweat. The fluids that taste good and have some amount of salt in them tend to be consumed more rapidly. It has been shown that athletes who include a cold sports drink during their activity will drink more fluid. Eating foods that contain salt decreases your risk of over-diluting your fluids. Your fluid replacement needs may vary based on the weather conditions, terrain and your training level. Drinking when you are thirsty is the scientifically supported method to use which takes this into account. However, for participants who may find it easier, here are some fluid replacement guidelines to follow under normal conditions:

Pre-training walk/Pre-event:

• Drink an extra 8 glasses (64 ounces or 2 quarts) of fluid during the 24 hours before a long training walk or the event.
• Drink 2 glasses (16 ounces or 1 pint) of fluid 2 hours before exercise. This will allow time to excrete the excess fluid prior to walking.
• Remember, in hot or humid weather you may need to drink more fluids.
• If you are walking at a slower pace, you may not need to drink as much.

During your walk: Monitor your fluid intake. Drink when thirsty. Your urine should be dilute and you should be urinating frequently. Try to consume 4-5 ounces of fluid per mile (1-2 standard water bottles per hour). This should include water and sports drink.

Post-Walk: Drink a combination of water and sports drink and consume food with some salt after exercising longer than 1 hour.

Well, at least I know better now. And it never got worse than the swollen hands. But blah. Guess I didn't eat enough yesterday (Big Mistake #2). I really wasn't hungry is part of the problem. Usually on these walks, I eat a few times... breakfast on the road, a snack, lunch, a snack. And that's for 12 mile walks. I did almost double that yesterday and only ate breakfast and lunch. And honestly, if my lunch salad had more than 300 calories in it, I'd be surprised. Shrimp is pretty low cal, and I didn't eat the dressing.

# 50,001 steps to lynnhaven mall and then back to my front door. That's a nice number, don't you think? about 16 hours ago from web

I noticed that I was very close to 50,000 steps just after I got back onto my home street. I think if I'd still been under 50,000 when I got to the door that I'd have had to walk a bit more, since that's such a nice big round number.

I fell into my computer chair and the first thing I did was checked Twitter and my email. I am such a geek.

# Footdr69 ROTFL!!! YOU'RE PRICELESS!! RT @tisfan: when i get home, i am rosa lee parksing my self on the sofa. "I ain't movin'."

# @Footdr69 oh, I can put a price on me, baby... wanna make a donation to my sorry sad tired butt today? :D http://tinyurl.com/SGK3day about 16 hours ago from web in reply to Footdr69

@ KyraTX @tisfan We all bow before you. ;) It's amazing that you're doing this in this heat.about 18 hours ago from web in reply to tisfan

# @KyraTX yeah, it was HOT today... but looking at it this way... walking on October will be cake, by comparison. BIG CHOCOLATE CAKE! about 16 hours ago from web in reply to KyraTX

# hanlie @tisfan How are you doing out there? I'm thinking of you...about 19 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to tisfan

# @hanlie thanks sugar. as soon as I can pry my butt out of this chair, I need to drink more. I am all swelled up >.<

# kikimonster327 @tisfan Sounds like where I live... why on earth are there streets with no sidewalks?

# dragoneyes @tisfan Good luck on your walk today! :-) 6:44 AM Aug 20th from Twitterrific in reply to tisfan

# MizFitOnline @tisfan good luck. stay focused and you'll be great! xo xo,6:37 AM Aug 20th from mobile web

# As a note: I will absolutely NEVER buy and consume another energy drink again. Ever. OMG my heart rate is STILL over 120.about 14 hours ago from web

500 Miles

I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man
Who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

--The Proclaimers

I went out for my training walk on Sunday. We used to have a cute little bunny rabbit living in our front yard - I think he nested under the shrubbery near our apartment. Anyway, this is all that was left of him the other day. And the lovely scavengers who decided to clean the road. Ug. Turkey vultures.


Most of the road I walk along looks like this... sidewalk, a few feet of grass, and then very thick woody areas. There are tons of wild flowers. Unfortunately, the trees are far enough back from the road that I don't get lots of shade. And I just discovered yesterday that the reason I'm getting lobstercated every weekend is that my sunblock lasts 80 minutes. Less if I'm sweaty. Ahem. That's not nearly long enough, and I can't carry it with me, the canister is too big to go in my pack. So I need to start making other sunblock arrangements before I save the world from breast cancer just to die from skin cancer. Also, my back looks quite weird from all the different tan lines I have.

Sometimes there are fields upon fields of flowers - ok, yes, to those weird people who have to mow their own lawns, these are dandilions, but I like them. You don't have to.

I thought this tree was particularly lovely.

This weekend, I wanted to add like 2 miles to my walk without really going anyplace different, so I walked through two parks. This one is City Park, not to be confused with the second park, City View park. Don't ask me, I didn't name the dang places. City Park often has "events". This weekend there was an Indian PowWow and a farmer's market, neither of which I actually got to see, since I was at City Park 'round about 9:30 or so, which was at least 2 hours before either event started.


This gentleman's name is Reggie. We passed each other twice (I was going one way around the park and he was going the other way) and had a bit of conversation the second time we passed each other. He also took down my url for the 3-Day and said he was going to hit the page for a donation, at which point I said I'd give him a mention on my blog, so here he is. And if you're reading this, Reggie, it really was a pleasure talking with you! See you next weekend, maybe!

Planes, trains and automobiles... Heh. Anyway, this train was just parked there, and I rarely get to see a train so close up. I could have walked over and touched it...


This caboose is part of the display at City Park. I'm not sure why, the signage for it is on the other side, and I didn't feel like walking all the way around the fence, which spreads over almost the entire south side of the park. Thanks Reggie for taking this picture of me in my walking gear. Even if my tongue is sticking out. I can't figure out what I was doing that my tongue is sticking out...

Well, they're not steel, but magnolia trees are very common in this area, especially huge ones like this. Whenever I get visitors in during the magnolia flowering season (who are not native Virginians) they comment about these trees.

I ran into this little fellow about three miles in to my walk and he let me get pretty close before he took off into the underbrush...


You are here!

Where is here? I stopped at this Exxon for a rest break. There was a teenaged kid here, driving his mom's SUV and playing music extremely loudly, and squeeling his tires and generally acting like someone who's never been laid... I was tempted to yell at him about it. "Hey, you know they have herbal suppliments for your problem!" but decided it wasn't worth the effort.

Someone's impressive garden. I don't really know anything about gardening, but I have noticed this flower bed a few times before. I guess noticing is the point, right?

Everybody needs a thneed.

Okay, this is my second rest stop, City View Park. I walked twice around this park, since their walking path is only 1/2 mile long, but at least it's mostly shaded, so that was nice. They also have a lot of little league games being played here and a fairly large playground area. I plan on having a picnic/party here later this summer.


I've never actually seen a Scottish Thistle before, although I understand Sean Connery has one tattooed on his ass, I've never seen that either.


And these are my favorite sorts of flowers. There's a bunch of them growing about a mile away from my house.

(For those of you checking in for Healthy You, I'm up a pound. Getting really sick of this whole weight loss - or lack thereof - thing. Also getting a lot of "well, you're in range for your weight goal, you could just stop here..." which alternates between pissing me off and making me want to cry. I should quit? Here? "You're a size 4, what more do you want?" I want to feel good about myself. Damnit. Sorry... anyway, I'm going to give it six weeks and if I end up maintaining between 135 and 139, I'm going to be "done" and call it "good enough." and if I'm still losing, albiet slowly, I'll try and push further. But really, that's a whole nother entry.)

Water Weight

So, to answer some questions: no, yes, too much, don't know yet, and thank you.

Seriously. My car is permanently disabled. Well, it's still running, but it's not fixable for less than $1,500 and for a car we only paid a grand for in the first place, it's not worth the investment, especially since the transmission isn't the only thing wrong with it. Thanks for all your concern and commentary. Our plan now is to run it into the ground and see how much money we have managed to save up by the time it goes kaput.

It must be nice, I think, to be in a job where you get paid just to diagnose a problem. Doctors get office visit fees, whether you end up treating the problem or not. Garages get fees for hooking up a computer and driving the car around the block. (I ended up shelling out well over $100 just to find out that the car's not worth fixing...) I give advice to a lot of people. I need to start charging for it, even if (especially if!) they don't follow it.

Sunday, I went for a distance building walk. Toby joined me again. Ug. I do like him, most of the time, but really, spending 7 hours of my weekend with him is starting to be a bit much. Also, he has a revolting habit of chewing with his mouth open, which makes lunch time a trial. Maybe I can find some way to tell him nicely next week that I'd prefer to walk on my own once in a while. I like having company, sometimes. It does make the walk go by faster, and at the same time, I don't want to "wimp out" in front of someone else. On the other hand, it seems like I never get to spend any time... alone. I'm either the go-to guru on food and diet; or I'm "wife" or "mommy" or the romance expert (I cannot tell you how many people come to me for dating/relationship advice... numbers that large don't make sense. I further cannot count the number of people who actually listen to me about it... numbers don't come that small.)

It was a nice enough day for a walk, and we walked most of the way to Leslie's house and then back. Leslie wasn't home, she had plans... So we stopped at the BP station about a mile from her house, had lunch, and then headed back. According to my pedometer, we walked 16.8 miles in about six and a half hours. That's not very speedy, honestly; about 2.5 miles an hour, but we did stop for breaks and...

Well, then it rained.

At first, the rain was nice; kinda light and scattered and cooling.

And then... it rained harder.

And harder.

I couldn't have been any more wet if you'd tossed me in a lake.

Water, by the way, is really, really heavy.

My shoes were completely soaked, enough so that it no longer was worth the effort to try and walk around the 3 inch deep puddles. Water poured through my baseball cap, down the back of my neck, and into my shirt. It was raining so hard, literally, I couldn't see more than fifty feet in front of us (and only that far until my glasses started fogging up... after that, I could barely see at all...).

We walked the last two miles in that downpour.

And soaking wet clothes are really heavy. Between pushing through puddles and how sticky I became (well, the legs of my shorts were drenched and they rubbed together and wow, that slowed me down a lot...) we lost a great deal of ground.

Just as we were getting to my apartment, it stopped raining.

Typical.

"Well, at least it stopped," Toby said.

"Yeah, so instead of looking like troopers," I rolled my eyes, "we just look stupid."

As a note, my weigh in was the suck this week. After losing 4 pounds last week, I was back up .6 this week. My weight loss for this year is the suck. I have ~8.4 pounds left to lose, and at the rate I'm losing, it's going to be 2010 before I'm not paying for meetings anymore.

Sigh.

(And yes, while you're wondering, Thomas lost another 2 pounds this week. Yes, by all means, kill him.)

Decked Out

My birthday was last week (Happy Birthday, me) and as usual, my enthusiasm for this fact was at an all time low. I don't know, really, why my birthday bothers me so much, but it does.

And it's one of those weird, contradictory sorts of things; I don't want people to make a fuss about it. At the same time, if people forget about it, I'm grumpy. I do apologize to all my friends for whom I have been ungrateful, annoying, and otherwise cantankerous about it.

(My husband theorizes that it's my mother's fault, because my birthday parties as a kid weren't for me so much as they were for her to show off the amount of money my dad made, and frequently involved inviting people I didn't like to my party. Seriously. The girl who wouldn't let me wait on her porch for the bus, even when it was pouring down rain while everyone else from the block sat inside and watched tv? Came to my birthday party - sans present - every. single. year. My birthday parties tended to be pretty fancy for the time; my mom did things like rent out the local video arcade, or took everyone to the movies, or Kings Dominion... and the cakes were fantastic. The one year we did the video arcade? My cake was a giant pacman, with a smaller cake as the power-dot and cupcakes as the point-dots. Pretty nifty... and yet, I'd spend the whole party sulking because Donna was there, making sure my guests didn't actually talk to me, breaking my presents, and telling me how ugly I was. Or that so-and-so CuteBoy from school thought I was a slimy, diseased little gecko. Oh well, at least she was creative.)

Anyway, I did get some really spiff stuff for my birthday and I'm quite happy with my gifts...

From one friend, I got a heart-rate monitor/pedometer watch. This thing has some serious bells and whistles... I'm still figuring it all out, but it does record my steps, check my heart rate, keep track of milage, displays my calories burned, etc. I've had a couple of problems with it, the first of which is a design flaw and the second of which is my inability to actually remember how to use any sort of complicated gidget.... the first problem is that the step-meter turns itself off after 15 minutes of inactivity; which means if I'm sitting at my computer desk for a bit, I have to remember to turn it back on. The second problem is that I'm constantly, accidentally recording my current heart rate as my resting heart rate. I think (I'm not sure, but I think) that this is botching up my calories burned number, since if my "resting" heart rate is recorded as 120, it doesn't think I'm working very hard when my heart rate is 150.

She also gave me a bottle of sunscreen (yes, thank you for the hint, my sunburn is much better...) and a flashlight for my walk.

My other friend got me a waistpack for my walking that carries one water bottle and has a multitude of pockets and straps. I'll be road-testing that on Sunday, but so far is seems pretty good. If nothing else, it'll STOP me from hurting my collarbone with wearing my shoulder-bag incorrectly. (I've got a nice wear-spot on my chest... dang, when did I get these bony things just under my neck? weird! weird!)

So, I'm all decked out for my walking!

Sacrifice

You know, October looks a lot closer from the end of April than it did from February...

I feel like I'm not training hard enough. The "suggested walking" schedule that the 3Day sends out has got me walking 4 times a week, plus a day of "cross training." I missed two weeks of walking because of illness and cut one week of walking short in order to bring home a hatchling turtle.

And yet, at the same time, I'm starting to really resent the time this is taking. I spend all day Sunday on the road, or recovering from the walk. (getting sunburned two weeks in a row really isn't making me very happy... it's my own fault, I know that, but at the same time, it's still really exasperating.)

Technically, according to the training schedule, I should be walking both Saturday and Sunday, because the really important thing will not be that I can walk 20 miles one day, but that I can walk 20 miles three days in a row...

I don't want to give up my whole weekend. I don't feel like I have enough time with my husband as it is. And I don't have anyone to sit with my kid for six hours on Monday... and now Thomas is thinking about training to run a 5K with his friend at work, and that'll just be more time that we're not home and not together.

Not to mention the fact that I'm not planning well for meals.

I'm so freaking hungry by the time Sunday evening rolls around.

And it doesn't seem to matter that I save my weekly points for Sunday (and my activity points.) I haven't yet - in the 16 months or so that I've been on Weight Watchers - ever, actually exceeded all my points...) I can lose weight all week, and then Monday rolls around...

The wii fit says I'm up 1.8 pounds from yesterday.

Yesterday I ate a salad from Subway, a clif bar, some popcorn, and 3 pieces of pizza.

Why this caused me to puff up like some sort of freak of nature, I just don't get it. I walked eleven flipping miles yesterday in 90 degree heat.

Also, I'm not even halfway through raising the $2,300 I need to be able to enter the walk in the first place. I really need to get my act together, because otherwise, all the sacrifice of my time, energy and honestly, to the detriment of my weight loss, will have been for nothing, and of course, the Charity will take my doner's money and say "Oh, too bad..."

And the worst thing about it?

I felt *really* good yesterday.

8 Mile

I've been a little MIA around here...

First, I've got a collaborative blog project here: A bunch of us at Twitter are walking "together" for this Weight Watchers 5K... So, if you're interested in that project, just shoot a DM to @bwjen and she'll hook you into that project. I'm going to actually be physically walking with my meeting group, so's Thomas and Darcy will be joining us as well, altho truth be told, Thomas will probably have to carry her at least part of the way. But our leader, Beth, is going to be setting up the walk so we'll end at the Skinny Dip. That's for Carla, who refuses to work out at all... except where there's Ice Cream involved.

Secondly, I have another collaborative project of my own. The weekly Wii Fit Challenge. It started off with just me and another girl and I now have four or five people who are interested. So, if you're interested in that, just leave me a comment with your email in it, and I'll send you an invite to that project.

So those are my current web projects; at home I'm trying to clip coupons and stick better to a grocery budget. I don't think I'll ever get to the point of some of my web-mommy friends who can feed a family of four on $40 a week, but I'm getting better. I've ordered the newspaper, which is $9 a month and started collecting coupons. Tuesday, when I was at the laundrymat, I took out all the coupon fliers and went through them while my dryer loads were going. Yesterday, I went to the store with $ 7.79 worth of coupons. (the 40 cents off and 50 cents off were doubled, and the B1G1 got me a free packet of tuna fish; normally $1.99)

Now, part of the frugal mommy thing is that I'm not supposed to buy anything that's not a grocery at the grocery store; no shampoo, cat food, lightbulbs, feminine supplies, etc. Those items are supposedly cheaper at drug stores, pet shops, Wal-Mart. I'm sure this is correct, and I am trying to remember (well, except that I won't ever shop at Wal-Mart again... long story.) to pick those items up at other times. Also, it's not always the best deal. Yesterday, the Harris Teeter had a special, buy one box of dishwasher tabs, get one free. Plus I had a coupon for them, $2.50 off. So I got 40 tabs (about 5 weeks of dishes) for $3.49.

On the plus side, I may be well stocked for dinner meat for at least 3 weeks. The Harris Teeter (if you have one in your area, you should go check out this sale) is offering the 2.5 pound bag of pre-frozen chicken breasts Buy One, Get Two Free. That's 7.5 pounds of chicken for $9. Also, last week they had a huge package of beef cubes (stew meat, kabobs, stir fry) on sale for $8 for 4 pounds, so I divided that package up and stuffed it in the freezer. And I have one packet of veal, a pound of ground beef, and 2 packages of turkey cutlets. That's 18 dinners with meat, plus I've got tuna, pasta, and other vegetarian dishes planned. So, while I spent $102 yesterday, I have fed my family for the next couple weeks, only picking up vegetables and produce...

Cool.

Now, Friday we got together with Leslie and headed over to City View Park to walk and play with Darcy and whatnot. While we were driving there, I commented to Thomas that I was planning - eventually - to walk to Lynnhaven mall, depending on how far away it was. If it's over 15 miles, I wasn't going to do it just yet, but I thought it was about 10-12 miles, so in the next few weeks...

"And walk back," he says.

"Oh, no," says I. "I was going to call you when I got there and have you pick me up."

"Oh, I see how that goes."

"You could walk to my house," Leslie pipes up from the back seat. "I'd give you a ride home."

So, Sunday, I mapped it out. It's 11.4 miles to Lynnhaven mall and 8.6 miles to Leslie's house. Since I've missed my walks because of illness recently, I didn't want to try eleven miles, but I figured 8 miles was doable.

I packed my bag (note to self: please, please buy a new bag soon, this one is killing my shoulder...) and headed out. It was a nice day, a little sunny, and about low 70's. The roads had sidewalks the whole way (always a plus) and were just busy enough to make me happy I'd decided to go ahead and wear my iPod. (If there's no sidewalks, I won't wear it... it's not safe. On the other hand, if I'm on the sidewalk and someone decides to run me over, the likelihood that not wearing my iPod will save me is pretty low...)

I passed this tree about 1/3 of the way there and thought it was quite pretty. Actually, it's prettier even than the picture shows, because the surrounding bushes were also covered with these purple flowers. (Yes, I'm sure the owner of the tree and bushes isn't happy about it... I think this purple stuff is one of those parasitical types of flowers, but hey, it's not my yard, and it does look nice...)

However, all the walking I did on Sunday, combined with some high sodium food choices made my weigh in on Monday... not so great. I was up 1.4 pounds.

On the other hand, over the last three days, according to the wii fit, I've dropped 2.4 pounds... stupid water weight.

Do Over (and over, and over...)

For those of you who have asked; family stuff is... well, going. I've had some constructive conversations with one cousin, and some less constructive conversations with another. I was (and continue to be) rather astonished by how much I care about this, honestly. Anyway, the beginning of the week was emotionally draining and I thank everyone for their support.

Last week, my babysitter (he comes over once a week, on Friday, and is generally asked to watch Darcy for about ninety minutes to two hours... and he often stays about an hour after that, which occasionally bothers me because really, I'm sweaty and icky after the gym and I'd like to go take a shower now please...) told me that he was going out of town Friday morning, and he couldn't make it this week.

I asked if it was possible to change days, and he said he definitely could come on Wednesday or he might be able to make it Thursday morning. I did some thinking and said Thursday would work better for me, because otherwise that meant I was doing back-to-back workouts (Tuesday and Wednesday) and then skipping 3 days before I could get back to the gym, which just didn't seem like it would be a good plan to me.

He said, "I'll call you and let you know, but I should be able to come Thursday around 10am."

(Well, he's not a great babysitter, and he's not always reliable, and I have - on more than one occasion - come home to find him sleeping on my sofa and been grateful that Darcy's not generally the type of kid who shaves the cat, writes on the wall with Sharpies or otherwise is destructive. But he is cheap. And since he doesn't really have another job - sometimes he substitute teaches and from time to time he does some tour-guide stuff - he's usually available.)

Thursday morning rolls around, but I haven't heard from him. At 10:15, I call.

"Oh, right. Yeah... well, I'm still a little behind on my homework for class tonight, so no, I can't."

"Oh."

I ponder for a bit, then give another friend a call. Her job lets her out around 3-ish, and could she come over, maybe, and I could get a work-out in before Thomas gets home? I leave a message on her phone.

I decide to take the better part of my currently open time and do a Wiirkout. I start with the aerobic stuff and do a couple sessions of hula hoop, some step, some advanced step, some jogging in place (which for some reason seems to be easier to me than jogging/running on the treadmill... not sure why...) and some free step (most boring exercising evah!). When I finish with that, I've been wiirking out for 33 minutes and I'm dripping sweat. I take a few minutes of a breather, then start doing Yoga. Halfway through my yoga, my friend calls back. Sure, she'd be happy to watch Darcy for a little while!

Great!

I decide to go ahead and finish my wiirkout, just so I get my cooldown in and don't get stretched all funny by doing some upper body work but no lower body work. When I call it quits, I've logged up over an hour.

About mid-afternoon, Darcy decided she really, really wanted to go outside, so outside we went. I grabbed the flyers I made up for my 3 Day Walk and we went around the block tacking them to doors. Up and down several flights of stairs - and hey, when did the building across the street from me CATCH ON FIRE? half the units are marked as uninhabitable. You'd think I might have noticed that when it HAPPENED!

Then my friend showed up, so I changed clothes and hit the gym for about an hour... 45 minutes on the treadmill, some chair dips and table dips...

When I got home, Thomas had gotten back from work. The weather was unusually nice - given that it's been flipping freezing for several weeks now - so we decided to go for our "short" walk, which is the 2.2 miler...

65 minutes on the Wii, 30 minutes walking around the neighborhood hanging up flyers, 45 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes stretching, 15 minutes walking back and forth TO the gym, 40 minutes on our walk... we were an hour into our Naxx speed-run last night when I started getting muscle cramps and shivers.

Oh, I hurt.

Countdown Begins

Thanks to your verbal promises, I raised just a tiny bit less than half the donation amount needed to walk in the 3-Day Walk for the Cure, so I went ahead and registered (as I really, really want to do this, and it's best to register now, as I currently have the $90 for the registration fee!!)

So, if you look to the right, there's a link to my donation page.

(As you will no doubt notice, the clickie button says "Donate to Kellylyn." Yeah, that's me. Remember I told you I wasn't going to tell you what my horrible southern double-name was? Well, that's it. So, that's my deep dark secret, that I have a wretched name that I don't like much. I prefer Lynn... )

So, if you verbally agreed to make a donation, please feel free to go ahead and make it. There's plenty of time, though; the walk isn't until October, so I have 235 days to raise the money, and to train for the event. Which is good, I'll need them! Every. Single. Day.

I want to thank everyone who has been so encouraging and thoughtful and generous. Know that you are dearly appreciated and loved.

(As an added bonus, my weigh in showed me down 1.4 pounds last night, so I think I've finally gotten past this stupid plateau... YAY me!).

The Long Walk

"Hi. My name is Lynn. You might not know me. I live in here in Chesapeake. I'm a stay at home mom. I went to college at William & Mary and majored in literature. I have a love for action movies, science fiction, Russian art, Irish beer, Jackie Chan, and just about anything with cheese on it.

I'm thirty-six years old (thirty-seven in May!) and grew up in Louisa County, Virginia. I used to spend summers in upstate New York with my grandparents. My mother's parents and my dad's parents lived about four miles away from each other, near a tiny town called Peru.

My favorite color is green.

This is my mother. You probably don't know her either. Her name is Cynda Abolt. She's sixty years old and lives in St. Simon's Island, Georgia. She's an historian and a reenactor and a member of the National Park Service. Nine years ago, she married my step-father in an early 19th century period wedding down in New Orleans.

Her favorite poem is The Doormouse and the Doctor, by A.A. Milne. She likes suspense movies, novels by Patricia Cromwell, and has an inexplicable fondness for purple cow creamers.

In October, 2007, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After surgery and several months of radiation treatment, my mother has been cancer free for a little over a year now.

(Insert picture of Gramma here, don't currently have one that's electronic)

This is my grandmother, Ethel Stafford. Her favorite color was yellow, and she had a collection of china birds, especially cardinals. During the Great Depression, she was a teacher. When my family visited her, she always made two batches of chocolate chip cookies, one with walnuts in them, for my dad, and one without, for me. She died in 1994 from pnuemonia. She had been a breast cancer survivor for almost ten years after a partial masectomy.

This is my aunt, Beth Anne. We called her Big Beth, as opposed to her daughter, Little Beth. She lived in a log cabin, and enjoyed sailing. She died two years ago from heart disease. She was also a breast cancer survivor.

Betty Poe, friend of the family. Died in 1987 from breast cancer.

I never met my friend Leslie's mother. Brynia died from breast cancer in the mid 90's, before I even met Leslie.

These are women you probably don't know. But I expect if you looked around at your mother, your grandmothers, aunts, and cousins, sisters and friends, there are women you know who have been affected by this disease. Breast cancer is the second most prevalent form of cancer, after lung cancer, and the fifth most common cause of cancer death.

In 2007, after my mother was diagnosed with cancer, I decided it was time for me to get healthy. At that time in my life, I was nearly 100 pounds overweight and had been sedintary for years. In early 2008, I joined Weight Watchers and began a more active lifestyle. A little more than a year later, I have lost seventy pounds and am now in the gym three times a week.

But it's time to do a little more.

In October, 2009, I'm going to walk in the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure. It's a sixty mile walk, spread over three days, to raise awareness for this disease and to raise money to help find a cure, better current treatments, and help provide screenings for people who can't afford them.

In order to do that walk, I need to raise $2,300 in sponsorship money. And, quite obviously, train to be able to walk that far."

Here's where I'm asking for your help.

At the moment, I have not actually paid my registration money to walk... I am hoping to get verbal promises for sponsorship for at least half of the money I need to raise in order to join the Walk. Once I get promises for half, I'll pay my registration fee and get an on-line donation form set up. I've gotten permission from my apartment complex manager to post requests for donations to all the residents in my complex. I'll hit up local businesses.

When I raise the money, I'll be blogging/tweeting from the walk so you can share this experience with me.

To this end, I have decided to shelve my C25K training - since really, I'm just not capable of doing that many different kinds of training - and begin working towards increasing my walking endurance.

It's going to be a long walk. I hope you'll join me.

If you are interested in making a verbal promise, please post in the comments how much you think you will be willing to sponsor me for. You are NOT obligated to do so at a later time, but if you don't think you will, or can afford to, please do not promise. When I reach a goal of 50% required donations in verbal promises, I will set up the online donation forms for you to make good! Thank you very much for listening, and for any help you can give!

Update: You guys are AWESOME. Look how far we've come in just a few hours!!