Carol: 7 Weeks 2 Go--Sausage Fingers, Clown Feet & Miles to Go

[This article first  published as The Countdown is On: 7 Weeks to Go  on Technorati.]

Instead of counting up, it's time to count down. Seven weeks to go before the 3-day for the Cure Susan G. Komen 60-mile walk to fight breast cancer.

Saturday my team and I went on another training walk with a handful of women in our area. We walked 15 miles leaving at 6:15 a.m. and finishing about 11-ish.

Our hands swelled up like those little Vienna sausages.

My feet felt like clown feet.

Trust me, if a clown car had passed by, I wouldn't have hesitated to hop in and put on one of those red, squeaky clown noses and hitched a ride back to my van.

About Mile 11 I felt my skin scorching in the 90 degree-plus temperatures despite the SPF 60+ sunscreen I slathered on when Mr. Sun was still sleeping.

My team--Pink Me Out-- is hoping for cooler temperatures by the time the 3-day comes to Dallas in November.

Already other 3-days have been held throughout the country. Denver had its 3-day for the Cure in August with about 500 walkers raising more than $1.5 million to fight breast cancer. The next 3-day gets underway in Seattle next weekend on Sept. 24.

When I reviewed the weekly training schedule from Mr. Virtual Trainer for our 3-day walk, I just about passed out. It calls for two back-to-back "easy walking" training miles of 17 and 13 for next weekend.
 
Just when I think, "Yeah, right," I think about the soccer coach in Olympia, Washington, who battled breast cancer and will walk the walk in Seattle. Or, I look at the picture of cancer survivor Megan Hernandez as she finished the walk in Denver.

Remember, thankfully, cancer is not a battle I have had to fight. I am walking for others in my life. I have to remind myself that I walk simply because I can.

I figure if Megan can do it, well then, so can I. 

Carol: Week 18--Mall Walking At School

[This article was first published as Week 18--Mall Walking At School on Technorati.]

The still-sizzling heat and the start of school sent me and my Pink Me Out team inside for Week 18 to train for the 3-day for the Cure.

Walking indoors at our school is similar to mall walking  (minus the grannies and grandpas wearing knee highs and bright white sneakers). If you walk from the northern corner of our school to the southern corner, you can easily log in a quarter mile.

On the days we were able to walk after school, we were able to log about four miles each session. In addition to getting our exercise, it's provided us an opportunity to see parts of the school we never get a chance to, see other co-workers hunched over grading papers, and dodge the cleaning staff diligently getting the school ready for the next day.

Over Labor Day weekend, we participated in a 12-mile training walk with other walkers in our area. The training walk was organized by a Dallas police officer who was a breast cancer survivor and the leader of the Cops Against Cancer team. I believe this will be her fourth time to participate in the 60-mile walk. In addition to walking, she said she also gets her fellow police officers to volunteer to provide security and traffic control.

All in all, she's pretty amazing.

I must admit that my walking buddies and I had trouble keeping up with her.
We were also just a tad bit sore when we finished… and the next day… and the next.