Carol: Ready or Not the Walk Begins

[This article was first published as Ready or Not: The 3-day for the Cure Walk Begins in Dallas on Technorati.]

With the 3-day for the Cure in Dallas scheduled to get underway tomorrow, November 5,  I wish I could sing that Peter, Paul & Mary's song, "…all my bags are packed and I'm ready to go," but sadly I can't, as my bags aren't packed and I'm not ready to go.

How am I supposed to squeeze all my stuff into a 35" or so bag that weights less than 35 pounds?  It's not that I'm high maintenance and need a lot of stuff, it's just my tendency to over-think things. What if it gets hot...or too cold?  What if I fall in a puddle of water? What if…See what I mean?

Then, of course, there's the sock issue. My teammates and I purchased those "guaranteed to be blister free" socks. But how is that going to work? We'll be walking around for three days. So even if they don't work, we'll need to wear those socks. Is the guarantee good for 60 miles? Will they take back our stinky socks if we get blisters? See what I mean--over thinking it.

Even though our jobs as teachers got in the way of our training, I think we still managed to train well enough that we will survive the 60 mile walk. Still, I worry that we may have undertrained. Of course, we may have to call the school nurse to come roll us in on Monday from the parking lot.

Now that my first challenge is almost over, I've been thinking a lot lately about what to do next. (Remember the entire point of this little feature was to quit living life as a spectator.) On our last 10 mile training walk I suggested to my tent mate that perhaps we should look into the Hotter Than Hell 100.

Let's just say I had to duck over that one. But between us, I haven't entirely given up on that idea --at least not yet.

Carol: Four Weeks to Go & Thinking About a Guy I Don't Know

[This article was first published as Four Weeks To Go and Thinking About a Guy I Don't Know on Technorati.]

(Writer's note: I've been busy putting together the Education Buzz--Life's a Carnival which will appear here on Wednesday. So instead of posting my usual witty observations, I'm posting my update on my 3-day for the Cure training. Jeepers Creepers, it's in four weeks. If you haven't donated and want to still donate for the cure, my BFF Jennifer still needs a bit more in order to walk. Remember I need her for that whole camping thing. Otherwise, I'll be sleeping on the ground being eaten alive by bears. OK, so maybe bears is a teensy weensy bit of exaggeration.  How about eaten alive by coyotes? Armadillos? OK, chiggers then… So have a little pity and go here to donate to my BFF Jennifer, but before you do make sure you read the post below…] 

Lately I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about a guy I don't know. On Oct. 8, he walked the walk--you know the one, the 3-day for the Cure. 

In April, I read a column by Leonard Pitts about his decision to participate in the Susan G. Komen 60-mile walk for the cure. Inspired by his words, I decided instead of donating money for his walk, I would walk the walk as well and signed up for the 3-day for the Cure in Dallas on Nov. 5.

Ever since I began this undertaking, Mr. Pitts has floated in and out of my thoughts. Admittedly, sometimes those thoughts weren't very warm and fuzzy especially when my walking buddies and I braved 100-plus degree heat to train.

Other times I wondered/worried whether Mr. Pitts had trouble getting his donations. I shouldn't have worried so much about him. While my team  struggled to raise our $2,300 each, his readers donated more than $27,000. I can only chalk it up to the difference between a well-known, professional syndicated columnist and team of high school teachers.

Still, I am just as proud of the quarters raised by our high school students as I am of the outpouring of generosity of Mr. Pitts' readers. In some ways, I am even more proud of the fledgling Pink Panther Club formed just a month ago to increase breast cancer awareness at our school--all a result of our upcoming walk which in an odd way traces the start of its journey back to Mr. Pitts.

I always tell my journalism students that we often don't know how our words touch others or even if they do.

I checked on Mr. Pitts' recent columns to see what sort of update he had related to the 3-day for the Cure.  Again, he had a particularly poignant piece writing that  "…life is an understanding: We're all going to the same destination. The only difference is in what you choose to see along the way."

But I would have to add something to that observation because it's not just what you choose to see along the way, it's also who you touch along the way.

So because Mr. Pitts unknowingly touched my life, I will spend this weekend wondering and worrying how this stranger fared on his 60-mile walk.

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.

Carol: Week 17--107 degrees, Hot Yoga & Armadillos

[This article was first published as Week 17: Continued Heat Wave Dampens Training on Technorati.] 

Just as predicted, the start of school this week left little to no time for my 3-day for the Cure training walks with my Pink Me Out walking buddies (who could use a little bit of help with their fund-raising).

Of course, the record -setting 107 degree temperature did little to ignite much enthusiasm for our training expeditions. I couldn't even kindle enough desire to  plan for our training.

According to our virtual trainer, we're supposed to have 31 miles racked up this week. Jeepers creepers, I'll be lucky to finish my week with 10 miles.

I did manage to squeeze in a hot yoga class, though. (And, yes, I do think there's something inherently twisted about doing hot yoga when it's 107 degrees outside, but I also think there's something inherently wrong with putting up a donut shop next to a yoga studio.)

I was doing pretty good with the whole hot yoga thing until we got to that crazy crane pose. (Yeah, like that's going to happen in my lifetime.) Undeterred by my failure there, I successfully transformed myself into the next pose--a frog. Our very lovely yoga instructor who also happens to be a former yearbook editor of mine wanted us to be  jumping frogs visualizing a bug on the ceiling. Since there was a grasshopper stuck to the outside window, I was OK with that whole visualization thing, but at 53, not very OK with that jumping thing.

Well, all that visualization of critters got me to thinking about the armadillos that were wreaking havoc in my front yard at five in the morning. I don't know if you get bonus points (or miles) for chasing armadillos off your front yard, but surely that's gotta count for something.

Carol: Week 16--Organizating Time For Training

[This article was first published as Week 16: Organizating Time For Training on Technorati.]

I spent my last day before I had to report back to school walking five miles with one of my 3-day for the Cure training buddies.

I'm not sure if it was the heat index of 104 degrees or the thought of another school year looming before me that sapped my energy. (Heat like children can sometimes just suck the life right out of you.)

During our walk my buddy (also another teacher) and I tried to figure out how we would continue our training schedule once school got underway.

Organization, according to school experts, apparently is the key to a successful school year. Hails bails, let's go out on a limb here and just say that organization probably is the key to a successful anything.

With work, the heat, grading, planning and our own family obligations, finding time to train for the 60 mile Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure walk may prove challenging. I thought perhaps the organizational guru Peter Walsh might have a few inspirational tips, but I'm way beyond his tips for designing a workout schedule. I did find some useful and interesting suggestions for streamlining my morning routine, though--things like making effective to-do lists or using music to "rock my routine."

While I admit I'm not the most organized person in the world, my problem still seems to be more a matter of running out of time for all the things I need to do than wasting time because of disorganization.

And, no, I don't think any to-do list or Rolling Stones song is going to help me with that.

Carol: Week 15 of Training: Waist Not Want Lots

[This article was first published as Week 15 of Training: New Study Sheds Light On Waist Sizes on Technorati.]

 Just when I vaguely start feeling good about myself over these training walks for the 3-day for the Cure, those warm, fuzzy feelings dissipate faster than a cool breeze on these 100-degree-plus days.

 News venues reported a recent cancer prevention study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine that the bigger your waistline the more troubles you'll have compared to those with teeny, tiny tummies. In fact, along with that spare baggage, you also carry twice the risk of dying over a decade.

Apparently waist size is more important than weight.  

As if that info wasn't enough to burn away those warm, fuzzy thoughts, the tummy stats are true even for those people with healthy body mass indexes. And even more disconcerting than that was the fact that this new study measures the ideal waist size at 35 inches for men and 30 inches for women--a full five inches smaller than the inches given by the American Heart Association.

Jeepers. I don't need a tape measure to tell me that I fall outside the "ideal." In fact, I can't recall when the last time I was "ideal" for anything. It's all rather depressing.

According to the lead author of the study,  Eric Jacobs of the American Cancer Society, people should start "eating better and exercising more if you see your waist size starting to increase."Gee, thanks, Eric. Let's see how many more miles it'll take before my waist gets in line with these new guidelines.

Carol: Week 14--Trying to Stay Out of the Heat & Hot Water

[Article first published as Week 14--Trying to Stay Out of the Heat and Hot Water on Technorati.]  

With temperatures soaring into the triple digits, and last month setting heat records across the country, wanting to walk more than a few feet can present quite a challenge.

Still, I've managed to keep my training schedule for the 3-day for the Cure, walking at least two miles a day and up to four or five miles when I can. I've also managed to squeeze in a hot yoga class although we probably could have just yoged outside in the 100 degree plus temps and gotten the same results.

Despite highs predicted at 104 degrees for Friday, I, along with my two walking buddies, plan to brave the heat and squeeze in a long 9-plus mile walk around White Rock Lake before school starts.

With my summer winding down and the start of school just a few weeks away, I've been trying to cram in all the things that I can't seem to find time for during the school year. That, of course, includes what I like to refer to as "preventative maintenance."  So since I'm walking the walk and raising money to fight breast  cancer, I thought I better schedule my yearly mammogram.

When I called for an appointment, I discovered I hadn't had a mammogram in several years--four years to be exact. Embarrassing, I know. I guess when I thought about getting one, life got in the way and I thought I had actually had one. Dumb, I know. I guess I'm part of that group of women--an estimated one-fifth between 50 and 74 years old--who fell behind on getting mammograms, according to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

My training buddies were mortified that I had let four years go by. Needless to say, I scheduled my appointment speedy quick and I'm in the clear.

At least (for now), I'm back on track and out of hot water with my walking buddies.  Now, if I can just get out of this heat.

Carol: Week 13--Walk like an Egyptian

(Article first published as Week 13--Walk like an Egyptian on Technorati. This is Week 13 chronicling my training for the 3-day for the Cure.)

Training went fairly well this past week considering I spent a few days visiting my sister in the beautiful town of Castle Rock, Colorado.

My sister, who is a nurse, was a tad bit worried about me continuing my training for the 3-day for the Cure, especially after last week's stupidity that left me and my walking buddies near heat exhaustion. But after assuring my sister that (1) it was much cooler here than in Texas (2) I would bring water and a cell phone (3) I had my emergency money and (4) I was familiar with some tips on how to avoid high altitude sickness, I marched on my merry way.

I am happy to report that so far my training here has been uneventful. I had planned to design one of my training walks into town with a little side trip to Dream Pastries until a friend pointed out that the benefits of any training walk would quickly be negated by all that sugary goodness. I swear some people are just killjoys.

One highlight of my trip was going to the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. The exhibit was not only stunning, but I learned a few things, too, while listening to Harrison Ford's soothing voice on the $5 audio tape relaying interesting tidbits of information about the exhibit.

One such miscellaneous tidbit said how the Egyptians had a pretty good knowledge of the body and its organs--all except the brain. Yep, apparently they didn't think much of Mr. Grey Matter and tossed Mr. Brain aside instead of storing it in one of those nifty canopic coffinettes--miniature coffins that housed internal organs.

Instead, the Egyptians viewed the heart as the most important organ. It was the heart that was weighed against the Feather of Truth to determine if a person's entrance was granted into the afterlife or sent to the Devourer of the Dead.

I guess I have to agree with the Egyptians about the importance of the heart. When people ask me why I'm willing to participate in this 60-mile walk to fight breast cancer, I can spout off statistics and tell you that more than 1.3 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer globally each year, more than 465,000 die from the disease each year and that a woman dies from breast cancer every 68 seconds.

But for me, it still remains a matter of the heart.

Carol: Week 12 Kicking It Into Stupid Gear

(Article first published as Week 12: Kicking It Into Stupid Gear on Technorati.)

Sometimes I ignore warning signs, whether it's a simple telltale sigh from my spouse or something more "official" like those nasty little National Weather Service heat advisory bulletins.

Sometimes I'm a poster child for memory loss, like when I forget that the previous week of my training for the 3-day for the Cure was short on training and long on air conditioned conference rooms.

And then, sometimes, just sometimes, I'm just not the brightest crayon in the box.

Yep, Week 12 of my training found me kicking it in high gear on the stupid level.

It started on Monday when I, along with my two training buddies, decided it would be a brilliant idea to do an 8-mile walk... at 1:30 p.m. during a heat advisory. Despite slathering on sunscreen, packing lots of water, wearing light colored clothing and taking a few breaks here and there, by mile five things weren't looking so good. 

I, of course, knew the problem: heat exhaustion. I even ticked off all the symptoms to my walking buddies because, after all, I had previously written about those dangers in my Week 5 post.

Still, we remained undeterred, but things started getting ugly at the six and half mile marker when we collapsed on a bench located, fittingly, near a cemetery.

We almost called our husbands to come and rescue us, but the thought of them taking photographs and posting our failure on YouTube was enough to spur us on.

That and the sound of an ice cream truck (as if we needed a reason to celebrate National Ice Cream Month.)

Good thing I carry around an emergency five dollar bill.

Carol: 3-day for the Cure Update

(Article first published as Week 10 & 11: Shoes Provide Little Hope for Slackers on Technorati.)

Blame it on the week-long high school journalism workshop filled with 600-plus kiddos that I had to attend.

Or blame it on a lack of sleep resulting from chaperoning said workshop.

Or, let's just blame it on the rain. (OK, so you probably have to be pre-Generation Y to get that rain allusion.)

Perhaps all those factors combined to make it not only difficult to walk, but also impossible to find the time to dutifully report about my inactivity for my 3-day for the Cure training. I only managed to squeeze in four miles or so while attending the workshop. The previous week I kept to my walking schedule racking up two to three miles every day, but I'm such a slacker I neglected to report about it.

I didn't even get a chance to read the second part of the USA Today fitness challenge story.   

I did, however, read with interest another article  about those toning shoes that supposedly will give the wearer a more shapely behind, toned legs and tighter abs--all without having to set foot in a gym.

Oh, if I only had a pair of those shoes, I wouldn't have to obsess so much about my lack of training this past week.

 If life were only that simple. If it were, I'd be the first to slap down a hundred bucks or so (plus shipping and handling), and everything would shape up.

But my hopes for an easy out were snuffed by the seventh paragraph. The article quoted a professor from Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine in Baltimore who very succinctly said those claims were "utter nonsense."

Moreover, according to the article, doctors warned toning shoes can cause other problems with balance and can strain Achilles tendons.

Perhaps  I'm better off with a pair of those ruby red slippers and my regular walking shoes.

Carol: Week 6--Training with Jack

(Writer's note: The following article was first published as "Week 6: One Goal Down, But Many More Miles to Go" on technorati.)

Week six looks very promising indeed; promising because school (woo-hoo!) is out for the summer.

A double woo-hoo because, in only six weeks, I reached the mandatory fund-raising goal of $2,300 necessary to participate in the Susan G. Komen 60 mile 3-day Walk for the Cure.
Whew, what a relief! I must admit that I was a tad worried that I would be unable to raise the required donations and would be left on the outside looking in after training all summer long in the hot sweltering Texas sun. I mean what sane person wants to walk about in 100 degree heat if they don't really have to?

But now that I have that little money thing under control, I can begin some serious training for the November walk. To do that, I have enlisted my trusty compadre Jack and his nifty little doggy backpack, a gift from my dog expert/writer sister Maggie Bonham. 

After reading about such unusual pet gifts as a pet high chair or pet chatter bowl,  a pet backpack really doesn't seem all that usual. In fact, you can find a wide assortment of backpacks for Fido at such normal, standard venues as REI or surf other sites  for the more serious dog hikers. 

 

Dog experts recommend that your dog doesn't carry more than 20 percent of his weight. For Jack (pictured above), who weighs 90-plus pounds that would mean about 18 pounds of stuff, but we're just going to stick with some water, maybe a snack and his collapsible water bowl. Of course, we'll follow all the advice for keeping Jack safe in the summer sun.

He's used to walking at least three miles a day.  Tomorrow, we're going to try five. Unfortunately, when I finally walk the 3-day for the Cure, Jack will have to remain at home not because I don't think he can raise the money to walk, but because pets are not allowed.

[For those keeping track: Jack and I actually walked 6 miles today. This past week I logged  10.5 miles &  attended two yoga classes.]