Things you see at 5 am...

I just had to share some of the things I saw this morning on my 10 mile walk. It is amazing the things you see when you aren't expecting it.

First: Honeysuckle... so ok, I didn't see this one, but it smelled so good.

I forgot my cell phone in my car so I had to go back and get it. On the way own the hill I saw a...

Then on the way out to the main road I scared ....

I think i interupted breakfast.

Then I also saw 3....

in a line followed by 3...

in a line, and found 3...

But the best thing I saw was....

some guy in a bright green kilt, at a gas station drinking chocolate milk...too funny!

Total miles walked: 215

What a great turnout...

The rain held off until about 11:30am. But we still had a great turn out! Lots of people showed up. Some who could not read (we asked them to park on the street so it wouldn't bother our neighbors- but they didn't). Lot's who liked to bargain and talk us down, which is the fun part of a yard sale!

So, drum roll please....

Including the bake sale and the yard sale....

We made.....

....$528!!!

How great is that. I am now less than $450 from my goal! Woo Hoo!

Total miles walked so far: 189

Yard Sale! Yard Sale! Yard Sale!

Tomorrow is my yard sale! I have gotten lots of donations for it, mostly from my mom and sister (thanks you guys), but also from a few neighbors. I am finishing a few things up today. I have to finish making signs, finish pricing the goods, and rearrange the garage just in case it does rain tomorrow. That's right it is supposed to rain almost all day. Right now it is at a 60% chance. Keep your fingers crossed that it will hold off until 2pm tomorrow, so I can sell all the stuff and clear out the garage.

I've got some pretty good stuff. Jamie and I have even bought a few things ourselves!

If anyone is in the area tomorrow, stop by. You never know what treasures you will find!

Total miles walked (including the miles I walked at 5am): 185

Donation from God!

On my walk today I recieved a donation from God! He left $5 in the grass by the path that I was walking on. I assumed it was for me since I was the only person I could see on that section of the path. What a great way to make me motivated to keep doing my training walks, maybe I will find more money :)

Total miles walked: 172

Sweet Success

Today was my sisters yard sale. It was a sweltering 96 degrees outside today! We had tough competition, 2 other large yard sales in the area. We did pretty well, though. Holly was kind enough to let me set up a small table of sweet treats, or as I kept telling shoppers, "yard sale fuel". Because of the heat I ended up having to keep most of them in the fridge.

I spent the last few days making cupcakes, cookies, brownies, candies and rice crispy treats. Ethen, my three year old, has been in heaven. He has been Head Treat Tester. Making sure there was enough icing, the right amount of M&M's and testing the consistency of the chocolate.

People are amazing! I made $138 from my baked goodies! It was so cool. I did make a good part of that amount even before leaving the house. I have such a great supportive husband and my kids will do just about anything for sweet treats!

Next week is my yard sale! I am excited. All the items that didn't sell today, ended up being donated to my sale. Plus I have gotten promises of donations from several neighbors. I am expecting the calls this week since the sale is on Saturday. I have to make nice big signs to draw people in. I don't think I will make any sweets to sell next weekend. I don't think my waist band can take it!

Yummie

Just a sneak peak at some of the goodies for tomorrows bake sale!

Cookies, cupcakes, and brownies Oh My!

Miles walked so far: 164

LOOK!

Ever since I was a little kid, I was able to just look down and find 4 leaf clovers. I remember one time I found one while I was riding my bike. The trick for me was not looking for them, keep your mind open and they are usually the ones staring up at you wanting to be found. There have been parts of my life that I just never found them. It always seems to be the times that I am stressed and am not able to clear my mind.

Walking along on Sunday, I was almost to my half way point when I looked down and... do you see it yet?

How about now?

There it is!

I kept walking and then decided that I wanted to get more pictures of it. So I turned around at the half way point and started walking back. While I was looking for it I happened to find another one...

It made my day!

Total miles walked: 160

Sunny and in the low 80's

What a beautiful day for a walk! It was bright and sunny...

The pink "pom-pom" trees were in full bloom (I think they are some kind of cherry tree)...

Signs that baseball season has started...

And the best part is that yard sale season is starting too!

Speaking of yard sales, my 3-Day yard sale is in 13 days! I am excited to be doing it. All I have left to do is price things, go around to neighbors and ask for more things, make yummies to sell (that will have to wait, since they will all be eaten before then), start posting adds about it, and make signs. It will be fun. I am helping my sister with her yard sale next weekend. I will be testing my yummies there to see how they do. Wish me luck!

Miles walked so far: 152 (but I will be walking 8 more today, so it will be 160 after today!)

Spring is HERE!

Aren't they beautiful! It has been wonderful being able to walk past these beauties each day. Unfortunately they are mostly gone now, but replaced by glorious leaves! I love leaves, it means summer is coming.

I love this time of the year. Birds singing, fresh breezes, beautiful flowers, bugs start doing their thing, and people start to escape their winter dens. But I found that I apologize if I step on a bug on the path, or I jump out of the way. People driving by must think I am crazy, randomly jumping and apologizing to the ground. Oh, well. It is spring, so much nicer to train outside.

Total miles walked so far: not sure, there is a sleeping baby and my walking journal is upstairs

The Get Started Meeting

This weekend Ben and I attended our Get Started Meeting. To be honest I mainly did it so that I could put my milestone sticker on my badge.

But, I am really glad that I went! It was a great way to start to feel more like a community of women and men doing this. They had pictures of the Tent City we will be living in for 2 nights.

and the mobile shower trucks. Yes I will be showering in a truck, but at least I will get to shower (that would be a long and smelly 3 days).

The best part was the video they showed us. It was great and so inspirational! I can't wait to do this and I am even more excited than I was before! This is going to be great! I need to get a copy of the video for when I feel discouraged, sore, tired, or just plain unmotivated.

Here is a slide show put together by a 2008 walker. I can't wait!

Oh, the white heart on the name sticker meant that my life has not been effected by breast cancer, but I still wanted to make a difference. I hope that never changes.

Total miles walked so far: 124

100 MILES!!!!

It is official! I have hit the 100 mile mark in my training! It is amazing knowing that I have burned 16,000 calories - that is about 76 servings of M&Ms....mmmm. Unfortunaly I have not eaten that many, but I have had a few, using the walking as an excuse!

I have also hit the half way mark on my fundraising! I am at $1,240! Only $1,060 left to raise. Can you tell I am excited! I have now reached the point that all funds raised from this point out will be matching funds! So lets get matching!



Total miles walked: 111

Music to Walk to

Ok, so I am starting to feel better and knew that I needed to do some walking this weekend to get back into the swing of things. Jamie drove me out 7 miles and dropped me off. Well, lets say I was just a bit rusty. Music really was my driving force in getting me home. So I thought I would share a few of the songs that really helped keep me going.



That Beep by Architecture in Helsinki (thank you satalite radio)



Jagged Gorgeous Winter by The Main Drag (thank you Rock Band 2)



Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake



Tones of Home by Blind Mellon

Fundraising....

Well, I have decided that I am going to have to really dig deep into my creative mind to reach my $2300 goal. Those of you that have sent me donations...THANK YOU! You all ROCK!

So far my creative list of fundraising projects includes:

• yard sale in the spring


• selling flowers with my teammate on Mothers Day weekend at the farmers market (and if that goes well, then maybe other weekends through out the year)


• collecting ink cartridges and old cell phones to turn in for cold hard cash


• designing shirts to sell for the 3 Day


• selling my services for a large donation...and by services I mean floral designing skills or being an extra helping hand around the house or office... keep your minds out of the gutter

Here is one of the shirts that I have designed. I am selling it on Cafe Press.

If anyone has any great fundraising ideas, please share! I would really love to raise more than my minimum of $2300. This is the minimum that I have to raise in order to actually do the walk. If I am unable to raise this amount, I won't be able to do the walk.

Remember the money raised will help bring an end to not only breast cancer, but will help bring an end to all cancers. So many of the treatments and drugs used in treating breast cancer are also used in treating so many other cancers.

Total walked so far: 61.78 (I was sick this week, so didn't get as many miles in as I hoped)

Another Weekend Down

This past weekend I did another back to back training. Nothing big. About 6 miles on Saturday and another 6.5 on Sunday. I did pretty well. My goal is to be able to comfortably walk a 15 min mile for long periods of time, so when it comes time to walk 20 miles it won't feel too strenuous. It will be getting the energy on day 3 to get up and keep walking that will be the hardest.

Sunday I made Jamie drop me off 6.5 miles from home. This way I couldn't turn around early (I usually walk to my half way point then turn around and come home). I really like doing it that way. Feels like I am making more progress.

But walking out along the road with forest on one side of me, I am on the constant look out for "predetors". This is what the path looks like...

This is what I see....

Active imaginations stink. One thing that I didn' know I should look out for....wild horses. For about 2 miles there were horse tracks along the road. With a bear play dead, a mountain lion look bigger, but what do you do to scare off a wild horse?

Total walked so far: 51.59 miles

Moving...

I originally set up posts of my training progress on my 3day walk page, but it wouldn't let me attach photos. I have always been a fan of reading books with pictures, so why would the Internet be any different.

Yesterday was gorgeous! I was so thankful. It had been in the 20'-30's here for over a week, snow and cold winds. Yesterday had to have a high in the 60's. It was a perfect day for a long walk. So perfect in fact that I was able to take Ben along. He looks so cute bundled up in the stroller.

We finally got a picture of the vultures that like to follow me on my walks. Only 3 of them this time, so I must be getting better. I will have to watch out for them on the longer walks though....

Over all, so far so good. This weekend I walked a total of 10.35 miles, over 3 hours. Jamie, Ethen and Ben joined me today (Ethen in the stroller and Ben in his new sling like thing- they both slept most of the way). It is nice having the company, but carrying 13 lbs. of baby for 5 miles makes it seem a lot longer.

Total miles walked so far: 29.55