Category Archives: 3-Day

Tuesday Tidbits

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Happy Tuesday! Sure, it’s still Monday while I’m writing this, but by the time you read it, it will be Tuesday. Here are some random things on my mind at the start of this lovely week.

1) November signifies the start of two pledges I am making to myself; the first, I am calling NoCANDYvember, and will be my pledge to not eat anymore Halloween candy for the rest of the month. I got a little too friendly with the cauldron of treats in our house, and too many sourpatch kids crossed my lips. I really never have issues with eating candy, but I ate enough of it this past weekend that I don’t want to see anything other than a small square of dark chocolate. The second pledge, will be called Milevember, just so I can keep with the snappy naming conventions. Each day, I’ll walk at least one mile, which shouldn’t be a problem as I gear up for my final training weeks for the 3-Day. My activity is too sporadic in that I’ll have a day where I’m a slug, and then the next day where I’m a hiking, walking, weed-pulling, car-washing machine, so setting a one mile per day goal is a good incentive for me to move.

2) I am sadly realizing that I am likely undertrained for the 3-Day. My longest walk so far was about 12 miles, and it was tough. However, I’ll be curious what my experience is as I know several seasoned 3-Dayers who say they never train, and some who train constantly and often. I wish I had trained more up to the 18 mile mark, but I feel great already about being able to walk 10 miles without passing out! That’s a big accomplishment for someone like me, the fitness averse. I’m also so proud of the fact that I raised over $2,700 to help women and men with breast cancer. You’re a big part of that; thank you so much for your support.

3) This weekend I’ll be walking in the Katie K. Active 5k. You can walk or run the 5k at any time of your choice in the next few weeks, and when you register, you’ll get a medal, a shirt, and a bracelet. I’ll actually be out of town, so I’m lucky in that I get to walk it with Sarah and Emily! Check out the Katie K 5k if you want to virtually join us – $5 of your registration fee goes to charity.

4) This weekend I had brunch at The Whaler in Venice with my friend AJ at Confessions of a Fat Girl. You want a delicious, boozy new brunch drink? Their watermelon bellini, made with fresh watermelon juice, was out of this world.

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5) I love the time change in that today felt like sleeping in, but I don’t like it in that by the time I finish work for the day, it’s dark outside and I don’t want to leave my cozy house! Do you guys like DST? Do you wish we were like Arizona and Hawaii and would give it up?

That’s all I got. What are your Tuesday tidbits for me?

Alyssa’s 3-Day Fundraising: THANK YOU!!!

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Hello you guys! I am back from my awesome tour of the U.S. for work, and the past two months I’ve been lucky enough to see the Michigan 3-Day, the Twin Cities 3-Day, the Philadelphia 3-Day, and lastly, the Seattle 3-Day. I had a great time meeting all kinds of participants and being able to tell their stories, and also, learning some training tips for myself. After Philadelphia, Matt and I went to NYC (my first time!), and while I was there, I was shocked to learn I had gotten more donations and was only $71 away from my goal of $2,300. I posted on Facebook, and the next morning, I had surpassed $2,400. Now, a week later, thanks to the generosity of family and friends, I have now reached $2,721! THANK YOU SO MUCH. I am humbled and so grateful for all of your help and support. Your donations make a huge impact, and I know that money will be helping to save somebody’s life.

PatsGenos

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to eat like the locals do. Above, I’m at Pat’s Steaks, which is a famous Philly Cheese Steak eatery right across the street from Geno’s. The two restaurants have a friendly competition going, and it was fun to compare the line lengths every few minutes. I’m the weirdo that always loves to go in local grocery stores and compare the goods. I can’t wait to share more details about my NY trip with you, because it included a New York Food Tour! I definitely indulged more than I probably should have the last few weeks, but I was also walking mass amounts and pulling some long hours, so I’m hoping it all “weighs out” in the end.

Walkers

If you’re interested in making a donation to help fight breast cancer, please support April or Monique, who are both a little over their halfway marks. You can donate to both of them by clicking here. Now that I’ve seen the 3-Day, I can honestly say that it has given me a new appreciation for every minute I have to live on this Earth. The stories of loss are heartbreaking, and having recently just experienced the passing of my mother-in-law, I know the hurt that comes from losing a loved one too soon. However, these painful stories are parallelled by an unwavering sense of HOPE, of dedication, of commitment, of endurance, and above all, of positivity — in knowing that together, we can all work to find a cure. This is why this November I will walk. I walk for my mother-in-law, the stranger in the grocery store with a scarf tied around her head, my neighbor, and for YOU. I walk because we don’t have the luxury of knowing who cancer will choose next. I walk because I believe in the power of positivity. I walk because my health is a gift I can’t take for granted.

I walk because everyone deserves a lifetime.

Every3Minutes

 

 

10 Miles Training for the 3-Day — This is where it hurts!

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Hello!

I’m currently lying in my bed, aching and sunburnt with all sorts of crazy stripes thanks to my roll-on sunscreen, but this is a good thing because today I accomplished a major goal in my 3-Day training — I walked 10 miles! My husband and I had planned on taking a weekend constitutional, but I was thinking maybe an easy five or six miles. We decided to walk from the Santa Monica Pier to Venice Beach, which the interwebz said was about 4.4 miles round trip. Perfect! Our friend Jason came along, and we ended up parking about a mile north of the pier. Somehow, with all of our weaving in and out of little trinket shops and stopping at Muscle Beach, we ended up closing in on about 8.2 miles. Jason and Matt encouraged me to seal the deal.. so we kept going to mile 10, even though my legs were screaming at me to stop.

Now that I have a few long distance walks under my belt, I’m learning a few important things.

1) Thou shalt wear thy compression socks at all times. Today I didn’t, and my dogs are BARKING. In fact, I even took this photo for you at about mile 6 to show you that compression sockless walks are not the business. I have one pair of compression socks, but it’s time to expand my compression sock wardrobe and get another pair, because the difference in foot pain is staggering. Any recommendations on brand?

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2) Thou shalt stretch more and more often. When we were ‘fake done’ at mile 8.2, I took a few minutes to really stretch, and it felt soooo good. It might even be time to get into foam rolling. I need to make time to stretch more often, maybe every three miles or so, if not more frequently. Do my runners/walkers have any thoughts on stretching? I know you do.

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3) Thou shalt continue hydrating. We have a phrase on the 3-Day that is “Drink, Pee, No I.V.” meaning, if you hydrate, you have a good chance of staying away from the medics. This is important for many reasons, and a lesson I learned again today while doing my 10 miles in the 85 degree heat. I stopped at one point to get a Gatorade and was so glad I did. Your body really does need those electrolytes and salts.

4) Thou shalt reapply sunscreen. I use an SPF 70 roll-on sunscreen from Neutrogena. I didn’t do a very nice job applying it today, because I have some pretty wild tiger stripe burns (See above). Also, if you sweat like you’re in a sauna, you probably need to reapply. Lesson learned.

5) Thou shalt push thyself a little bit harder. I was done, like really done, at mile 7. My foot was cramping, there was a stabbing pain all around the edge of the arch of my foot, and I was hot, ornery, and getting grouchy. I kept going because being hot, ornery, and grouchy is better than having cancer. (Obviously, I’m no doctor — if you’re in pain and you don’t think you can keep going, don’t! I just powered through because I knew I could.) My word for 2014 was perspective. If there’s one thing I can thank 2014 for, it’s a huge dose of perspective. My “hard” at that moment was nowhere near the “hard” someone who is sick has to deal with on a daily basis. I can power through it. And I did, with the encouraging praise from my husband and Jason.

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I’m so excited to be getting this far in my journey; and now the hard part is thinking “Um, I have to do that TWICE in one day? Three days in a ROW?!” However — I know that a huge part of my success with the 3-Day is one I’m so close to finishing — getting $2,300 in funds donated to help fund cancer-fighting research. Today I crossed the $2,000 mark, which means I have only $300 to go. If you’d like to support me on my journey, or April or Monique on hers, please click the links in this sentence. Every step of the way, every sunburn, every foot ache, we’re making a difference. <3

I can not eat-eat-eat apples or bananas

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It’s been a little over two months now since I found out my food allergies. I’ve been plagued with constant headaches and tummy problems my whole life but never considered it to be from the food I was eating nearly every day. I had cut out processed crap years ago so it just didn’t make sense to me how I could eat “clean” for a week yet still have a headache nearly every day.

Finally, after a blood test, the results came back saying I was allergic to wheat, rice, oats, apples, oranges, and bananas. I also am apparently right on the border line with eggs, cow dairy, corn, and CHOCOLATE.

Since finding out about the wonderful things I should no longer enjoy, I have drastically reduced everything and have noticed a dramatic change. I can not choose which food has really been the hardest thing to give up as I loved all of it. Since I’m on the border of the eggs, dairy, chocolate and corn – I have yet to even attempt giving those things up. I just don’t want to. Giving up the rest of the foods has been a challenge enough and with how great I’ve been feeling since making the change – I just don’t see a need to give up my border-line foods just yet.

I’ve lost twelve pounds in the past two months and I credit 80% of that weight loss from getting rid of my allergens. Of course, all the training walks I have been doing and having a routine food schedule from my summer job certainly helped however I am positive the food has made the biggest change. Besides the weight loss, not having to take ibuprofen nearly every day or carry tums in my pocket has been amazing.

What has freaked me out the most is what happens when I cave and eat one of the things I am allergic too. I had an enchilada at work two weeks ago, hoping it was made with corn. Within twenty minutes, I had a raging headache and within three hours, my head was worse than it had been in a long time. Six hours after the initial enchilada, I was completely congested as if I had a horrible cold.

Last Thursday night I have three small cocktail glasses of blood orange soda, a BIG favorite treat of mine. I didn’t experience any symptoms that night but the next morning I awoke with a headache that cradled the whole front part of my skull. The headache wasn’t gone until I woke up the next morning.

It’s things like that which make me realize that my sensitivity to certain foods is a real thing. I’ve mostly accepted it but I’m still somewhat in denial. I think most of my denial comes from the weirdness being that apples, bananas, and oranges are such “normal” fruits so I just don’t understand how I could be allergic to them. I can get the wheat – and even the rice and oats – because those are all grasses. Outside grass has ALWAYS been horrible on me in the sense of hay fever so obviously consuming it would be devastating for me too.

For those of you who have food allergies too – what was it like for you when you found out? What kinds of allergies do you have?

Have a fabulous Wednesday everyone, I’ll be back with another blog Friday as Alyssa is off working on the FIRST 3-day walk in Detroit happening this weekend. Did you guys know she is less than $900 from reaching her $2,300 goal? I know I still need a ton of money towards my goal – but in case you’d like to help Alyssa get to her goal since she’s already so close – click here for her page!

Bye bye!

 

AprilSignatur

 

 

Obese, morbidly.

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Greetings, readers! I’m back with my attempt to blog at least once a week and this week I want to talk about something that I’ve known but never really thought too much about. I visited the doctor this week and we did a check-up on my blood work  with my discovery of food allergies and such. My blood ended up being just fine but there was something that came up on my lab reports that disturbed me.

 

My doctor had officially noted me as obese, morbidly. I was well aware of what the medical world calls people with high weights but I like to live in my happy bubble where I can just consider myself as an obese person working towards better health. Unfortunately the medical way to describe my weight, specifically with the use of the word “morbid”, makes it seem like I’ve got one foot on the gas and one foot in the grave. I just don’t agree with the word morbid. Obese, fine. Fat, whatever. But morbid? It makes me feel like I should start dressing like Morticia Addams and never smile again. Why not just call it, “super obese?” Like, you’re fat, but you’re also SUPER! It’s bad enough to just BE obese, but why does it still have to sound so harsh? It’s like the only expression that hasn’t been sugar-coated over the past few decades.

I know the amount of fat on my body isn’t healthy but I don’t feel like I’m one more soda away from immediate death. The doctor also tested all sorts of things like cholesterol, calcium, sodium, thyroid, potassium, and glucose levels. Everything was perfectly in the normal range. I also was weighed and had lost seven pounds since I found out about the food allergies. I’ve been feeling pretty good about myself. I’ve been walking more at night and forcing myself to attempt to jog. I set up little goals of amount of blocks and it’s been pretty cool to see how quickly I’ve improved over the past couple of weeks.

According to my training walk schedule, I’m a few miles short of the suggested amount I should be doing every week to prepare for the 60-mile walk. I have been thinking about ways I could fund raise as I still have $1,800 to go and am stoked that I’ll be getting the pink in my hair done today! I still want to do a “Brews for BOObs” event so I hope I can do that to help raise money. I also have been thinking of a way to craft together a promised “training walk sponsorship” where maybe I could ask people to “sponsor” my training walks – They give me a goal for a month during my pre-training, say 50 miles – and they’ll promise to donate $50 when I achieve it. I log all my walks on a fabulous app called Runtastic so it would be legitimate to track my progress… and hopefully everyone who promises to donate will follow through.  What do you all think of that idea? Would any of YOU sponsor my training walks?  😉

I hope you all have a super spiffy Thursday and if you’re looking for some good laughs, check out my hidden link coated in sugar.

Bye bye!

AprilSignatur

 

 

 

 

Click my picture to get to my 3-day page!

Please click my picture to get to my 3-day page!

Guest Post: Why Aubrey walks the 3-Day

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Friends: I’m so excited to introduce you to my friend Aubrey, the co-captain of the Double Chin Divas! I have the pleasure of working with Aubrey on the 3-Day, and she’ll be walking 60 miles with me and April and Monique in San Diego in November. I wanted you to know why this walk matters so much to so many of us. To read more about Aubrey and donate to her fundraising, visit her here. Can’t donate but want to join us? Consider joining the Double Chin Divas team! Take it away, Aubrey!

Aubrey's the one holding the sign!

Aubrey’s the one holding the sign!

I registered for the Susan G. Komen Seattle 3-Day in January of 2010 with the idea of doing something bigger than myself. I had heard about the 3-Day once or twice before in passing. This time I was sitting on the couch watching The Biggest Loser and saw the 3-Day commercial. My mind was made in an instant. I knew that I was going to register to walk 60 miles over the course of three days and raise $2,300. I had never done something like this. And to tell you the truth, I hadn’t done anything in my adult life that was noteworthy.

My grandmother had beaten breast cancer twice by the time I was born, I lost two of my aunts to cancer (breast and ovarian), my great grandmother had passed away from stomach cancer when my grandmother was a small child, and if that wasn’t reason enough, I believed that it was the right thing to do. I’ve always been the type of person to be all in or not at all so I jumped into the biggest, boldest event facing breast cancer out there with both feet.

I remember walking my very first 3-Day anxious to find out what was ahead, and I didn’t mean on the route. I meant with my mom. Just one month before my first 3-Day she had been diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer. All throughout my journey I remember wondering what was to come. Would I lose her? She was my only parent, and she fought long and hard to give my brother and me a good life. My mom’s cancer forced me to look at this event in an entirely new way. I realized there is a difference between the feelings that are conjured up when you hear about a diagnosis. If you’ve never known someone close to you with cancer, you feel badly for the person with cancer. If you’ve ever watched a loved one fight cancer, the word “cancer” chews up your nerves, pulls on your heartstrings and launches you into advocacy.

Aubrey and her team

Aubrey and the San Diego Camp Services Team

So why this event? Why walk 60 miles and raise $2,300? I do it because it is essential. It is the single thing that I can do about breast cancer. When my mom was diagnosed I was called to action. I knew that signing up for this event meant a level of commitment that I had never encountered. And to be completely honest, I had no idea what kind of time would be involved, but I did it knowing I would not give up because cancer patients don’t get to give up. The walking part of this event is important but also symbolic to what a patient goes through. There’s a huge difference between symbolic and the same. We, as able bodied people, have to push ourselves to take every step. We have to force ourselves to get up and train when we don’t feel like it. We have to try out different techniques until we find the right training gear or walking speed. Compare that to what cancer patients go through and you’ll quickly realize you have nothing to complain about. One foot in front of the other.

The money. Why is there a goal? It’s simple.  If the goal is to fund a world without breast cancer then a certain number must be set in place in order to fulfill the purpose of what we are doing. So why $2,300? Because people don’t work for free and cancer research is labor and time intensive. Why $2,300? Because mammograms for uninsured women aren’t free so we need to raise enough to share the hope that a free mammogram can give. Why $2,300? Because there are women losing their hair and can’t afford a wig or a scarf, but if you go to your local cancer resource center you can usually get one for free. Why $2,300? Because families should not have to choose between putting food on the table and paying for treatment.

What about the folks who can’t physically or financially commit to this, but still want to help? Consider joining the 3-Day crew. They are a wonderful and dedicated group of individuals that donate four days of their time working behind the scenes during the event to ensure that the walkers have a seamless event. You can also share posts on social media, or come out to cheer walkers on.

If you have ever had a question about whether you can do this or not, I am here to tell you that YOU CAN! You cannot fail when you put your mind to this. I never once had it in my mind that I couldn’t do this even though I am a plus sized girl who had never done anything physically challenging in my life. The 3-Day is not just about pink ribbons, walking, and fundraising. The 3-Day is about living, dreaming, achieving, and loving in every aspect of your life. The confidence and relationships that you develop within yourself and others because of the 3-Day is only the beginning of what you are capable of.