Hometown Hells Hills!

What do you do when stupid football is taking up all your flat walking routes?

You get the dumb idea to take a walking tour of your hometown. You do this last Saturday, and you think, wow, this is such a cool place. So beautiful. Wow. I've never noticed that before. In all these years! Wow, the Sonic bathroom is a million times nicer than I ever thought it would be. And dang, why didn't I take a picture of that hysterical new "Downtown Business Section" sign?

And just a mile or so in, it hits you.

Even the flat places in town...the places you always thought were flat in your car...are freaking Mount Everest.

And after you do the scenic walking tour, after you climb those flat hills you used to sail up as a skinny teenager...you find a rock solid blister as big as a dime on the right side of your heel, and you can't bend your knees until Thursday.

But you feel pretty dang awesome for being as fat as you are and still making it to the top of that mammoth hell hill without stopping!

Here are pictures of the hells hills and other cool places:



Our old church building. It had beautiful stained glass windows that we moved to the new building, and dark sloping hardwood floors. It was a wonderful sanctuary that would never fly nowadays, when church is less about worship and more about entertainment. I had no idea the lighting was going to turn out like this. Cool, huh?:



Heading towards the dike. When I was little, I used to live near it, so I spent a lot of time playing on it and walking across it:











View from the dike looking down at the town (aka business section):



Oh, the places you'll go!:



Getting ready to climb the hell hill:



I MADE IT!!! I MADE IT TO THE TOP! I wondered if my muscles fondly remembered the good 'ol days when my mom, neighbor and I walked five miles a day and climbed this very hell:



Break time!:



Back on flat land on Sunday, I tried out the pom pom my teammate Laura sent all of us. I wanted to make sure it wasn't going to drive me batty on the walk. I'm happy to report, it's good to go. I didn't even know it was there. In fact, I couldn't quite figure out what the woman who told me she loved my "tassle" was talking about. Anyway, one of the ribbons fell off, and I loved what it did. You can't really tell it from this picture, but it landed in the shape of THE ribbon. Coolness again, huh?:

New Training Partner!

My cat Tessa is as crazy about strolling as I am about chocolate. So the other night, my mom and I finally broke down and tried to fit the stroller in her car, so we could take Tessa on my training walk.

It worked! We had to turn the stroller--and Tessa--sideways to fit it in the car, but she didn't mind. She only yelled twice as we drove to the track.

Then she strolled for three miles before she started getting that hairball on its way look about her.





You know she's been gloating about her big adventure to the other cats ever since. ;)

To Heck With This!

This:



Plus this:



Plus shoes, socks, clothes, water bottles, fanny pack supplies, etc...

Does NOT compute.

This sleeping bag is too little for my hugeosity anyway, so it's going back. Which means I need an even bigger, heavier, thicker sleeping bag.

And what exactly is the point of a sleeping bag anyway? You might as well be lying on nothing.

Yeah...I'm staying in a hotel.

And Another Reason...

I got this message from a fellow 3-Day walker the other day. She's on another team comprised of CCLs and wanted to share this wonderful burst of inspiration:

Just wanted to share with you that yesterday I had lunch with my friend Maria who was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago when she was only 38 years old. She had a very aggressive cancer and even after a double mastectomy she is not cancer free - she has been on chemo continuously since her diagnosis. Unfortunatley her cancer has spread to many areas - lungs, liver, bone - and she recently had to go back on IV Chemo - she was on pills for 1 1/2 years. The good news is that the new chemo is doing the job and she is doing well and it has regressed. Amazingly enough she is still living a pretty functional life - working, taking her kids to soccer games etc.

Her dr. has told her that her cancer will always adapt to the drugs and when it does she has to go on a new med that the cancer is not yet resistant to - this will be the case for the rest of her life. She also said that without organizations like Komen there wouldn't be nearly as much research for new drugs. So thank you ladies for walking and making a difference. We're keeping people like Maria alive and that is no small thing my friends.

The donations, the support, the love, the blisters...they DO make a difference!

So does the weather. I was able to walk seven miles Saturday. It was cloudy, breezy and apparently not very humid. I was so relieved to discover I can log some distance when I can actually breathe!

Why She Walked

I don't know how exactly, but I stumbled across this blog a few weeks ago. It's the blog of Jennifer Hoffman, an AZ 3-Day walker. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000. It was treated successfully. But like it so often does, her cancer came back. Metastacized. Much like Casandra's did.

I was intrigued by her story and added it to my favorites so I could read her older posts. On days when I really need a reminder why I'm putting my diabetic, hormone loopy, insanely fat body through this.

Today, one of those days, I found this post:

http://www.08azbreastcancer3dy.blip.tv/

This video is her story, the story of why she walked.

It's also why all of us walk.

(And get all weepy and feel bad about griping about it being too *bleeping* hot to walk. Why, although I so hate myself for signing up for the 3-Day in what has to be the worst weather year ever, I still can't wait to do it).

Jennifer died April 21, 2009.

T-Minus Four Months!

See this blank stare I have going on? This "Whaaa?" expression on my face?

It's only FOUR MONTHS until the 3-Day.

Only four more months to train. And figure out what all I need for the walk. And shop for it. And...pack for it.

*gulp*

Bid on Boobs!

My teammate Laura is auctioning off some super cute stuff to raise funds for her trek! Check it out and bid away!

Bucks4Boobies