You Can Help

Each walker who registers for the Breast Cancer 3-Day pledges to raise $2,100 by no later than 4 weeks after their event. At that 4 week mark, the walker is responsible for the balance. Many walkers, myself included, start training and sending out fundraising letters and emails, as well as holding fundraisers, such as yard sales and car washes, having faith that the money will come in. I was blessed to connect with a great team who shared their extra funds with me so I was able to reach and exceed my minimum. I would like to extend that generosity to other walkers as well. Once funds have been deposited in a walker's account, they can not be transferred, so our only option is to try to direct any new funds into low accounts. If you would like to make a donation to the 3-Day, please make your donation to one of these walkers. If you get to their personal page and their balance is already $2,100 or more, please try another walker. Our goal here is to get everyone to their minimum so they do not have to pay out of pocket.

Select a walker. Got to http://www.the3day.org. Select the walker's city. Then click Sponsor A Participant. (It's the first menu item under "donate".) Enter the walker's name in the space provided. When the walker's name is found, select it and make your donation. If you prefer to mail your donation, there is a form you can print out and send in with your check or credit card number. Thank you SO MUCH for your help! These walkers have worked and trained so hard! Let's help them out.

Chicago
Diane Swanson

Atlanta
Lu Ann DelVerme

Tampa Bay
Nicole Pugh
Carmel Teeters
Anita Black

San Diego
Cortney Austin
Angela Sciacqua-Smith
Shannon Hershberger
Bonnie Fitzpatrick
Maria Jackson
Zarita de la Cerda
Elaine Kearney

Arizona
Daniel De Lisle
Kathy Fisher

My 3-Day Adventure

I haven't posted in a while because training and fundraising took up a lot more time that I anticipated and along with everything else in my life, I just didn't have time to get on here.

My 3-Day adventure

I thought I would post this on here for a couple of reasons: 1) this blog is about walking in Atlanta. I definitely walked in Atlanta this weekend!
2) You had to come here to read this, which means I’m not forcing anything on you. ;-)
3) It saves me from typing it over and over for different groups and forgetting something.

My journey began Thursday night in Marietta. I stayed at the home of a 3-Day teammate who was generous enough to let me borrow a guest bed for the night. I went to bed around 9:30 after a nutritious piece of German chocolate cake. I didn’t actually get to sleep until around 11:00, which made getting up at 4:00 a lot of fun. The three of us who stayed at the house that night headed out about 4:40 AM to meet the rest of our team in a local church parking lot at 4:45. Fortunately, our team captain knew “certain people” would be late, so she had built in a grace period. We didn’t leave until a few minutes after 5:00. By the way, we did make it there before our captain. ;-)

We met up with most of our team and the 15 of us piled into a Hummer limo donated by Maximum Limo . That was awesome and our driver was a sweetheart!

After Opening Ceremony at Northlake Mall, we headed out around 7:30. I don’t remember many details of Day One because after about 40 miles, it all starts to run together. I do know the support volunteers were AWESOME!!! The motorcycle safety guys helped not only with traffic, but with morale as well. They dressed in outrageous costumes, played kickin’ music and I never dreamed I would be so happy to see a guy wearing pink tennis shoes!

The official mileage for Day One was 22.7 miles, but we had to walk 0.7 miles to get from the Opening Ceremony area to the spot where we were actually released on the route, so we actually walked 23.4 miles. Many of us were very disappointed in the route that was chosen. We walked through some very nasty, dirty neighborhoods. I never felt unsafe, but it was definitely NOT the scenic route. There were four people who had traveled from London, England to participate and many people from out-of-state. I didn’t talk to anyone who spoke with the English visitors, but I understand that several of the out-of-state visitors were not impressed with their first views of Atlanta. Frankly, none of the local walkers were either.

Day One took us through Tucker, Stone Mountain and Lithonia. I’m not saying that there are not lovely parts in all those areas. We just didn’t get to experience any of them. We camped at the South Eastern Athletic Complex in Lithonia. THAT was pretty. It was a park back in the woods, but it was almost dark by the time I got there, so I didn’t really get to enjoy it much.

I was okay most of the day. I didn’t really experience any muscle soreness or cramps. I was getting pretty tired by the end of the day, though. However, our Pit Stops (CLEAN port-a-potties, food & drinks) were 3 miles apart, and the last one of the day was also 3 miles from camp. (Yes, I said “camp”) In an effort to avoid the medical tent and the lovely IV, I had been drinking water and sports drinks all day. I had also been checking out those clean port-a-potties, but this stuff has a way of catching up to you. I all but ran the last 2.5 miles to camp because I *ahem* was “over-hydrated”.

I was feeling great until I sat down to eat dinner (delicious spaghetti!) and almost couldn’t get back up. My muscles had gotten stiff while I was still. I hobbled back to my tent to prepare to take a shower. If you have never taken a shower in a mobile shower, you’re missing out. There are actually big semi-truck trailers with shower stalls in them. And the most important part----HOT WATER!!!!! Because of planning issues, I (along with several hundred other walkers and support crew) ended up waiting in line an hour or more for showers, but we got them eventually.

Day Two was 23.7 miles of hills. Honestly, how do hills only go UP? Don’t they have to go down SOMETIME? By about half-way through the day, my feet were killing me. The rest of my body still really wasn’t sore, which was a total shock. I had been training for this for several months, but you can still never really be prepared for something like this. Again, we walked through some, um, interesting areas, along with some nice areas, like Main Street in downtown Stone Mountain. And all the people who came out to cheer us on were very encouraging. If you ever have the opportunity to spend some time at a cheering station for an event like this, please go! You have no idea how much it means to the people participating in the event.

My feet were hurting so bad by the end of the day that I walked the last five miles with tears rolling down my face. They do have vans you can take if you need to, but I had trained for many hours for this event and as long as I was physically able, I was going to walk. So I walked. I just hurt a lot. Then of course, about a mile past the last Pit Stop and two miles from camp, I had to go the bathroom again, so suddenly, my sore feet are the least of my worries because there is nowhere to “go” except camp, which was at Georgia Perimeter College in Decatur. As I topped the hill I saw a Texaco sign. I have never been so happy to see a gas station in my life. Of course, right across the street was the camp, so I danced along with everyone else waiting to cross (our moto-crew folks always had awesome music for us at every intersection) and ran to the port-a-potties, much to the dismay of the cute costumed crew member trying to give me a sticker or water or something…I really don’t remember.

The awesome crew figured out a new system for Saturday night so the wait for the showers was only about 20 minutes. Our support crew absolutely rocked and we could not have done the walk without all the incredible support we had.

Day Three was a little better, because we knew it was almost over. The route was much more shaded and scenic which made a huge difference in morale. Also the Pit Stops were about 2 miles apart instead of three, which also made a huge difference. For those who may not be familiar with normal walking paces, that’s a difference of about 20 minutes. I still didn’t have any muscle soreness, but my feet were in extreme pain by mid-morning. We had tons of people cheering us on through the whole day. We only had to go 15 miles, so I had called my husband that morning to tell him that I would be at Piedmont Park around 2:00 PM. That was our finishing point and the location of Closing Ceremonies. He isn’t known for being on time, so I called him again when I reached the lunch stop at noon to remind him that I would be at the park around 2. He was already there! More importantly, so was my three-year-old son. All you moms know what I’m talking about! I only ate about half my lunch and took off. My feet were still hurting, but I was determined to get there as quickly as possible. It was still almost 3 when I got there. I had to take potty breaks and tired feet can only do so much. Jay and Jeffrey were waiting near the gate when I walked in. Jeffrey ran to give me a hug, and as only a child can, lifted my spirits by saying, “Eew, you got slimy lotion all over me!”

I knew I still had to check in and officially finish, so I asked Jeffrey if he wanted to walk with me. We walked about another ½ mile to the other side of the park. Honestly, had I realized it would be so far, I would have not taken him with me, but he did really well. We crossed the finish line together as my team captain, Cheryl took our picture. Then I had to check in and we walked back across the park. The Closing Ceremonies would not take place until the last walker entered the park and Jeffrey had already been out there since 11:30. I couldn’t see keeping him there for another couple of hours. And honestly, I was ready to go home. *I* didn’t want to wait around for another couple of hours. So we walked back to meet Jay at the gate, and shouted encouragement to all the walkers still coming in. So after 62.1 miles, I was finally done.

I came home, took a warm bath, and a three hour nap (not in the bathtub). Today, I feel great. My feet are a little tender, but not really sore. I have no muscle soreness at all (I am totally shocked by that.) I ended up with one small blister on my toe, but it doesn’t really bother me. I’m just wearing sandals for a few days so my feet can get some air and stay dry.

Everyone has a different experience on the 3-Day. This was my second 3-Day and I had two totally different experiences each time. Each city is different, each year is different, and each walker is different. The one constant is that it is an experience you will never forget.

2005 Atlanta Breast Cancer 3-Day - General Donation

2005 Atlanta Breast Cancer 3-Day - General Donation

Just an update on my training.
I have been following the training schedule on http://www.kintera.org/atf/cf/{EBF68B6B-442F-4C41-BCB6-FD2C9FF415E9}/TRAINING%20WKSHT.PDF pretty closely. There have been a few days here and there that I have missed, and there was a whole week in the middle of May when I was unable to train, but everyday is a new day, and I just get up and try again. I even managed to train while out of town over Memorial Day weekend. Now if the rain would let up a little, that would be great. I don't mind walking in the rain, but I usually have my 3-yr-old son with me and I don't like taking him out in heavy rain. I'm waiting for a phone call from my teammate right now, but I think I missed her and she went out walking early to miss the rain. So, I guess I'm about to head out now for my 3 miles.

About Me

About Me

I have updated this page because our 18-yr-old just graduated! Yay!

Clayton County

Clayton County

Information for the Clayton County International Park (or "The Beach") has been updated.

Clayton County

Clayton County

I walked 5 miles this afternoon at Lovejoy Regional Park. It's a nice park, but I wasn't real impressed with their walking paths. To walk 5 miles, I had to go around the park almost 3 times. It kind of gets redundant. And they have no shade, although there is a very pretty small lake along the walking path behind the maintenance building. I saw lots of geese, too.

Site Updates

I have updated the Lake Horton entry on the Fayette County page.

I have also updated my About Me page, if you care about that kind of thing.

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training

I signed up Wednesday, and on Friday, Jeffrey and I headed to Lake Horton in Fayette County to start training. I walked my 3 miles with Jeffrey in his jogging stroller--all 40 pounds of him. As we hit about 2.5 miles, he just breaks down and insists that we have just passed the playground. After a battle of wills, he finally got back into the stroller (probably just so he could prove me wrong), and we headed to the playground. I found out today while we were walking there, that he thought the mega-huge power poles that run through the park were really big jungle gyms. Really. This is my life.

I had a class yesterday morning, so I didn't get a chance to walk. Oh, yeah. I forgot about the monsoon that came through yesterday. I did walk a little over a mile yesterday evening right before dark...and right before it started pouring again.

Today after church, Jeffrey and I headed back out to Lake Horton. I was not prepared for the number of people there today. Wow. I have never been there on a weekend before, and there are just not that many people there at one time during the day Monday thru Friday. So, we dodged a lot of dogs and bicycles and I got my 5 miles in for today.

Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day, so I'll report back on Tuesday.

Breast Cancer 3 Day

My Breast Cancer 3-Day Donation Page

I have signed up to participate in the Breast Cancer 3-Day in Atlanta in September. This will be my second 3-Day. I walked the first one one month before Jeffrey was born in 2001. We will be walking 60 miles over 3 days and camping overnight (in tents that are not waterproof.)

If you think this is something you might like to do, you can find more information at The Breast Cancer 3-Day website. If you sign up, please use my Sponsor ID:79134244. You can also go to my donation page listed above to make a donation. I get a cool gift if I raise $500 within the first 60 days of registration so if you help me by donating by June 26, I'll send you a special gift as a thank you.

I am working with my friend Caprice to come up with a team name. As soon as we come up with something, we will start our team up. We will welcome team members. If you want to go ahead and register and would like to join our team when we set it up, just send me an email and I'll let you know we're ready and you can join us.

Charity Music Marathon - DJ Darren Hartland's DJ World Record Attempt 2006

Charity Music Marathon - DJ Darren Hartland's DJ World Record Attempt 2006

I "know" this guy from a web builder's forum. He's trying to set a world's record for DJ'ing as well as raise money for a great cause. I know how hard it can be to get help and support for non-profit events, so let's help Darren out. Even if you don't donate, at least pick some songs so he'll have something to play.*grin*

Well, I'm off to spend the day doing yardwork. If I can move, I'll check in later.

Updates to website

I posted a message a couple of weeks ago, but for some reason, it didn't make it here. Isn't technology wonderful? It was nothing important. I had just come in from trimming vines and brush in our backyard and my hands and arms were so sore that I could barely type. Don't ever let anyone tell you that yard work and gardening are not exercise. Now if it would ever quit raining, I could get out there and finish. Assuming the ivy doesn't take over again before I can get out there.

On to the website: because of the weather, I haven't been able to get out much lately. Of course, there have been nice days but those only fall on days when I already have commitments and can't get to a park more than 10 minutes away. I've already been to those.

On Wednesday, Jeffrey and I made it out to Reynold's Nature Preserve in Morrow. If you have never been out there, I would encourage you to go. It's beautiful. Read more at http://www.atlantawalkingpaths.com/clayton.html.

Since Reynold's doesn't have a playground, I told Jeffrey that we would stop at a park with a playground on the way back so he could play. We passed a school on Reynold's Road on the way to the Nature Preserve, and had the following conversation:
Jeffrey: There's a playground!
Me: No, that's a school.
Jeffrey: Maybe the next playground we find won't have a school on it.

Everyone needs a three-year-old around to keep them on their toes.

Clayton County page update

Clayton County

I have added comments for Independence Park in Clayton County.

Welcome to Gmail

Welcome to Gmail

Okay, this has nothing to do with walking or exercise, but I'm wanting to get the word out about these gmail addresses. I have 100 invitations. Yes, 100. There used to be a website called gmailswap.com, but it's closed now. So now I have all these invitations and no one to give them too.

Gmail is great. I have two accounts. One for personal use and one for business. For all intents and purposes, you have unlimited storage. It groups your messages by conversations, so messages with the same subject line are grouped together so you can read them on the same page. It's great for Yahoo! group subscriptions. There are still a few features that they need to add, but there is an easy way to submit ideas and requests to Google about the mail service, and I'm sure they're working on new stuff all the time. It works well enough that I've been using it since the end of December and I love it.

Just email me for an invitation.

SELF : 2005 SELF CHALLENGE: MY CHALLENGE

SELF : 2005 SELF CHALLENGE: MY CHALLENGE

Ack! I just recovered from a 20-minute yoga, then 20-minute Pilates workout. It felt good, but it was a stretch. (ha!) Anyway, I love Denise Austin workouts. It's mostly because I can listen to her for 20-30 minutes without her voice leading me to want to throw the TV across the room. I used her Power Yoga Plus DVD. And survived. Jeffrey wanted to try most of the exercises. If you haven't done yoga with a 3-year-old, you should put it on your list of things to do.

Atlanta Walking Paths and Trails

Atlanta Walking Paths and Trails

I went to Independence Park in Clayton County yesterday to check out the walking path and let Jeffrey play on the playground. I took a couple of pictures, too and as soon as I figure out why they won't upload, I'll get them posted to the website. The weather was great and Jeffrey had a great time playing with his friend.

Updates to www.atlantawalkingpaths.com

www.atlantawalkingpaths.com

2/15: corrected Contact Form; if you tried to send me a message via the Contact Form and couldn't figure out where to put the message, that's because I left it out. It's fixed now.
2/15: added Clayton County Wetlands
2/15: added Steptracker.com to the Links Page

2/16: added Active.com and Race for Riley to Links Page

2/20: added two new Cobb County parks
2/20: added forum

2/21: added blog

2005 SELF CHALLENGE

2005 SELF CHALLENGE

I just completed my first workout in months-since Labor Day, 2004. I had been walking 3 miles a day until August 28, when I fell down the stairs at my house and sprained my ankle. Being the stubborn person that I am, I wrapped my ankle and walked in the US 10K Classic. I had already been training for it, and I had already paid for it. I wasn't dead, so I wasn't going to miss it.

I have been testing my ankle every few weeks since and after just a little walking, it would start hurting. So now it's been 6 months, and I'm tired of not being able to go walking. So I joined the SELF Challenge, bought a workout diary, and started a website for walkers in the Atlanta area (not necessarily in that order).

The first workout for the SC is a 30-minute cardio. Since it's raining and cold outside and I already have a sore throat, I decided to pull out the exercise bike- also gathering dust since my fall. Aside from a pain in my neck-literally, the 30 minutes went by pretty quickly and I was really surprised that I didn't have trouble finishing the whole 30 minutes. As for the pain in my neck, a visit to my chiropractor would take care of that, but I can't afford that right now. I'll take a Tylenol and see how I feel. If it's not better by this afternoon, I'll have to bite the bullet and go to the chiropractor.