*sorry I did not mean for this to post today but our internet is evil and cut out on me halfway through and it lost half of the post (I cannot stand rewriting, it never comes out as good the second time!) and apparently the date that I wanted it to post on. I'm so sorry that the first thing you'll read about the walk today is a Debbie Downer moment!*
Before I get to the good stuff tomorrow, I have to get some stuff off my chest. There were several things about the Avon Walk that disappointed me. I learned a valuable lesson through all of this and I can say that I definitely will not be one of those people next year wearing an alumnae button. I didn't realize it until this weekend but (somewhat understandably) our fundraising was valued far, far more than the physicality of the challenge we endured. I realize that their main goal is to fundraise for the cause and I am completely behind that, however, the physical nature of walking the 39.3 miles in a weekend is what inspires our donors to give money to the cause. I felt that my accomplishment should have been acknowledged a bit better than it was.
I cannot even describe the disappointment I had in the finish line. It's just a blown up thing that says FINISH and it was so crowded with spectators that we struggled to get a picture taken. It was utter chaos. There was no 39.3 milestone anywhere to take a picture. The first thing you came to when you crossed the "line" was the Avon Walk Shop and a booth where you could sign up for next year. Another quarter mile away was the medical tents, food and water. At that point, I felt a little hustled. I had absolutely zero interest in signing up for next year or spending my money on their product because they don't value what I did enough to provide necessary things for me after the physical exertion I did all weekend. (For those in the audience, when I ran the marathon and at most other races I've done, you cross a finish line in an organized manner, are handed a bottle of water and some food immediately. I didn't appreciate not being able to find those items and having to ask someone after crossing the finish line cluster of insanity.)
The mile markers, oh, the mile markers. I cannot even begin to explain how awful they were. A good portion of the 39.3 (probably about 15 miles over the two days) were on the lakeshore path. The path has mile markers that were done by the park service and a local running group. My sources with Garmin watches told me that they are pretty darn accurate. After spending a great deal of my summer and early fall training on the path, I know it well enough to know when mile markers are off. There was one part in Sunday's walk that was so blatantly wrong that the organizers should be embarrassed. It's too long of a story to tell but I know there was only half a mile between two mile markers and then supposedly the next "mile" took us 40 minutes, which there is no way. I think they just arbitrarily put rest stops and mile markers wherever they could, which is fine, but don't tell me they are at a certain mark when they actually aren't there. In my book, no mile markers are better than obscenely wrong mile markers. (I also can't count on one hand the number of times that someone told us, "Just around the corner and you'll hit mile XX." We'd assume we missed the mile marker until about half a mile later we'd come to it. Not cool when you are exhausted and your mind is messing with you enough already. Trust me you don't need a volunteer to mess with you about mileage.)
I even google mapped walking the end of the course. What they told us was 1.2 was really much closer to 2 miles. What all of this means is that I have no idea how much we really walked! I'd like to think that we did walk at least 39.3!
They were so secretive about the route during this entire time! We didn't know it until the actual morning of and even then, the map I have looks like a squiggly line and there are 2 roads drawn in. It was impossible to tell Adam where to be to meet us on the route. I was a bit irritated when I found out that it was the same route as the year before. As a first time walker, they made it extremely hard for me to have any sort of support. We could have had Brooke's friends come meet us along the way but we had no idea where to tell them to be! I personally hypothesize that they give us such a bad route map so we can't go home and check them up on the mileage. At first we thought they wouldn't have known the route until the last minute because of street closures. However, not a single street was closed for the entire 39.3 miles. You read that correctly, we did the entire thing on trails and sidewalks. (In case you were wondering, that's why it took us 11 hours the first day. We had lots of intersections to cross and cross walks back up really quickly with hundreds of people.) I was completely caught off card by this. I had no idea how the day was really going to have such a stop/start/stop/start nature. If you had been doing the walk for years and years, it would have been much easier to tell someone where to be if they wanted to come and sit and have lunch with you. They did give several "cheering station" locations but those were never good places to sit and rest and I would have liked to have known where lunch was going to be (especially the first day in the pouring rain, we could have sat in the car, haha!).
I hate feeling like I potentially come off as a jerk in this post but if anything, I always try to be honest. In this case, I honestly felt like my physical accomplishment was devalued by the Avon Walk organizers. It's not something that I will ever consider doing again or recommend to anyone because of the poor organization. With that being said, I have absolutely no regrets in doing it. I enjoyed spending the weekend with a friend who challenged herself in a completely new way and became a marathon finisher on Saturday! The fundraising was important and I completely understand that, but at least in my case, I felt that my family and friends donated because I was doing something big. Something that they wouldn't or couldn't do themselves. I would have liked to feel like that was as important as the money to the organizers.
Showing posts with label avon walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label avon walk. Show all posts
Monday, June 7, 2010
26.2 = 26.2
I have so many thoughts on the walk that I want to get down on this virtual paper. I took probably 100 pictures or more, which is a great benefit of walking. I had time to literally stop and smell the roses. We weren't "racing" or really concerned about time except for to get off the route before it closed at dusk so I enjoyed taking lots of pictures, talking to people, not being out of breath, etc.
I'll get to lots of the other stuff later but I just wanted to say that after having done both running and walking a full marathon, I can tell you that 26.2 miles is hard no matter what you do. It took us close to 11 hours to walk it. We ate our lunch barely "sitting" on cardboard boxes in the mud under a tree in the pouring rain. On that first day, we hardly rested because the rain showers rendered most of the ground too wet to really want to sit on it. So that means that we were upright and involved in some kind of motor locomotion for truly 11 hours. I dare anyone who has ran a marathon to attempt that and try to tell me it's easier. At the end of the day, my body felt exactly the same as it did after running last October, only this time there was a catch. I had to get up and do a half marathon the next day!
I'll get to lots of the other stuff later but I just wanted to say that after having done both running and walking a full marathon, I can tell you that 26.2 miles is hard no matter what you do. It took us close to 11 hours to walk it. We ate our lunch barely "sitting" on cardboard boxes in the mud under a tree in the pouring rain. On that first day, we hardly rested because the rain showers rendered most of the ground too wet to really want to sit on it. So that means that we were upright and involved in some kind of motor locomotion for truly 11 hours. I dare anyone who has ran a marathon to attempt that and try to tell me it's easier. At the end of the day, my body felt exactly the same as it did after running last October, only this time there was a catch. I had to get up and do a half marathon the next day!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Random Stuff
I'm waiting on a couple packages. First off, the highly-anticipated heart rate monitor is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. This afternoon, my new blackberry should arrive to Adam's office. I had it shipped there because I'm horrified that I'd be out of the house when it came and someone in his building's mail room will be there to accept it.
Yep, I lost my blackberry on Sunday. We started our morning by playing beach volleyball for a couple of hours, it's been a heatwave here in Chicity. We even have the A/C on... in May! Adam says I have improved 200% since last year. I think it's my stronger body that makes it easier to play. I still have my Daria moments (think watching ball fall near me when I totally should have had it) but I'll take 200% improvement any day. After v-ball we rode our bikes back home, showered and headed off to watch the Blackhawks game. We had a few too many pitchers of beer because they were only $3.75 (A PITCHER!) and my phone somehow got lost at some point during our transfer from one bar to another. I think I probably left it on the train and seeing as how our group was totally decked out in Blackhawks gear, including a playoffs broom (we swept the Sharks) and singing the "after goal song", I think we sufficiently annoyed everyone on the train car and if anyone saw me leave my phone behind they probably thought I deserved it. Which I probably did.
Moral of the story... take it easy on the pitchers, Big Jen. It was a valuable experience because we'll be getting iPhones in the fall when I move onto Adam's plan and I realized that I seriously suck at keeping a phone (this is the same Blackberry that fell out of my bag on the floor of a hotel in Montana and had to get mailed back to me) and I'll be taking Adam's old iPhone and he can get the new model instead of the other way around. And if you don't already have phone insurance, you should consider getting it. They are overnighting me the phone for $100. Which is way less than the $400 or so a new Blackberry costs. There was no way that I could carry on with my old flip phone for the next 4.5 months until my contract was over. I need the internet for so many things (CTA bus tracker being the most important).
Tonight I'll have to figure out how to do Sprint's at home phone activation for the first time. Oy vey. But on the brightside, my lost Blackberry was having more and more frequent meltdowns and for some reason the back was stuck on so I couldn't remove the battery for the hard reset that they are so fond of for fixing said phones. Hopefully the new-to-me (I am expecting it to be a re-ferb) will be able to hold on until October.
We only have a week and a half until the Avon Walk! I'm so excited and ready for it to be here. Brooke and I are mapping out our weekend plans and we've decided on our pre-walk meal of pasta at Mia Francesca's and our post-walk meal at Tango Sur (aka the best BYOB Argentinian steak house ever). I try not to think about the overwhelming emotions that will be running through me. At the introduction meeting, I was tearing up at the video. There are so many survivors that walk and many who have lost mothers, sisters, friends, daughters, etc. I'm thankful that it is a walk so we'll be able to chat with so many different people and hear their stories (as opposed to me asthmatically running and not able to talk as easily). But because I am an emotional basket case I'm not looking forward to the sheer sadness of it all. Luckily, I'll have Brooker next to me to hold my hand and walk me through it (literally, haha).
Yep, I lost my blackberry on Sunday. We started our morning by playing beach volleyball for a couple of hours, it's been a heatwave here in Chicity. We even have the A/C on... in May! Adam says I have improved 200% since last year. I think it's my stronger body that makes it easier to play. I still have my Daria moments (think watching ball fall near me when I totally should have had it) but I'll take 200% improvement any day. After v-ball we rode our bikes back home, showered and headed off to watch the Blackhawks game. We had a few too many pitchers of beer because they were only $3.75 (A PITCHER!) and my phone somehow got lost at some point during our transfer from one bar to another. I think I probably left it on the train and seeing as how our group was totally decked out in Blackhawks gear, including a playoffs broom (we swept the Sharks) and singing the "after goal song", I think we sufficiently annoyed everyone on the train car and if anyone saw me leave my phone behind they probably thought I deserved it. Which I probably did.
Moral of the story... take it easy on the pitchers, Big Jen. It was a valuable experience because we'll be getting iPhones in the fall when I move onto Adam's plan and I realized that I seriously suck at keeping a phone (this is the same Blackberry that fell out of my bag on the floor of a hotel in Montana and had to get mailed back to me) and I'll be taking Adam's old iPhone and he can get the new model instead of the other way around. And if you don't already have phone insurance, you should consider getting it. They are overnighting me the phone for $100. Which is way less than the $400 or so a new Blackberry costs. There was no way that I could carry on with my old flip phone for the next 4.5 months until my contract was over. I need the internet for so many things (CTA bus tracker being the most important).
Tonight I'll have to figure out how to do Sprint's at home phone activation for the first time. Oy vey. But on the brightside, my lost Blackberry was having more and more frequent meltdowns and for some reason the back was stuck on so I couldn't remove the battery for the hard reset that they are so fond of for fixing said phones. Hopefully the new-to-me (I am expecting it to be a re-ferb) will be able to hold on until October.
We only have a week and a half until the Avon Walk! I'm so excited and ready for it to be here. Brooke and I are mapping out our weekend plans and we've decided on our pre-walk meal of pasta at Mia Francesca's and our post-walk meal at Tango Sur (aka the best BYOB Argentinian steak house ever). I try not to think about the overwhelming emotions that will be running through me. At the introduction meeting, I was tearing up at the video. There are so many survivors that walk and many who have lost mothers, sisters, friends, daughters, etc. I'm thankful that it is a walk so we'll be able to chat with so many different people and hear their stories (as opposed to me asthmatically running and not able to talk as easily). But because I am an emotional basket case I'm not looking forward to the sheer sadness of it all. Luckily, I'll have Brooker next to me to hold my hand and walk me through it (literally, haha).
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
25 Days
We got an email yesterday from Avon Walk... only 25 days until it's here! I'm excited but I'm not going to lie, a little freaked out.
I'm a researcher, I looked up and had an idea of the marathon course about six months before the race. The Avon Walk is slightly more, well, loose in their planning. I don't think they have the actual course decided yet. I don't even know where it starts or ends. They keep saying that they will send a detailed email as the walk gets closer but I have this innate need to have a better understanding of what I'm up against. I must continue to suppress my Type A obsessions and get over it.
In other related news, I had my serious legs class with Mondale yesterday for the first time in three weeks and oh the pain!! I know I am making serious strides but I still have a long way to go. I would just like to be able to do the three minutes of jumping jacks with 8 lb dumbells!!!
I'm a researcher, I looked up and had an idea of the marathon course about six months before the race. The Avon Walk is slightly more, well, loose in their planning. I don't think they have the actual course decided yet. I don't even know where it starts or ends. They keep saying that they will send a detailed email as the walk gets closer but I have this innate need to have a better understanding of what I'm up against. I must continue to suppress my Type A obsessions and get over it.
In other related news, I had my serious legs class with Mondale yesterday for the first time in three weeks and oh the pain!! I know I am making serious strides but I still have a long way to go. I would just like to be able to do the three minutes of jumping jacks with 8 lb dumbells!!!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Reality Check
I have an app on my Facebook page that tells everyone how much money I've raised towards the Avon Walk. If you were curious, I've hit my goal of $2000!!
It also has a ticker that reminded me we have 48 days until the walk. EEEKS!
48 days until I walk a marathon.
It also has a ticker that reminded me we have 48 days until the walk. EEEKS!
48 days until I walk a marathon.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Gym, Tan, Laundry
Shout out to Jersey Shore (which I do not watch and have never seen, actually)!
GYM: I've been really enjoying my renaissance at the gym. After a couple of lazy weeks at the beginning of March, I've been back and really hitting it. I worked out with Adam today and it was nice to see how far I've come in a relatively short time! We were talking on the way home and I think my ultimate goal is just to be always able to say, "I'm in the best shape of my life!". I thought I was after the marathon, but I know I am in WAY better condition now. If I did marathon training again this summer, I probably could shave about 45 minutes off last year's time. We ran into my favorite gym instructor (and hopefully soon to be personal trainer), Mondale, and I had a brief discussion with him about protein powders. I'm just concerned about my protein intake, or lack thereof, with my aggressive workout schedule. He recommended a powder that I can put in my green monster smoothies and we got some after our workout. I felt like such a mega-tool walking down the street with a huge jug of protein stuff. I promise, I'm not becoming a meathead though!
TAN: We actually had nice weather this week and I did a ton of Avon Walk training outside. Which is awesome, except for the awesome tan that I end up with. Last year I had a total farmers tan and watch tan lines because of all my running on the lakeshore path and it seems I'm doomed for that fate again. Plus, when I run, I find my legs never get tanned to match my arms. I'm not going to lie, I was about 10 seconds away from walking into a tanning salon but for some reason, I didn't want to. I ended up at Walgreen's instead and accidentally bought real self-tanner instead of that tanning lotion that I've used in the past. SELF TANNER IS SCARY. Then I started having all these crazy thoughts about how I was actually dying my skin with chemicals and how could that be any worse than fake'n'baking? I'm in a wedding next weekend in a strapless dress so I guess I'll keep on with the self-tanner and see what happens. It's pretty funny because it makes me insanely glittery when I put it on!
LAUNDRY: I have extra laundry to do this week because we are finally PACKING AWAY OUR WINTER CLOTHES! So happy and thankful for that! There were days that I thought we'd never get here but it is so glorious to sit in the living room with all the windows open. I love it! The really craptastic part is that we keep the off-season clothes in our storage locker in the basement. We went downstairs to retrieve our summer stuff and discovered our lock had been cut and Adam's golf clubs (hopefully that's all) were stolen. I WAS SO MAD because we are 99% sure it was a former tenant that came back to vandalize and burglarize after he was booted out of his property by the bank. What a jerk!
GYM: I've been really enjoying my renaissance at the gym. After a couple of lazy weeks at the beginning of March, I've been back and really hitting it. I worked out with Adam today and it was nice to see how far I've come in a relatively short time! We were talking on the way home and I think my ultimate goal is just to be always able to say, "I'm in the best shape of my life!". I thought I was after the marathon, but I know I am in WAY better condition now. If I did marathon training again this summer, I probably could shave about 45 minutes off last year's time. We ran into my favorite gym instructor (and hopefully soon to be personal trainer), Mondale, and I had a brief discussion with him about protein powders. I'm just concerned about my protein intake, or lack thereof, with my aggressive workout schedule. He recommended a powder that I can put in my green monster smoothies and we got some after our workout. I felt like such a mega-tool walking down the street with a huge jug of protein stuff. I promise, I'm not becoming a meathead though!
TAN: We actually had nice weather this week and I did a ton of Avon Walk training outside. Which is awesome, except for the awesome tan that I end up with. Last year I had a total farmers tan and watch tan lines because of all my running on the lakeshore path and it seems I'm doomed for that fate again. Plus, when I run, I find my legs never get tanned to match my arms. I'm not going to lie, I was about 10 seconds away from walking into a tanning salon but for some reason, I didn't want to. I ended up at Walgreen's instead and accidentally bought real self-tanner instead of that tanning lotion that I've used in the past. SELF TANNER IS SCARY. Then I started having all these crazy thoughts about how I was actually dying my skin with chemicals and how could that be any worse than fake'n'baking? I'm in a wedding next weekend in a strapless dress so I guess I'll keep on with the self-tanner and see what happens. It's pretty funny because it makes me insanely glittery when I put it on!
LAUNDRY: I have extra laundry to do this week because we are finally PACKING AWAY OUR WINTER CLOTHES! So happy and thankful for that! There were days that I thought we'd never get here but it is so glorious to sit in the living room with all the windows open. I love it! The really craptastic part is that we keep the off-season clothes in our storage locker in the basement. We went downstairs to retrieve our summer stuff and discovered our lock had been cut and Adam's golf clubs (hopefully that's all) were stolen. I WAS SO MAD because we are 99% sure it was a former tenant that came back to vandalize and burglarize after he was booted out of his property by the bank. What a jerk!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Race Report: Shamrock Shuffle
Last Sunday, Adam and I woke up bright and early, met our friend Heather at the train and made our way downtown for the Shamrock Shuffle. I would describe it as a kick-off of sorts of the outdoor racing season here in Chicago and it's sponsored and run by the same people as the marathon and the course is basically the downtown portions of the marathon, except you never leave downtown and it's only 8K (thank goodness!!).
I'm telling you it's basically the Chicago Marathon when it comes to crowds as well! And 35,000ish people is fine when you are running 26.2 miles and there is time for the crowd to finally thin out but much more challenging when you are running only 4.97 miles. Plus, this is probably the first time in several months that many of the people were running outside (other than my 5K in San Antonio in Feb, it was my first time too) but FOR REAL, if you are not conditioned and cannot run from the start line, please start yourself in the back!
Anyhoo, it was crowded, which made me semi-cranky and my bladder was making me mega-cranky because I kept having to pee! Adam and I ran together until sometime after the 2 mile marker in which case I decided that I wasn't going to finish and I'd just meet him at the beer tent. Easier said than done, apparently, because I got yelled at by a course official to get back on the course and at that moment, I turned a corner and spotted the 3 mile and 5K markers. At that point, I figured I'd quit being a chump and get my full bladder back out there. I actually ended up running a much faster second half. The last bit of the race is exactly like the marathon, up "Mount Roosevelt" and around a corner to the finish. Mount Roosevelt is the closest thing we have to a hill in Chicago and while it's pathetic, it's still a hill and at the very end of the race. The whole time I was moving up the hill, I was cursing the people that were walking in the middle of the street (grrr!) and wondering just how on earth I'd conquered it after more than 25 miles in October!
Heather and Adam finished a few minutes before me due to my unfortunate almost wimp out and we all met up at the beer tent for the trademark Shamrock Shuffle debauchery.
Oh and I almost forgot to mention, it was SO FREEZING COLD and kinda rainy/misty. Blech! It was especially sad when you consider that it was in the 60's and sunny on Thursday and Friday but at least it wasn't dumpy snowing like Saturday so we can be thankful for that.
***AVON WALK UPDATE***
I decided to try and add about 10 miles of extra walking a week, in addition to the gratuitous amounts of walking I do just getting around the city and to my regular gym schedule (that I am actually trying to follow again). Adding 10 miles sounds so easy but I forgot that walking just takes a long time! Last night I had 48 minutes on the treadmill before my yoga class and only managed about 3.5 miles. UG! So this week I'm at about 5.5 but my schedule was a little crazy at times so I'm going to work really hard to get all 10 miles in next week.
If you are a reader in San Antonio, please come and join Brooke and me at Taco Cabana on Blanco and 1604 for dinner on April 11th (6-8 p.m.)! They are donating 20% of all receipts from people that come in for us to our walk funds. I need less than $200 at this point so every little bit will help me reach my goal!
Monday, March 15, 2010
39.3 update!!
I haven't talked about the Avon Walk in forever (well, to be fair, I haven't talked about much of anything lately)! But we're less than 3 months away, WOO HOO!
The snow is completely melted, I didn't even see any of the big residual piles in parking lots over the weekend so I will begin walking in earnest now as the weather allows. I'm not sure how time consuming it will be but I'm going to try to average about 10 miles of dedicated walking a week. When I say dedicated, I mean not counting trips to the train, grocery store, gym, etc. Given how marathon training worked for me, I know that some weeks I'll be able to get more in and some weeks it just won't happen. I hope to not have to do too much of it on the treadmill so let's all cross our fingers now for sunny days (and about 65 degrees if I might be so picky).
My fundraising has been going rather swimmingly, I must say. I'm at $1605 of the mandatory $1800 right now. The only sucky part is that I kind of feel like I have exhausted every person I know at least once and I hate badgering people over and over (although I know that is a cardinal rule of fundraising, that you must ask people eleventy billion times). I do it myself, I have to read something probably three times before I donate. Which at least this experience has taught me to be better about that!
I'm walking with my VERY BRAVE friend Brooke (who is going to rock this walk, btw) and she bought each of us some super fab bright pink Texas A&M hats. I'm so excited to sport the pink and rock our school support. Speaking of, I CAN'T WAIT TIL FRIDAY FOR OUR TOURNEY GAME! GIG 'EM! Brooke has been battling plantar fascitis, which foot injuries are awesome if you are attempting mega-walks, but she's been slowly rehabbing it and logged a killer 7 miles over the weekend. I logged a killer 7 green beers so I am clearly behind in training.
My immediate plans for the extra odd $195 are to do two things. I'll be in San Antonio for my dear friend Charlotte's wedding in April and Brooke and I are trying to get a dinner organized. I know for sure that our local (and very pink) restaurant, Taco Cabana, does charity nights where everyone you bring in can drop their receipt in a bucket and they will donate 10% of the grand total. But, I'm trying to think bigger (and better food) and trying to work something out with Willie's. I figure people will probably be more likely to come and the overall receipt totals would be a little higher at Willie's (plus, they have Linie's Sunset Wheat beer and I could sit there and drink it all evening). In short, SA people, mark your calendars for April 11th because I plan on having something together by then to raise a little moolah! You can see our cute hats and Avon Walk t-shirts. I even plan on getting some pink balloons for our tables. It'll be a rowdy time if they still have Sunset Wheat (because clearly cutting out beer is NOT a part of my training program this time around).
I also want to do a happy hour fundraiser in Chicago for our local peeps. I know of a couple bars that will do all you can drink packages with a portion donated so I need to get my research on and make some phone calls. I figure with having two events I can probably get that last teeny tiny little bit I need to get my thermometer overflowing on my personal webpage. My personal goal all along has always been $2,000 but I'd love to be able to destroy that amount.
Either way, as always, you can donate at:
Thank you Thank you Thank you!
A big THANK YOU to all my awesome donors (so far):
Brett Albright
Catherine Austin
Brian Bazan
Adam
The Boyds
Grandpa and Grandmother
Dad
Mikey (and there's a blog shout out for you, brother)
Mom
The Carmeans
The Daughertys
Brian Demeyer
Christiana Earle
The Earles
Kristin Geiger (and James)
Booker T
Nancy Hester
The Kruses
Katie Kummer
Sara McD
James Palmer
The Pawasarats
Sherry Pederson
Bev Poe
Lynn Renner (and Jerry)
Angel Suhor (and RJ)
Sherril Theis
With the help of all these amazing people, I have raised over $1600!! Thank you for donating to a great cause!
Brett Albright
Catherine Austin
Brian Bazan
Adam
The Boyds
Grandpa and Grandmother
Dad
Mikey (and there's a blog shout out for you, brother)
Mom
The Carmeans
The Daughertys
Brian Demeyer
Christiana Earle
The Earles
Kristin Geiger (and James)
Booker T
Nancy Hester
The Kruses
Katie Kummer
Sara McD
James Palmer
The Pawasarats
Sherry Pederson
Bev Poe
Lynn Renner (and Jerry)
Angel Suhor (and RJ)
Sherril Theis
With the help of all these amazing people, I have raised over $1600!! Thank you for donating to a great cause!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Big Goals...
**I have given up on being in good health for the month of January. I am still at only about 90% and today Adam is home sick. I am getting by with chanting over and over in my head that winter will be over soon enough and reminding myself how lovely summer is.**
So last week, I decided that Christmas had been over long enough and it was time to get my butt in gear and actually start fundraising the minimum $1,800 I need to be able to particiapte in the Avon Breast Cancer walk that I reference in my blog header. First, I started with my family because I have a little self-pride and couldn't start harassing everyone else in my life without having at least a couple of donations. Adam was first to the plate and then he got uber-excited and emailed a ton of his work buddies and most of our Chicago friends. Today, I figured I should probably send out an email of my own so to those of you who got the email and also read this blog, DO IT DO IT! I would love to hit my fundraising goal, like, tomorrow, because I'll feel really bad if I have to repeatedly email people and become a donation-stalker. I promise, I don't think I'll be doing this again so this is probably the only time you'll have to donate to me. Love you long time.
So for those of you bleaders (from Julie and Julia ~the book, not the movie~ blog + readers = bleaders), who may not be on my email list, I'd love to give you the opportunity to donate as well! My personal webpage is www.avonwalk.org/goto/jenbreda and there is a sweet DONATE NOW button and I pinky promise, it's easier than online shopping on amazon.com. You can also donate through my Facebook page... how cool is that? Any donation, big or small, is appreciated and I LOVE YOUR SUPPORT. Because seriously, if you can find me a person who doesn't have a friend or family member that has been diagnosed with breast cancer, I will be shocked and impressed. This disease does not discriminate and as of right now, 1 in every 8 women will be diagnosed in her lifetime. That is sick and depressing!
Unfortunately, I know the timing sucks because everyone is probably maxed out from the holidays but I have until June 5th to raise the money and you can donate anytime between now and then! And I ordered pretty thank you cards today so you should really aim to get one in your mailbox because who doesn't love mail (that's not bills or junk!). So carry on with your Monday and please consider donating!
MAD SHOUTOUTS TO PEEPS THAT HAVE ALREADY DONATED!!!
Brian Bazan, just got the email about 3 seconds ago
my Dad
Adam
James Palmer
Andrew, Rose and Amber Carmean
(lots of dude support for boobs, very cool!)
YOU GUYS ROCK!
And let's SAVE LOTS OF BOOBS!!!
So last week, I decided that Christmas had been over long enough and it was time to get my butt in gear and actually start fundraising the minimum $1,800 I need to be able to particiapte in the Avon Breast Cancer walk that I reference in my blog header. First, I started with my family because I have a little self-pride and couldn't start harassing everyone else in my life without having at least a couple of donations. Adam was first to the plate and then he got uber-excited and emailed a ton of his work buddies and most of our Chicago friends. Today, I figured I should probably send out an email of my own so to those of you who got the email and also read this blog, DO IT DO IT! I would love to hit my fundraising goal, like, tomorrow, because I'll feel really bad if I have to repeatedly email people and become a donation-stalker. I promise, I don't think I'll be doing this again so this is probably the only time you'll have to donate to me. Love you long time.
So for those of you bleaders (from Julie and Julia ~the book, not the movie~ blog + readers = bleaders), who may not be on my email list, I'd love to give you the opportunity to donate as well! My personal webpage is www.avonwalk.org/goto/jenbreda and there is a sweet DONATE NOW button and I pinky promise, it's easier than online shopping on amazon.com. You can also donate through my Facebook page... how cool is that? Any donation, big or small, is appreciated and I LOVE YOUR SUPPORT. Because seriously, if you can find me a person who doesn't have a friend or family member that has been diagnosed with breast cancer, I will be shocked and impressed. This disease does not discriminate and as of right now, 1 in every 8 women will be diagnosed in her lifetime. That is sick and depressing!
Unfortunately, I know the timing sucks because everyone is probably maxed out from the holidays but I have until June 5th to raise the money and you can donate anytime between now and then! And I ordered pretty thank you cards today so you should really aim to get one in your mailbox because who doesn't love mail (that's not bills or junk!). So carry on with your Monday and please consider donating!
MAD SHOUTOUTS TO PEEPS THAT HAVE ALREADY DONATED!!!
Brian Bazan, just got the email about 3 seconds ago
my Dad
Adam
James Palmer
Andrew, Rose and Amber Carmean
(lots of dude support for boobs, very cool!)
YOU GUYS ROCK!
And let's SAVE LOTS OF BOOBS!!!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
New Goal and New Blog Title
My URL is still runbigjenrun.blogspot.com but I have been feeling a bit sheepish lately because it's been almost a month (Oct. 11th to be exact) since I've done any sort of running besides trying to make it across the street without getting hit by cars.
For the next seven months, I'll be talking a lot about my newest endeavor, the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. It will be June 5-6 here in Chicago and I have at least 2 friends planning to walk with me (more on these fantastic gals later). I felt like it was important to do for two reasons: I like having a large overall fitness goal to work towards but also breast cancer has touched several women in my life and I wanted to be able to give back through this run. I need to raise $1800 but I'm going to try to do it creatively and I'll get into more details about that later. In this economy, that's a scary large number but I know of at least four people, survivors actually, that I want to donate in honor of. How many do you know? 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with this disease unless we can find a cure. In the meantime, the money I'll raise will go to help women (and men) with their cancer treatments. It's awesome and I feel really blessed that God has blessed me with two legs that have the ability to walk such a daunting distance. I know it's going to be an amazing journey. I got all choked up watching the video at the informational meeting.
So... in honor of all that, I figured I'd shake things up here at Run, Big Jen, Run and now I'm going to be telling you about my footsteps because I estimate it's going to take about 41,501 of them to make it those 39.3 miles.
For the next seven months, I'll be talking a lot about my newest endeavor, the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. It will be June 5-6 here in Chicago and I have at least 2 friends planning to walk with me (more on these fantastic gals later). I felt like it was important to do for two reasons: I like having a large overall fitness goal to work towards but also breast cancer has touched several women in my life and I wanted to be able to give back through this run. I need to raise $1800 but I'm going to try to do it creatively and I'll get into more details about that later. In this economy, that's a scary large number but I know of at least four people, survivors actually, that I want to donate in honor of. How many do you know? 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with this disease unless we can find a cure. In the meantime, the money I'll raise will go to help women (and men) with their cancer treatments. It's awesome and I feel really blessed that God has blessed me with two legs that have the ability to walk such a daunting distance. I know it's going to be an amazing journey. I got all choked up watching the video at the informational meeting.
So... in honor of all that, I figured I'd shake things up here at Run, Big Jen, Run and now I'm going to be telling you about my footsteps because I estimate it's going to take about 41,501 of them to make it those 39.3 miles.
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