Today while most people are wondering how to start their holiday weekend, I will be starting to ramp up my health and fitness, by taking my walk to the streets and neighborhoods around my community. Yes, I am taking my walk to the streets! The weather is warm and toasty here in north Texas so I am no longer restricted to walking on the treadmill in the fitness center which is incredibly boring. I am starting my training for my 4th Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk where I will walk 60 miles in 3 days this November. I will start slow and only walk 3 or 4 miles a day, for the first few weeks but in another couple of months I will be walking 10+ miles a day on the weekends! Many of my friends wonder how can I do such a thing?
I can do this because I am walking for a reason, to raise money and awareness for breast cancer! Walking for a cause is a great way to spend time with friends and get my fitness ramped up into high gear at the same time! Over the past four years I have met some of the most incredible men and women from all walks of life and we all have a common goal; to fight breast cancer! I have walked thousands of miles between training and the actual 3-Day event. I have endured blisters, and I have endured muscle cramps. I have endured the heat, the cold, and the rain. I have found out things about myself that I never would have guessed if I had not decided to participate in this event. I have found out that I am stronger than I thought and I have found out what brings me to tears. I have found out that there is a reason to keep fighting for a cure for breast cancer, because there are women out there that the money I raise has helped!
When I originally signed up for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day my best friend had just finished up with chemo and surgery for breast cancer. I felt helpless and defeated. What could I do to help her besides praying for her and being there when she needed something physical? I felt like I needed to do something more. When I was in the hospital room visiting her, a hospital volunteer came around and mentioned the Komen 3-Day and then and there I knew what I could do! I could walk….I could raise money and awareness so that others would not have to go through what my best friend had just gone through. I went home and did some research and talked to my husband and signed up. I found a group of women who trained not far from my home and I talked to the team leader and the rest is history!
On my first Komen 3-Day, in 2010.
I have become a walking machine!! I can walk more miles than most people can run! I can walk the streets of the community at 5 a.m. or at 12 noon in August in north Texas!! (Just for the record, I’m not a morning person and my idea of a really hot day is 85*, so the fact that I get up and walk this early or when it is 95* is a true testament to my dedication to this cause!) When I first signed up to walk this four years ago, I struggled to walk 6 miles and I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Now, I know that with friends and determination I can once again walk over 500 miles during training in the next 5 months and walk 60 miles in the middle of November in San Diego, with 2,000+ men and women who also want to make a difference!!
If you are interested in taking your walks to the streets for a wonderful cause, please leave me a comment and I would be happy to talk to you more about walking the Susan G. Komen 3-Day! I promise you will never be the same again.
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean in November 2013.
xoxoxo,
Ann
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