Boobie Tuesday, Special Edition

Have you fondled your boobies today? If not, you might want to... (or have someone else do it for you - hey, it has to be done, why not enjoy it?!?)

Don't forget, most important!!!

• Monthly self-exams
• Yearly Mammograms

Why do I bring this up now?

Funny you should ask.

I'll tell you.

Mid-November I was doing my own self-exam and found a tender lump.

A few days later was my yearly exam/physical. Doc takes a touchie feelie, yep, it's a lump alright. Sends me off with orders for a diagnostic mammogram.

Day before Thanksgiving, I'm getting all squished. Wait here while we check the films.

Step this way for an ultrasound, we need a better look. Wait here while we check the images.

Recommendation: biopsy

Cry on the way home. On the bus. It was raining.

Doc calls me back that afternoon with the name of some breast cancer surgeons.

Make appointment. J - That's where I was coming back from when you saw me going thru Heather Farms. I had just finished my consultation appointment with the surgeon and had found out exactly what I was up against.

Recommendation: Ultrasound guided needle core biopsy. We'll call hospital tomorrow and send over all your films and images. We'll call you when that's done so you can call them and set up an appointment.

December 18th, Honey and I bundled off to the hospital so I could have my procedure. It turned out a bit different than expected and now I have a small metal marker in my boob** - put there just in case they had to go back in for more. Oh, and we'll need to get a mammogram to mark the spot and record you have that in there. Gee. Thanks. You poke big fat needles in my boob and now you're going to squish it. Sigh. OK, you're all set - your surgeon will have the results at the earliest Monday.

Friday: soreness, occasional pain. Waiting.

Saturday: soreness. More waiting.

Sunday: We go out for a bike ride in the rain. The whole time this whole "is it bad or nothing" hanging over my head as I wait.

Monday: More waiting.

Tuesday morning: Results at last. I have good news for you. Nothing to worry about.

Easy for you to say. I wasn't the only one going thru this and my family, Honey, and a few very close friends have been waiting just as impatiently as I have. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a month.

I was in Target when I got the news. I cried tears of relief in the Target bathroom. And then again on the way back to the bus stop.

So Please, everyone. Do the needful and take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Make sure everyone has all their yearly exams and tests.

Luckily for me, the news was good. There are so many others where it is not.

I am happy to say that on the 11th 'anniversary' of when my Mother was diagnosed with colon cancer, I was not diagnosed with breast cancer.

We've had full days since Honey arrived. Out on the bikes and going all about and stuff. Now I hope I can FINALLY enjoy things and get into the Holiday spirit. And maybe now I'll be in the mood to decorate for Xmas.

I just haven't wanted to do anything.

** My first reaction was...is it made of plastic? Will it dissolve? Metal?!? Will it set off security alarms at the airport? NO?!?!?!?! wtf. What's the point in having something metal in your boob if it doesn't set off the scanners and embarrass the hell out of the poor soul unlucky enough to wand you. THAT'S NO FUN!!!! At least I got a laugh out of the ladies poking me with needles and stuff.

Goodbye Boobie Tuesday.....

Oh.my.god. Where do I start? The whole thing was amazing. Simply fucking amazing (there Donna, does that help make your blog racier?)!

I took a half day off on Friday and left work around noon to head up to SF and the hotel. I eventually hooked up with my teammates, we registered, handed in a few checks, and had a great dinner at Fino where we loaded up on carbs. I got into bed early, but didn’t sleep all that well – I was way too excited, and I must have woken up 7 or 8 times during the night. The alarm went off at 4:15 (ugh), I packed up my stuff, bandaged up my blister prone spots






got dressed and we met Nathalie and her husband in the lobby at 5:00. We made our way to Speedway Meadows, had some breakfast and coffee, shivered our way through the opening ceremony, kissed our respective husbands goodbye and we were on our way!






It was pretty tight at first – more than 2400 walkers leaving at the same time makes it pretty slow going. But as soon as we started moving, I warmed up – and didn’t even get cold going over the Golden Gate bridge!






Most of Saturday was pretty easy. Avon does a great job organizing, and they provided everything we could have needed; good snacks, medical services when necessary, plenty of encouragement and some nice scenery in the form of the very nice (and some very hot) San Jose Bike Cops! How come I don’t run into them here in San Jose, damnit! Here are a few shots of Saturday morning fun:


















The walk was beautiful. After we went over the bridge we headed through Sausalito and up to Marin. There were a lot of people cheering us, and I got to make some new friends. Kai is a Newfoundland – and when we came back past his house 5 hours later, he was still in the same position!






He was very sweet. So was this other little dog – I didn’t get her name but she sure was a huggy one.






We really felt great for most of the day. I wasn’t in any rush but ended up walking faster than I ever have, while using very little effort. I’m sure this was energy I’d built up while tapering down my training toward the very end; I was in good shape and pretty well rested, and it paid off. Nothing really hurt until about mile 20 or so – which is farther than we’d ever walked. One of the last challenges we hit on the way back was this:






We knew it was coming because we’d gone down it early in the day – it was tough, but all the walking I did in the hills of Los Altos and Los Gatos really helped! I slowed down but I didn’t have to stop to catch my breath once.

Once we got past the hill, our only big challenge left was the Golden Gate bridge – again.






It was a lot harder this time, I think more due to the traffic noise than anything else. I wasn’t in any more pain than at any other time, but it was so wearing! Damn that place is loud. I focused on the path straight ahead of me and tried to ignore everything else. As we got off the bridge, I spotted my husband Brian waiting for me at the 1-mile-to-go point. What a sight for sore eyes! He’d bought a couple dozen really good cookies and was handing them out to walkers as they came off the bridge. He sure knows how to make friends (or potential dates, I don’t know). I was so thrilled to see him – I thought I was going to have to call him when we got to camp, and there he was, waiting to walk the last mile with me. And it was a good thing – my feet were killing me by then and I was really wobbly.

But we made it and I was very psyched to have completed 26.2 miles! Here’s tent city:






Our team captain’s husband and some other knitting friends had come by, pitched our tent and put our luggage in it! What angels; they couldn’t have done anything that would have made us happier. Anyway, the shower felt better than any shower I’ve ever taken, and I emerged feeling much better as well as about 3 pounds lighter from having gotten rid of all the road dirt. Next stop, medical tent, to have them take care of my blisters.

I decided not to stay in the tent, but went back to the hotel with Brian, where I took a bath, stretched for about 40 minutes, and then eased my feet into my aloe-infused fuzzy socks and was one happy girl.







Day 2


Brian brought me back to Crissy field in the morning, where we were given a nice breakfast by the fabulous walk crew,






and we were on our way! I’d bandaged my blisters really carefully in the morning, stretched twice, and felt absolutely great. We made our way through the city and most of our favorite cheerleaders were back for a second day:






Pepper the I Will Survive Lady was awesome. She danced her way to I Will Survive at high volume for 2 days straight and yelled out encouragement and generally brightened everyone’s day. I also met a new friend, Tony.






We climbed a few hills:






They were tough but not as tough as I thought they’d be. We had lunch in a nice park somewhere around mile 8






We were doing well. I could feel my blistered toe, but it was ok. I was tightening up and feeling some knee pain, but nothing was going to stop me. Nathalie’s knee was acting up but she wasn’t going to give up either. So on we went. Around mile 10 the weirdest thing happened. I got this sharp jabbing pain in my toe – it felt like an electrical shock that didn’t want to stop. I couldn’t walk normally on it, but I was able to limp along. Just before mile 12, there was my wonderful hubby again, waiting to do the last mile with me. Nathalie’s hubby joined us shortly after that. As we neared the finish, we got quite the welcome! I couldn’t stop smiling.






















It was the most awesome feeling.

We picked up our new tee shirts and I made my way to the medical tent. I thought I had just one more blister on my previously wounded toe, but it was uglier than I expected. Blech!






Ruby at the medical tent fixed me up though and I felt better – though I was so bandaged up I couldn’t put my foot back in my shoe – so I limped along with my wrapped foot there for all to see. It looked more dramatic than it really was.

The closing ceremony was cool, and Avon sure did a beautiful job of making us feel very proud of ourselves.

Statistics:


We walked 39.3 miles over 2 days.

I raised over $4,500 dollars myself

There were over 2400 of us walking this weekend

As a group we raised over $5.4 million dollars

During that time, about 125 people in the US died of breast cancer.


Other points:


I’m feeling damned fine.

I love my supportive husband.

I also love the San Jose Bike Cops

If you feel inclined to donate toward the fight against Breast Cancer, you can still donate for about 29 more days by clicking on the link on Donna’s sidebar.


That’s it! Thanks Donna, and goodbye Boobie Tuesday!

Love,

Rachel

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An awesome experience indeed....

I'm glad to see some familiar faces...SJ Cop Hotties....Phil (Did he blast the song Pretty Woman on a stereo?)...Pepper....and our "Walk Dog" was Snowflake, a beautiful Dalmation wearing a red bandana...

Coming soon to a blog near you...

As soon as I get the time, I'll post Walking Rachel's final Boobie Tuesday contribution...filled with stories, pictures and tears...all of them mine. Brought back many wonderful memories.

Late again...oh welll........

A little bit from Rachel.....

So here I am, winding down. When you train for an event that requires endurance (maybe sprints too - I don't know) you need to taper off on training as the event date nears. Your body needs to heal and rest so you can really push it hard when you have to.

We did 2 training walks this weekend; about 11.5 miles on Saturday and 5.1 on Sunday. I felt great both days, though the group I was with on Sunday walked quite a bit faster than my normal pace which brought on mild shin splints. Note to self: it's a walk, not a race - I'll feel better long term if I don't push it in terms of speed. From this point forward I'm tapering off even more; I'll do 2 miles or so twice this week, and then Nathalie and I are planning 5 miles on Saturday (I'm about to get on line to see if I can get that 5 miles to go by a Jamba Juice - I got a buy-one-get-one-free coupon last week and we decided we deserved the treat). After that, it's another couple of quick 1-2 milers, and that'll be it!

I can't believe it's coming up so soon - I can't wait! Though I do have to say it'll be kind of nice to have my weekends back. Those 19-milers sure do eat up a Saturday. If I have anything of note to post I'll be back next week; otherwise you'll hear from me after the Avon Walk!

Rachel

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...And a bit from me....

Well....looks like our walking friend Rachel is almost ready...Sounds like she knows what she's doing...and she does...her and Nathalie will be more than ready. Oh, and Rachel...don't get caught up in anyone else's pace. Stick with your own, your body knows what's best.

And now for what's going on in the Chaos....chaos....chaos...and more chaos....

So what does Donna do? She totally ignores it of course... I'm still spending a little of my time every night since my Honey left going through boxes and bags of stuff. By this weekend, I should have more boxes and bags to take to my new fav thrift store for donation.

It's a good thing I'm doing it too...Honey is coming back for a few months starting next month. We still don't know where work is going to be sending him, but he will try and spend some weekends here with us....seeing that Spence is going to be with me some of the time, can't be hiding all the clutter in his room. And I need to get rid of it anyway. I really liked how Rhett looked when all the clutter was "gone"...so I'm going to be working very hard to get as much of it gone as I can for REAL by the next time Honey gets here...and eventually ALL of it GONE forever....WOOT!!!!

A milestone was reached in Casa de Chaos this week....Spencer turned 13....13 people!!!! I am officially the Mom of a teenager...ooooh my goodness... Happy Birthday to the best kid ever...may your hormones not change you too much my son...but I'll still love you if they do...

Boobie Tuesday on Weigh In Wednesday

Hey Folks...ok, so I'm a day late...I've been busy. And I came into the office this morning to locked doors. I'm hoping someone closed the firedoors just because and this isn't one of those..."the office is closed... go home... hope your last paycheck was deposited" kind of things. Especially with everything that is going on and the fact that due to construction, we have no 'real office doors', and construction came to a halt over a week ago. Yeah...I'm a bit wigged out at the moment. Luckily, Antonella gave me her keys since I'm 'acting office manager' among other new and exciting responsibilities and I was able to get in. Hopefully, I can stay here...

Anyway...still in the size 12 jeans...have been wearing size L(arge) tops instead of 18W, 1X, 16W, or XL. Because of my current size, I'm finding a lot more clothing options, so my wardrobe is growing. YAY! Weighed myself...I'm holding at 185 lbs...considering the stress I've been under, and the occassional junk I've been eating, combined with absolutely no exercise...I'm very happy about that...even bought a bikini this past weekend. Now all I have to do is lose the rest of the weight I want to and get up enough courage to actually wear the damn thing when I do...last time I wore a 2 piece bathing suit, I was about 4 or 5 years old...

There has been crafting happening, but not very much. I can't concentrate on anything long enough to make any noticable progress...hmmm....wonder why...BUT...I am knitting and beading as that helps alleviate some stress...not all, but some.

I'm slowly but surely getting back into my blogging groove, so you'll be hearing from me a lot more...unless of course, the office really is closed and I get kicked out and have to turn in my laptop...but I'm not going to dwell on that...I'm going to go get some coffee and get my day started...I've got tons to do...

OK...and now for Rachel's update...Actual Walk is getting really close!!! She got it to me on time, I just didn't have time to put it out here yesterday... Oh...and CONGRATS on making your donation goal!!!! I know it's not easy to raise money, and Rachel raised twice the minimum required!! You Go Girl!

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Nathalie and I have come to a conclusion. 15 miles is easy. We can do it and feel great. At 15 miles, we feel as if we could do the same distance all over again. A mile or two later? Holy crap do things change!Saturday we took off from my house through the Santa Teresa foothills – the hills were steep as hell but there was a nice breeze going which really helped. Nathalie disagreed – she thought it was too cold. In fact we spent a lot of time disagreeing on Saturday. I wanted to rest in the shade, she was freezing and wanted to rest in the sun. Uphills kicked my butt, downhills trashed her knees. It’s amazing we like training together so much. Anyway, the hiking part was beautiful. We saw deer and wild turkeys, and it was just nice to be out and about, and away from traffic. Once we made it over the foothills we ended up in the Almaden Valley, and followed the Calero Creek Trail up toward civilization (intersection of Camden and Almaden to be exact). The terrain flattened out and we just cruised. After about 10 miles we stopped for lunch, bought more water, stretched, and headed back out. One long, sunny hot hill later and the pace changed. I was slow on the uphills, Nathalie on the downhills. We had to stop and stretch frequently. I dumped a lot of water over my head, which I find is a great way to cool down. I was seriously considering stealing someone’s car so I could get my burning feet off the sidewalk. I think Nathalie was seriously thinking she needed knee replacement surgery. My husband called to see how we were doing and I told him we’d be able to make it home but it would take a while to walk the remaining 2 miles on our bloody stumps. But make it we did. I hopped into the shower, soaked my feet in ice water, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. And when my husband got home an hour later, I could barely move. I did feel better after stretching, but I was definitely concerned about how I’d feel after the 1st day of the walk, and my ability to walk a 2nd day.

I crashed pretty hard and slept in until the late hour of 7:00 on Sunday. And aside from a blister that has been showing up regularly on one of my toes, I felt absolutely fine! I couldn’t believe it. I took a short recovery walk and felt no pain. Amazing what the body can do in 8 hours or so.

According to a couple of sources, it’s time to start cutting back a bit on the training – so we’ll be walking both days of the weekend but not as far as we have been. And I need to start looking for things in the pile of boxes that is my house – like a sleeping bag and other gear I’ll need for the walk. I can’t believe it’s less than 3 weeks away. And guess what – it doesn’t show on my web page because I have a couple of donations by check but I cleared my $3,600 personal fundraising goal! I’m one happy girl.

Happy Boobie Tuesday!

It must be Tuesday...

Good Lord, my schedule is all outta wack. Don't even know what day it is....

Anyone have any additional ideas to help Rachel out this week? I think she's doing very well as far as listening to her body and changing things up for the better.

Girl...YOU ROCK!

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So here's a new one. Saturday, Nathalie and I planned a really long walk, hoping to make 18 miles or more. We started out early into the hills in Los Gatos. It was nice and cool, we kept up a good pace and I felt great. We did nearly 7 miles of steep hills, stopped for a snack in town, and then headed down the trail past Vasona into Campbell. We felt awesome. The hill part felt like nothing to us. After the break we started feeling a few aches and pains (my feet, Nathalie's knees) but we made sure to stretch fairly often and that did the trick. We did another 6.5 miles into (old) Campbell, where we stopped for lunch. Damn my feet were sore! So while we had lunch, I stretched them as best I could. We hung out and rested for half an hour, then hauled ourselves out of our seats to start the trek back. We were pretty psyched; at that point we'd done just over 13 miles, aside from some aching joints we felt really good and really energized. We knew we'd be sore but we were on track to do over 19 miles. Yeah!
Well a mile back into the trip back, it got really hot. And we'd decided to take an alternate route that we discovered had no shade. I'd been hydrating the entire time but I started getting tired. And then lunch felt like a weight in my stomach. I stopped to rest, put my feet up, and eventually felt a little better. So we stretched again, and kept on going. Next milestone was Los Gatos Creek Park. By the time we arrived, I felt queasy, dizzy, and really weak. We sat down, and I called my husband. I had to give the phone to Natalie so she could describe where we were - for the life of me I couldn't come up with a rational sentence. Long story short, I didn't complete the walk (though Natalie did despite aching knees), though 15+ miles isn't too shabby. I got home safely, showered and put my feet in ice water for a while, then I don't think I got off the recliner until I got into bed around 8:00 pm.

I'm still trying to figure out what happened. It was hot out but not ridiculously so. I had hydrated quite a bit, some of which included a sports drink. I'd eaten carbs the night before, whole grains and fruit at breakfast and pasta salad with chicken in it for lunch. Based on past patterns, I should have been ok but I wasn't. Here are a few things I'm going to work on for next time: 1) get more sleep - we're buying/moving into a new house this week, work has been busy, and life has been stressful - I've not been sleeping long or well. 2) try to eat smaller quantities, more often, especially on walk days. My lunch wasn't excessive but given the other factors maybe it was too much at once under those particular circumstances. 3) Keep something salty to eat around me as well as carbs? I remember using salt pills as a kid when I took horseback riding lessons in the summer. It helped then. And 4) wear light-colored clothing; my walk gear wicks moisture really well but both pieces I wore on Saturday were black which I'm sure didn't help. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

This didn't discourage me at all, fortunately. First of all, 15 miles is nothing to take lightly. Also, going through this is only going to help me figure out how best to succeed on the actual walk. I'd much rather deal with this now and find a way around it than have it be a surprise I can't overcome or prevent on July 7th. And last - after soaking my tired feet and getting lots of sleep, I felt absolutely great the next day! Amazing how the body can revive with just a little TLC.

Next weekend I'll be in the midst of moving. You can think of me lifting and hauling boxes - I'm trying to look at is as an upper body workout. If I manage to get any walks in I'll post about it. Otherwise I may skip a week. And in the meantime if anyone out there has any pearls of wisdom to share about how I can better prepare for these long hauls in the future, I would very much like to hear them! Any advice is appreciated.

Later!

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Things have been busy here at Casa de Chaos and also at the Officina de Chaos.

First off, KublaCon was a lot of fun. I'll have a post just for that soon....we all survived and most importantly, I just checked and I still have my sanity. Hee hee...

Second, the Officina is a disaster area. Lots of work stuff going on and on top of that...construction. We have sublet half of our floor, so now the Architects and Contractors are in here tearing it all up so they can rebuild it to accommodate two separate offices.

And finally, preparations continue for my special visitor. He arrives Friday. Booyah. 'nuf said.

Better check on the sanity again...it's still there...so far, so good.

OOOOOHHHH, and there was knitting! Actual knitting...whoa.

Ssssssome training walk....

Hey everyone, it's Boobie Tuesday so that means you at least get something from Rachel:

Snakes on the Plain (ok, it was really the hill):

This weekend’s walk wasn’t the longest one we’ve done but it definitely was the most challenging. Nathalie and I met early and drove up to Los Altos to Rancho San Antonio. Note to self: next time we have to meet earlier than 7:00 am if we want to find a parking spot. There wasn’t a single spot to be had, so we found one about a mile away from the trail head in one of the few neighborhoods that didn’t require a parking permit. No biggie, a little extra mileage was only going to help.

Rancho is really nice. There were a fair number of people there, but it’s big enough that it didn’t feel crowded. The first thing we saw there were a small herd of deer and also some wild turkeys, none of whom seemed to care very much that we were there. Our path into Rancho took us about as close to deer as I’ve ever been, and all they did was look at us and go back to eating.

After checking out the trail map, we headed up the hill. It started out fairly easy. Flat at first, then an incline which got my heart rate going, but I was pretty comfortable. That’s when Nathalie dropped the bomb: “Oh” she says, smiling, “I forgot, there’s a really big hill coming up”. Very convenient. She’s good at suddenly remembering challenges after it’s too late for me to say ‘no’ to her suggesting the option. The incline gradually got steeper and though my legs were ok, breathing was definitely getting harder. A lot of the time it would level out just as I felt the going was really tough, but as we neared the spot where we were going to stop for lunch, it got really steep and there were no breaks; all just one big hill. I had to stop a couple of times to get my heart rate back under control. But we finally got to our rest stop. By the time we reached it I really was beat and breathing hard, but I was pretty pleased that it only took about 5 minutes for me to feel normal again. At that point I was able to look around and I found some new friends:




These little guys seemed pretty used to human presence too, and hung out not too far from us most of the time. I think they were waiting for me to share my PB&J, but I didn’t.

Here’s a view on the way up:




It doesn’t do the justice to the terrain at all (it was really quite the incline), but it’s still awfully pretty.

We ate and rested for a little while, and then were back on our way. Going up was tough aerobically but man, going down was really tough on the muscles and joints! I’m inclined to think that walking in the City won’t be quite as hard because we’ll be going up and down over and over, not all one bit uphill and then one looooonng downhill. I was ok, but Nathalie has a problem knee so I was a little worried about her. She seemed to do ok though. On our way down we ran (almost literally) into this guy:




He’s hard to see in the dappled light, but I think he’s a gopher snake. There are lots of signs there warning about the presence of rattle snakes in the area, but he (she?) didn’t fit the description. All the same, I didn’t get close enough to get a really good look though. I may be curious but I’m not nuts.

We made it down safely, after choosing trails that extended the walk as much as possible, without sending us over the hill to Saratoga. As steep as the climb was, the descent was steeper and for longer. Nathalie wants to do the same walk next weekend, but in the opposite direction. THAT is going to hurt. But I’ll probably be up for it. In the meantime, I’m nursing a couple of blisters and some sore muscles. I’m happy though; we did nearly 12 miles on some pretty tough terrain, and it makes me feel pretty confident that I’ll be well prepared for whatever the walk brings. As long as we don’t encounter any rattle snakes on that either.

Rachel

My Avon Walk for Cancer Page
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Things are really crazy in the Chaos lately. I miss you guys, but I don't have it in me to write anything right now. I'll be back soon I promise!

In the meantime - Stephieface this is for you....

I've been showing lots of attention to Rhett - it's been helping with the stressful aspects of the chaos. We've been spending a lot of time with our new electrical toy. And oh boy, has that been fun. Rhett just loves it when I run it over his furry patches... I've also been organizing all knitterly goods...which means...handling shafts of all lengths and girths and fondling lots of balls. Oooh, don't forget the stroking/petting of balls. Oh my yes...lots of balls.

Run with it girl...you know you want to....

She lives...and is back at work...her coughs ringing thru the office...

I feel fine, really I do...just can't get rid of this annoying little tickle cough...very annoying little tickle cough actually...

Anyway...take it away Rachel...


Well we didn’t do the long walk this weekend. Our landlady asked us to let her hold an open house on Sunday so perspective renters could see the place, and I started to completely stress out about getting everything done on time. I didn’t cancel though, Nathalie and I just cut back. Hee – I love saying we ‘cut back’ – to 9.5 miles! A year ago I was hoping to be able to do 5 miles every so often. To consider 9-plus a short walk – I gotta say I’m pretty pleased about that. I also walked another 2.5 on Sunday; that was a slow one, with hubby and dogs. It really helped stretch out some knotted up muscles.

We rescheduled our long walk for this coming weekend. We’re going to Rancho San Antonio and we’re hoping to put in 18-20 miles. And holy crap, my husband just told me his parents are coming out from MA to visit sometime on Saturday. I’m gonna be real purdy and company presentable after that walk! Hee hee, can’t wait.
More on the Rancho walk next week – assuming I survive following Nathalie over hills and through the woods. She’s going to seriously kick my butt.



My Avon Walk for Cancer Page

A little late never hurt anyone...

Take it away Rachel!!!! (she's been busy!!) Oh, and Rachel? You go right ahead and have that latte...you deserve it...

Where am I? Holy crap, it's Boobie Tuesday and I almost forgot about it. Bad walker/blogger! No latte for me.

This weekend, Nathalie and I decided to live on the edge and change our walk route. We met at her house and walked to Los Gatos. From there, we went into the hills - an absolutely killer workout. Every time there was a fork in the path, we chose the steeper option, and didn't quit doing that for 7 more miles. It was freakin' fabulous! It was definitely hard but I can see improvement in my condition from previous walks, and I felt really good. We stopped for lunch, did some more hills, and then headed back to where we started. It normally would have been 3 miles back to Nathalie's, but we decided to explore. And explore we did. Holy cow are there some huge homes in them thar hills! One place has this manicured play area for the kids that's bigger than most school playgrounds I've seen around here. And I'm sure it cost quite a bit more too. None of the houses - estates, really - were my style, but they certainly were interesting to look at. I felt as if I was going to be chased down at any moment and evicted from the neighborhood for doing something as low-end as cracking a sweat.

We ended up doing nearly 16 miles, most of it hills. That's more than I expected we would. Though less than what we're doing next week. Nathalie wants to go to Rancho San Antonio in Los Altos, she's threatening 20 miles and wants to meet at 6:00 am to do it! The woman's a slave driver, I tell ya.

I was pretty beat for the remainder of the day, but felt fine on Sunday. I've been really good about stretching before and during my walks - though I still have to make stretching after a walk more of a habit. My legs have been completely a-ok, but when I get fatigued, my shoulders start hunching and my posture becomes terrible. I mentioned this to my sister-in-law who's a physical therapist. Good move. She gave me this giant foam cylinder thingy (it's about 36" long and maybe 8" in diameter) and showed me a few stretches I can do with it. It hurts like hell and feels absolutely wonderful! So now I have set reminders for myself to work with it twice a day, and I'm already sitting straighter. And a couple of the stretches she showed me happen to work out the ol' stomach muscles as well, and that never hurts. Well actually it does, but you know what I mean. I'm going to keep using this thing even after I finish the walk - my shoulders are chronically tight and this is the first thing, besides a (for me usually unaffordable) massage that really helps.

I'll do pictures next time - we took some but they're in Natalie's camera. Again, bad blogger. Though I'm going to get up and get a latte anyway. Neener, neener!

Rachel

My Avon Walk Page



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And now for some comments....hack hack cough cough...was that my lung?!?? Yes my friends...the evil cold hangs on...it's moved on to my chest...always a fun thing. My doc says rest or else...so I stayed home today...should have stayed home yesterday, but I felt sooo much better! Honestly, I did! In the interest of resting...I will stay home tomorrow as well. Sleep in as late as my cough will let me and maybe work from home a bit in the afternoon. Spencer is staying an extra night at his Dad's so I can recover a bit more...wouldn't want to be sick for Mother's Day!!!!!

Let's hear it for Boobie Tuesday...

...and the fact that thanks to Rachel...I've got a post...otherwise...you'd all get nuttin'...


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I’ve been very distracted lately, thinking about all sorts of things besides walking. Like my new (and first) spinning wheel that arrived last week. And the new house we’re buying! More on those on my blog; I’m here to talk training. Even though I’m obsessing about spinning and moving.

Fortunately I was able to overcome the temptation to sit at my wheel for hours on end – I even put it away, because this weekend was all about walking. Saturday I joined some fellow employees and a lot of other people in the WalkAmerica walk for March of Dimes. This was taking place all over the country. Our walk was a little over 6 miles at Vasona Park in Los Gatos. I ended up passing most of the people in front of me, and since no one I knew was keeping pace with me, I worked on keeping my heart rate up the entire time. I learned why it’s said ‘cotton is rotten’ in the athletic world – I wore a team shirt provided by my company and was hot as hell pretty early on. But it was fun, I made good time, and had a good workout. Note to self – avoid cotton during the walk.

Once I got home though, I really started dragging. My head hurt, I was so tired, and had absolutely no energy. I tried hydrating but it didn’t seem to help. We went out for dinner and when we came home around 7:45 I sat in the couch. And don’t remember anything until my husband woke me at 10 to go to bed, which I did. I think that night was the first night I got more than 5 ½ hours sleep in weeks. And damn, I felt so much better! There is something to be said for this sleep thing, that’s for sure.

Sunday I got up early and met Nathalie. I put in a super-long stretch including shoulders, and off we went. We walked from Los Gatos down to Campbell and back, had lunch, and then took off in the other direction to do some hills. Those were tough, and Nathalie totally kicked my butt, but I still made it. And it’s a good thing I remembered to bring my camera, otherwise we’d have missed recording this:








Pretty cool, huh?

We ended up doing over 15 miles, which put me at 22 miles for the weekend. Yeah! And I was pleasantly surprised to actually feel pretty good and energetic when I was done. Especially once I did this:





And holy crap – I just added up my miles since I started training for the Avon Walk – I’m at 190! And I’ve raised over $3,000 so far. Life is good.

Have a great week!

Rachel

My Avon Walk for Cancer Page

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You GO Rachel!!!! Racking up the miles and the cash for Racks everywhere!!!

...and yeah...that sleep thing sure is something, isn't it.

Well, got to run dear readers...life is still crazy at the Casa and the Officina, and things just keep getting more and more chaotic every day...and oddly enough...I don't mind.

Just wish I could find some time to do more than just one row at a time on any giving WIP...oh yeah...and the current commuting shawl is just begging me to frog it...and Mom's rosary needs some tweeking...and I've got stuff to ship...ugh...I REALLY need about 5 more hours in a day...and I'd use them for that sleep thing that everyone raves so much about...

How could I forget it's Boobie Tuesday?????

Guess things are more Chaotic around here than I thought...

Anyway, here's Rachel's lastest update...

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Lost Opportunities…

I walked by myself on Sunday – the team walk was canceled due to bad weather (which threatened much of the day but didn’t ever do anything).

Things I wanted to take pictures of but couldn’t, because my camera was at home:

- Absolutely gorgeous roses at multiple houses. I stopped to smell lots of them.
- Two completely cute little boys making giant soap bubbles and shrieking when the wind took them across the street (the bubbles, not the boys).
- My new house, approaching from either side.
- A tree with more lemons on it than leaves.
- The ree-eeaa-lllllyyy h-h-h-HOT AT&T guy loading stuff into his van.

‘nuff said.

Rachel

My Avon Walk for Cancer Page

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I really need to start taking my camera along too...but right now, I'm too busy walking and just looking to stop and snap just yet. Maybe after I take my test (next week already!!!!), I can slow down and enjoy it more.

Let's hear it for HOT GUYS you spot en route...BOOYAH!

And no-blog-Rachel has come over to the FUN side...she has finally broken down and set herself up with a blog...LOVE what she called it.

Needless to say, she has been added to my bloglines...which now state I have 287 blog entries to read...sigh.

A whole lot of crazy goin' 'round...

Work has been on the crazy side lately, and I’ve found that knitting during lunch has been helping with the stress better than walking. So I didn’t walk during lunch this week. I did get to it on the weekend, though – I’m a partial slacker, not a total one. There were 3 of us this time – well actually 4, if you count Cheerio, the little canine dust mop who joined us with his mom.

For the first time in a few weeks, no one was recovering from the flu or something, and it showed in our pace. We averaged about .25 mph faster than we had the last few walks, and that included slowing down to let Cheerio visit with a few doggie friends. Not bad. The path from Los Gatos to Campbell and back was pretty crowded which can be a little irritating, but I’m sure it was nothing compared to the hordes that will be taking the same course we will during the walk, so I’m just going to have to get used to it! We did 13 miles in 4 hours. I was actually more impressed with Cheerio than I was with us. He’s just a little guy, and damn he did well! He’d stop to visit with other dogs, and then walk REALLY fast so he could be ahead of us again. You could tell near the end that he was pretty tired, but he kept smiling the whole time. Too bad he can’t do the real walk with us – he’s a great little walk buddy.

I tried not using body glide on my feet for the walk to see if it would make a difference with that very attractive rash. It wasn’t as bad this time as last, but the day wasn’t as hot either. I think it has to do with temperature and moisture, not so much the body glide. I did use it on and around my toes and there was no rash there. While I was walking, the middle of the balls of my feet started to hurt – it felt as if a blister was forming, but there wasn’t anything there. Cheerio’s mom had the same issue. Luckily, I’m a freakin’ boy scout and carry all sorts of stuff on me that I think I might need, so I was able to make use of some mole foam (??), which helped both of us. Note to self: stay well stocked with mole foam. Other than that, I felt pretty good the entire walk. Toward the end my shoulders were really sore – it’s where I carry my tension – but I found that if I concentrated on good posture while I walked it did help. That and of course, stretching. I think I’m going to try to add Pilates to my workout plan; I’ve been ignoring upper body work and I’m feeling it.

There’s nothing wrong with 13 miles, but we need to push it more. So next week we’re doing 15 or more. Including some hills. Nathalie wants to do 20. Yikes! Another plan we have is to drive up to the city some time and walk the hills that will actually be part of the course. We don’t know the exact route, but I think whatever hills we do there will be good practice. In the meantime, I’m sure those Los Gatos hills will be kickin’ my butt. As long as they’re making it more muscular, that’s fine with me.

See you next week!


Rachel

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Girl, your butt will be rock solid by the time you are done...

Glad to hear things are looking up with the whole rash thing. And yes, now is the time to discover everything that helps with aches, pains, and blisters. You will definitely need them come walk time. The walks do start out crowded in the morning, but the walkers just naturally spread themselves out after the first mile or so. Everyone gets into their own pace and stride. I remember the second walk I did, we were walking up the Pacific Coast Highway and we were pretty much single file on the side of the road. Walkers for miles in front of me and for miles behind me. All walking to make a change. It was a beautiful site. Still brings a tear to my eye when I think about it.

Anyway, things are crazy around Casa de Chaos and Officina de Chaos as well. And opposite to Rachel, walking is my way of dealing. Check out the mileage that Antonella and I have been racking up...we are averaging 2.75 miles a day!

The Pleasant Distraction has been even more pleasantly distracting lately, so now we toss that into the Chaos and see what falls out. An extremely busy, very happy woman.

Walk on Rachel! When you walk at lunch again, think of Antonella and I out there with you in spirit.

Happy Feet? Ummmm....maybe not?

I feel pretty…ugly!

I’ve been sick all week; it started with a fever on Sunday, I came home from work after only 90 minutes there on Monday, and spent the rest of the week sniffling, sneezing, and being very attractive in general. As I was apparently unable to breathe and walk at the same time, I chose breathing, and I didn’t walk. Until Sunday. I had plans to walk with Nathalie, and rather than do another 15 miler (due to Easter plans in the afternoon) we agreed to just walk until we had to or wanted to head home. That morning, I so did not want to get up and out the door. But I decided to give it a try, and if I ended up not feeling well, I’d just call it a day. I figured I could get at least 2 or 3 miles in, which would be better than nothing. Luckily, Nathalie was feeling pretty low energy herself. Off we went, a couple of weenies.

Well, not so much really. We cut it short at only ten miles. ONLY ten miles?! Holy crap, we did ten miles! Hot damn.

When I got home, I felt pretty good. My feet begged to differ – they actually felt ok, but man, they were ugly! See? I googled Heat Rash and I don’t think it’s that. This has happened the last three times I’ve walked, but it’s getting worse. Can you imagine how very attractive they’re going to be after 26 miles? It does go away over night though – at least it has so far. I’ll try to think positively.

Have a good week!

- the recovering scary-footed hard-ass weenie

Rachel

Edited to add photo - would help if you could see the issues, eh?:





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OK, time for the power of the internet and knitters everywhere (and non-knitters too!). Anyone got an ideas to help Rachel's tootsies?

Rachel, did you recently get new socks, shoes, or lotion? Could be a reaction from the heat, sweat, and if you've got something new on your skin...

Well folks, tomorrow is Weigh-In-Wednesday. We'll see if the added activity has helped any. I haven't been making the best food choices lately, so hopefully, at the minimum, there will be no weight gain.

Lucky yous, you get to read what I've learned while walking about in SF.

There's that damn 4 letter word again...

Diet

One of my least favorite words. Tell me I’m not allowed to eat something, and it suddenly becomes what I want most. Don’t mention it and I probably won’t have much interest in it. I remember being told not to drink while pregnant. I’ve never been a big drinker, and much of the time I didn’t feel like having it, but damn, it pissed me off to be told ‘no’! It still does. Maybe I should start a blog about that – I’ll call it “You’re Not the Boss of Me” – ramblings of a woman who is, apparently, 12. (go for it girl!)

I’ve always eaten in a pretty healthful way. My mother understood the concept of moderate fat and sugar content, the need to avoid over processed, chemical-laden foods, and the benefits of a varied diet way before it gained national attention. Luckily for me, I actually took those habits with me into adulthood. Sure, I love onion rings, garlic bread and sweet stuff as much as anyone. But I have them on occasion, not habitually. One habit I’ve been working on for a little over a year is eating a decent breakfast. I don’t feel like eating when I get up, so I usually keep something in my desk at work. Kashi has a great hot cereal that’s whole grain, very low sugar, and I usually have that with a banana or berries sliced into it. That’s also what I eat for breakfast before any major training walk.

Weekend before last though, I really didn’t feel like having oatmeal. So I went for a couple of pieces of sourdough toast. I met up with Nathalie in Los Gatos, and we did just over 11 miles. Because I tend to feel the effects of low blood sugar, I keep an energy bar (whole grain, high fiber & carbs) with me, as well as a couple of packets of Gu. And I bring a bottle of half-strength sports drink. That morning, I drank all of that, went through 2 packets of Gu and still got weak and shaky before we were half-done with our walk. Luckily I had that bar on me, I felt better shortly after eating it, and was able to make it back to the car.

This past Saturday, I went back to the whole grain oatmeal, and we got an early start on our walk. The plan was to do 15 miles, trying to mimic what we’d be doing on the big walk; we’d stop to rest (not just for the bathrooms), eat a little, stretch periodically, etc. It went really well! I had no need at all for the Gu or snack bar, and had a lot of energy the entire time. We noticed that after 12 miles – the length of our longest walk to date – we were moving faster and better than we had when we did that distance the first time. The best part was that even though we were hot and tired after 15, we could have kept going! I’m attributing at least part of that to breakfast. The day I had more processed foods (even though they were all natural with no preservatives), I burned through them more quickly and my body needed more fuel earlier. Saturday I ate whole grain and whole fruit (ok, I did chew), and was able to maintain energy. Lesson learned. I think I’m going to do some research on how to eat the week prior to expending major energy.

So my plan was to walk again on Sunday. I was wiped out after the Saturday walk, but after a hot bath and then soaking my feet in ice water that night, I felt pretty good, and thought I’d go anywhere from 5-7 miles on the flats near my house the next day. But as Sunday progressed I ended up with a fever, so I didn’t walk at all. Bummer. Maybe if someone had told me I wasn’t allowed to walk I’d have found the energy to do it anyway. Because obviously, I am 12.

Hey – less than $850 to raise before I hit my personal fundraising goal! How do you like them apples?!


Rachel

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It's tough eating the right things for your body. But you are doing the right thing in listening to it. It knows what it needs.

Many needs have been filled here at Casa de Chaos, and alas, many needs have been ignored. There has been knitting, there has been b-day party taxi service, there has been getting down and dirty with Rhett (and yes Stephieface our love toy is very dirrrrrty), and there has been quiet reading time.

I'll leave all the needs that have been ignored to your imaginations dear readers...

This Friday, I have the day off. I'm looking forward to it - sick as that will sound. I'm looking forward to sleeping in, having my yearly Mammo (3 months late), and then just chilling back at the Casa until I have to pick up Spencer. Then the madness starts all over again. I hope during my afternoon chill time I'll be able to get some beading done. I have some very special projects to work on for some very special contest winners...

I have lots of posts rambling about in my head that need to be written up and posted. Someday I'll get to that too...

Rackin' up some more...and we're not talkin' 'bout playing pool...

And we're diving right in to Rachel's update:

Rackin' Em up

Heh – I said “rack”…

Damn I’m old! Well, not really. I just feel a bit old and creaky today. I kicked butt with my walking this weekend! And to keep things even, it kicked my butt in return.

During the week, I do most of my walking during lunch at work. Our office is in the south end of San Jose, in the Almaden Valley. There aren’t any other office buildings on the road – it’s basically residential, which makes for some pleasant walking. I keep my mid-day walks pretty short, simply because I don’t have a ton of time. So I have 2 loops – one that’s about 1.4 miles and the other loop is nearly 2.5 miles. Depending on how I feel, I either do the short loop slowly as a recovery walk, or the longer one and work on speed. I’m not out to do the Avon walk as a power walk, but I don’t want to be out there for 12 hours either.

Saturday I went out on my own, and extended the walk in my neighborhood – I work on speed there too, as it’s really flat. I walked just over 6 miles, and was pretty pleased with the results; since I started training, my average speed has increased by over a half-mile an hour. Not bad. If I can increase by the same amount again, I’ll be able to do the walk in what I’d consider a reasonable amount of time. Especially if you take into consideration that I’m very much on the short side and I take 3 steps for everyone else’s two. Ok, maybe four.

Sunday was the tougher one. I was tight from Saturday’s walk so I got to Los Gatos early, and put in a really good stretch. Our time was limited, so Nathalie and I just walked until half our time was up, then turned around. We walked over 11 miles! Not too shabby. I high-tailed it home, cleaned up, and then drove with some friends up to Oakland for a knit-in at Rachael’s house. I felt good after the walk, but the 2 hours in the car and 4 at Rachael and Lala’s on the couch made for one stiff body, and I’m still feeling it today.

So just over 17 miles this weekend – I am pretty pleased with that. Next week, we’re hoping to get a 15-miler in. We have to start doing things as if we’re on the walk, though, so the plan is to rest more – not just for bathroom breaks – stretch regularly throughout the walk, and grab a sit-down snack at some point in the middle. Sunday’s walk was done with no breaks or stretches, and I realized that even though it wasn’t very difficult for us, it’s not the right way to do it, and it won’t work as we increase mileage.

In the meantime, I’ll be nursing my first blister ever from this training. I’ll blog all about that next week. Ok, not really. But if it starts looking really gross, I’ll post a picture for sure. Heh again…

Happy Boobie Tuesday, see y’all next week!

Rachel

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Yeah, that down time and sitting still will get ya good. For the whole week after the walk, I did a simple stretch routine several times a day - with a few quickies after sitting still for a while. OK, people. Quickie stretches. Jeez.

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Rhett Contest hint of the day: It's a characteristic of my apartment.

Las Ta-Tas...

Leaving Las Vegas

Well, left, actually. My husband decided we needed a break and treated us to a weekend away. We’re not fond of Vegas at all, but we do love Cirque de Soleil, so we flew out on Friday, saw two shows (O and Mystere) and came home Sunday. Saturday was fun – we headed here: the Valley of Fire State Park and spent a couple of hours walking. My GPS kept doing weird things so I don’t know how many miles we walked, but I doubt it was more than three. It was pretty hard going. What wasn’t steep was mostly really soft, fine red sand. So fine it worked its way through the fabric of my sneakers and socks and I got a free foot exfoliation - and luckily no blisters. It was a great workout, and such a cool place! Really dramatic rock formations, caves, and petroglyphs left by the Anasazi sometime between 350 BC and 1150 AD. Here’s a shot of me taking a break.






See the band around my right ankle? That’s my tattoo – it’s Navajo symbols for gardening. I pulled the images off the internet and the artist put them together for me.






The sun is – yep, the sun. The turtle represents the earth. The diamonds are the milky way, and you can’t see the rain cloud and the corn (representing the harvest) on the other side of my leg. I chose Navajo because we lived on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico when I was very young. Oh yes – the S isn’t anything Navajo – it’s for my sweet hound-dog Shirley, who died in ’05.

So anyway, the walking was really cool. In the fun sense – so much to see, and it was so beautiful. It was not cool in the thermo sense – it was about 90 out – which is nothing for that area, but felt hot as hell. The sand was quite the challenge – I felt more sore than I did after last week’s extra long trek. It was great to get a different kind of workout. I made sure to stay sun-screened and hydrated, and it definitely helped.

Back in Las Ta-Tas – I mean Vegas, we visited a fine family fun spot, where I demonstrated how my doing the Avon Walk is supporting something Sin City finds very important.






Please ignore the really crappy picture of me. First, I can NEVER keep my eyes open when there’s a flash, and while I’m feeling pretty schlumpy these days, I actually don’t have 4 or 5 chins. But check it out – they’re a little blurry, but I’m wearing the earrings Donna made for the Knitters for Knockers Team. Thanks Donna!

This week’s walking should be more of the usual kind – I may go for more distance this weekend. See you next week!

Rachel

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Lucky Rachel...wisked away to Vegas. Sigh. And what dedication to her training! Even got in a walk while she was there. What awesome scenery!

Oh, and I just have to type this: Hooters Las Vegas. Wonder how many searches will end up here.....

Boobie-A-Rama

Here's Rachel's latest update...damn that girl sure knows how to rack up the miles. Hee hee. I said rack.

Men are often scared of me, but....

I don't often scare myself. But I may have done it this time. So last week I talked about completing the 100 miles by April 1st - I was pretty pleased with that. Well there was discussion on the Run-a-Go-Go site about doing another 100 miles by July 4th and who was in. Well of course I'm in! But can I leave it at that? Nooooo...apparently not. I have to jump up and say "I know, I'll do another 200 by July 4th!". If I continue at this rate, I can see myself saying to my husband, "Hey let's not fly back to Vermont to visit this fall, let's WALK there! It'll be fun, and so much more eco-friendly! I can't wait to amble over the Sierras, and walk through the fall foliage in the Adirondacks!"

Hubby and his bum knees will be so pleased.

Training

On to training. It was a great walking week. I was a bit sore last Monday from Saturday's hills, but recovered fully by Tuesday. I walked three times during lunch at work, and then on Sunday Nathalie and I did 12 1/2 miles! We went from Los Gatos to Campbell (including a little extra walk through Old Campbell) and back. We stopped there for a snack and purposely sat down for 15 minutes to see what it would feel like to have to get up and walk again once we'd been inactive for a while. That was hard. But we did it and I really felt fine. I was glad I didn't have to, but I realized when I got back to my car that if there had been more walking to do, I could easily have kept going.

So we covered nearly half the distance of the real walk first day, and it's only mid-March. Barring serious illness or injury, I think we're on track to be able to do this with no problem by July. That's not to say I don't think it'll be hard - I'll probably feel as if I'm about 80 when I'm done - but I do think I should be well prepared. I think pretty soon we'll start doing some longer walks on Saturdays and then half that distance on Sundays so we can get used to doing this 2 days in a row. I wish I had the opportunity to get used to getting a massage 2 days in a row as well.

Wildly fascinating trivia...

I joined a new knit group last week - just looking to meet new people. It's called Bobaknit, and the meetups take place in Mountain View. The group appears to be addicted to Boba Tea, you know the stuff with the chewy tapioca golf-balls in it that comes in 4006 flavors? So, Bobaknit as a name made sense. But then I found out at the meetup that Boba has an entirely different and much more interesting definition. It's Chinese slang for 'Boobies'! How appropriate is that? I write on Boobie Tuesdays, I walk for breast cancer, I'm part of Knitters for Knockers, and now this? Apparently boobs have become a major part of my life. Heh, too bad they're not a more major part of my body... : )

Happy Boobie Tuesday! See you next week.

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When you stop for any length of time, make sure you do some stretches. It really helps!

I just love having a guest blogger, but you guys already know that. Last night it was mani/pedi night at Casa de Chaos. Ahhhhh...yeah, I can be girly. It was time for the toenails to be painted. Get this, the color #? 300 The color name? Thrill And that's exactly what the movie '300' was...quite the thrill. What exactly is color #300 otherwise known as Thrill? Red.

Tomorrow night, I have a date with a box of Revlon ColorSilk #47. Does she or doesn't she? Damn straight this woman does!!!!

More markers for the Cause...

These 6 sets are on their way to Yarndogs. The store is selling them to raise money for the Knitters for Knockers AVON Walk Team. Check 'em out and buy 'em if you're in the area...





Five of the six sets were made from beads and old jewelry that my guest blogger Rachel sent me a few weeks ago. Recognize anything Rachel? Spence and I had a good time taking it all apart. I've got lots left still, so stay tuned...more will be headed to Yarndogs next week.

Yesterday, I got some more Pink Ribbon beads, and various supplies/findings, so I'll be making more markers as well as some other stuff for the store. And as requested, I'll be making earrings for the Team.

UPDATE: I made the Team some earrings and a little something extra. Hope you all like it! I hope to get that in the mail today.

It is Tuesday, right?!?

Just checked, and yes it is...so here's Rachel's AVON Walk training update for this week's Boobie Tuesday...

So I had a much more active week than I have for the past two. On Saturday, my friend Nathalie and I met in Los Gatos and headed out toward them thar hills. We didn’t find gold or oil, but we did find a fair amount of mud. It was a good walk though. We decided to push it and every time the trail presented us with options, we opted for the steeper one. I don’t know if I’d mentioned it before, but I have real trouble walking up hills and stairs; it doesn’t take a lot to make my heart pound and my breathing to become pretty labored. This is a side effect of having had radiation and it does slow me down.

The last time we did the hills, I had to stop a few times to rest, and also to bring my heartbeat down and my breathing back to normal. Each time I did this, it took 5-10 minutes for me to feel as if I was ready to get going again. This time was different. The hills were still hard, but when I stopped to rest, my heart and breathing stabilized and I was ready to go a LOT faster! I’m totally psyched about that. I’m a bit frustrated by not having lost any weight since I started walking in January (though I am getting firmer in crucial places), but hey – my heart is doing great. And while I’d love to feel slim and gazelle-like now, I’d rather have a healthier heart so I’ll be alive to appreciate my ever-slimmer self later.

We did about 5 miles on Saturday – the pace wasn’t fast, but we’re blaming that on the hills. We opted for something different on Sunday, and met at my house for a little more speed on the flats. This walk wasn’t nearly as pretty as the trails in Los Gatos, but we need to get used to walking on pavement since most, if not all of the walk course for the event is on paved roads. So we did around 6 miles. We probably would have done more if Nathalie had been feeling up for it, but she had been sick all week and couldn’t push it too hard. That’s really unusual for her – she can pretty much kick my butt any time when it comes to working out! And it looks as if she’ll be kicking it again pretty soon. We’ve decided we really need to start pushing it harder and going for some longer walks starting with a 10-miler next week. 10 miles. Holy crap! Now that’s some mileage.

Anyway - 11 miles this weekend. Not bad, especially when you consider that nearly half of that was on some seriously steep hills. Oh yeah – remember in my first guest blog I said that all of this walking was inspired by Rachael starting up the Runagogo blog (www.runagogo.com) where we all have the goal of walking, running, biking, swimming or any combo thereof, at least 100 miles total by April 1st? Well Saturday I cleared the 100 mile mark. Another reason to celebrate! Want a 3rd reason? I’ve raised over $2,500 to benefit the Avon Walk for Cancer, and still have promises for more! If you want to help me reach my fundraising goal, check out my walk page – the link is on the side bar. Any support you can offer for this cause will be very much appreciated!

I’m going to celebrate my 3 accomplishments by going to bed at a reasonable hour. Clearly I need a life. : )

Rachel

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Mercy! Rachel and her team mates sure are rackin' up the milage! And it's only March...

Rachel, please keep on keeping track of the miles you walk for training. How many shoes you wear out, etc. I'm really interested in knowing the finals come walk-time.

Just for the record, my last walk, I managed to gain 5 lbs, but lost several inches and a dress size - which is more important to me than how much I weigh. And also, there is no jiggle when I walk - my ass is solid. Word.

Having a guest blogger is great...

Hey! It's Boobie Tueday and I'm still really busy, so take it away Rachel:

Would I like some cheese to go with my whine?

It was a low mileage week for me. I usually walk 5 days a week, including 2 long workouts on the weekend. But this thing called Stitches West got in the way. Doors opened at 10:00 so I could have walked beforehand, but I needed to save my energy for my all-day yarn crawl, right? (This is where you all nod in agreement – ‘yes, of course’.) I took Friday off from work, got to the Santa Clara Convention Center around 10:30 and spent the next 5 hours wandering the floor checking out all the fiber. A lot of the booths had standard run-of-the-mill yarn, some had huge bins full of bags marked 75% off – but upon closer look I realized it’s stuff I’d never buy anyway – and then there were a few that had some absolutely lovely stuff at reasonable prices. Not cheap, but definitely great value. I picked up some roving (I’m about to order my 1st spinning wheel), a huge hank of 100% rayon from Interlacements, 2 nearly-as-huge hanks of 100% raw silk from Tess’ Designer Yarns, and a skein of Socks that Rock sock yarn in a really cool peach/brown/cream combo from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Oh yes – and a bag of Lana Knits 100% hemp that was on the half-price wall at Full Thread Ahead.

The next day I went back to Stitches to work in the Yarndogs booth – we were winding yarn in exchange for donations to raise money for our Avon walk team. Holy cow was it busy! I got there at 2:00, and there were already bags of yarn lined up for winding. A few skeins we received were pre-tangled, which really slowed us down – we had to deal with those by hand. I was supposed to leave at 5:00 but it was pretty crazy so I stuck around until a little after 6:00. I even took home a bag of yarn to wind at home, and I’ll drop it off at the shop tomorrow. I don’t know how much money we raised – I’ll get to find out then.

So. Walking. I’m supposed to be talking about that. Yes. Well. My walking partner had been sick all week and decided to lay low for the weekend, so I was on my own. I got up Sunday and spent most of the day dragging around. Tired, tired, tired. And sore. And stiff. After all, I probably walked 417 miles on Friday, and another 182 on Saturday, not to mention the eleventy pound bag I carried around. That should be enough of a workout for the weekend, right? I really was going to cash it in – I’m ahead of the game in training and a break isn’t a bad thing. After all, I was really tired. And sore. And stiff too, did I mention that? Then I started thinking about the walk – and how in July, no matter how tired and sore and whiny I am that Sunday, I’m going to have to suck it up and walk 13 miles that day anyway. So I might as well get used to walking even when I don’t feel up for it. Crap. I hate it when I think of things like that. But off I went. And it wasn’t that hard! Actually, it was easy – I started out slowly but picked up speed after the first half-mile, and managed to do just over 3 miles at a decent speed. Less than my usual Sunday trek but so much more than I thought I could do. I came home feeling pretty damn fine. Then of course it was back into soft clothes (after a shower, I swear) and time to park on the couch with the laptop. And latte instead of whine.

Rachel

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Good for you for walking on Sunday anyway! You're right in thinking that way - and once you start the walk, there's so much adrenaline around you, there's no way you can stop anyway! There will be enough time to feel the soreness over the week after it's all done.

Sounds like Stitches was fun. Some year, I'll spring for a hazmat suit and hit the Market. If I can't touch, I can at least look. But I have a feeling in the next few years, we'll see even more non-wool choices. How exciting!!!!

Well, that was easy. See you all later.

Oh yeah! I picked up the needles again this morning on the way in to work. They felt good in my hands. It's going to be a good day.