Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Weather Sucks

Yup, the weather has royally sucked. Yesterday it was SO windy and cold. I decided to go home, grab Will and head out to the MOA to do some mall walking. I much rather do that then drive all the way to the gym to walk on a treadmill. At least when you are mall walking you get to people watch too. It was kind of funny yesterday when we were walking. There was a mom with her about 2 yr old girl. The girl wasn't in her stroller and walking slightly behind her mom. In the span of time when I saw this little girl behind her mom, to when we passed, the little girl decided that she was tired so she laid down on the floor of the mall and shut her eyes. Will and I held back giggles as we walked past. The one thing that annoys me more than anything with the mall (and no its not slow walkers) is the smell that comes from Abercrombie. My G-d! What do they think they are doing emitting a scent that you can smell as far away as 3 stores in each direction! Something has to be done about that. I'm really surprised the Mall hasn't done anything.

I am starting up my Walks for a Walker program on Monday and NO ONE HAS SIGNED UP! I'm really upset about that. It is such an easy way to donate and you don't even have to donate anything until August. Take the number of walks the Twins had last year (396) and figure you are donating 10 cents per walk. That is ONLY $39.60! Come on. I know there are several of you out there who can give up $40! Last year I had an amazing person offer to donate $1/walk. I'm not asking for that, but come on ... 10 or 15 cents? Figure that each month the twins get about 115 walks. That is only $11.50 per month. I think you can do that. So, point is... if you don't sign up for the Walks for a Walker then you better be thinking about donating later on.

Its another rainy day and I won't be walking because I have a doctor's appointment to look at my knee...

Friday, March 27, 2009

Inside Walking

Man do I hate inside walking. The weather up here has been either crap or too cold to walk outside. Tuesday Melissa and I walked around the Mall of America. She called me when we were suppose to meet and said she was stuck in traffic so I decided to take one lap around while waiting for her. Then we walked about 4.1 miles together. So I walked in total about 4.6 miles. One lap around the mall is just over 0.5 mile. We decided that walking on the 3rd floor of the mall is the best because it is the least crowded.

Yesterday I walked on the dreaded treadmill. I really dislike walking on a treadmill. I got sick of it after 1/2 hour and gave up. I did walk almost 2 miles (or just over 3km) in the half hour, so at least I have a good pace.

This weekend is supposed to be another cold one, so it looks like I'm back to the treadmill. Oh well... soon it will be warm and I will be able to walk around the lakes.

In the meantime I would like to let all of you know that I am starting up my "Walks for a Walker" program again in about a week. If you do not know what this is, I keep track of the number of walks (or home runs) that your favorite baseball team has from the start of the baseball season until August 1, 2009. You tell me what you would like to donate per walk. I then send you an email at the end of every month letting you know what your donation amount is. This way you can either donate each month, or as a lump sum at the end. Last year I was able to raise almost $900.oo this way. I would love to be able to raise much more than that this year! I had people who donated anywhere from 25 cents per walk to $1 per walk. Any amount is greatly appreciated. Please feel free to look at my posts from last August and September to see the totals of walks and home runs. This will give you a better idea of donation amounts. Please help me out! If you donated through this program last year, THANK YOU! I appreciate it greatly.

Have a great weekend!

Monday, March 23, 2009

First sort of group walk

I walked this weekend with Cindy and Tara for the first time! They had a training event about a mile from my house, so I walked there to meet them and we went for a walk around Lake Harriet, then I walked home. It was my first more than 3 mile walk of the season! I need to start training because I registered to do the Crescent City Classic in April and that is a 10K. It is kind of crazy to think that now I think a 6.2 mile walk is nothing. Before doing the walk last year I thought it would take me forever and I would never do something like that. But now... I think I can do 6.2 miles in my sleep (so long as my knee doesn't hate me).

My knee has started to bother me recently, even when I wear my knee brace. This is not a good sign at all. I made a dr. appointment for next week, so lets hope all I need is a new knee brace. I have had mine since college, so it is at least 5 years old.

I don't know if I'm going to be walking outside that much this week because the weather is - thunderstorm, rain, snow turning to rain, rain, snow and then clear and in the 30s. Man, can May come already?!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Training has begun

Well, we are now about 22 weeks from the walk which means that our training period has started! Crazy! It was so nice earlier this week that I went for a walk with Will on Monday and Will and Melissa on Tuesday. Then the weather rapidly deteriorated until it snowed this morning. But, tomorrow it is supposed to be warm again (59!). I am meeting 2 of my other teammates, Cindy and Tara to walk around Lake Harriet in the morning. They are then going to the "shoe clinic" and I'll just walk home. I did all of that stuff last year and I really don't think I need to learn that "cotton is rotten" again. I have my trusty Target socks that are synthetic so I don't have to worry about cotton.

We are having our first fundraiser on April 4 at Sarah's apartment! It is another Lia Sophia party! The party is going to be from 6:30 - until... If you aren't able to make it, but would still like to buy jewelry please go to http://www.liasophia.com/sites/jessevans. When you do find jewelry that you like and want to purchase (because 40% of our sales go back to us for the fundraiser) type in "Pink" as the first name and "Sprinkles" as the last name. This way we get credit for the sale!

The baseball season starts in just over 2 weeks too! So this weekend I'm going to start sending out notices to everyone who participated in the Walks for a Walker program in hopes to not only get their support again, but maybe some new people will join too!

That's it for now! Have a great weekend!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Our First Fundraiser!

I realize that the point of a blog is to write more often than I do, but nothing much has really been going on in the world of my walking. I have been going to the gym more frequently so that I am in shape to walk 60 miles come August, so I guess that is good. Will has been going to the gym more too, and let me tell you, it is paying off! He even wants to be able to run a 5K in under 24 mins, which I think is pretty impressive.

I do want to announce that the Pink Sprinkles will be having their first fund raising event on April 4th! We are having another Lia Sophia party. Last year's was such a success that we want to do it again. So, we hope that you will be able to make it. As I said, it will be on April 4th at about 7p. If you do want to come, please let me know and I will pass on the information to you. If you are interested in hosting your own Lia Sophia party, even better! We need to have 2 people register for parties in order for us to get our donation, so PLEASE think about having your own party. There are SO many perks (as a hostess you even get free jewelry!). If this interests you, comment or send me an email.

February is OVER! Which hopefully means spring is on its way.