Results of the Avon Walk

Well, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is over and I survived. I managed to contribute $2380 to the $2 million raised for the Houston walk. Pretty amazing! I am so thankful for all the donations, thoughts, prayers, and text messages I got over the course of this adventure. It meant the world to me!

We started the morning by meeting at a park where I got my tag for my back. I also got to sign the big column and do some stretching before the walk started.

I also had to experience the world of porta potties which are disgusting. This was the least fun part of the walk considering I visited 3 more porta potties along my walk - gross!

I walked past many breast cancer survivors who thanked me for what I was doing. It was such great motivation to keep walking. While I was hobbling along with Mark by my side, one lady came outside of her home and personally thanked us. She said that only 10 people can be treated with $2 million. That isn't that many people at all. That statistic is staggering and a great reason to continue to donate to breast cancer research.

Although I planned to walk the 39 mile route over the course of 2 days, I only completed 22.8 miles on the first day and did not walk on the second day. Mark and I made the executive decision that VERY sore hips and 13 large blisters were reason enough to stop walking. I walked for 7 hours on Saturday and denied help from many people who asked if I needed it (due to the hobbling I was doing!).

This was a great experience for many reasons. First, I loved walking in honor of Mamaw. When times got tough, I thought of her and thought my pain was probably nothing compared to what she has been through. Second, it was great to be a part of a large cause working to benefit so many people past, present, and future. Third, it was wonderful knowing I had so much love and support at home from friends and family. The text messages and well wishes were so kind! And fourth, this walk reminded me of the constant love and support I have from Mark. I literally could not have completed the walk without him. He probably walked a good 8 miles with me while holding my hand the entire way. He ran to get me cold water and met me at different locations to drop it off to me, he went to a local athletic store and bought me another shirt and pair of socks when mine were drenched from the rain (yes, it even rained while I was walking), and he told me so many times just how proud he was of me as I pushed through the last few miles. My husband is one in a million and I don't take that for granted.

I also learned a few things....I am tougher than I thought I was (I really lost hope about mile 17, just ask poor Mark), I can't just get up and walk 39 miles without training, women are really funny and all love talking about the same topics (food, how to stay skinny, how they met their husband, and dating - I eavesdropped a lot while walking), and I can do just about anything with support, especially Mark's support!

Almost time to walk!

Well, I will officially be walking in Houston at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer at this time just two days from now. I was very calm about it up until this point. The nerves are starting to creep up on me!

I have all my gear. I bought another 2 pairs of socks yesterday after work along with some additional wicking capri pants. Mark was also very generous and took me to another store last night and bought me a good pair of shorts (when did shorts become so short, by the way?!?!?) and another pair of socks. He thinks I will be happier walking in shorts since it is so humid in Houston. We decided it would be a good idea to be prepared so he said he would hold the shorts for me, and if I want to change mid-walk, he will meet me somewhere. What a great husband! He has been very supportive throughout this adventure.

Truth be told, I probably should be a little bit nervous. I have not really "trained" for this as well as I initially intended to. I haven't walked a long distance in almost 2 months and really have been a slacker about going to the gym everyday. I anticipate I will be sore and am expecting blisters on my feet. Call it lazy, call it busy, call it neglect, but I did it to myself and I am regretting it now...

I really never challenge myself with physical types of activities so I am going to enter this with my game face on (I think that is cool to say if you are an athlete?). Many people generously donated over $2300 to my fundraising so I can't let them down! I am doing this walk to support Mamaw, to support others with breast cancer, and to help fund future research. I can do this....I hope!

Shopping Trip

As usual, I am very excited about my recent Sunday trip to some of my favorite stores. This weekend's newspaper was filled with great coupons! I had a true challenge on my hands: feed us for the next week for $30. Mark and I spend no more than $300 a month on food and toiletries (this includes laundry items too) and all that was remaining in March's budget was $30. Some may be scared, but not me, it was a true shopping challenge!!!

I only bought things that were either free or close to free. I went to Tom Thumb, CVS, and Walgreens. I got all of this from CVS and Walgreens for a total of $2.82. One box of cereal alone is usually this amount!
This picture includes the above plus what I bought at Tom Thumb for the whole week. The week's total was a mere $13. I was lucky and got 7 Gala apples free since the lady couldn't make the scale work so that really helped my bill.
Now, don't worry, we won't just be eating a microwave brownie and ice cream (both cheap treats for Mark). We have plenty stockpiled in the freezer so these are just supplemental items.

Last night, we had turkey sliders, healthy cole slaw, french fries, fruit, and pudding for dessert. It was yummy!

I love a good couponing challenge!!!

A little here, a little there....

Mark has been working on our house bit by bit now that hunting season is over and I think it is coming along nicely! He installed a new bath faucet in the guest bathroom (tile is missing but will be installed!). The other one was old, plastic and didn't turn off so we needed a new one.

He also hung these picture frames in the hallway. I have yet to fill them with pictures, but I will, once we decide what wedding pictures we like (yep, still haven't done that either!).

And, the most exciting, we bought a huge area rug for our main room. We had been looking and saving awhile for this so we are super excited to have something nice. The dogs love it too, especially Dixie. She is happy to have something soft to lay on at night while we watch tv. I am posting both these pictures because in the first one, Bandera just happened to be sitting there when I snapped the photo, while Dixie was by my side. When I went to take another one, Dixie whipped her body around and positioned herself right next to Bandera. Guess she wanted to be in the picture too!









The weather was so nice last week that I decided to surprise Mark by setting up a nice dinner outside. It is the least a wife can do while on Spring Break, right? Well, we can't really afford patio furniture (too many other things to buy) so I made due with what we had. It isn't the prettiest but it allowed us to enjoy a nice dinner on our patio! The dogs especially liked us watching them run around in the backyard. Bandera "protected" us from all the birds!

It snowed in Frisco on the first official day of spring...that is crazy Texas weather for you! The snow was as tall as Bandera. It melted by the afternoon but it was a sight to be seen while on Spring Break!








While the weather was terrible, Mark took Dixie to her very first Hunt Test. I had to stay in town to do work for my class so Mark kept me updated via text. He pulled a fast one on me and convinced me Dixie did a terrible job all weekend and didn't pass any of her tests when in fact, she passed with flying colors! This is what Mark surprised me with when I came out to the garage....

Dixie was proud of the two ribbons she earned, as was Mark. Mark is such a good trickster and I am so gullible!!!

38 days, yikes!

I received an e-mail from my advisor for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and she informed me there are only 38 days until the walk. Are you kidding me?!?!?! That is not very long at all.

Like I hoped, I have been able to make it to the gym much more this week. I have been getting up at 5am in order to get a 40-45 minute work out in before going to work. I went Tuesday, Wednesday, and this morning. I must admit, getting up at that time is hard but when I leave the gym I feel great. Plus, a major item is checked off my to do list!

I have class on Saturday which eats up most of the day but I am hoping to get some good walking in over the weekend. The weather is getting much better and much warmer so doing some outside walks would be really nice!

38 days and counting......

It has been awhile....

So, it has been nearly 3 weeks since I last blogged. Yikes! It isn't because I haven't wanted to or thought about it, trust me. Here is what has been going on:

1. Work responsibilities have moved from slow and steady to crazy and unpredictable. We do a full battery of testing every spring on every lower school student. Needless to say, it takes a lot of time. We also decided to cross-test so I am now helping the other testing coordinators test all the other kids in the school (even the big, scary high schoolers!). I love this time of year so I am having a blast but it can be exhausting! It is also the time when I conference with prospective parents who are interested in their child coming to the school. This is another favorite part of my job.

2. I am taking my last class at UNT to (hopefully) become certified as an Educational Diagnostician. This class is a testing class where I have to find non-learning disabled children to practice giving 5 different tests on. I am lucky enough to have found people with young children through friends. This class has taken A LOT of time and work though I am enjoying it too. Just finished my second report on Friday night! Hope I get an "A."

3. Training for my Avon Walk....yes....um, well.....that has not received as much attention as I would like it to. Considering I have been getting up at 5am to be at work by 6:30am so I can catch up, then staying late to either tutor or test for my class and not getting home until 6:30 or 7, walking hasn't been the top priority. I did get 10 miles in last weekend and another 4 in this weekend. Hopefully this week I can get more miles in!

4. The Avon Walk fundraising continues to go well. I am at $2080 which I am thrilled about! With a few donations from friends and some people at my mom's church, the number just keeps going up and up! Yea!

4. I have also been taking a sock knitting class. My parents gave this to me as a birthday present and I am loving it! I just finished my 3rd class and came out with a single sock. Now to knit #2! Here is my final product (it looks funny laying down but fits great as a pajama sock!):
5. Last week's trip to the grocery store, CVS and Walgreens was a record-breaking one! I spent 11 cents on everything you see in this picture. Yep, just 11 cents. I was beyond proud of myself!

100% of Fundraising Goal (plus some!)

Woohooo!!!! I made it to 100% of my Avon Walk for Breast Cancer fundraising goal, and in record time! It only took 30 days to raise a whopping $1814. THANK YOU to everyone who helped, prayed, recruited donations, and donated. I couldn't have done it without you! I am blown away by all the support I have received. I am surrounded by wonderful people.

I raised my goal to $1900 just in case a few more people wanted to help.

As far as my walking update....I did not walk much last week. I walked for 20 minutes on Monday and did the elliptical on Friday. I hurt my knee and it was just too painful to walk. I figured I would rather rest it then push it in order to make my training recommendations. Luckily, last week was a "resting" (though not so much resting week) week according to the training schedule so I didn't have to add any miles.

I am off to a good start this week. I have 2 new pairs of shoes (got a great deal thanks to Joe's New Balance Warehouse), I have my training schedule, and my knee feels pretty good. Now I just need to load my IPod with songs (I forgot to mention I am now the proud owner of my very own IPod! Mark got me a pink one for my b-day!) and I will be ready to go!

Happy walking :)