Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk

So check out the side bar over ---> there to the right.  See the pretty pink widget? Today I went to a "Getting Started" meeting for this event. Why?  I don't have a mom with breast cancer.  My grandmothers didn't die of breast cancer. None of my aunts or cousins have/had breast cancer.  I am so very blessed.  I totally get it!  I think I wanted to do this, because I would want someone to do it for me.   So click on the widget, head to my fundraising page and make a donation. THANK YOU! :)

Today marked the beginning of this journey.  I drove 45 minutes to the Herndon Fortnighly Library on Center Street.  I met about 25 other women wanting to participate also.  A woman named Shawn was to take us through the process of signing up and preparing for the walk. Immediately I felt very emotional about the whole thing.  Apparently that's normal - there were boxes of tissues all over the place!   I was on the verge of tears nearly the entire 90 minutes I was there, and I can't explain why.  Could I blame it on "female hormones"?  Probably.  But then again, is that why everyone else was crying too?  

So the details:   Raise money and train to walk 20 miles in a day (for 3 days).  Hard to say which one is more intimidating, but I'll jump in to both items wholeheartedly.   The fundraising I can (and will) start right away.  The training, on the other hand, I don't plan to begin until late April, at the earliest.  I've signed up to run a 5k (my very first) on March 21, and so my training for that must take precedent.  I inquired today about my running and was told that it really won't count for the walk training, because I need to prepare my body for walking a long distance. Something about slow-twitch muscles vs.  fast-twitch muscles...  The training log provided in my packet gives a 24-week training plan and a 16-week plan.  I plan to start the 24-week plan loosely (in April), but not stress over the LONG distance walks until the 16 week mark. 

I'll be using my blog here to share more about this process as I go along.  Check back to see what's going on! :)