Reworking the blog-a-roo

ooook. So, I started this blog last year as a way to share about my 3day breast cancer walk.  Whelp, the 3day ended, I was 8 weeks pregnant and I left the blog to die a slow sad death in blog land. Well friends, prepare to get excited because today, I decided to bring it back.  That's right, I'm bringing it back. Only this time you'll get filled in on my random thoughts and silly details of my days (for instance, how long May napped today or what we are up to this weekend - riveting stuff).

That being said - I'll do a little update soon with some pics and stories about our sweet darling Maybug to get you up to speed on my simple little life. (first I have to RE download my favorite pics from facebook because our hard drive crashed and I lost 10000 pics that were not backed up anywhere else.  I'm so dumb.

So there's something to look forward to.

Peace out hombre's.

Who can I walk for on your behalf?

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your support!  Thanks to all of you, i met my goal one month BEFORE the walk!  I really can't put into words how special it is for me to know that you have decided to take this journey with me.

The walk starts THIS Friday morning!  It just seems crazy...  So, in my prep this week, i am trying to get my list together of those who I am walking for (both in honor of and in memory of).  That being said, please let me know who i can walk for on your behalf.  I will be making ribbons to go on my pack with the names of each person I am walking for, and I would be honored to walk for your friends and loved one's who have been affected by breast cancer.

Please email me (becca.winn@yahoo.com) by Wednesday at noon with anyone you want included so that I can make the ribbon for them.

On another note, there is some spectator information available on the 3day website...

The most important info though is about the closing ceremonies - i would be so honored if you could join us there!  The closing ceremonies are on Sunday, August 8th at 4:30pm at Soldier Field.  It's open to everyone and it's quite an amazing ceremony.

There are also tons of ways to cheer us on throughout the walk in Winnetka, Glenview (friday),  Des Plaines, Mt. Prospect (Saturday) and almost every town around there - then in Chicago on Sunday - cheering makes all the difference in this walk and was many times the only thing that kept me walking last year!

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You can still support my 3day team!

And, I almost forgot! My teammate, Lynnette, still needs to reach her goal.  So, if you haven't donated yet and wanted to support this cause, please donate to her instead.  OR, if you are feeling really generous and want to donate again, please donate to Lynnette.

Her donation page can be found here.  Or you can go to my page, click on "Lovely Lady Lumps" (clever, huh?) and then click on Lynnette's name to donate to her.

If you don't know Lynnette personally here is one of MANY reasons to donate to her.  When my cousin Alisa was diagnosed with cancer back in the fall of 2008 the first thing Lynnette said was, "Oh, then we have to do one of those walks!"  Yes, this whole crazy journey was HER idea!  Yes, she decided to raise $2300 and walk 60 miles (not easy my friends, not easy at all) for someone that she barely knows.  I truly don't know anyone more selfless and more amazing than my Lynnettey Bo Betty. :-)

Here's Lynnette with Aaron and Maddie at the end of the 2009 walk.  How was she NOT crabby by this point?  For real.

Aaaaand, here we are getting our tent set up and wrapping our suitcases in plastic because it WOULD NOT stop raining on the first day.

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Met my Gooooaaaaallll!!!

Have I said "thank you" lately?  Incase you haven't heard, I am so amazingly and incredibly THANKFUL to my supporters!!!  In one week I raised over $1000 and met my 3Day fundraising minimum.  I simply cannot believe this to be true!  With 28 days to spare?!  Crazy.

I had started to get worried about my fundraising a few weeks back when I realized that I was a wee bit behind where I was last year at this time and most people who donated last year had already donated for this year.  (that was a really long and confusing sentence, sorry about that).  Well, deep down in my heart  I knew that there was no need to worry and I only wish I would have listened to that little voice inside instead of stressing out!  Now I am waaaay ahead of where I was last year!! 

So, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! You all are completely amazing and I am so honored that you would come along side me on this journey.  I feel like every day I hear of someone else with breast cancer, someone's niece, or mother, or aunt or grandmother or daughter was just diagnosed and it just makes me angry.  That being said, I'm thrilled to be doing my part in the fight against breast cancer and I'm honored and amazed by the incredible people that are in my life that would partner with me in this battle.

Please please please remember that your donation IS making a difference.  I can't really say it better than the Susan G. Komen foundation - so here's a little snippit from their website.

Because 10 million women around the world could die from breast cancer in the next 25 years, we continue to fight every minute of every day to save every life. 

Thanks to people like you who share our vision of a world without breast cancer, we’ve made huge discoveries in finding new and better ways to detect the disease at its earliest stages. We now know so much more about the different types of breast cancer and specific ways to attack each kind. And we work day-in and day-out in communities throughout the world to ensure everyone can access quality care and these new advances. But the fact is, breast cancer is still life-threatening, and until we can keep people from dying from it, we need your help - your generosity is crucial as we continue this fight. 

They are getting closer to finding a cure and you are a part of it.  THANK YOU. 

 

 

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My supporters are AMAZING.

WOW WOW WOW!!! I am SO overwhelmed by the response I have received since my last blog/email update. WOW! I managed to raise $515 in 24 hours!!! That is just nutty.

So, where does that leave my fundraising effort now? Only $539 to go until I meet my fundraising minimum of $2300 and $1239 until I meet my personal fundraising goal of $3000. This went from feeling a little bit scary and out of reach to TOTALLY doable!

Now to get back on track (AGAIN) with my training! I got some new shoes (again!) last week and I MUST train in order to break those bad boys in before the walk. I'll check back in soon with a fabulous training update!

My 3day Page: http://www.the3day.org/goto/beccawinn10
My Official Blog: http://www.beccawalks.blogspot.com

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU everyone for you support!!

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T minus FOUR weeks til the 3day!!

Oh. My. Goodness.  The day has almost arrived!  You read that right, only four short weeks until Lynnette and I head out on another 3day adventure!  Wow!  So here are a few quick updates for you!

Fundraising
I am $1054 dollars from my minimum fundraising amount of $2300.  Here's how the "minimum" thing works... Each walker has to raise $2300 in order to walk.  If you don't have it before you walk, you give them your credit card number and you have 4 weeks after the walk in order to raise the rest, or they charge it to ya.  Or you can just donate what you have raised and not walk.

This breaks down to $253/week... or about $40/day that I still need to raise.  I have heard from a lot of people that you are planning on donating but just haven't yet... now is the time friends! :-)  I know I sound like a broken record but every penny really does make a difference... if you can donate $5 that's great... $20 is great... every dollar makes a difference in the fight against breast cancer! Click here to go to my donation page.  If you aren't comfortable making an online donation you can scroll to the bottom of my personal page to print the donation form - just fill it out and mail it in with your donation.

Why am I doing this?
Here is a reminder from my very first blog post of why I'm doing this.  Please remember that I am not asking for money for myself... I'm asking you to support the dream of a world without breast cancer.

Here are the facts:
Here's what I REALLY want you to know about why I am doing this... I TRULY believe, with every fiber of my being, that we can find a cure for breast cancer and that it can happen in my lifetime.

There are a lot of statistics coming up in this blog entry but I really want you, my supporters, to understand:
1.) what we are up against,
2.) what advancements have been made in the past two decades and
3.) why it’s so important that we don’t give up the fight!

Did you know that in a lifetime, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer?

Did you know that in the US, in 2009, there were an estimated 194,280 new cases of breast cancer in women and men and 40,610 deaths?

The good news is that new diagnostic tools allow physicians to detect cancer at earlier stages and new treatment strategies -- chemotherapy, hormonal and new biological therapies, like Herceptin are helping to save lives and reduce suffering.

There has been and continues to be a decline in death from breast cancer. To be clear, there are still approximately 40,000 women dying of breast cancer each year in the United States, but the breast cancer mortality rate has been slowly declining.

Why the 3day? Here's something you may not know about Susan G Komen for the cure....

Komen has sustained a strong commitment to supporting research that will identify and deliver cures for breast cancer. This commitment has resulted in important progress that has contributed to every major advancement in breast cancer over the past 25 years. With increasing investments over time, Komen is now the largest non-government funder of breast cancer research.

Training
Trainig this year has been about  a million times better than last year.  I've gotten a few substantial long walks... nothing as long as my training schedule suggests (like back to back 17 and 14 milers... who has time for that?!) but still, I feel good about what I have accomplished this year.  I'm pretty excited that my training schedule is majorly slowing down now with shorter walks, etc... I feel pretty good about where I am at and hope to keep on with some steady walks through the hot hot month of July so that my endurance stays strong for the walk.  I think I'm ready though... maybe. :-)

That's it from me for today!  Thank you so much for sticking with me through this nutty journey and for supporting me.  It's hard to express via blogs and emails but your support means a tremendous amount to me and I could never say thank you enough!

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Longest Training Walks Ever... and a fabulous fundraising idea that equals INTENSE motivation!

Skip to the last paragraph if you want to read about my fundraising challenge this week and not my detailed account of training/fundraising so far... you won't hurt my feelings.

I'm really really really proud of Lynnette and I right now. I mean, really proud.

Last year we "trained" for the 3day... meaning, we did some shorter walks after work when there was time and we threw in an 8 miler on a Saturday every now and then and there was that one time we walked 11 miles and wanted to die. Then we set off for the 3day in August of 2009 and walked almost all 60 miles and wanted to die.

So this year we thought, hmmmm perhaps we won't want to die as much if we actually do our training this year. At first, I'll admit it, I was determined to do it, but deep down inside I figured this was some sort of pipe dream and once again, life would get in the way and the same old "training" from last year would happen.

Well guess what folks?! My pipe dream is coming true! Last Saturday (the 12th) we did a 12.5 mile walk (which totally equals 14 "Komen" miles...) and this past Saturday (the 20th) we did 14.5 miles! Yes, we woke up early and walked for 5 hours straight (Ok, we made a stop for string cheese and gatorade and then another for a smoothie)!

(skip to the last paragraph if you don't feel like reading a long winded explanation about my training/fundraising :-)

Attention Fellow 3 Dayers! Read this paragraph if you are looking for a way to get motivated for training! First, allow me to elaborate a bit on my motivation for my training two weeks ago. I put it out there to my supporters to pledge money per mile for my training for the week. I planned on doing 33 miles and I got a few pledges. I had NO IDEA how much motivation this would provide for my training that week! I did a short walk on Thursday (because it had been raining every other day that week). Then, my mom and step-dad came into town on Friday... I had a quandary. I wanted to do my training but I also wanted to hang out with them on my afternoon off. Well, I hung out with them for lunch - then, instead of sitting on my brothers couch all afternoon, I went home and did a training walk before dinner. Seriously, I did! (I had fundraising dollars riding on it, so I had to!) Then Lynnette and I got up early on Saturday and set off to do 14 miles. We had a little run-in with a storm so we made it 12.5 miles and then decided we were sick of walking in the rain... but still, 12.5 miles! That was our longest training walk ever... THEN, I went to the zoo with the whole fam (for my precious little nephew, Jack's birthday) and I wore my pedometer so I could keep track of my mileage (10 was the goal on Sunday but my feet were aching from the start). I ended up logging almost 5 miles at the zoo that day!

The point of that absurdly long paragraph is that this whole Pledge money for my training thing worked way better than I thought it would! I managed to raise almost $100 dollars and I completed more miles in one week than I ever have before (so, even though I didn't hit my goal of 33 miles, I'm still totally proud of myself!)

This week I am only shooting for 22 miles -- I'm leaving for our annual youth convention on Tuesday and I'll drive back on Saturday morning (about a 5 hour drive) for my cousin's graduation party... SO, i'm hoping to get in 11 before I leave (6 tonight, 5 tomorrow), 5 while I'm gone at the camp and then 6 on Sunday.

Please consider being my motivation this week by pledging money per mile... It probably sounds silly and repetitive but knowing that even one person has made a pledge will get me to stay on track this week... seriously. :-)
$2/mile = $44
$1.50/mile = $33
$1/mile = $22
.50/mile = $11
or whatever you are comfortable with!

Thanks for your continued support of my training and Susan G. Komen for the 3Day for the Cure!

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Totally on track... totally.

Lynnette and I did 3 training walks last week, that's pretty good considering we had done zero in the two weeks prior (or, i had done zero, i guess). With moving and the general sleepiness (and my inability to stop unpacking) that comes with moving, training got moved to the back burner. BUT, I am pretty excited about this past weekends training experiences - let me tell you why...

1. I'm 99% sure the AVON 2day walk was over the weekend and I felt a sense of solidarity doing my training on saturday/sunday, knowing that there were thousands of men and women walking all over chicagoland in some pretty awful weather (on saturday) for the same cause!

2. On Saturday I actually had the motivation to do a long walk BY MYSELF. This is HUGE people... HUGE. The only problem is I got about two miles in and the sky turned frighteningly dark so I had to head home... then it didn't rain for a whole hour still. I was pretty disappointed that I could have gotten at least 3 more miles in, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. However, I will not overlook the fact that I got all dressed, fanny packed, water bottled, granola barred and went out on my own for what I thought was going to be a 3 hour walk.

3. On Sunday, Lynnette and I got all ready and set out for a undetermined lengthed "long" walk... We ended up doing 9 miles which was perfect and I felt pretty darn good at the end of it. Better than I have ever felt (last year included) after a walk that long. That was REALLY inspiring you guys. Makes me think that the training is paying off and hopefully that will continue to motivate me to keep on truckin'!

SO, here's the challenge to you, my dear supporters! This week I am supposed to walk 33 miles... two shorter walks of 4 and 5 miles - then 14 on Saturday and 10 on Sunday. Would you consider pledging a per mile amount of money for my training this week? I'll report back on Monday how many miles I walk (hopefully this challenge will get me to do them ALL) and then you can submit your donation online! (OR, if you are feeling REALLY crazy you can donate in advance and then I'll have no choice but to get in all 33 miles!)

0.50/mile = $16.50 donation
$1/mile = $33 donation
$2/mile = $66 donation
$3/mile = $99 donation
or whatever suits your fancy!

Facebook or email me or comment on this blog entry to let me know if you are interested in participating! As always, thanks for partnering with me on this nutty journey! Please remember that every penny you donate goes toward breast cancer research and education via Susan G. Komen... I'm not asking for money for me, I'm asking for a world without breast cancer.

God Bless you!

training resumes and I remember why I'm doing this crazy thang called the 3day!

So, Lynnette and I went on a big ole walk on Saturday morning - was supposed to be 8 miles but we had to wiggle our way around libertyville to avoid flooded trails at every turn (pics coming soon!) and it ended up being 8.5 miles.  Definitely my longest walk so far and my legs and back were ACHING when it was over but it felt really good at the same time... It was sort of a boost for me to keep on keepin on with my training. 

Whilst (I'm british and fancy now) we were walking, Lynnette and I got to chatting about the weirdness of raising money for something or someone.  It's strange because after a while you (the person raising the funds) begin to forget that you are raising money for a specific cause and not just for yourself.  This might sound weird so please let me explain... :-)  

Now, know that I don't mean that I ever think that the money you are donating is going into my checking account or something crazy like that.  It's just easy to fall into a line of thinking that you are being a nuisance to your supporters -- "Oh jeez, here's another update from Becca... she must need more money" -- is this true? totally... i always want to raise more money, fundraising minimum or not, more money for breast cancer research is always a good thing.  But, I know that the way I am asking for support changes... my first emails and blog entries focus on the issue - on what breast cancer does to people, to families, etc... and I focus on the solution - what Susan G. Komen and other amazing organizations are doing to seriously help put an end to breast cancer.  My emails and blog entries as of late are more about me, what I'm doing... what I'm thinking... with a little note in the end about how to donate.  

There are these guys that do the 3day every year called "The 60 Mile Men" - I follow them on twitter and facebook - they are super inspirational and they make a hilarious calendar full of "tasteful" but not so tasteful photos of themselves in order to raise money for the 3day.  They posted a great little quote the other day which is what got me thinking about this whole thing in the first place.  "Put the right light on fundraising. You aren't asking for you, you're asking for a world without breast cancer."  Gosh if that doesn't say it all then what does? right?  So, that's what this is about... am I still asking for money?  Yes, of course. :-) But I'm here today to remind you of what I'm asking for money FOR -- "A world without breast cancer." - can you imagine?  I can, and it's beautiful.

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7 things to stop doing on facebook...

 helpful AND informative!

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109538/7-things-to-stop-doing-now-on-facebook

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