Tag Archives: 60 mile walk

Keep Moving When You’re Not Officially Training

January. A time for new beginnings and new opportunities. But for those of you whose 2015 plans include participating in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day®, January may not seem like an ideal time to be thinking about training just yet. Hopefully, you’re using the early part of the year to focus on getting registered, starting your fundraising and recruiting teammates to walk with you (and for many of you, you’re also just trying to keep from freezing). But that doesn’t mean that your physical activity has to be neglected, even if you’re not “officially” training for the Komen 3-Day yet. Here are a few ways that you can keep active before you dive into your 3-Day® training in the next few months.susan g. komen 3-Day breast cancer walk blog training

Get Online – So you’re stuck at home, not able to get out and walk. Cross-training (adding a variety of physical activities, besides walking, to your training plan), while enjoyable in the great outdoors, can just as easily be accomplished inside a home, gym or even your office, especially with the help of the internet. There is no shortage of fitness websites and YouTube videos that will guide you through a heart-pumping work-out, no matter how much or how little time you have to do it. Not interested in the constraints of a structured work-out? Just fire up you favorite music and treat yourself to a 10-minute dance party. Goodness knows there’s lots of dancing on the 3-Day, so it really is a form of training that will benefit you directly when your event rolls around.

Snow Fun – Much of the country has been hit with some pretty intense snowfall this month, so if you’re stuck in one of these winter wonderlands, the snow can be a great source of physical activity options. Nordic sports like cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are outstanding cross-training possibilities, or even snow-play like sledding or building a snowman will get the heartrate up. And though no one likes the chores associated with the snowy months, think about how many muscles you use shoveling the walk!

Walk! – Okay, so even if you’re not following the 3-Day training schedule yet, walking is still an outstanding way to keep yourself moving any day of the year.

 

How do you like to work in some physical activity when you’re not officially training for the 3-Day?

A Holiday Greeting from Your Friends at the 3-Day

The candles are lit and the halls have been decked,
And the calendar boxes are nearly all checked.
Our sneakers are hung up; for now, snow boots reign.
(Except out in Cali, where flip-flops remain).
We look back on the year now with this little rhyme,
And the world that we changed, three days at a time.
Through seven incredible, scenic locations,
One foot, then the other, we made our migration.
A Michigan opener, then Twin Cities and Philly,
Seattle and Atlanta (which were both rather hilly),
Dallas/Fort Worth, and to round out the tally,
It was back to the coast for a San Diego finale.
The miles that we trekked totaled 420,
(and on sore, blistered feet, that number was plenty!).
Our 3-Day community—each remarkable walker,
Hard-working crew member, supporter and stalker—
Stood tall and united, committed to answer
The call to a world that is free from breast cancer.
And although the days spent joined in person are few,
The family we’ve built remains strong through and through.
So from us at the 3-Day, whose lives you have touched,
We’ll see you next year, and we thank you so much!

Susan g. komen 3-Day breast cancer walk blog holiday greeting

Coaches’ Favorite Moments from 2014 – Part 2

Every one of the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® coaches has countless inspiring and moving interactions with our amazing Komen 3-Day walkers and crew members. I asked them to relive some of their most touching memories from the 2014 3-Day® season (see Part 1 of these favorite moments here).

Aubrey Cushing (Seattle Local Events Coach) – The 2014 3-Day season as a whole is one I will hold very close to my heart forever. The opportunity to be on staff in 5 of the 7 events lent me ample opportunities to interact with the world’s most caring bunch of people. I never forget how rare it is to be so enamored with the work you do, and what I get to do is one of my life’s treasures. Of course, it was wonderful to see all of the hard work come together for the Seattle event this year, and I’m still hearing about how much fun people had. That feels magnificent because it shows we were in tune with what people would like, and that’s priceless. The crew teams I got to work with were fantastic, but pit stop 2 in Dallas was the highlight of my staffing events outside of Seattle. I feel very blessed to have seen so much beauty in a world that can sometimes be full of negative things. In the words of Sinead O’Connor, 2014 3-Day season, “Nothing compares to you!”Aubrey_DFW

Jen Haber (Philadelphia Participant Coach) – The person who most inspired me this season was Janet D., who was our #2 fundraiser this year in Philly. Janet is 31 years old and was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer in January of 2014. She spent the entire year in treatment and training/fundraising for the 3-Day. She walked with her sisters and best friends. When we spoke on the phone at one point in the season, she was telling me about the treatment she was going through and how (of course) it made training more of a challenge, she also made a point to tell me how much the 3-Day had been a huge source of inspiration for her. It made me feel so good that she was so focused on doing something positive while going through something so incredibly difficult. Since I wasn’t working at the Philly event, I’m so sad I didn’t get the chance to meet her in person but she and her team are signed up again for next year. Hooray!2015 personal page_Janet

Kim Collings (San Diego Local Events Coach) – A young first-time walker came to me during a Walk & Talk earlier in the year, almost in tears thinking there was no way she would ever be able to raise $2300. After a nice conversation about different fundraising ideas, she went home and tried a few different things that we chatted about. She ended up raising $5050! There was another special moment watching a mother and daughter at the Closing Ceremony. The daughter is stage 4 and it has metastasized in to her spine. The mother said in her ceremonies speech, “I am walking so my daughter can live.”

Jennifer Hanskat (Michigan Participant Coach) – One of my favorite moments came in Michigan where I finally got to meet all of the full-series walkers (the eight people who walked in every 3-Day event this year) for the first time and putting faces to the names.  I had been working with these amazing walkers over months of email and phone communication, and it was nice to meet everyone face-to-face.hanskat and series walkers

I worked at pit stops on the route for Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth, crewed with my mom and my aunt in Twin Cities (we’re three peas in a pod, and wherever we go and whatever we do, we have a blast), and walked in Philadelphia. Even though I hit my head after nasty spill on the rainy sidewalk in Philly, it was still one of my favorite events because I was walking with my husband.  For the majority of the weekend, it was just the two of us, walking and talking.  No big team, very few shenanigans (which is unusual for me!), just low-key time on the 3-Day with my hubby.

Molly Fast (Local Operations Director) – The moment that sticks out to me the most was from the Twin Cities 3-Day where I met Anna, a walker who turned 21 on the event and was walking with her sister Carley, in honor of their mother. Their mom was a longtime 3-Day participant who was home at the end stages of breast cancer. Anna and Carley’s mom passed away about an hour after they made it home from the Closing Ceremony. It was heartbreaking but so beautiful.

Stephanie Winkel (Twin Cities Local Events Coach) – I met Sandy at one of my very last Get Started Meetings of the season, just 3 months shy of the Twin Cities 3-Day. She was brand new to the 3-Day and she brought her husband along with her to see what the 3-Day was all about. It was at this meeting that I learned about Sandy’s inspiration for walking: her best friend’s daughter-in-law, Alison, a beautiful young woman, who at just 30 years old had begun the third year of her fierce and courageous battle with breast cancer.  The love and support of her two small children, husband, family, friends and community had been an inspiration for Sandy to witness. Though this family lived quite a distance away, Sandy felt the need to do something to show her love and support for not only this family but others currently battling breast cancer. After learning about the 3-Day, Sandy did go home and register.

I followed up with Sandy after our event to see how she enjoyed her first 3-Day. She replied, “The 3-Day experience was beyond my wildest dreams.  It was a ‘calling’ that I was compelled to take up, and was truly life-changing.  I needed to be a part of something that made a difference.  I definitely found that, and so much more. My reason for walking was to raise positive energy and funds that in combination would lead to a miracle for her and others.” I was thrilled to learn at this time that Alison, Sandy’s inspiration for walking, is now in remission and beginning to get back to life with her husband and two children. Sandy, in the meantime, will continue her efforts of bringing hope and healing to others by joining us again in 2015!