Gym rat wannabe?

I'm loving the gym. I love the routine of training for the 3-Day. Who would have ever thought I'd be saying (writing?) those words....

We're on week 20 of the 24-week training schedule for the 3-Day for the Cure. This week's tally is 17 miles: a 3-mile walk (Tuesday), a 4-mile walk (Thursday), a 6-mile walk (Saturday) and 4-mile walk (Sunday). I'm enjoying the walking a lot, with one exception: It's still too dang cold to walk outside comfortably! So we're in the gym. And the mall. Blech. I ended up breaking up the four-mile walk for Thursday and did a mile tonight, so that I don't have to spend nearly 70 minutes on the treadmill tomorrow (*yawn*).

As for the gym? I'm really enjoying the routine ... early workouts Mondays & Fridays, evening workout on Wednesday. Typical workout is about 70 minutes and includes 40 minutes of strength training/nautilus-style equipment and 30 minutes on the elliptical. I'm really pleased that my endurance has increased ... I've come a long way from doing barely 15 minutes at 3mph in August.

So, I've gone from a "gym-a-phobe" in August to a "Gym Rat Wannabe" in March. Again, who would have thunk it.

Halfway there!

This week past week, I hit a huge milestone... I hit the halfway mark in my personal fundraising efforts!! As of today, I have raised $1,178 of the $2,300 I am raising to walk in the 2011 Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure.

What's really exciting is that I don't think I've even scratched the surface of what is possible... I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can do, together.

For those of you who have made a donation already, thank you for your support and your generosity. For those of you considering a donation, please do. Stef and I need your support, and we need you to show that support soon. Our goal is to raise the $4,600 we need by June 1, so we can focus on our training. Help us get there today by making a donation.

On another note, thank you to everyone who has supported us with the generous gift of time ... this past week we went to a training session to be prepared to work a concessions stand at two upcoming Tiger's games. Thank you to the 14 friends and family who volunteered to come and help out, giving up 3+ hours of their time to do the training, then giving up almost a whole day to do the games (April 9 and June 11).

March Madness ... no kidding

It's March Madness in so many ways ...

Game on! We have 59 people playing in "Brackets for Boobies," our March Madness fundraiser for the 3-Day for the Cure! With a $10 donation from a friend, the pot for the winner is $300, and the donation for the 3Day for the Cure is $300. It's a great fundraiser for us, and dang, I'm having a ton of fun! We've been watching tons of games, and the ups and downs are just a blast. I was riding decently in the top end of the standings, but fell (thank you Texas and Kansas State) to the flat middle of the pack, ranking at 16th going into the next round of games (starts Thursday!). Last year, I picked Butler. This year, I didn't. I learned my lesson. I puffy heart Butler.

But for the real March Madness.... I can't even begin to describe my dismay. It's snowing. It's icing. It's a wintry mix. It sucks. It's the second full day of spring, and it's nasty out. I'm not really up for a 5-mile walk in the mall on Saturday, so Mother Nature better suck it up and say hello to her new BFF Spring.

Spring has sprung! Or so I keep telling myself...

It's foolhardy. Presumptuous. Premature.

I know... But it's 60 degrees outside right now! I know. It's Michigan. It'll change in 20 minutes.

But while it was here, I got in a great training walk, outside. Four miles Thursday night and five miles planned for Friday morning. Hallelujah.

It'll also be the first back-to-back walk for me (I know, 9 miles is nothing compared to what I'm going to deal with in August). But we're heading up to Frankenmuth for a long weekend with the kids, family and friends, and I wanted to get in my required (er, recommended) training in before we left. I plan to get in a quick workout in the hotel gym, but I'm not holding out much hope for great equipment there. Regardless, I'm glad I'm able to modify my training schedule to meet the demands of my personal life...

And on that note, enjoy your weekend ... I plan to.  We're looking forward to a fun-filled, long weekend with friends and family. The kids are excited to play in the waterpark and the game room, and the adults are looking forward to long days sitting around doing absolutely nothing productive. My kind of vacation.

Finding the positive in the dreaded time change

Let's just start with the fact that I stayed up WAY too late last night, the night of the dreaded time change. When I came home at 3 a.m. (pretty late, even for me), and added in the time change factor, and now it's 4 a.m. *yawn*

But the upside is that I'm staring out the window now, trying to determine how late I'll have to walk in the evenings... which is great, because the mileage starts to pick up this coming week. I've been doing the 3- or 4-mile walks pretty easily (time-wise). But this coming week includes two 3-mile, a 4-mile and a 5-mile walk. That four-mile and five-mile walk aren't really treadmill material, so I'm hoping to head out ... and with the lingering light, it just might be do-able starting this week!

For a quick fundraising update: We did a quick bottle drive in the neighborhood this past week... on Sunday and Monday, Stef's kids went door to door for four streets, handing out pink fliers stapled to pink garbage bags (read Stef's post about that experience). Then on Saturday (after our mall walk), we drove the kids around to pick up the stuff. We figured it would be a $50 fundraiser, at best, considering we only did four streets this time.

We were shocked at the results.....

This was all from one house. The guy had been saving his bottles for a friend's daughter's softball team, but they found a different fundraiser and he never used them. He kept waiting for an organization to do a drive, but no one was doing one. The day the kids showed up with the fliers, he was  making plans to take the bottles back that week. Instead, he put them out for us. There were at least 45 12-packs, a dozen six-packs, and a half-dozen of cases of cans. Probably $50 to $75 worth of bottles.

And the rest of the houses? They came out in support in a big way. After we dropped off our first load, we drove around to the other houses and filled the back of the van. Alyssa and I took just that load back to the store and came out with $95.

So an easy fundraiser will probably raise close to $175. And with minimal work for us ... the only cost was the pink paper & pink garbage bags. The total time invested was about 3 hours (run the fliers around = 1 hour; pick up the cans = 45 minutes; return 1 load of bottles = 1 hour).

What was priceless though: The incredible support and generosity of our neighbors, and the fact that it was an activity we could do with the kids.

Next up: More bottle drives! Brackets for Boobs! A spaghetti dinner at the campground!  Lots of fun coming up this spring... and more daylight to enjoy it in....

Stepping to the beat ... or not...

The past two weeks we've been training for the 3-Day ... the weather hasn't cooperated yet, and with one to three inches forecast for tonight, the outlook isn't good.

So, it's gym time. Specifically, walking on the treadmill for four days each week. Luckily, the max so far has been three miles, which isn't too bad (I'm down to 52 minutes).

But it does mean my iPod and I are getting to be bestest friends. And the music selection is getting a little old.

So ... what's on your workout playlist? What music should I put on my iPod to keep me moving, keep me energized and keep me entertained?

How to celebrate Fat Tuesday

I'm not sure if this is a national thing, or just a Michigan thing (or even southeast Michigan thing), but being Polish (last name = Kowalski), Paczki day (known to the rest of the world as "Fat Tuesday") is an official holiday around here.

All over town, you'll see boxes of these enormous pastries, in dozens of varieties (chocolate covered custard are my favorite!). It's all the media talk about today.

So how am I celebrating?

I'm celebrating "not-quite-as-fat" Fat Tuesday today. I've lost 15 pounds and have dropped at least one size since the beginning of the year. I went to the gym this morning for the eighth day in a row (tomorrow's a day of rest, thankfully). I walked 12 miles last week as part of my first week of training for the 3-Day for the Cure.

So I'm celebrating, but not with a paczki. I hope.

I will stay strong ... maybe.

Just a little verklempt

As we closed out the Euchre Tournament last night, I had all kinds of things ready in my mind to say.... Thank everyone for coming, especially folks like Aunt Gail (who doesn't play euchre but wanted to come and help); thank everyone for being so generous (like Wendy, Steve and Ray, who donated their wins); thank everyone for their support ... you know, the usual drill.

But when it came time to do that, and I looked out at the living room, dining room, kitchen and family room, filled to the gills with friends and family, I couldn't say anything without tearing up. (Heck, I'm  tearing up sitting here on the couch just thinking about it!)  I'm sure I mumbled a few words, and between Stef and I, I'm pretty sure "thank you" came out.

I can't describe how incredibly overwhelmed we were at the results from the Euchre Tournament. With 36 registered players and 3 friends who came out just to support us, we had nearly 40 people in the house who were incredibly thoughtful and generous with their time and their money.

All told, we raised $1,200 for the Susan G Komen 3-Day for The Cure. That's double what we had hoped for.

So thank you ... from the bottom of my heart (and through the tears in my eyes) ... we are so very blessed to have so many wonderful people who enrich our lives.