This past weekend the 2010 series of the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure came to an end.  If you participated any time this year, give yourself a big hand, you did an awesome job!  But now that it’s over, you may be thinking to yourself, “What now?” and I have been there myself.  When you spend a good portion of a year training, fund raising and generally preparing to walk and then having it come to the culmination of this amazing experience you can kind of feel like you have no direction once it’s all over.  I have been thinking about just that thing for several months and decided that I would write about some of the stuff that I do once my 3-Day year is over.

Relax!

This section seems pretty self-explanatory if you look at it on the surface, but as we continue to the next things that I do, you will see that sometimes it’s not as easy as it seems.  But the point is that you have accomplished something huge and you deserve a relaxing time.  If it’s your thing, get a massage to help with the relaxation process.  I’ve seen some people take vacations while others just slide back into their daily routine.  Whatever helps you relax, focus on that.

Get Ready

I have seen many people comment about having 3-Day Withdrawal.  So much so, I think that you could probably classify it as a medical condition.  After walking 3 days with all of these wonderful people where kindness rules the day, it may be a little bit of a shock to your system to go back into normal every day life.  You’re not going to have people lined up waiting to give you high fives.  You’re not going to walk by schools with hundreds of kids out screaming just because you’re there.  I know that it’s a little overdramatic to talk about this as a big let down, but it can be kind of eye-opening to get back into your everyday life after three days where everyone acts just a little different.

Sign up?

If you didn’t sign up to walk next year while you were at the 3-Day camp you may be thinking about signing up for it again in the weeks following your walk.  I know that for some of you, signing up to walk again may be the furthest thing from your mind.  I know that walking year after year is not for everyone and that sometimes fund raising is tough.  But despite all that I am still going to ask you, to plead with you to walk again next year and do the good that you have done this year.

I know that it can be a tough decision to make and after my first year it took me a couple of months to finally come to that decision, but after that it was easy.  I signed up for my sixth walk this past weekend and I will continue walking until breast cancer is eliminated.  I hope that you will join me in continuing the fight.  If you think you will walk, then sign up soon because there is a discount code for your registration fees that expires November 23rd.  If you use the code CURE2011 you will get $35 off of your registration fees.

Get Fund Raising!

Is it a little too soon to start fund raising?  To answer this question, the first thing I need you to remember is what we talked about firt: relax!  Now, while you are relaxing it wouldn’t hurt to think about some fund raising ideas for when you are ready to start fund raising.  Not to scare you or anything, but if you walk the same walk every year then you have to average about $200 a month in fund raising in order to get to the minimum fund raising amount.  That being said, you will probably have months that will raise much more than $200, but it is definitely something to keep in mind so that you are aware of the deadline and the amount.

Training

Most people will tell you that you should continue walking, just at reduced distances, in order to keep yourself in shape for future walks.  I agree that this is a completely rational way of thinking about training, but I have to be honest and say that I have yet to be able to maintain my dedication to training once the actual walk is over, even when I know that another one is coming up in a year’s time.

That being said, you should try to stay in with it, I don’t lose a ton of weight when I do my training, but when I stop I gain everything that I lost back so that should be a motivator.  Also, staying healthy is never a bad thing.  So try and keep training, it doesn’t have to be walking.  You can start or continue your cross-training by lifting weights or cycling or something else just to give you a little change up from the walking.

Enjoy!

I have said several times before that one of the reasons that we all walk is so that we can have more time with the ones that we love.  Now that you have completed the 3-Day and aren’t out training or fund raising every weekend, take some time and enjoy those loved ones you are fighting for.  I know that a 3-Day training schedule can be hectic, so if you are planning on doing the walk again you really need to take advantage of this downtime to enjoy the company of the people that you are doing this for.  Remember, your life is worth living and if it wasn’t then you wouldn’t be walking.  So go out there and live it.  Know that you can live your life and still plan to walk in another 3-Day for the Cure event.