I originally planned on writing this post about what I packed for the 3-Day. I thought about it and thought about it and didn’t really think it was that interesting. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of people that need some help thinking of what to pack for the 3-Day for the Cure, but I think that there are quite a few sites that have all sorts of lists of what you should bring and it doesn’t really make for much reading. I promised a list last week and I will not go back on what I promised, but I’m going to start off a little differently. I want to start off with how I pack my bag because I think it’s equally important to know how to get all of that stuff into your bag as it is to know what to put in there.

Are You Going to Put a Body in There?

Last year, Ryan Sparks, one of my teammates had this MAMMOTH bag that everyone called the body bag. It was huge and that’s saying something, because I always thought my bag was big. Making sure that you have the right bag for your packing is one of the most important pieces of being able to pack. I prefer a bag with a large main compartment and decent sized front and back compartments. Also, wheels are an absolute must. There is nothing so fantastically bad as finishing a 20 mile walk and then having to lug your bag half a mile to your tent. I may exaggerate when I say half a mile, but after 20, it seems like that.

When I bought my bag a couple of years ago, I had a hard time finding one that I thought was adequate for all of my criteria. I was probably looking in all the wrong stores, but where I ended up was at the luggage section of Academy Sports and Outdoors. I never new there was a luggage section there and it took some looking, but they had several large duffel bags to choose from when I found it. I’m sure that there are plenty of places that I just missed, but if you find that you are having trouble, then take a look there.

It’s Kind of Like a Nesting Doll

Now that you have your bag, it’s going to feel kind of like you are putting together a strange nesting doll with all of the other types of bags you will be dealing with. Keep in mind that moving forward, just about everything you put in your bag should be in another bag. A plastic bag. Here’s a rundown of the different types of bags that I use:

• Garbage Bags: great for storing your large items like sleeping bags and air mattresses. If there is not room in your tent to put your duffel bag when you get to camp, you can also use two of these bags to put your duffel in outside of your tent so that it doesn’t get wet over night.
• Gallon Ziploc Bags: Ziploc has in no way compensated me for talking about them in this post, but if they would like to make a donation, I think it would be great. I use the gallon Ziploc bags to store medium sized items like clothes and toiletries. I recommend the bags with the actual zipper mechanism in them, I’ll explain why later.
• Sandwich Bags:

I use sandwich bags for storing all of the sandwiches that I take on the walk. Not really. I use them for smaller items like electronics: flashlights, battery packs, etc.

Make sure that you have plenty of bags and I always pack an extra few just in case I forgot a bag for something.

You Can’t Go Naked

You will need to pack clothes. That goes without saying. When I pack, I choose to put each walking day of clothes in a separate bag. So, for Saturday I will have a gallon bag with underwear, walking shorts, bra (because I’m wearing one as part of a fund raiser) and if I were wearing a shirt it would also be in there. It may seem like a lot of stuff to put in a gallon bag, but I assure you that it can be done. I did it last night. The key is in the rolling. I roll up everything I can so it takes up the absolute least amount of space. Underwear, great. Shorts, great. If you’re taking a bra with underwire, not so much. Once you have everything in the bag, zip it most of the way up and then squeeze it. As long as it is zipped up most of the way this will squeeze out and keep out most of the air, making the bag take up less space in your duffel, which is a very good thing. When you get to camp, you can pull out the bag for the day and keep it in the tent with you overnight so that in the morning you are ready to go without having to search for anything.

You probably noticed that I didn’t include socks on the list of things for walking day clothes. That wasn’t a mistake, thought I make plenty of them. I put my socks in one bag. This is personal preference. Since socks are a very important part of walking in the 3-Day for the Cure, I put them in one bag so that I can select and not forget them.

Let’s Get Packing

Hopefully by now, you have everything in their own respective bags, bet it garbage, gallon or sandwich. I recommend waiting until all this is done before you really start packing. It’s never fun to pack everything and then realize that you need to put something in a bag that is at the bottom of your duffel. When I started this, I mentioned that I had a duffel with a large compartment and two decent sized pockets. When I pack, I try to keep related items together. So, in the main compartment I will put my air mattress, the battery operated pump for that (both in the same garbage bag), my sleeping bag (or sheets/blanket), and pillow. In one of the pockets, I will try to put all my walking clothes. In another pocket, I will put miscellaneous items, like extra panchos, tarps, flashlight, toiletries, etc. Then I finish off the main compartment with my extra shoes (sometimes these will fit in the miscellaneous pocked), camp clothes, after shoes, and this year a plush Energizer® Bunny.

The List

As promised, now that I have shared some of my thoughts on packing, here is the list of things that I will bring in my duffel bag on the 3-Day for the Cure. Keep in mind, this is what is in my bag and may not be suitable for you but will hopefully give you a good starting point.

• Air mattress – I prefer this to camp pads or thermarest and you can get one with a battery pump for $15 at Wal-mart.
• Sheet and Blanket – This is the first year I am not packing a sleeping bag. The weather in Boston promises to be much hotter than when I have walked in Dallas, so I’ll take a sheet and blanket here and a sleeping bag to Dallas.
• Camp Pillow – found one from Coleman that folds up pretty nice
• Flashlight – I use a normal one, but most people recommend a headlight so you don’t have to worry about dropping it in the potty.
• Energi to Go Charger – I’ll use this to charge my iPhone overnight.
• Two Tarps – one for on top of the tent and one for under.
• Emergency Blanket – and let’s hope you don’t have to use it
• Extra panchos – I use the cheap wal-mart kind that doesn’t take up much space, but they are pretty much single use
• After Shoes
• Second pair of walking shoes
• Toiletries – toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, body gel (I hate carrying soap in those little containers), deodorant, etc.
• Socks – at least six pair of walking socks, but if it plans to rain, maybe more
• Walking Clothes – I’m including shorts, underwear and bras in this.
• Camp clothes – Probably a short sleeved shirt, some jogging pants. Really something comfortable and weather appropriate for you to wear around camp.
• Batteries – extra batteries doesn’t hurt if you’re bringing an air pump for your bed.
• Clothespins – to hold the tarp to your tent
• Energizer Bunny – if you haven’t looked that the gallery on the site you should and then you’ll understand what this is

I think that’s it, but I really don’t have my bag sitting in front of me right now. If I get home later and notice that I’ve missed something I will definitely add to the list. What about you, what packing methods or items do you use that you think people should know about. Comment below!

 

The first Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure of the year is less than two weeks away, so I thought I would use this week and next week to talk about packing things. This week, I’m going to write about what to pack for the actual route of the 3-Day for the Cure. This would be stuff that you keep in your camelback, fanny pack or anything else. Next week, I’ll write about what I packed in my duffel bag for the event. I’ll actually be writing it as I pack or I would put it out sooner. Sorry Boston walkers, I know that it makes it a little late for you guys. Without further delays without apologies let’s get to what I carry in my Camelback when I’m walking on the route.

First Aid is the First on My List

I have a first aid kit that I carry around at it is probably bigger than it needs to be. I bought a cheap camera carrying case for a small camera and filled it with everything that I need. It has sunscreen, band-aids, ibuprofen, chap stick, and Nexcare padded adhesive first aid tape. The Nexcare tape is what I use to take care of my blisters. I realize that the first aid tents have blister treatment items, however I recommend bringing your own. I have mentioned several times over the course of this blog that you train with what you walk with. This is not at all different with your blister care. You don’t know what the first aid tents will have for blister care and if it will work for how you like to treat your blisters. You should take what you usually use so that you can prevent and treat in the way that you are accustomed.

Socks! Socks! Socks!

There should really only be one socks up there, I don’t actually carry three pairs of socks with me, but that doesn’t make this point any less important. You will need to change your socks at least once during the day so you need to ensure that these socks are with you in your pack. During my first 3-Day walk, I didn’t really know why I should change socks. I figured that by lunch time, my feet would have adjusted well to my socks and that the last thing that I would want to do would be to take them off. I still changed them at the urging of many people and I was thankful for it. It was great to have a fresh pair of non-sweaty socks on my feet for the second half of the day.

Pancho, Not Villa

It does rain on the 3-Day. You keep walking in the rain unless it is dangerous, so if you don’t like getting wet, then you should bring a pancho with you. I think the one that I have I got at Wal-Mart and it was packaged up nice and small so it doesn’t take up much space. Don’t open it unless you are going to use it, I speak from experience that you will never get it packaged up that small again if you do.

Phone

You’re not supposed to use your phone on the route. Everyone, repeat after me: I will not use my phone on the route. Even though you will not use your phone on the route, I find it handy to have for a number of things. I’ll stop (or do it at pit stops) and take pictures with mine and upload them to Twitter or Facebook. I use it to let family and friends know how far I am from cheering stations so that they know when to look for me. I also use it to help locate my teammates if we happen to get separated. Please keep in mind that when I do any of these things I will step off the route, do what I need to do and then step back on. Technology is useful but be smart about it.

Flip It

I have a Flip video camera that I carry with me. I use it to take video several places along the walk. Maybe there’s an awesome group of school kids that are cheering everyone on during Friday, maybe a pit stop is really cool or maybe I want to video how my team is doing at lunch. I also film opening and closing ceremonies. I keep my Flip with me for all of these reasons.

Zip It

The last couple of things I have mentioned are technology related items and don’t really like to get wet. With that in mind, you need to bring plenty of ziploc bags. That way, if it starts to rain, you can bag anything that will be sensitive to the wetness. I also recommend putting your socks in a bag and anything that would be water sensitive in your first aid kit in them (the packaging on band aids gets kind of soggy).

So that’s, for the most part what I carry in my pack. You could also say stuff like water and Gatorade, but I figured that was probably self explanatory. Please comment with anything else that you carry in your pack!

 

In normal life, I don’t think you could call me a hugger. Don’t get me wrong. I hug my wife, kids and other family members, but I usually don’t include people outside of that in my hugging. There are occasions where it happens, but when I get together with friends I don’t greet them with a hug. There are probably a lot of people out there that can identify with me. It’s not that I don’t like people, I just don’t typically hug someone unless they are somehow related to me.

In more ways than one, I am a different person when I am on the 3-Day for the Cure. This includes hugs.

In 2007 when I first started walking in the 3-Day, you couldn’t probably say the same thing. At the beginning of that walk, if a stranger had come up to me and asked for a hug, I might have given it to them, but not because I wanted to. But during the course of that walk something happened. I ended up not being able to walk with my team for most of the last day that year. Kandice had been red carded, though I know she would have continued walking if they would have let her, and my mom had been having knee problems the whole weekend. I ended up walking with another team, that was really nice. We talked and they accepted me as part of their team. By the end of that day, even though I had known them for maybe six hours, they were like family to me. When we got to the finish, I gave them all a big hug. Then when I saw my teammates, I gave them both a huge hug and started crying.

It was a long and exhausting walk and it was really good to see the both of them at the end of the day. I think in that moment, a switch got turned on. I realized that everyone on the 3-Day is your family, so it doesn’t matter if you’re not comfortable with giving hugs to strangers, these people are not strangers.

If you are getting ready for your first 3-Day, you may be thinking that it’s not possible, that there is no way that you will feel comfortable hugging someone that you meet on the walk. Before you make that determination, I want you to think about why that someone might need a hug. Maybe they have blisters on their feet and don’t feel like they can make it, but they know that they can’t stop. Maybe their teammate recently lost their fight against breast cancer and now instead of walking on a team with them, they are walking in their honor. Maybe they get reminded of loved ones every time they go on the 3-Day and need a hug to ground them. Or maybe, just maybe, they think that their family member (you!) needed a hug.

Whatever the reason is, if you see me on the walk, don’t hesitate to come give me a hug. If you’re in Dallas and you need a hug, come meet me at the Energizer® tent in camp, where I will be spending my evenings as the Keep Going® Blogger. I welcome the hugs. Like I said, you’re family.

 

If you’ve been on the 3-Day before, you already know to expect the lines and lines of blue port-o-potties just waiting for you to start your three day journey. It’s pretty amazing to me the number of people that I have met who had never used a port-o-potty until they came on the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. Even excluding those people, most of us have never relied on port-o-potties as our only toilet for 3 days straight. Yeah, maybe you have used them at a concert or something, but 3-DAYS, that’s a whole different story. It may seem unpleasant to use these big blue boxes to go to the bathroom for three days, but I’ve put together some suggestions to make your (and everyone else’s) port-o-potty experience more pleasant. So in no particular order, here’s the top port-o-potty rules for the 3-Day.

Rule 1: I’m Not Going in After That

You probably have great teammates. They are your friends and family and they are great. No matter how great they are, they will never go after something that you dropped into the port-o-potty. When you take your bathroom break, make sure that all of your personal belongings are secure. This means that you should not be trying to text when your in the bathroom. Aside from the fact that people probably don’t want to receive texts about your bowel movement, if you drop that phone into the pit that is the core of the port-o-potty, it’s not coming back. And lets face it, if it did would you really want to use it?

Some things that I have heard of being dropped into the potty include: cell phones, flash lights, rings, and so much more. My suggestion for flash lights is to try and get one with a strap and keep it around your wrist when you go to the bathroom at night.

Rule 2: It’s Not a Trash Can

Ok, this rule has parts for both men and women. We’ll deal with the women first.

Women, when you are sitting down and going to the bathroom and you look to the side and see what kind of looks like a little cup, this is NOT a trash can. This is the urinal. If you throw your trash in the urinal, I’ll give you one guess where guys are going to pee instead. I’ve always been told that the two bathroom pet peeves that women have for men are that they don’t raise the seat and that they don’t put it back down after they are done. I can guaranty you that even though you would like it, men are not going to become perfect bathroom people over the course of three days. So keep the urinal free of trash.

Men, this next part is for you. If the urinal has no trash in it, use the urinal to pee! Don’t mess with the port-o-potty seat and all that, take the easy way out!

Rule 3: Chivalry is Not Dead

Picture this: you’ve been walking all day. You get to a pit stop and stand in line to go to the bathroom. By the time you get up to where it is your turn wouldn’t it be nice if the person coming out of the port-o-potty held the door open for you? Three things happen when you hold the door open for the next person:

1. It makes that person’s life that much easier. They don’t have to open the door now!
2. It reduces the number of bangs that people have to hear as the door closes because instead of closing twice, it only has to close once!
3. It enhances the 3-Day community. I realize that it may seem silly, but the 3-Day is a community of people all striving towards the same goal. We help each other all the time, why wouldn’t we include holding the door open for someone as part of helping them?

Ok, I realize that most people see chivalry as a guy thing, but I think that women, especially on the 3-Day, can be chivalrous and hold the door open for the next woman (or man) that’s going to use the bathroom.

Rule 4: That’s a Stretch

If you have watched the check in video, you have already seen this. But I still need to put it in so that someone doesn’t come and get me and say I didn’t include it. There will be certain pit stops on the 3-Day where it seems that everyone’s bladders are just in sync and had to go at the same time. There will occasionally be long lines. Use these lines to your advantage and stretch! Stretching is very important on the 3-Day, so you may as well use this waiting time productively.

Rule 5: She’s Got a Potty Mouth

Before you make assumptions here, I’m not advocating cursing while you’re going to the bathroom. Again, this is very much about the wait time at the port-o-potties. Be productive with this time. Meet the people that are waiting in line with you and talk to them about something other than your bathroom habits. The next thing you know, you will have met someone new and the line will be practically gone.

I think it’s sometimes much easier to strike up a conversation with someone while in line than it is while you’re walking. When you’re walking you will only get the chance to talk to someone if they are walking the same pace as you. Standing in line, everyone is going the same pace as you so it’s a lot easier!

So these are my five rules for bathroom happiness at the 3-Day. Yes, I could have easily added more rules in there like don’t slam the door at night because people are sleeping, but there are a lot of people that will cover those. Most of these I haven’t seen people mention. They aren’t the most pleasant of places to go to the bathroom, but they certainly the least pleasant. So make the best of your port-o-potty experience!

 

I have been reading a lot lately about picking the right shoes and the right socks. These are all great things to do and you really need to focus on them, but have you thought about your after shoes? I’m talking about the footwear that you will use after you are done walking. It could be sandals, flip flops, slippers or something entirely different, but thinking about what it will be and testing it out, just like you’re doing for all your other 3-Day gear, is a good idea. You are testing out all of your 3-Day gear before you get there, right? Ok, now it’s story time.

On the first 3-Day walk that I did, I didn’t plan my after shoe strategy. I took a pair of street sneakers. Ok, I admit I probably wasn’t using my brain on that one, but it’s what I did and I was MISERABLE. It is not fun at all to walk 20 miles, get back to camp and get out of your sneakers only to realize that you have to get back into sneakers if you want to walk around!

Ok, let’s move forward a year. In 2008 I realized that sneakers probably weren’t a good bet for after shoes and got my head on straight and brought sandals. These were sandals I wore after every training walk, so I knew that they would work well. I called them my magical blister healing sandals because if my feet were even the littlest bit tender I could wear these sandals for a couple of hours and magically my feet would feel normal. My awesome sandals are very old and have made it through two 3-Day walks (in addition to the many years I have owned them) and they are on the verge of falling apart. I think they will make it through my first walk this year, but probably not through the second. I know I’m going to get some questions about this, so I’ll say right now that they were Dr. Martens sandals and they don’t make this particular model of sandal any more. I know, it’s sad.

So what should you look for when you are trying to find the perfect after shoes? A lot of this seems pretty intuitive, but obviously I missed it on my first year, so there is probably someone in my situation that it would help out to explain it all.

Comfort

The obvious first requirement for any after shoes would be comfort. But I don’t mean lazing around the house comfort. They need to be comfortable to do a relatively decent amount of walking. I’m not suggesting that you go and walk 60 miles in your after shoes, but you do a lot of walking in camp, with going to and from the showers, to and from the bathroom, to and from the dining tent and also to and from the 3-Day pavillion and possibly the medic tent (let’s hope not!). So you need to have after shoes that are not only comfortable to wear but comfortable to walk the mile or so extra that you will do getting around in camp.

Sockings

Depending on which 3-Day you walk in, this point may not be necessary, but when you walk in Dallas in November sometimes the nights get cold. So if you’re just wearing sandals or flip flops then your feet will get cold pretty quickly. I realize that it’s pretty dorky to wear socks with your sandals, but if your after shoes are sandals and you want to keep your feet warm, you do what you have to. This means that if you think that it might get cold in the city that you are walking in then you need to test out your after shoes with socks or other warmth preserving measures to make sure that they are still comfy after you add in the extra stuff!

Packing

Lastly, your after shoes should probably be small and easy to pack. You’re probably going to have a hard enough time getting your sleeping bag, clothes, toiletries and possibly inflatable mattress into your bag, you don’t need to add another large item to it. The good news is that most after shoes I have seen used have been pretty easy to collapse. Despite having the thick Dr. Martens soles, my sandals would compact quite nicely and fit pretty easily.

So keep an eye out for good after shoes. Do after training with them just the way that you would do training with all of your normal walking gear. This is one of those areas that I have been thankful about thinking about it, once I figured out that I needed to think about it.