Depending on your approach, if you sign up to be a team captain it could be a stressful and time consuming experience.  It doesn’t have to be though.  Yes, you will probably need a little more time over what you would normally need to just do the walk, but it shouldn’t be stressful.  After all, we’re on the 3-Day to eradicate breast cancer, not to created more headaches for ourselves.  With that in mind I thought that I would put this together for the people out there that are thinking about being a team captain or are already a team captain.  These are some questions that I have seen frequently pop up, and it’s purely my opinion so take it as you may!

My Team Member is Not Fund Raising

Wow, it’s kind of a negative note to start out on, but I see this question floating around on message boards and Twitter enough that I thought I should go ahead and knock it out first.  My answer to this may seem a little callous, so I’m going to build up to it with a little reasoning first.

I want everyone on my team to be able to walk if they want to, however sometimes they don’t realize the amount of work that needs to be put in to actually do the fund raising required for the walk.  It’s easy to just sign up and say you’re going to do the walk.  What’s not easy is to make the commitment to training (which we will cover later) and fund raising that is required to successfully get to and complete the walk.  If you have a team member that is not fund raising, then you should kindly remind them that there are only X days away until the walk and that they need to raise $2300 to walk.

I’m a firm believer in frank discussions and think that in reminding them you will soon get the answer of what their intentions are.  If they have some donations that they just haven’t mailed in yet then maybe there is nothing to worry about.  Sometimes you will find that they have decided that they can’t do the walk and unfortunately sometimes you will find that they are hoping that you will raise the money for them.  There are a lot of opinions on whether or not to help out someone in their fund raising.  I’m not a heartless person, but I do think that someone should put in the work to try and get donations.  That doesn’t mean that I will not help out at all, but you have to put in the work and raise your own funds because I’m not going to raise $2300 for you.

My reason for this is more complex than economics.  Part of the purpose of the 3-Day for the Cure is raising awareness.  By going out and asking for donations, you’re also educating people of the problem of breast cancer.  If you raise your $2300 and I raise my $2300 then that many more people have been touched by the cause.

So no, I will not raise all of the funds for a teammate, but I will gladly work with them in any way that I can to help them be successful.  That means making suggestions on possible fund raising, helping get them involved with team fund raisers and trying to provide motivation. By having my teammates raise most of the money on their own, my excess fund raising can still be excess above and beyond the minimum.  That means more money going to the 3-Day for important stuff like finding a cure.

How Should I Distribute Funds for Team Fund Raisers?

One of the major things that I have seen cause some division in a team is how to distribute the funds for a team fund raiser.  Inevitably someone will think they have done more work than someone else and that they should have a larger cut because of it.  The first thing that you need to do to avoid this is to lay down the rules of how the funds will be distributed before you do anything with the fund raiser.  There are a couple of different types of fund raisers and I think distribution should vary between them:

Grocery Store

If you’re just going to set up a table out front of a store and accept donations then I think the only way to really handle this is to have each person receive funds that were raised for the time that they worked.  Since there really isn’t much work other than showing up for this type of fund raiser, I think that it’s fair enough to say that if you’re there for 2 hours, you will get an equal cut of funds raised for those two hours.

Auction

For an auction type fund raiser, what I usually see happen is that anyone that helps out in any way with the auction gets an equal cut of the proceeds.  This means that if you spent time getting all of the items to the auction venue or if you assembled all of the bidding paddles or if you took tickets at the door you would still get an equal cut of the proceeds to the person that processed payments at the auction.  Without any of these things complete, the auction would not be as successful as hopefully it was so everyone that helped to make it a success should get an equal cut.

Really the thing for any type of team fund raiser is to have the rules set before you do the fund raise so that everyone knows what to expect.

My Team Member is Not Training

This is a problem that you will probably need to deal with in the same way as when your team member is not fund raising.  Talk to them, let them know that they will finish the walk in much better condition if they train before hand.  Scheduling team training walks is good because it’s much harder to cancel walking when you have other people that are waiting on you.

In the end though, if your team member is not training, it’s not the absolute end of the world.  Yes, it would be a lot better for them if they did the training, but you CAN make it through without training (though it’s not recommended).  So if they are absolutely opposed to training, don’t stress out about it, let them do what they are going to do.

How Do I Get More Teammates?

As my average team size when I have been a captain has been about 2.5, I’m probably not the best person to answer this.  There are a few things that I can think of that would probably help, but I have never really executed on it.  First would be to ask your friends and family.  Yes, it reduces on potential donors, but what’s better, the $20 that they were going to donate or the $2300 that they could potentially raise?  Second would be your teammate’s family and friends.  Lastly would be to recruit people that don’t have a team on the share list.  Simply offering to have them on the team so that they could have someone to train with and get motivation from.  Again, I don’t know how sound any of these ideas are and I would like to see some comments from other team captains on what they do to increase their team size.

So those are the four questions that I see most often crop up.  There were lots that I could have added, but these are the ones that I see the most often.  If you have one that you have seen and would like to add it, post a comment and I’m sure that there are plenty of team captains that would be willing to field your question!  I think the big theme of all the answers to these is communication.  If you talk openly with the people that you are concerned about, most of the time you will clear up any confusion really quick.

 

I think that this one fact speaks to how much Susan G. Komen For the Cure has done for global breast cancer initiatives:  When I talk with anyone about walking in the 3-Day for the Cure the conversation inevitably wraps up with the other person telling me, “Good luck on your race!”  The first couple of years that I did the 3-Day, I would hear that and almost feel like they didn’t understand the actual challenge that I was going through.  After all, it’s 60 miles!!  It’s not 5K.  I would still smile and say, “Oh, it’s not a race, it’s a walk.”

It’s been some time now and my thoughts about when someone wishes me a good race have significantly changed.  People that are close to me have now seen me say that it’s not a race that they now speak up and say it, but where I was a little put off by the remark before I’m now excited by it.

Walking 60 miles isn’t for everyone.  There, I said it.  I know that it takes a lot of commitment and time to dedicate yourself to train to walk 60 miles and then on top of it raise $2300.  With that being said, running 5K isn’t for everyone either.  I think I can safely say that I would rather walk 60 miles than 5K.  Maybe that’s stretching it a bit, but I’m not a runner and prefer walking almost any day.  So yes, I could walk on the race for the cure, but something in my head makes me say that it’s a race so I should be running so I chose to join on the 3-Day.  (Though I have walked in the Race for the Cure before)

Wow, we’ve been talking about a lot of walking, racing, running and other physical activities.  So much so that I may have confused myself with the last paragraph.  Let’s move on.

Maybe you see the names for some of these events with words like race and walk associated with them and think that you would rather not be involved because you are not an athlete.  Trust me, I was there.  When I signed up for my first 3-Day, I went from not walking at all for exercise to walking miles upon miles for training.  I’m not saying that this is something that you will jump at the opportunity to do, I’m saying I can see where you are coming from.  If you’re not wanting the physical exertion there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in the fight against breast cancer.

That’s one of the most wonderful things about events like the 3-Day and Race for the Cure.  There are so many different ways that you can be involved from little to massive involvement that regardless of your physical prowess or your fund raising skills, there is something that you can do to help out.  Heck, with the 3-Day alone, you can do anything from simply writing a letter to people while they are at the 3-Day camp to being at cheering stations to cheer the walkers on, there are people that are walker stalkers that follower the walkers while they are on their route, there are daily volunteers (that don’t have to camp, if you’re not a camper), there are walkers, crew and staff.  Just a HUGE amount of ways that you can get involved!

Ok, if you didn’t know this already, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  This month, I’m asking my readers to make a commitment to help end breast cancer.  If you’re not sure, then take a baby step.  I’m sure there are many walkers and crew that would love to get a letter at camp, even if they don’t know who you are.  Or another way to get involved that REALLY helps in the fight is to make a DONATION!  If you would like to get more involved, check out the following web sites, they both have a get involved section:

http://the3day.org -  The official 3-Day web site

http://komen.org – The official Susan G. Komen for the Cure web site

I’m going to close by repeating that even though when I first started on the 3-Day I felt the need to correct everyone to tell them it wasn’t a race, I’m actually encouraged by the fact that people know what Race for the Cure is.  So if you wish me good luck on my race, I will gladly say, “Thank you”

 

I know that through most of the year, I ask people for some sort of help with donations to help raise money for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.  This time is a little different, I’m still asking for help, but this time it is a little brain power help that I need!

So here’s the situation.  As most of you know, I’m the Energizer® Keep Going® Blogger for the DFW 3-Day.  Some may also know that as the result of one of my fund raisers earlier this year, I have promised my donors that I will wear a bra all three days of the walk.  Everything is great except for one thing.  Energizer sent me a pretty cool t-shirt so that I could wear it on the walk so that while I’m walking people would know that I’m the Keep Going Blogger.  Good stuff and I am very happy at the prospect of being able to wear it.  The problem is that when I wear the bra you can’t see the logo on the shirt and to be honest, I’ll probably end up wearing only the bra and not a shirt.  I still want people to know that I am the Keep Going Blogger, it’s something I’m very proud of, but I also need to honor the promise I made to donors.  This is where you come in!

Please send me suggestions on how I can visually promote that I’m the Keep Going Blogger (using the logo that you can see on the right side of this page) without changing the fact that I need to wear just the bra.  The only thing I have tried so far is an at home t-shirt transfer kit and the curve of the bra just made it look like a cheap sticker when I put the logo on it.  So other than that, any suggestion is fair game.  If you have an idea, click “Contact” at the top of this page and send me an e-mail with your suggestion!  If your suggestion is chosen then you will win a 60Miles t-shirt, one of the shirt styles is pictured in this post, but any of the shirts at http://www.cafepress.com/offensive1/7285557 can be chosen if you win.  If your idea is the winning idea and other people have suggested it, I’ll do a random drawing to award the prize, but I will mention everyone’s name that suggested it on a post on 60miles3Days.com

Thanks for all your help!  Get those creative juices flowing!!  If you have multiple great ideas, please feel free to submit multiple entries, but try to keep one idea per mail just so I can sort out the individual ideas easier.

 

When your friend or co-worker or loved one is walking or crewing on the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For The Cure and they get to camp, there are several things kind of like you get at home. There’s a lounge with a tv. There’s a dining tent where people cook food for you and provide you with entertainment when you eat. There are foot massages and back massages. Port-O-Potties, a sea of pink tents. You don’t have all this stuff at home? Well, chances are that even though you might not have most of these things at home there is something at camp that can help remind your walkers of home. A post office.

That’s right, a post office that you can write to your favorite walker at. Send them a message about how proud you are of them. Or send them a message to joke around. The important thing here is letting them know that you’re thinking of them, because I can guaranty you that they are thinking of you.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself that if you’re close family with your walker that you shouldn’t send them mail because you’re going to see them the day before the walk and also when you come to the cheering stations. You are coming to the cheering stations, right? From the perspective of a walker, I can say that it’s fantastic to see everyone at the cheering stations, it is a real boost to help you Keep Going®.  That’s the key phrase, Keep Going.  When you’re walking and still moving, a lot of the soreness and pain that you can potentially feel is held at bay by the fact that you’re moving.  Plus the adrenaline and seeing the cheering stations and everything about the event.  When you get back to camp, you stop moving.  The soreness and pain that was held at bay all through the day (at least partially!) comes back and it’s really nice to have a letter from home to remind you of why you’re doing this.  It’s like a mini-cheering station just for you.

Hopefully my couple of short paragraphs have made you say, “Great!  I’m going to write a letter!  Sign me up!  Uhh, where and when do I send this letter?”  So the good news is that you don’t have to do a whole lot of hunting for the address in some ancient address book.  All you have to do is go to the 3-Day web page (http://the3day.org) and click Get Involved and then Spectator Info.  Select the city that your walker or crew is participating in and on the resulting page you should see an address to send your letters to.  If you read through this information you will also have a date that you have to send your letter by which is usually at least a couple of weeks before the event.  Please remember to plan ahead!  One last thing.  You may not see the information on there yet for the city that you are sending to.  The 3-Day does not release this information too far ahead of time, if you don’t see the information, check back about a month before the date of the walk.  This will give you enough time to get the address as well as put it in the mail.

So you’ve sent your mail and you feel great about doing something that will give them a boost at camp and maybe you’re wondering if this is something that you can keep doing.  Well, does your walker or crew belong to a team?  If so, consider writing the teammates a letter.  If you’ve already done that and are STILL wanting to write more letters, then I can suggest looking on the 3-Day Tweeps web site here: http://3daytweeps.com/meet-the-tweeps/.  This is a group of people on Twitter who have a virtual team that they give each other advice and support on their 3-Day journey.  If you’re looking for someone to write a letter to, check them out, they are a great bunch of people.

The last little bit I have to write about is directed to the walkers and crew.  Hopefully your friends and loved ones have seen this post and decided that they will send you a message.  Don’t do what I did in Boston earlier this year and forget to check the mail!  You’ll feel pretty bummed afterward that you didn’t check it and if someone asks if you got their letter you will feel even worse.  So make sure you check the mail to get your mini-cheering station!  You never know who might mail you!

 

Hi everyone.  I just wanted to put out a quick note to let you know that the rss feed for the site has changed.  If you have been using http://60miles3days.com/xml-rss.php?blogid=12 please change your feeds to http://60miles3days.com/feed

Sorry for the inconvenience.  I’m making some changes over here to make managing this page a little easier.