Walk Ranking

July 26th, 2011 | Posted by john in General - (6 Comments)

Alright, I’m going to have a more formalized way of treating this in the weeks to come, but I wanted to get this rolling so here it is. With the opening of the 2011 walking season, many dedicated 3-Day Walkers are already starting to think about where they are going to walk for the 2012 walking season, myself included. With that in mind, I thought I would put together a little query about what people thought were the best and worst things about the cities that they have walked in on the 3-Day. Let’s start up with just using comments and when I have something more formal I’ll move them over. So in your comment post:

City you are writing about.
When you walked there last.
Favorite thing about the walk.
Least favorite thing about the walk.
General review of the walk (route, etc)

Try not to comment on things that are common to all the walks (like the showers and food are pretty much the same between cities), but point out some stuff that you think makes the walk feel special to you.  Walked in several walks and want to share about them all?  Just post a separate comment for each walk so I can sort out which walks they are for when I get something more formalized set up.

And while you’re here, you should swing by the 3-Day Tweeps site and sign up for a great online community!  http://3daytweeps.com

 

Just Ask

June 27th, 2011 | Posted by john in Fund Raising Tips - (Comments Off on Just Ask)

My first year walking on the 3-Day I had a hard time raising funds to meet my minimum. I have talked to several people since then that have said the same thing. The first year is just hard to get going. At the time I thought that it was just because people didn’t want to donate and because of that I was having a hard time. With several years between me and that year now, I think I can look back and say pretty confidently that my issue had to do with lack of focus on one key component to fund raising.

That same year, I was in a Bible study group with a guy named Mike Carrell. Mike’s job is in sales and even though I have never seen him at his job I can’t imagine a world where he is not good at it. Mike is the kind of person that gets along with everyone. He listens attentively to your stories and shows genuine interest in the things you talk about. If you are in a group he will pull you into a conversation because he sees that you aren’t in it. He is a genuinely good guy. I bring all this up, not so that you will seek him out to become his friend, but to give you background to where I was reminded of thus common sense advice.

One day, Mike and I and some others were talking about something. I honestly don’t remember what, but I can tell you that it wasn’t about the 3-Day. I tried to start typing what the conversation was but I just don’t remember. In a nutshell someone was thinking about asking someone else for something. Vague, but it serves the point of the story. Mike listens to the conversation and then says something to the effect of, “They can’t say yes if you don’t ask.'” Ok, those probably weren’t the exact words used, but it is the sentiment: if you don’t ask someone for something, you’re a whole lot less likely to get it than if you do ask for it. It seems really common sense, but I think a lot of us forget that and get so tied up in being afraid of asking for donations that we forget that simple concept.

That first year I was really good about telling people that I was walking in the 3-Day. There were a lot of oohs and ahhhs at the mileage that I was going to walk and the amount of money that I had to raise. I was not terribly good at asking people for donations to help me get to the point where I could actually do the walk.

Let’s face it. It’s easy to tell people that you are walking in this amazing event to end breast cancer. It does garner a lot of attention. And it really is a lot easier to tell people that you are doing the walk and then hope that they will get the picture than it is to actually ask them to donate. Yes, after hearing my story, some people did make a donation without me asking but I still had a long way to go. It took a little while for Mike’s advice to sink in, but once I started asking people for donations, sometimes repeatedly, my fund raising took off.

Even with that simple piece of advice, I know that it may still be difficult to start on your way to asking for donations. So here are a few things to do to get you working towards being more comfortable with asking for donations:

  • Pick a lesser goal, maybe the goal is just to get your first donation. Maybe it’s a monetary figure. Pick something attainable and work towards it and then pick a new goal.
  • Everyone always says to remember that you aren’t asking for the money for yourself. I like to take it one step further and combine it with the last item. Have you looked at your donation form? Did you notice that on the donation levels the 3-Day people gave put benchmarks for what your donation will go towards? I personally like the mammogram level ($120). I like to not only remember that I am not asking for money for myself, I am asking for money to fund Sue’s mammogram. Sue is a fictitious person I have made up representing one of the strangers that will benefit from the mammogram I helping to fund. Now I have a goal I can laser focus on, and it makes it that much easier go ask for donations.
  • Start with your sure bets. I think I have said this before, but you should always start with people you are next to certain will donate. It helps you build momentum. This person may be your mom or it may be your co-worker whose daughter you always buy girl scout cookies from. I don’t know who it is for you, but I am sure there is someone in your life that matches the description.

What’s the worst that can happen? Most likely the worst thing is going to be an answer of no. And some people are going to say no, but that’s ok. It’s just a word, no one is saying anything about your worth because they didn’t donate, they are just saying that right now they aren’t going to donate.

Right now is a good word in that sentence. Some people will say no and you know it’s over. Some people will not respond (if you are sending mail or email this is pretty common), this doesn’t really mean no, but it does mean you should follow up. I have gotten many donations from people for the simple reason that I don’t ask once, I ask week after week. Some will never donate, but a lot just forgot or meant to do it and lost the email. Stay on it, keep asking!

Just a few tips, but hopefully it will get you moving in the right direction. Remember, the key is to just ask. You may have some people say no, but you will have a whole lot more people donate than if you didn’t ask. Good luck, and I hope you reach your fund raising goals!

 

Happy Father’s Day 2011!

June 15th, 2011 | Posted by john in General - (1 Comments)

It’s been about a year since I have written about this, but it’s important so I am going to write about it again. Did you know that about 1 in 1000 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime? While survival rates by stage are typically the same as women fighting breast cancer, men’s breast cancer is typically discovered at later stages. So the reason that I walk is not just ti try and save the lives of women, it’s to try and save the lives of men. But even with that in mind, that’s not really the reason that I’m writing this post today.

With Father’s day just around the corner, it’s easy for us dads to think about having a nice relaxing day at home. If you are a dad, I would like for you to think about one other thing this Father’s day. Signing up to walk in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. I know that a lot of you may think that I am crazy to ask you to think about walking 60 miles on your day of rest. I know it seems counter to what the whole day is about, but I’d like you to think of it from a different angle.

I’m a dad and I have talked to several other dads to try and figure out what people generally think is their job as a dad. There were a lot of answers from providing for the family to helping to raise well balanced children to fixing things around the house. The thing that seemed almost universal to everyone I asked about this, whether they said it directly or it showed itself in another entry was this: a dad’s job is to protect his family. That includes everyone from his sons to his wife and daughters who have a much higher chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime (1 in 8).

I will tell you right now that this is the reason that I walk. I never put it in those words before, I always said that I walk because I don’t want my wife to go through breast cancer and because I don’t want my sons to be 1 in 1000 or have to watch someone the love go through chemo. What it all boils down to is that I walk in the 3-Day for the Cure and I raise all this money for a simple reason that every dad should understand. I do it to protect my family.

This year is my fifth year to walk in the 3-Day and I am always shocked at how few men that there are. Maybe the men see this as a women’s event. I’m here to tell you that it’s not just a women’s event. It’s an event for anyone who cares about trying to save someone’s life, even if it’s their own, especially if it’s for someone they love.

Maybe they think that, being a man, they will be an outsider for three days. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have to say that the people on the walk are the most welcoming people I have EVER met. If you don’t know anyone on the walk, it won’t be like that for long. Even if you don’t say anything people will introduce themselves and make themselves your friend. If you want to accelerate the process just hollar out, “I’m a first time walker and I’m here by myself!” You will have more friends than you know what to do with. I walk with a team, but I meet tons of people every year and many of them I keep in touch with after the event.

Please take a moment to think about joining the 3-Day for the Cure. Its really easy to register, just click here and select your city and you will be well on your way. If you don’t know anyone that’s walking, let me know and I would be happy to have you on my team in San Diego this year. Got some questions for a man that has walked? Click the contact button on this web site and I would be glad to answer what I can.

Lastly, I know that not everyone can do the walk either because of work obligations or physical restrictions (but don’t talk yourself into not doing it, I have seen eighty year old women complete all 60 miles!) and if this describes your situation, you can still protect your family. Donate to someone that you know that is participating in the walk. Don’t know someone? I would be honored if you would donate to my fund raising efforts. The point is that you can work to protect your family from breast cancer even if you can’t do the walk, but we would love to have you on the walk!

Have a happy Father’s day and I hope to see you out there on the walk, it really is a life changing experience!

 

Heat!

May 29th, 2011 | Posted by john in General - (Comments Off on Heat!)

Summer is getting geared up and while it may not feel it where you are, many parts of the country have already crossed over the 100 degrees. Unfortunately when summer gears up is when many people either start their training forn the 3-Day for the Cure or get into the really long mileage training walks. This can be a really dangerous time of year to train unless you follow a couple of common sense guidelines. While they are common sense, I am going to go through them here just in case there is something that you have overlooked.

Planning

This really goes for any walk that you go on, but is especially important when the weather gets hotter. This post aims to help in that planning. One of the best things you can do to help you with planning is to make yourself a check list and to keep updating it as time goes on. You may think you have a great check list and then go out on a walk and remember that you need to bring along chap stick. If you don’t update your check list then you may keep having that aha moment, but it won’t be a good thing.

Hydrate!

This should be the most common sense piece of advice. Whenever you walk you have to keep hydrated. When it is hot you really have to make sure that you keep drinking water and Gatorade and keep the fluids coming. You may be reading this and thinking that it’s kind of silly for me to talk about this, but every year at the 3-Day, someone passes out from dehydration (okay, maybe I don’t have exact facts on that, but I know it has happened) so it wouldn’t surprise me if people have the same issues on training walks.

The best way to keep hydrated is to be familiar with your hydration system. Whether you are doing a camelbak or bottles or something different, just make sure you are familiar with how much you need to drink (I have found it’s a little harder to monitor with Camelbaks, but it’s also easier to keep hydrating with them, so it’s a tradeoff.) Part of knowing if you are drinking enough is whether you are peeing enough. You should be needing a bathroom break every 3-6 miles. If you are not doing that, you probably need to drink more.

Timing

This part really goes back to the planning part of your training walks. If you know that you are doing a 15 mile training walk then you also should know that you shouldn’t start at 10 in the morning on a day that is supposed to get to 100 degrees.

People always ask me how long it takes to walk X miles. My answer is usually it depends. It depends on how fast you are walking, how frequently you take breaks and how long they are, how many people you are walking with and a variety of other factors. For planning I can usually rely on 3 miles per hour. I typically walk faster that, but when I factor in breaks and other things, it usually is about that pace. So, for doing a 15 mile walk I can be pretty assure that I will take about 5 hours. Starting at 10 means that I would definitely be walking through the hottest part of the day.

Another thing about timing, and the folks at the 3-Day will also say this: you don’t actually have to do all the hours together. If you aren’t a morning person you could do part in the morning and part in the evening (thus giving yourself a little bit more sleep in the morning). I personally like having the walking over so even though I am not a morning person I will push through in order to get it done.

Break Time

If you do find that you need to be walking during one of the hotter parts of day (let’s face it, even though you start out early, if you are walking an 18 miler in the middle of summer you will end up in the heat) you need to make sure that you have plenty of breaks. This doesn’t mean you have to always go to the bathroom (though it is a good idea), sometimes you just need to stop under some shade to cool off before continuing on. Just keep in mind that the longer you break for the more likely it is to get hotter.

My sister will tell you that I don’t take a lot of breaks when I walk. Again, this is my mind wanting to get done with the mileage for the day with as little delay as possible. But despite that, when we have been on really hot walks I will step into some shade every half hour or so just to cool down from the heat. Texas is merciless in the summer.

Planning Again

I said before that planning was important and I will say it again because it feeds into the other points mentioned. Now that we have covered in more detail some of those things I would like to mention some more specifics on what I plan.

For the Route
When you are planning the route there are several things that you need to account for including:

  • Time of day in relation to the route (so you can get the shadiest route possible)
  • Refill areas for water, food, etc. This is like any route, but even more important with the heat. If you have a water refill area that has ice, even better!
  • Bathrooms
  • Starting time and an idea of when the hottest times of the day might be so you can avoid them

For The Bag

There are also several items that you need to make sure you take along with you to have an enjoyable hot weather walk. Keep in mind that I am not mentioning things that you should pack regardless of weather (first aid kit for example), just things specific to summer training. Some of these are must haves and some are just suggestions:

  • Sunscreen. Let’s face it, the last thing you need to do while you are preparing for the fight against breast cancer is get skin cancer. It may seem like fear mongering to put it like that, but you are going to be in the sun for a very long time and you need to make sure you protect yourself. Remember to reapply!
  • There are several varieties of chap stick that have SPF built in and I would recommend whatever you would prefer to use as ling as it has SPF.
  • In addition to keeping you from squinting, sunglasses can also protect your eyelids and eyes from the harmful effects of the sun.
  • Fan. While I don’t carry one myself, I have seen several people that carry one of those spray bottles with a fan on it and it looks quite refreshing.
  • I’m kind of torn on bringing a hat with you. I can definitely see it as a benefit, but over the years I have had several hats give me heat rash on my head. I would recommend it, just be careful I your choice of hats.

So those are my suggestions for training in the summer weather. I know that I have forgotten some things and I am hopeful that members of the 3-Day community will remind me of them and I will. Try to update the post. Be careful out there in the hot weather and have fun!

 

Bags!

March 31st, 2011 | Posted by john in Training Tips - (Comments Off on Bags!)

With April showers looming a day away (it always starts pouring on the first day of April, right?) I thought it would be fitting to write about one of my favorite items of rain gear. Truth be told, it is often my only item of rain gear since I don’t mind getting wet myself as long as it isn’t freezing. So read on and you will see how I turned baggies into their own post, albeit a short one.

I have written in here several times about how I always make sure to pack ziplock bags (though it doesn’t have to be any particular brand, but everyone understands what I mean when I say ziplock). They are handy for a variety of things and I thought I would spend a little time talking about what I use them for and why I pack them not only for the event but also for every training walk that I go on.

Phone Case

My phone is probably the most expensive thing that I carry with me on the walk. I use it as a phone, camera, video camera plus a device to update my social networking and blog stuff. When it rains, the last thing that I want to happen is for my phone to get damaged from water. While it is not always in it, I always have a spare bag for it in the event of inclement weather.

On a training walk last year, we got hit by some unexpected rain when we were still several miles from the cars. Thankfully, I carried enough bags not only to keep my phone dry, but also to let the people I was walking with snag a bag and keep theirs dry. I found out something neat on that day. If you have a touch screen phone, you can still use the touch screen through the bag! I was even able to place a call through it, but the audio was understandably a little muffled.

First Aid

Everything that I put into a first aid kit usually goes into a baggie. I separate it out by type: one bag for pills like ibuprofen and stuff, one bag for band aids (the wrappers done stand up to moisture very well even if it’s not raining!), the tape I use for blisters (it will stick to everything you put with it and it’s a lot easier to get it unstuck from a bag than say a sock).

Socks!

Yes, I have said ti store your socks in baggies before, but I thought I should say it again. There are two reasons that I like to use baggies for socks:

1. To keep them dry before I get them on my feet.

2. To keep the smelly used socks from stinking up the rest of my gear.

Enough Reasons, Here’s Some More Details

When you are buying bags for y our 3-Day for the Cure experience or for a simple training walk, I recommend a variety of bag sizes depending on what you are carrying. I use snack size bags for things like pills, my phone and other smaller items. I use sandwich size bags for socks, my foot tape and other items of medium size. Then when it comes to packing I get the one and two gallon sizes to fit clothes in, plus garbage bags for anything larger.

I realize that writing a post about baggies is probably not the most interesting thing to write about, but I figured that it is something that I take with me every time I go, so I should probably write about it for people that haven’t thought about it! Don’t forget to bring extra baggies!