On the 3rd day of our walk last year, my sister was hobbling down the street wondering if she could make it much further. A fellow walker handed over a pair of shoe insoles and Cheryl stopped at the next pit stop to put them on. Ahhh! I could see the look of relief on her face once she took a few steps. Those inserts made the difference for her! You don’t just need custom insoles when you’re walking 60 miles for charity either. Shoes today are often made (and purchased) for looks, instead of comfort. Feet are all different, yet when we buy shoes at the shoe store, we’re limited to one or two choices - size, and width. Our feet are so much more than a size and a width!

Take me for example - I’ve got an extremely high arch. When I was little, my parents had to poke extra holes in the straps of my dress shoes so that they could buckle over my high arch. Some people tend to over-pronate or over-supinate constantly, which can lead to foot pain and blisters. By taking a simple test on YourSole.com, you can find the right custom footbed for your foot, and alleviate foot and back pain. This Sole Slim Casual has the extra arch protection I need in my tighter fitting dress shoes!

So here I am, a week past the walk.

Compared to last year, I recovered much quickly. I spent a few days taking naps, and going to bed early, but my aches and pains disappeared quickly. Even my blisters are gone! My sister, on the other hand, who walked a full 2 weeks before I did, still has foot issues. We did a walk this weekend and after just 3 miles, she had a nice bloody sock. Ewww!

This time last year, I was still limping around like an invalid. The walk was definitely harder this year, but I bounced back nicely.

There’s a new hair care line from France making a big splash here in America. Boost is a new line of hair products that promises to fix issues like slow growing, or thinning hair, without making the hair you have weighed down, heavy feeling, or oily. The products use herbal extracts instead of silicones to keep your hair feeling oil free and weight less. The line even includes products that can assist with Alopecia Areata, which is a rare condition in which patches of hair are lost from the head.

During trials of the product, 16 of 35 patients showed a significant improvement while using the Alopecia Areata hair care products.

The Tampa Bay 2007 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer:

1,900 walkers (up 200 from 2006)
340 volunteers who made our meals, helped us cross streets, and tended to our wounds
$5.4 million dollars raised by the walkers in Tampa (up from $4.7 million in 2006)
$15,000 raised by the top fundraiser, a woman named Dee
3 days
60 miles
1 is the number of nights I slept in a tent
1 old friend, Kim, and one new friend, Tara with me for most of those miles!
1 San Diego dentist? No, but plenty of walkers from all over the world!

Here’s a picture of us at the end - Kim, me, another Kim, and Tara in front:

This time tomorrow, I’ll be several miles into my 2nd 3-Day walk. I’m nervous! I packed up all of my things last night, and went down my checklist to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I’ve got all of the cheering stations printed out for the family, complete with maps. I’ll be seeing them a lot this weekend, I hope.

I’ll see you all on the flip side!

I am a huge fan of a waxing technique called a Brazilian wax. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s a process, similar to a bikini wax, except ALL of the hair from your nether regions will be removed. And I mean ALL. Your waxing professional will have you in positions that no one has ever had you in before in order to get every last bit of hair from your girly parts. The benefit of this is that you can go for about a month of bikini season without any shaving. The first time I had a Brazilian, I didn’t know what to expect. I had only read about it, and had never seen one done. It’s not for the faint of heart. It does hurt, and you will be getting up close and personal with a stranger holding hot wax.

I came across this Brazilian bikini wax video that shows the actual wax process. It’s for adults only, and it does contain a bare hiney shot. Videos like this are created for us in the spa and beauty industry so that people can learn how to perform the techniques, but I think it’s great for someone who is interested in getting a Brazilian!

The 3-Day is stressing me out.

Anytime you take on an event like this, it’s a big deal. Walking 60 miles, camping, the fundraising…who wouldn’t get stressed? I’ve been taking it all in stride though, because I’ve done this before. I didn’t think I was worried…until I had a crazy nightmare this weekend about showing up at the 3-Day without any money, and without bringing any clothes to wear.

I guess that proves that my biggest fear is being unprepared for the walk. I definitely haven’t trained as much (read: not at all) this year, and I won’t have the people I walked with last year with me, so it’s a whole new group to break in, so to speak. I need to hit the ground running, literally, and figure out if Kim (my tent mate) and I walk at the same pace, and if not, who does walk at the same speed?

Showing up without money and clothing may be the least of my worries.

Lipozene is a new weight loss supplement that is helping users to drop a few pounds a week without side effects. Lipozene consists of an all natural fiber from the Konjac root. The root is a plant unique to Asia, and when combined with microcrystalline cellulose, gelatin, stearic acid and magnesium stearate, the end result is a safe weight loss option. Combine Lipozene with a healthy diet and exercise as part of a total weight loss program. You can order Lipozene online at TvOverstocks.com - a 1 month supply is only $1 a day!

There are all kinds of ways to do good for the world around us, and walking 60 miles is just one way. The BP Solar Decathlon is quite different, but it’s a great project that can benefit the world. How can solar energy benefit us, and what’s a solar decathlon?

The Solar Decathlon is a joint project sponsored by BP and the U.S. Department of Energy. Clean, renewable energy is important - oil won’t always be a viable energy source, and BP is looking into ways to provide the US with energy efficient homes and business. Just 200 square miles of land covered in solar panels could produce ALL the electricity the world needs, so why aren’t we doing it?

Simply put, most people don’t know what solar energy can do for us, which is the reason for the Solar Decathlon. This event puts together 20 teams from universities around the world for design & build completely solar powered houses. I think it would be amazing to stay in something like that, just to experience that solar power can be exactly the same as what we’re used to know. Wouldn’t it be neat if you could travel to a hotel or bed and breakfast for a solar powered weekend?

The competition starts on October 11, 2007, and there’s a Solar Decathlon blog where you can get competition updates. I’d love to see pictures and video of the structures created.

I met my sister, Cheryl, today for lunch, and got to see her 3-Day feet in person. Ewwww! She no longer has 10 toes, she’s got 10 pigs in a blanket attached to 2 very swollen feet. One toe was completely wrapped in gauze, and the others were…well, ickly. Blisters and redness and just a little taste of what’s to come for ME in less than 2 weeks.

Umm…I can’t wait?