I stopped over at my friend (and neighbor) Gigi’s house last night for dinner while the kids were at choir practice, and she told me she joined my Avon Walk team! I’m so excited! Now there are SIX of us walking together in New York City next October. We’ve got my friends from the 3-Day, Tara and Kim, and my friend Deb in New Jersey, and Kim’s friend (also named Kim!) who is also in New Jersey!

My friend Deb joined my Avon team last month. This morning, I received an email from her that I wanted to share here. I hope my advice helps Deb, and anyone else who is thinking about participating in a charity walk.

I open my book (Avon Walk) last night and start reading it. I read about the sleeping bag, the tent, and packing a backpack for it, and collecting money, and about the night before, and I start to go…Overwhelmed much? Then I realize, it’s my fear of failure, I think. I mean, crap, if other people can do this, I can too.

Deb

Deb, the easiest thing to do is the donate money to walkers. Walking is the hard part. We walk because cancer isn’t easy. Imagine being a new mom, who just found out she’s got breast cancer. Or a grandmother to 7, who found out her cancer can’t be cured, and this will be her last Christmas. Cancer is hard. Chemo is hard. Dying isn’t fun. This may sound melodramatic, but it’s true. Compared to all of that, raising money, camping, and walking is the easy part.

Take it step by step, and you won’t fail. You can raise the money. You have plenty of friends and family members who will donate to your cause. If you still need help, have a fundraiser! Stand out in front of a grocery store and beg for loose change. Stalk the people you work out with at the gym.

Make a list, and gather your supplies. If you forget something, they will be 2,000 other campers willing to help you out. Walkers are among the most helpful and friendly bunch of people I know, and they won’t hesitate to lend you a hand.

Camping? My idea of roughing it is staying at a 2 star hotel, but I camped. I slept in a tent, I showered in the back of a truck, I went without air conditioning. If I can do it, anyone can do it.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you look at this event and it seems like you’re staring up at the side of a mountain. Once you start raising money, and working towards your goal, you’ll realize that you’re now halfway up the mountain, and it wasn’t even that hard.

Take it one step at a time. You CAN do this. You can do anything you set your mind to!

When I started our team for the Avon walk in NYC next October, I knew for sure it would be me, Tara, and Kim walking. I didn’t expect anyone else to join us, but I’m sure glad others have! My online friend Deb joined as soon as I formed the team, and a friend of Kim’s from NJ joined this week as well. I have a neighbor interested in walking, and I’m trying to convince my sister to join us as well. It’s going to be exciting enough to pound the streets of New York City for two days, but it’s going to be amazing to be surrounded by wonderful friends like these!

Due to time constraints and my trip to Las Vegas this week, I never did get around to recapping the 3-Day in Tampa for you all. I was reminded of that this Monday when I wore my 3-Day t-shirt and ran into a fellow walker wearing HER t-shirt in the Tampa airport. Small world, huh? Until I can get my recap typed up, I’ll leave you with this - I’m walking in a 2 day walk in NYC next year! So far, I’m being joined by a new friend I walked with this year, Tara, and a friend in New Jersey I’ve never even met, Deb. Kim also plans to join our team. Donations are happily accepted

Viva la Team Black Sheep!

I’ve been remiss in sharing the people who sent me cards and letters during the walk. After such a horribly hot day on Friday, our first day, it was so nice to come into camp, take a cold shower, and relax by reading the notes from all of you.

I received cards from Tara’s girl scout troop, a card from each of my children, a letter from my husband, my mom, a card from my friend Kim, and cards from bloggers Mr. Fab, Jennifer, and Laurie.

I can’t even tell you how nice it was to get cards from people I’ve never even MET telling me how proud they were that I was walking!

Edited to add: My sister Cheryl is also a blogger, and she also sent me a card! (It was a Yoda card that played music, too!)

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.

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!

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.

My sister is at her 3-Day walk in Philadelphia RIGHT NOW. She’s probably trying to fall asleep in her tent as we speak. Err, as I write. It’s actually going to work out well for me that she’s doing the walk a full 2 weeks before I’m doing my walk in Tampa. Since we didn’t camp last year, this will be our first experience doing so. I fully expect for her to fill me in on everything once she returns. I did talk to her today, and she said it was very noisy at camp when she was trying to sleep, and she recommended ear plugs. I bought some today, plus I’m planning on bringing my iPod to use at night to drown out people (talking, snoring, etc.)

A lot of sites around the internet are going pink for October for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For once, I’m ahead of the game, since this site is already pink, all year long! A lot of sites are also offering special promotions to raise money for breast cancer this month. Yesterday, I received an email from MyPoints about a promotion going on at 1-800Free411. For each new person who calls 1-800Free411 this month, they’ll donate $1 (up to $25,000) to benefit the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund.

It’s easy to tell your friends about this special offer. Just visit the special pink page at 1-800-Free411 and you’ll find a form to send emails to your friends and family. If you’ve never heard of the site, they really do offer completely FREE directory assistance. You can call from any phone and you won’t pay for getting a listing.

This is a great, FREE way to donate money, so tell your friends and family!