Fight cancer without risking cancer

Here are words I CANNOT say to anyone in this universe enough: WEAR SUNSCREEN.

As a fair-skinned, auburn-headed individual, I am sensitive to the issue. However, everyone, no matter your complexion, should take care of your skin!

I'm not always the best about reapplication of sunscreen. For some reason, I tend to forget I'm a red-head and need sunscreen like most people need oxygen. And this is what I end up with ...



I'm making it my #2 cause during the 3-Day. In fact, if you are in Chicago with me next month and I think you need it, I will probably offer to help you with sunscreen! How silly would it be to end up with skin cancer because you didn't take care while trying to end breast cancer????

With the recent heat indexes being national news, it's easy to remember sunscreen when walking. But this is also important on overcast days! Seriously. The sun is still casting out those UVs and they are, as always, in attack mode.

As far as sunscreen goes: Use the CDC recommends SPF 15 or higher. Most shirts provide less than SPF 15 protection, so put sun screen on under them. Darker shirts provide more UV protection, but can also make you feel hotter.

Despite popular belief, a tan is not a sign of health. It's an injury! When UV rays get inside the skin, the skin makes more melanin - the pigment that colors the skin. That melanin moves toward the outer layers of the skin and becomes visible as a tan. That tan is your skin cells signaling that they have been hurt by the sun's UV rays.

It's not practical for us to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants while walking - but it is practical to wear sunscreen - and look out for each other. If we get burned on Day 1, can you imagine how much harder Days 2 & 3 will be?


"Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it."
- Baz Luhrmann: Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)


Here are recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control:
* Use sunscreen with sun protective factor (SPF) 15 or higher, and both UVA and UVB protection.
* Wear clothing to protect exposed skin.
* Wear a hat with a wide brim to shade the face, head, ears, and neck.
* Wear sunglasses that wrap around and block as close to 100% of both UVA and UVB rays as possible.
* Seek shade, especially during midday hours.
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/basic_info/prevention.htm

Wanna walk

I am so bummed!

A month or so ago I volunteered to help out at a local race because it is my dream to join the runner's world one day and I wasn't thinking about my schedule, I was just thinking it would be awesome to watch someone run 30 miles as motivation.

You know, when it's so darn hot you can barely stand it but you still have 9 miles to walk? Well, ultrarunners RUN more than 20 miles in a day. Then they get up and do it again the next day. Like us - only faster and possibly more in shape (though I have plenty of arguments in our favor!).

Anyway, the run falls on my 18/15 weekend and I am super bummed. I can't miss the run because they are counting on the volunteers. But I have been looking forward to this weekend!

I have really grown to love my long walks. I love the pride I feel when I finish them. I love the peace in my mind as I turn it off and just listen to whatever audio book is on my iPhone. I love discovering the little treasures my city offers me as I stroll the streets.

And missing the walks has me bummed. Maybe I can do 18 on Sunday and try to squeeze 15 in on Monday.

Walked my socks off

I walked 15 miles today! It was pretty awesome, too. The last three miles were a bit hard - I found joints I never knew I had, but it's amazing how quickly you forget the pain when you are reveling in success. I can't imagine how good it will feel when I hit the next milestone in training.

While spiritually, I feel like I can do anything. Today's walk reinforced the importance of training.

To anyone who thinks training for this thing is unnecessary, please, please, please, think again. While walking may sound easy and leisurely, long distance walking like this takes endurance and muscle strength. This isn't just a walk in the park - it's twenty walks in the park - every day for three days.

The past couple of weeks have found me a bit off schedule. Bad weather, fundraising plans and summer finals have all conspired to derail my training a bit. While I was able to fit in most of my mid-week walks, the longest I've walked in the past two weeks was 7 miles. I'm in decent shape and today was not easy. By the end, I was my own cheerleader, loudly motivating myself to the amusement of my neighbors. I probably shouldn't have pushed myself to do the full 15 today, but I want back to the regimen as quickly as possible.

When I finished the walk, I made sure to stretch everything in triplicate. And then again. I drank a wonderful glass of cold milk (studies show this hydrates better than water! It also helps with muscle reparation), then took a bottle of G2 with me into the bathroom. I turned the water on hot and soaked my poor muscles for about 20 minutes.

Now, hours later, my muscles are fine, but my joints are creaky. Also, something happened to my feet while I was out there. I'm blaming my socks, but am putting these pics out there in case someone else can tell me what's up. There are splotchy red patches on my heels, the top of my feet and the arches.



It isn't athlete's feet - there is no itchiness, the spots just hurt if I touch them. I'm fairly certain these are places that were rubbed by my socks (evil, evil socks that have already been replaced!). Any recommendations for combating this???

But joint pains and weird rashes aside, I WALKED 15 MILES today and nothing is going to bring me down. Besides that, I put an ad out for donations for a fundraising garage sale and spent the afternoon picking up stuff from generous people in the area. All in all, it was a great 3-Day Day!!!

Lessons from the trail

I learned a couple of interesting and important lessons regarding route-planning and life yesterday. 1) There is a big difference between a hiking trail and a walking trail! 2) Family-time matters, too.

Lesson one: Walking trails, at least in my area, are generally paved, sometimes shaded, mostly well-lit, and wide enough for several people to walk together. Hiking trails around here, however, are dirt paths, littered with rocks, in the brush and rarely lit.

I think I mentioned we had a bit of rain yesterday - like 6 inches in 3 hours. So, when the planned walk I routed turned into an unpaved hiking trail a mile in, I was very disappointed! It was muddy and riddled with slippery, treacherous rocks devoting themselves to tripping me and trying their hardest to twist my ankles. I had to give up.

It just wasn't worth risking injury!

Lesson two: Once I stopped focusing on the walk as a training exercise, it became a great "family" outting. My boyfriend usually comes for the first few miles and he brought my dog Sadie with him yesterday. We had so much fun watching her splash around the trail! She had a blast too and I could tell she loved spending the time with us. I enjoyed it too.

Training for the 3-Day involves a lot of alone time for me. So, it was nice to spend the time with my loved ones after expecting to be along for 5 hours on new trails. No, I didn't do the suggested 14 miles, but I ended up doing something even more important: spending much-needed quality time with my family.

On the way home from the trails, we picked up some ice cream and just really enjoyed each other for the rest of the evening. I'll be back out pounding the ground this afternoon, but I don't feel bad at all for giving my afternoon and evening to my boyfriend and our four-legged daughter.

We are training because everyone deserves a lifetime. And that's what yesterday was - a wonderful moment in my lifetime.

Saturday morning walk

I just finished walking 11.5 miles! It's the farthest I have ever knowingly walked and it was not nearly as tough as I would have thought - even when I realized my last mile was up and down hills!

According to my calculations, I burned 1400 calories - that's more than I eat in a day!

I played with a couple of apps on my phone - Walkjogrun and iTreadmill. Both are good individually, but together are just a big mess of annoying.

Maybe most people can rely on just one, but not me. I was following someone's route on Walkjogrun and wasn't familiar with each turn so I had to keep reloading the app to track it - and ended up losing the route. Finally, I just decided to walk by time rather than a tracked route and turned my 10-mile training walk into 11.5 . I need to find an app with a route planner AND a pedometer.

Also, I've discovered that 32 ounces isn't nearly enough water for long walks. I came home and researched Camelbaks only to find they cost $50!

The weather on my walk was perfect - a gentle breeze carried me the entire way and made it so that I barely felt my sweat at all. It was pretty awesome taking my training out of the gym and into the real world.

I saw many urban animals and beautiful homes I've never seen before. I even found a few shops that I plan to visit later! All in all, I'd say it was a lovely way to spend a quiet Saturday morning.

The big brunch that followed was even better!