● 60 miles - 3 days - 2 Divas - 1 cure ●

"The RaDiCal Divas" have a Facebook fundraising page! You can check it out here:

● 60 miles - 3 days - 2 Divas - 1 cure ●

Happy *International* Mothers Day!

Happy *International* Mothers Day to all the Mothers and Motherly figures out there. The UK had their celebrations a month ago! And what a great start I had to this day when I received a donation in honor of a Mother! Thank you, and you too can do something extra nice today! ♥

Update: And I've just received another one from my friends in the UK! Thank you Jo & Glen! ♥ :)

What's the biggest donation someone can make?

By signing up for the walk too! I'm proud to say that Radhika will be joining me in the race! The RaDiCal Divas are back!

For those who do not know Radhika - you can read about her Birthday treats here...

My First 2.4+ Miles

The arrangement: Meet my 2 besties for dinner this evening.
The condition: A place where I can walk to!

Now that Arnoldi has a new pair of friends, I'm willing to walk a reasonable distance to get to where I need to be. Not like 5 miles to get to a place in my first 2 weeks, because that would be just ridiculous since I need to gradually increase my distance!

So, we decided to meet at BJs. I'd purchased my asics, got home, had 30 mins before I left again. I had timed myself an hour to get there, since I've not walked for a while. The restaurant is around 2.4 miles away.

I think it took me approximately 45 minutes to get there. It was a beautiful warm evening, The only thing I wasn't expecting was the wind towards me at times. But that's okay. I need to be able to train in all types of weather.

Had a lovely evening. My Bestie's besties came too! So that was nice. I had a ride back home since it was 10pm by the time we left the restaurant. And it was freezing!!!  I must remember to take a fleeze and wrap it around my waiste... Summer isn't quite here in California! LOL

Oh yeah, and I wore my pedometer! I can't wait to download the data and view the stats!

Arnoldi is Happy!

Arnoldi is happy. I've just come back from Road Runner Sports in Concord after have my feet fitted with a lovely pair of asics Gel Kayano 17 running shoes. Since my arches are high, I also had a pair of support insoles too. And 3 pairs of running socks.

I loved my experience at Road Runner Sports. The Sales Representative used their Shoe Dog application (on a 40-inch touch screen) and tools to find the best pair of shoes for me.  They checked arch type (I have high arches), the balance (52%  on Lefty, 48% on Arnoldi), and the pressure (uneven). They had me walk/jog on a treadmill so they could analyze  my trot (which is out - my feet point outwards) and the foot flexibility (which is semi-flex).  They even asked which type of sock I prefer (no show, ankle, mini crew, or crew!)

You can try Shoe Dog on the internet.

Phone Clinic - Pre-Event Prep: Training

I had my first phone clinic today. From 6pm - 7:40pm. I have to say, the Susan G. Komen 3-Day race is one of the best organized events I have come across. The organizer had sent our an email the day before with a PDF attachment of the slides. And the speaker was a 10-year veteran. Totally amazing!

We went over the following topics, and as the weeks progress, and I attend more meetings, I'll try and write up a little more on what I learn, and my experiences.

• Creating a training plan - there is a 16-week plan available in the participants page of resources. Also programs such as www.mapmyrun.com and others to plan your route.
• Stretching - very important before, during and after the race. Just because it's a walk, doesn't mean you don't stretch!
• Nutrition (day-to-day and while walking) - will be burning approximately 100 calories per mile, therefore it's important to have a balanced diet.
• Hydration (day-to-day and while walking) - need to drink at least 8 glasses of water before the event. This will help build the moisture in the cells before you begin the BIG walk! It also means you'll be peeing every hour (3 miles) and that is okay!
• Treating sore muscles - baths, icy-packs, ben-jay, hot baths!
• Blister prevention care - listen to your body! Treat those hot spots before they becoming burning spots! Can use vaseline, bodyglide, talcumn powder in socks!
• Staying motivated - change your training route! Learn some motivational songs! Encourage others too!

I'm so looking forward to an onsite meeting I'm attending next week! Woohoo!

WOW!

I walked it to the BART station today with my Pedometer. Before leaving for work this morning, I emailed a few more of my friends and included some clients I had worked closely with.  On the way to work, I received an email from one of my clients. Myself and one of our Directors from our SF office had been copied in. My client had forwarded my email to everyone in her company! I was totally blown away and had tears in my eyes! What a wonderful gesture! Below is a copy of the email. For confidentiality reasons, I've removed some of the words so the company and individual remain anonymous. (However, I did forward the email onto the my company's executives later that evening!)

In addition to [company name] staff being so charitable, so are our vendors. Dipa is one of the consultants from [company name] who has worked with us for the past several years in improving our Salesforce instance. For example, if it wasn’t for Dipa, we wouldn’t have over 8,000 [something something] in Salesforce. She created an incredibly simple process to upload these data on a quarterly basis. No task is too challenging, and she executes projects with accuracy and a smile. She’s a real pleasure to work with and she loves our group.

In reading Dipa’s email below, I was really struck by two things: 1) her commitment to finding a cure for cancer and 2) her ability to overcome physical challenges. In 2008 she completed the San Francisco Marathon and was the 5^th highest fundraiser in the entire race and the top fundraiser for the California Breast Cancer Research Program.

And while you may know many people who have completed the 60-mile walk for breast cancer, Dipa’s commitment to this walk is especially inspirational because she not only recently had ankle surgery. She had ankle surgery twice. After dealing with two ankle surgeries, I can imagine that it would be challenging to walk a mile. Dipa’s going to walk 60!

If you are unable to donate to Dipa’s cause, I hope that you will find her commitment an inspiration and put an even bigger smile on your face on this beautiful Thursday.

WOW! I was in awe for the rest of the day, with the biggest smile on my face!