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Not driving rain or chilly mornings or long distances could stop me – I walked the entire course of the Breast Cancer 3-Day!

Many friends emailed or called in their support – especially since the weather on Friday was so punishing.  Through nearly constant rain and wind, in chilly 45-degree temperatures, over 3,000 walkers perservered on Friday.  Thankfully, the organizers had an indoor venue for us to sleep, which was amazing and very much appreciated.

By Saturday, the weather was gorgeous and the rest of the event went off as planned: beautiful walks through Alpharetta, John’s Creek, Peachtree Corners and Duluth, fun people wearing crazy pink shirts and even costumes, everyone inspired by the cause we were walking for and the cameraderie of the walkers and crew.

Saturday night was camp, with entertainment and dancing in the dining tent, and then early to bed in our tents on a crisp October night.

Sunday, break camp and finish the walk, from Chamblee all the way down Peachtree Street to Piedmont Park for lunch, and then into downtown to the World Congress Center for an inspiring closing ceremony with lots of cheering and tears.

For me, I stayed out an extra night to enjoy the company of my teammates, Beth, Madeleine, and Pat, at Beth’s house with Beth’s husband John…a great lasagna dinner, chocolate chip cookies, and a very relaxing cool-down sort of evening.

Many thanks to:

• Everyone who donated–thank you!
• Beth for inviting me to the Walk,
• Beth, Pat and Madeleine for being my walking buddies,
• Traci, Kitty, Nancy, and Bea, who round out the rest of my team, Trotting for Ta-Tas, for being terrific and supportinve teammates,
• and to Mary, Lara, and the whole team of For the Love of Boobs, who helped me train and prepare for the event.

Thanks to everyone who made Tunes for Ta-Tas a success: my brother Charley Brown; Kevin McKinney at UUCG; the performers: Allison Adams, Billy Gewin, Liz Lee and Jeff Silver; the guys in the band: John Marlar, Tim Suchalla, and Charley and Kevin; Cathleen Chartier of Hugs & Quiches; Brenda Brown and Bill Benshoof and his family who managed the house and set up the room; and all the folks at UUCG who staff the Universal Sensations coffeehouse events!

I received over $800 from cash at the event itself, plus the donations that came in on the web site to support the event.  I have reached my fundraising goal!!!

Although  my ulterior motive for doing the 3-Day walk was to have an excuse to train and keep exercising, I must admit that the fundraising part of this project has its own challenges and rewards.  Challenges because it is a fundraising project, and not an insignificant one.  I pledged to myself that I was not going to spend my own money to meet the goal–it’s my job to do the walking!  I have met that challenge–yay!  The rewards are in the ways that the fundraising has put me in touch with people who share their storioes about how breast cancer has affected their lives–the stories are heartwarming, tragic, and inspirational!

More soon about preparing for the actual event.

Suddenly it is clear that peanuts are not good for me.

Mom was in town, and she wanted a jar of peanut butter.  So I bought my first jar of peanut butter in about 2 years.

On Monday–three days ago–I ate 3 rice cakes covered in peanut butter.  Ooh, they were delicious.  I can still taste them.  Literally.

Is that weird?  I don’t know if it is psychological, or a physical sensation of some substance in peanuts, but I still feel like I just ate that peanut butter about 15 minutes ago.  I won’t get too technical with the actual sensations lest it gross out my readers, but I promise I have consumed many other foods, and brushed my teeth many times, since Monday.

I think that before I got healthier, I would have decided that this sensation was a peanut craving, and I would have eaten more.  But I am going to stay away from peanuts and peanut butter for a good long time until this thing–whether it be a physical substance or a sense memory–has been gone for a while.

So what is it about peanuts that is hanging out in my system? I suppose that I have discovered a “trigger food” for me.  Another one is corn, especially the tortilla chips in Mexican restaurants.  I guess everybody has these trigger foods.  It is powerful to know what they are!

The 3-Day walk is a week from tomorrow!  I am ready and not ready.  I think I am well trained, and getting enough exercise for my muscles to handle the actual walk.  And thanks to a “Packing Party” on Sunday, with the group I train with, I have plenty of great tips for how to pack and prepare for the event itself.

I do have to confess again, though, that my diet has been awful the past few weeks.  I have let a lot of other stressors in my life get me sidetracked from taking care of food.  The bad news is that I am not as strong as I could be in a few ways: my willpower against sugar is weak, which means I have a lot of sugar in my system.  (The weaker I am about giving in to sugar, the more dangerous it is for me…like an addiction.)  Also, just don’t feel as strong constitutionally, as if I am more likely to catch a cold.  I am just generally more fatigued.

The good news is that I can tell my sense of “normal” has changed dramatically.  What I now call “bad shape” is not nearly as bad as it was a year or two ago.  My standard is visibly raised.  So when I get back to “normal,” I will be in excellent condition.

What do I plan to do?  If I can avoid corn, wheat, potatoes, and peanuts, and eat as many green vegetables as I can get my hands on, the rest will take care of itself.

More about peanuts soon.

Last week I had a bit of a personal revelation.  Several events, both in my own life and in the world at large, are pointing me to one lesson:

We think we deserve too much.

Years ago I took a course on money management (based ont he book Your Money of Your Life), and this was a central theme.  Once people get over what they think they deserve–the car, the house, the meals in restaurants, and all the little treats that add up–then they can really manage their money and their lives.

Today, we are facing the consequences of too many people who “deserved” a big house with a little mortgage payment.  Today, I am dealing with a family member who feels he deserves more than he earns.  I have done the same the same thing and have gotten into debt–and now I’m working it off.

I have a bad habit of thinking I deserve food.  I also think I deserve evenings of rest instead of exercise.  I deserve neither.

“I work so hard.  I have problems.  I need some joy.  Aren’t I a good person?  Shouldn’t I be happy?  Doesn’t everybody else get their share too?  Why can’t I have mine?  When is it my turn for a change?  This is a rough day.  It’s time to take a break.  My body needs the rest.  My mind needs the rest.  My soul needs the rest.  I should reward myself.”  Do thoughts like these sound familiar?  How much do we use these to rationalize…everything?

In reality, we live in a world of such plenty and luxury that we do not–and we could never–”deserve” all of the treats and rewards available to us. So where does it stop?  I assert that it is in our nature as humans to take more than we need.  And since we can, we do.  This goes for food, property, recreational substances, everything.  More, more, more…how do you like it?

I’m becoming convinced that it is the mindset of derserving that has the potential to break down our culture–yes, America–in profound ways, if it hasn’t done so already.

For me, it starts with that brownie.

Some amazing talent has volunteered to perform at the benefit concert for my 3-Day Walk, and the official web page is now live! Please check it out at www.veronicabrown.com/benefit.

Tunes for Ta-Tas
Benefit for Breast Cancer Research, Susan B. Komen for the Cure
Saturday, October 18, 2008  7:30 pm
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Gwinnett
Sponsor and Caterer: Hugs & Quiches
Visit www.veronicabrown.com/benefit

OMG, this is a serious event now!  Y’all better be there!

So I haven’t been to the Y for week, because I’ve been rehearsing music at my brother’s church, to raise money for the charity that sponsors the physical endurance event that I signed up for so that I would have incentive to stay in shape, i.e., get my butt to the Y.  Life can be so twisted.