I’m the San Diego Energizer Keep Going® Blogger!

I have been keeping a secret for weeks and it’s been killing me!  I am that girl who tells her loved ones what they are getting for Christmas, in October.  So it is with great excitement that I finally get to tell you:

I am the San Diego Energizer® Keep Going® Blogger!

I’ve already told you I was walking and that I’m in training.  But I haven’t really shared why.  So let me do that now.

These three beautiful ladies are my family.  All three have been diagnosed with breast cancer.  All three fought a hard fight and WON!

My grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was still in high school.  She underwent a double mastectomy.  I remember her staying at our house while she recovered from surgery.  I remember curling her hair for her with my curling iron.  I still have no idea why she would let a teenager near her with a hot curling iron!

My aunt Terri was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 1995.  She fought a hard fight and I remember we weren’t too sure if she would make it or not.  She underwent four rounds of chemotherapy and a single mastectomy.  She was fortunate that insurance paid for reconstructive surgery and she walked away with better boobs than what she started with.

My sister Debra discovered a lump in her breast 3 years ago.  She had a lumpectomy 2 weeks later and began her treatments.  She underwent chemotherapy for 6 months and then had radiation treatments every single day for 3 months.  She was the first one in her immediate family to develop breast cancer, there was no prior history.

Today, all three are cancer free.

Not only do I want to walk for the women of my family, I want to walk for me and my sons.

It has been a personal goal of mine to lose weight and get in shape.  The past 6 years of sitting around and baking babies has taken a great toll on me.  I won’t pretend I was this skinny minny or anything (that hasn’t happened since high school), but I was a lot smaller then than I am now.

That needs to change.

I need to learn to adapt a healthier lifestyle.  I need to be able to not only keep up with my crazy boys, but to also remain healthy and alive for them.  I need to lose weight.  What better tool for losing weight than training for a 60 mile walk.  I’ve already lost 10 pounds since I’ve started!  And since being overweight plays a factor in your risk for developing breast cancer, then I am going to take that risk out of my equation.

It’s important to me to walk because I can.  If a women can endure the torture of breast cancer treatments, then I can certainly tie up my laces and move my butt.  Another walker, Jay Furr, wrote an excellent post describing the 3 Day experience:  What Is The 3-Day.

I am so honored that Energizer® chose me to be their Keep Going® Blogger for the San Diego Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure®.  I just can’t even explain how happy I am right now.  Energizer® is one of the presenting sponsors of the walk.  As their San Diego blogger, I will be sharing my training and fund raising with you.  I’ll be here to make friends, tell you the things I’m learning and encourage other 3 Day walkers to Keep Going®!

Energizer chose 15 bloggers, only one in each hosting city.  Be sure to pay them a visit and support them in their journey’s, too.

• Boston – Caitlin Thayer
• Cleveland – Tesa Nicolanti
• Chicago – Paula Krueger
• Michigan – Shawn Ann Griffith
• Twin Cities – Rachael Coe
• Denver – Laurie Cooper
• Seattle – Heidi May
• Washington D.C. – Holly Zegalia
• Philadelphia – Jennifer Quintua
• Atlanta – Stacie Connerty
• Dallas – John Welsh
• San Francisco – Ana Picazo
• Tampa Bay – TBA
• Arizona – Catherine Holland
• San Diego – ME!

It’s a 60 mile journey over the course of three days.  If I can do it.  You can do it!  Won’t you join me?