"If one just keeps on walking,
everything will be all right."

- Soren Kierkegaard

Here are some tips and lessons learned from my October 1998 walk experience that I thought I'd share with other walkers. I've included some suggestions for your fundraising efforts and recommendations on what to bring and what not to bring to the 3-Day. You'll want to take a look at the checklist of what to bring from the Avon 3-Day team, but these are just some key items that I thought I'd highlight.

Fundraising Tips

• Have pledge forms sent directly to you — Instead of having my sponsors send their pledges to the LaSalle bank, I provided a self-addressed, stamped envelope, along with my letter, for people to send their pledges in directly to me. That way I was able to keep an up-to-date tally of my pledges in a spreadsheet and was able to respond promptly with thank you notes to my sponsors. Plus, some sponsors like to include personal messages and words of encouragement that you would otherwise miss if they sent in their pledge to the bank.
• Use the Breast Cancer Research stamp — Help stamp out breast cancer when mailing your pledge letters! Using the colorful breast cancer stamp adds a nice touch to your letter and reminds your potential sponsors of your commitment to the cause. Plus, part of the net proceeds above the cost of postage is distributed to the National Institutes of Health and the Medical Research Program of the Department of Defense.
• Create a spreadsheet — Keep track of your sponsors and their donations with a spreadsheet. I put together mine with a list of all the people I wanted to contact about the walk, including their address, e-mail, when I sent out their letter, pledge amount, date I sent out thank you notes, etc. This helps me keep track of how much I've raised to-date and who I will follow-up with. Also, you can create mailing labels by importing the names and addresses into a Word document and doing a mail merge.
• Send thank you notes promptly after receiving a donation and send a follow-up letter after the event to share your experiences — This year I gave myself enough time to send out individual thank you notes to all of my sponsors upon receiving their pledge. Last time, I only had time to send out a thank you letter after the walk to all of my sponsors. I plan to send out a similar follow-up letter after the walk this year and include pictures of the event and describe my journey so that my sponsors share in part of the wonderful 3-Day experience.
• Build a web page — Use a web page to help in your fundraising efforts. If you only have e-mail addresses for some of your potential sponsors, you can point them to your page for more information and to print out a pledge form. Also, I think it's a nice tribute to your generous sponsors to post a list of all those who have given you their support. Also, when you're done with the walk you can post up pictures and your share your personal experiences to give your sponsors a flavor of what the event was like. You can provide the URL in your follow-up letter after the event.

What to Bring

• Backpack — I used a large camping backpack to store all of my gear and I fastened my sleeping bag to the bottom of it. I suggest using a backpack because it's easier to haul from the trucks to your tent than a rolling suitcase, especially if there's grass.
• Sunblock — Bring a small bottle that you can tuck into a fanny pack for reapplication during the day.
• 2 or 3 pairs of socks for each day — I recommend either Cool Max double-lined socks or wool socks to help manage moisture that may cause blisters.
• Two pairs of walking shoes — I brought two pairs of my walking shoes last time just in case one pair got wet or damaged. I live by my New Balance 801s. These babies got me through the Los Angeles 1998 walk without any major blisters. They are also great for training on hiking trails because of the extra cushioning and all-terrain tread. Walking in these shoes is as close as one can get to walking on air. I hear the 803s are great, too!
• Layers of clothing — During the walk from Santa Barbara to Malibu, the temperature ranged from damp and cold in the mornings to sunny and hot in the afternoons, so layering your clothing is essential. I was fine with wearing a long-sleeve shirt over a t-shirt and sports bra and wearing shorts. You'll want to have a jacket and some warm clothes like sweats for the evenings when you're back at camp.
• Waist pack — Find a waist pack (or small backpack) that has some pockets to carry tissue, lip balm, sunblock, etc. and has a water bottle holster. I used a medium-sized Ultimate-brand pack that had water bottle holsters on each side. I highly recommend training with the actual pack that you will use on the walk. I trained with a smaller, one-bottle pack, so when I wore the larger one on during the 3-Day my muscles were not used to carrying the extra weight. I did like having the two water bottles, though, because I would use one for plain water and the other for Gatorade. In order to cut down on the weight of the pack, I would only fill up the bottles half way (there are enough pit stops along the way to refill).
• Body Glide — This is a great product to help prevent chafing. You apply it like you would deodorant, but you can put it anywhere you might experience friction.
• Blister protection — When I did the walk in 1998, a friend introduced me to a great product called Compeed for blister protection. It's a cushion that seals to your skin to prevent friction and further irritation. Band Aid Blister Block now features the Compeed technology, so buy some if you are prone to blisters.
• Anti-bacterial wipes — If you're a clean freak, you might think about bringing along some pre-packaged anti-bacterial wipes or gel to wash your hands with after using the port-o-potties or before you eat. Note: Some of the nicer port-o-potties came with their own anti-bacterial gel dispenser, so be on the look out for those!
• Disposable camera — I brought a disposable camera with me instead of my nice one and my pictures still came out great! That way I didn't have to worry about damaging my camera or about carrying the extra weight.
• Flashlight — A must have for when you have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night!
• Flip Flops — Bring a pair of slippers that you can wear while in the shower to protect your feet from all those germs on the floor! They're also great to wear around the campsite in the evening to give your tired feet some room to recoup.
• Large plastic bags — You might consider bringing along some large plastic bags or garbage bags to store your towel in, in case it does not dry overnight. Also, the tent will get a little moist from the morning dew, so you'll want to protect your gear and shoes from getting wet. There's nothing worse than waking up at the crack of dawn and having to put on a cold, soggy pair of shoes!
• Notebook and pencil — I didn't bring anything to write with last time and I had wished that I had. I'd suggest keeping a journal entry for each day so that you can remember all the amazing events that happened during the 3-Day. You may also meet some great people on the walk who you want to exchange addresses with.
• Earplugs — For those of you who are light sleepers, you may want to bring some earplugs with you because there's always some hustling and bustling in the tent city. I recommend Hear-os earplugs.
• Energy bars — If you have a favorite kind of energy or protein bar, be sure to bring some with you. They mostly passed out granola bars and fruit, so I liked to carry a Cliff Bar with me for an extra boost.

What You Don't Really Have to Bring

• Shampoo and conditioner — They had dispensers full of Avon products in the showers.
• Hairdryer — I don't remember there being any electrical outlets near the mobile showers and sinks and the heating lamps worked just fine.

Contact Information: jennifer@radiation.net | http://jennifer.radiation.net