Saying Hello There
I can’t believe how long it has been since I posted on this blog and some of you might just have a little heart attack if an email post of this shows up in your email box. I think there are a couple of subscribers on here.
So much has happened since I last posted. Wow I walked 40 miles in a weekend at the 2011 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in San Francisco, I was diagnosed with Endometrial Cancer in November 2011, had a lot of surgery in Nov., Dec. and Feb. 2012. I was given a clean bill of health and told to go live! And I’ve spent the last 6 months going to the gym a lot, exercising and trying to get healthy and trying to spend quality time with everyone. Jordan graduated from college and I got to spend a splendid 2 weeks with my family in a magical place called Newfoundland!
The picture above is one of my favorites from our trip. We were headed out to a cliff to see a seabird called a Northern Gannet. It’s a beautiful bird. A big bird. We saw thousands of them! But this walk was so wonderful. It was flat and easy with a path cut through the tall grass to lead the way. It was kind of blustery the day we were here but I kind of liked that. It made the day more moody and dramatic. I found myself falling back lots when we were walking so that I could get these more distant pictures and let these girls of mine share some sister time.
It’s good to be back. Let me know what you think of the picture….maybe the next blog I’ll post a picture of the birds!
Busy Day Ended with a 6 miler!
Today was a very busy day. We got up early and started the day lifting, lugging and moving 1000 bags of mulch at our church. It was a perfect day for it. Sunny, brisk and a good amount of people around to help. All but 65 bags were pre-sold which is always wonderful. We were short on trucks though which can be a problem since 95% of the mulch we deliver. So we asked a complete stranger that came in to buy mulch if we gave him 10 free bags would he let us use his truck for the rest of the morning? While I know he had never quite been propositioned like this before and I know God’s hand was at play here — he totally agreed and we used his truck to deliver at least 100 bags of mulch! It was awesome!
After some afternoon yard work and early garden work we ran Erin to an interview for a summer camp counselor job…which we know she was brilliant and well prepared for her interview.
Then we rounded out the afternoon with another training walk – 6 miles. Not too shabby. Thought I would share some pictures from our walk. It was a beautiful afternoon and while it’s still a wintery landscape there are signs of spring coming everywhere! We also found all the bluebird boxes made out of pvc pipe which was interesting. I thought they were kind of marked to look like birch trees which made them a little funny too! No sign of bluebirds near them yet.
The walk was good but my body feels tuckered out tonight…I think the combo of the mulch sale and the walk was a good workout today! 🙂
Hopefully we’ll get our training calendar up this week so folks can join us on our training walks! We’d love the company and appreciate the enthusiasm and support so much!
If you would like to support Erin’s walk with a donation to fight breast cancer, please follow this link: http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/erinrutter
It’s Official – Erin is Doing the Avon Walk too!
We have a very fun update with the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer – Erin is officially joining me in the walk! I have reached my fundraising goal and she’s been training and is really inspired to “be official” too! So I know everyone will be very supportive and helpful in getting Erin to reach her funraising goal and finish line!
We had such a productive weekend and with the time change and nice weather Keith came home early from work on Monday so we could go for a walk. I was under the impression that we would walk two or three miles. However, due to miscommunication and maybe some snookering, we were three miles into a five mile walk before I realized what was going on. But, it ended well and left us with walking over 14 miles in 3 days.
Then last night, Keith came home early again so we could walk. This time, even on St. Patrick’s Day eve there were no shenanigans. We planned on a 2 mile walk and that was what we did. Keith thought about going an extra mile or two, but all three of us had too much work to do at home.
If you would like to support Erin’s walk with a donation to fight breast cancer, please follow this link: http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/erinrutter
Tired Tootsies!
Today was my 2nd official training walk…we did nearly 6 miles. It was definitely a bit easier than last week … my only weird oddity is that my right hand seemed to be swollen till we were done. Jordan will probably have 
some biology based reason for me which will help me figure out what happened and maybe how to keep that from happening again. I’m hoping she will write a guest blog for me on lactic acid. After last weeks walk and the soreness I encountered the next day she sent a comment to my blog all about lactic acid and why I was sore. Unfortunately the comment never made it to me and is lost in the web somewhere but maybe I can get her to expand on it some more.
So today was a very full day. Keith and our neighbor split wood all morning across the street at our neighbors house and I hauled it in a wheelbarrow for a couple hours adding to our woodstacks. While on one hand at the end of that I felt like I must have for sure walked 10 miles and lifting logs the whole time by myself that was enough of a workout for today. But then Keith pushed me to do the training walk and while it may have taken a little longer than I would have liked…all in all I feel really good.
And tonight we’re headed to the mall to look for an evening party dress for Erin, so more walking! This has got to be all good for me training wise and weight loss wise!
If you would like to support my walk with a donation to fight breast cancer, please follow this link: http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/pamrutter
Inspiration and Shout Outs!
I wanted to write a little bit more about my inspiration for joining the Avon walk. This picture here to the right is the way I remember my Mom, Beverley for me as an adult. It’s funny as I look back through old pictures of our family how we all change through time. This is one of my favorite pictures of her with my daughter Jordan. I remember that moment as a very spontaneous one that I am so glad I captured on film. My Mom looks so relaxed and happy to have Jordan leaning in on her.
The next picture is one of the last ones that was taken of Bev with me. 
Often what has happened through my life is that I have ended up taking all the pictures and am not in any of them. This was the last time Bev made it home to her beloved Montreal to be with her sisters, brothers and extended family. It’s so bittersweet to see this picture because it came at the end of a long course of chemotherapy and we thought she was out of the woods with a good prognosis with a lot of life left for her to live. I’m glad I have this picture.
So my journey to the Avon walk comes from a place of love for my mom and missing her so much. It also comes from the courage that I witnesses from my friend, Beth D. who worked with me. She was taken from this world far to young. And I walk for my great Aunt Jane who shouldn’t have had to die by this disease.
And I am truly walking honoring the ones that have fought breast cancer and are living fully…Lori, Karen and Tracy! And I walk hoping every nickel I raise helps my friends Mary, Shelley, Rita and Sandy fight back and be rid of forever the cancer they are dealing with. You are all an inspiration more than you could know to your family and friends. My love, prayers and energy is with you on every step I walk training and during the official walk and beyond.
A huge shout out to my initial supporters! Richard – thank you for setting the bar and the pace for my financial support. Maureen, Karen, Lauren, Danni … you created a huge excitement for me in supporting my walk. I look forward to sharing with you my journey and knowing that you are in this with me!
If you would like to support my walk with a donation to fight breast cancer, please follow this link: http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/pamrutter
~Pam
The Day After the First 5 Mile Walk
Ok…so here it is straight…we walked 5 miles yesterday. All in all I felt really good. Wish there would have been a bathroom somewhere along the route. I’ll definitely have to think that through f or longer walks. I’m guessing on the Avon walk the Jiffy Johns will be all along the way. While we were in the neighborhood of our home…we were never that close that running home was really an option … probably would have taken the wind out of my sails to get back on track. 
But all in all the 5 miles took us about 1.5 hours which I thought was pretty good. When we were pretty close to home Keith asked me if I thought I could go another mile and I probably could have but I was pretty tired till we stopped. Things I know about myself from walking…I sweat a lot! And while I get thirsty I’m a big baby about carrying anything. So I’m thinking on actual Avon walk day I’ll be carrying very little. I’m considering a fanny pack that could hold my phone. I’m hoping to have an iphone by then so I also think that might be my camera of choice for the walk. While I know that I’ll wish I had my Nikon D90 I just don’t think I’ll really be able to deal with it on me the whole way. I’m also hoping that I can twitter while I walk and receive texts from people encouraging me on.
Ok so now the down side…while I did really well yesterday…today when I woke up boy was I sore. My back hurt and just ached. It’s about 4pm now and I feel pretty good now…if it weren’t raining I’d go for a walk. I’m anxious to get the training materials and see what is advised because I get nervous thinking ok so I walk 26 miles but then I get up the next day and walk another 13 … am I gonna be able to do that?
So I’m looking for tips and pointers about how to get this out of shape body ready for this event. Share what you know with me…I’m eager to listen!
First Day of Training Tomorrow!
Tomorrow will be my first day of training for the walk. I gotta get a pedometer because I know that while we have a pretty good sized walk planned I will definitely be wanting to know how far we go and how long it took us. These are big goals and I’m so excited to give this a try! Stay tuned for training stories. ~Pam
If you would like to support my walk with a donation to fight breast cancer, please follow this link: http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/pamrutter
My Avon Walk Training Begins!
So my journey begins to walk for a cause! I will be walking with my brother Wayne this July in San Francisco for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. I’ve been thinking this might be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done…training to be able to walk 26 miles one day and then the next day get up and walk 13 miles. Ok so maybe there have been a couple things that might qualify as harder…having babies …bearing witness to the cancer that took my Mom’s life.
In some ways thinking back to when my Mom was with us there was certainly a lot of physical pain and care taking that I now wonder how I did but there were many “gifts” that came during that time …lots of love shared by family and friends with her and me and my brothers, grace, support, moments of truth of the past, present and future.
So my decision to join my brother Wayne and do this walk 3 years after my Mom died is partly because I need to. I have some grief that I really need to work through and push to a really positive place and I think this will just be a crazy intense thing to do with Wayne and for myself and in honor of 6 special women that are dealing with breast cancer now or are survivors…and for my Mom (Beverley), my co-worker Beth, and my Great Aunt Jane who all left this world far too young because of breast cancer.
So asking for your help in raising money to help get rid of breast cancer and help those who are fighting it is an easy thing to do. We all know too many people who have breast cancer or some other kind of cancer.
I hope to keep writing here about my training as it begins. I have some ideas for some special training walks that I would love for folks to join me. And I want to have a party or 2 between now and July 9 to celebrate the people we know that are survivors and they women who now are wonderful memories for us to hold on to.
So keep checking back and I sure do appreciate your support in helping to raise my share of money to fight this disease.
Check out my personal Avon walk page and make a donation to fight breast cancer today! Here’s a link for you to get there: http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/pamrutter
End of 2010 Resolutions
I’m not quite sure where 2010 went so quickly and I can’t believe all the times I had something to write down here in this little blog…and couldn’t get it done but I’m remotivated to make some changes.
2010 was a great year. Lots of exciting things happened and lots of great conversations took place. There have been a couple of things though that I’ve wanted to write down if only for myself to dive into. They are 1) Renewable Energy and how easy it is. We now have a solar array on our house. It’s been terrific and I want to share just how easy it is to add yourself to the grid, reduce your carbon footprint and lower our need of oil. 2) Menopause…yikes I’m coming up to it…actually I’m probably in the throws of it. I want to be a voice for what changes. How it feels and what I think about it. I need to reclaim this part of my life that always sounds so “old”. 3) Weight Loss! I need to do it and am on the journey. More on that later 4) Photography. I get to take pictures of so many beautiful people and want a better forum to show their smiles! I’m so humbled by the way people hang my pictures in their homes and just want to share back with them how beautiful they are.
So just as my weight loss journey needs commitment I’m going to try and commit the same to my blog…even if I’m the only one that reads it!
Crazy Random Stuff 