TWO CLIMBS - 2014!

No, your eyes are not broken - that title says we are doing TWO CLIMBS IN 2014! 

Thanks to the generosity of a wonderful friend (THANKS HOLLY), Team For Little Debbie will be participating in not only the Philly Fight For Air Climb, but also the Hershey Fight For Air Climb this year.  I am so excited to get to share our story and journey and be part of this amazing fight.  Here's a date recap for those of you trying to keep tabs on us! 

Saturday, February 22nd - Last day to order t-shirts

(see Jess for the order form)

Saturday, March 29th - Philly Fight For Air Climb

(also last day to make donations) 

Sunday, April 27th - Hershey Fight For Air Climb 

(climbing with the FIAT team)

There may be some other fun thrown in there as well, but I am going to say that the first four months of this year will be incredibly exciting and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for us! 

Snow Day Entertainment

While I may be at work today, I know lots of people are home, snowed in.  I decided to help entertain people and keep you occupied - ya know, for your own good.  So here goes: 

1.  Make a donation to the Philly Fight for Air Climb!  Pick any member of Team For Little Debbie (link here).  If you need a reason to donate, please see this, this, or this.  

2.  Order a For Little Debbie t-shirt!!! This is a small fundraiser, but I'm hoping that each member of our team, plus 40 more people will all be sporting our For LD shirts in 44 days.  Short Sleeve are $14 and Long Sleeve are $18.  You can find the order form here. 

3. Thank a soldier.  I'm not picky about organizations, branches of the military, or how you say thanks.  Just Do It.  

4.  Help us decide what kind of car Kevin should buy.  Extra bonus points for ridiculous items such as 'short enough Jessica can reach the roof' OR comes in the same two tone paint job as Emma Jean.  What's that, you don't know who Emma Jean is? Okay, I'll blog about that someday too! 

5.  Guess what church I grew up in.  I'll give you one clue:  my boss is wrong, and try as he might, I will not admit to being Amish.  

6.  Google 'Surprise Military Homecomings' and try to tell me they aren't the most emotional, amazing videos on the internet.  

7.  Go play in the snow... 

2014 - And Here We Go!

Today seemed as good a day as any to get some posting going on!  Less than 100 days until the Fight for Air Climb, and we are right in the middle of training.  So far, training has included cardio, cardio, cardio, and a very wet 5 mile high in Washington.  Each moment I miss Mom is little more motivation to keep pushing myself both emotionally and physically.  We learned so much from last year's climb and have a new focus for this year!

1. Focus on C.A.R.D.I.O. - While practicing the actual stairs is important, it is absolutely secondary to the workout your lungs will get.  This year my plan is to train for 30 minutes of my maximum heart-rate 3 days a week and only do stairs 2 times a week! 
2. Food - Last year I ate a really small breakfast (a banana) before the climb, and that was it.  I wasn't very hungry - and it seemed like some combination of nerves and angst.  I have got to overcome that this year, because I was completely out of fuel by the time we went up the second time.  
3. Fundraising - 2013 was hugely successful for our team (the 5 of us raised $2,995).  This year we're already at 7 people - with hopes to hit 10.  My fundraising goal is $2,000 for our team.  There are t-shirts, a Mary Kay fundraiser, and some general Facebook plans in the works!

Anyone who wants to join team "For Little Debbie" is more than welcome to (link here) - there are still spots available for  both the 50 flights and 100 flights!  Rockstar cousins Morgan and Titus will be climbing and we've got our own personal cheerleading squad started with Maddy being our poster holder/Gatorade Girl.  I am so thankful for this climb - and how the terrible loss of Deb continues to bring our family together! 

Happy Tuesday everyone <3

We Survived! Fight for Air Climb Recap

First - let me apologize for the seriously belated update on the Fight for Air Climb from March 23rd.  It was an amazing day, reaffirmed the support of amazing family, and empowered me to continue the fight! There were more than 500 people that participated, and with 5 of us on team For Little Debbie - we raised just $5 short of $3,000 for our team!

 The current total raised for the whole event is more than $163,000! 

For anyone who is interested in the timed results (it is a "competition" while being a fundraiser), the full results can be found here - Fight For Air Climb Results Philly 2013. 

Considering the incredibly early morning to get into the city by 7am, we had a great turn-out for our little team! Obvious early risers were Terry, Titus, Tweet, Kevin, and myself since we were running.  Tommy and Fred also came down - and those of you that know Jon will be shocked to hear that he was EARLY and at Terry's before 6am! 

The event began with speakers, then the Century Climbers (those of us crazy enough to do the 50 flights twice), then traditional climbers, and First Responders. Titus and Kevin rocked the first set of stairs in less than 10 minutes, while it took me a little closer to 13.  The second flight Kevin and Titus tried to stay with me, but still finished about 2 minutes ahead.  Terry and Tweet did amazing on their trip up the 50 flights of stairs and did the whole thing together! They finished 4th and 8th in their age groups respectively - HECK YES! 

 I will have more pictures as I get dad's, but here are some of my favorites courtesy of my phone. I think the shot down to the Art Museum is my favorite! 

Thank you again for all of your emotional, financial, and continued support! Get ready for the final push as we great ready for Relay for Life on June 1st!

Climb to Glory - Training Part 1

For those of you that don’t spend your days stalking the Fort Drum Facebook Page (aka anyone other than me) that is the motto of 10th Mtn. And for the next 7 weeks, I’m using it as my motto for the Fight for Air Climb!

 After spending last Wednesday evening with 20 other people climbing the 50 flights at Three Logan Square, I have been seriously revamping my training technique. Technically the 50 flights was only half of what K and I will be doing, but gave me a great barometer for where I need to improve and approx how long the 100 flights should take me. See, while this event is a fundraiser and not technically a race, you’d better believe hubs and I want to beat everyone. Team For Little Debbie is going to be passing people in the stairwells. Well, maybe not – that whole passing thing is a whole ‘nother ballgame.  

Anyway, end randomness and back to the topic at hand, training. Mr. Firefighter from KOP and Mr. Firefighter from NJ had awesome tips for me since they’ve both done this at least twice, and both have done it in full fire gear. Do you understand what that means – it’s 70lbs (at least) of gear. Yeah, go ahead and think about how crazy that is, then come back to me. Okay, you back? My previous training routine looked like this –

After talking to “my firefighters” my new training routine looks like this –

Benefits of new training routine, my knees don’t hurt nearly as bad and I can do the stretching part and the low impact cardio (riding my bike inside) while watching trashy television and likely making the neighbors think I’m crazy. I am giving myself two full weeks of this routine and then am going to hit up my new favorite training place and see how fast my time is. New training location – the 7 story parking garage in West Chester (yes, I know this is weird, but it is the tallest building I can find to run up and down in). And yes, I am using the term “building” very loosely here. Anyone want to lend me a staircase in a taller building – let me know! Obviously my new training time won’t exactly balance out with doing the full 50 flights straight since I’ll have to take several breaks to come down the stairs, but its close enough for me. Then, I’ll still have 5 weeks to get myself into shape for the full 100 flights. There is no scientific method behind it, but I think I’ll do 80 flights as my maximum (kind of like how when you train for a marathon you only run 80% of the full distance). Sort of make sense?  

That being said – is there anyone I can convince to join our little team and make it 3 people strong? If I can do it, you can do it! Minimum to raise is $100 and technically, rockstar hubby and I have already done that for you!

Fight for Air - Introduction & Information

Today I have a super duper important meeting to attend in Philadelphia after work.  That meeting is for the Team Captains for the Fight for Air Climb Philadelphia 2013.  I am nervous about meeting other team captains, since our team is just Kevin and I - but I know we have as much heart as any 10 person team! I've included some information below to clue you in about the Climb, and have a post in the works for our basic training program and how we're getting our butts in shape for this adventure!

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Kevin and I are excited to have signed up for the American Lung Associate Fight for Air Climb in Philadelphia.  The climb is on March 23rd, which thankfully gives us plenty of time to train and fund-raise!

Who: Team Little Debbie, which is currently made up of just Kevin & I (and anyone else who would like to join).  

Plus or minus 1000 other participants.

What: Philadelphia 2013 Fight for Air Climb -

Century Climb (This means we are doing the full climb TWICE) 

A total of 100 flights/2176 Steps

When: March 23, 2013 at 8:30AM until we finish or fall over

Where: Three Logan Square, Philadelphia
AKA -------> That building

 

 Why: Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women, responsible for more deaths than breast, ovarian, cervical and prostate cancers combined!  Each year, about 160,000 people die from lung cancer in the U.S., accounting for more than one in four cancer deaths. Also for those suffering from asthma, emphysema, and COPD.



How: We are now officially registered, and are responsible for raising $100 each.  Our goal is to raise $500 each, which seems like a large amount of money, until you consider that is less than $7/day from now until March 23rd.

You had to have known that this part was coming, so please forgive me for asking.  For those of you that knew my Mom, I hope you will consider making a small donation in her memory.  Won't you help us make an impact in Debbie's name and help motivate Kevin and I?  I will not recount all of the wonderful things that the American Lung Association does, but please visit their website if you have any questions, concerns, or just want to learn more about this organization.   
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 In case you missed the 42 links included in the post - our team page can be found on the For Little Debbie blog or here - http://action.lung.org/goto/forlittledebbie

Fight For Air - Donations (aka HOLY CANNOLI)

At 11:00 yesterday morning, I posted a reminder on Facebook about donations for the Fight for Air Climb that is March's activity.  I had hoped to guilt a few people into making donations, because it is no secret that Kevin and I cannot reach our $1,000 goal alone.  I know people get busy, they forget, hell it was just Christmas and who has spare cash during December (not this girl).  Really, it was just a reminder - maybe instead of going to Starbucks, someone would donate their $5 to the fight for a cure for lung cancer.

 

I expected to receive one or two donations, and was really hoping to see some $5 and $10 donations, since all I was really asking for was $1.  Imagine my surprise when my phone started vibrating every 5 minutes, donations big and small just rolling it. 15 people have donated to our cause in the last 24 hours.  Guys, we are $30 short of being halfway less than 24 hours from when I posted.  Our friends and family have knocked it out of the park.  Each and every time I get a donation email, I cry a little bit.  Good tears, happy tears, "oh my gosh we are so loved" tears.  
 

I have big plans for 2013, and you are all my drive, my motivation, and my support.  I can not thank you enough for continuing your emotional support with financial giving. I hadn't thought about it in the beginning, but I want to somehow take each one of you on this climb with me in March.  I think t shirts/tank tops with the names of those that donated might be the easiest and cheapest option, but let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions, I am all ears!  (HEY PAM - THIS MEANS YOU).

From the bottom of my heart, with tears in my eyes, thank you! Thank you to those of you that knew my mom her whole life. Thank you to the people that met my mom just once, but support Kevin and I. Thank you to the people that helped raise me, love my crazy Moyer/Gehman/Bookheimer family.