Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure Preview Expo: Workshops

The Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure Preview Expo Workshops are informative, fun, and very helpful. I was selected by Energizer to be the Cleveland Keep Going Blogger. They provided my participation fee and I’m sharing my preparation, training, and experience on the 3 Day. Recently attended the preview expo in Michigan and was thankful that it answered a lot of my questions and calmed my nerves!

The Preview Expo offered a variety of classroom workshops. The workshops were essentially classes which covered: Life on the 3-Day, Blister Prevention, and Injury Prevention. They were extremely informative and helpful. I had been a bit nervous about the 3-Day, basically just the fear of the unknown and that I’m a single walker, not going with a team or teammate. The workshops really helped take ease those concerns and renewed my excitement at being able to participate in this awesome opportunity.

There was a workshop on Blister Prevention which was short, sweet, and to the point. Athletic trainers who work on the 3-Day for the Cure were present and explained the best way to prevent blisters, they also took a few questions from those suffering from them during training.

Another workshop focused on Injury Prevention. This workshop discussed in detail how important it is to stay hydrated. They stress the importance of drinking one bottle of water and one bottle of Gatorade between each pit stop and making a point of using the restroom at each stop as well. Other injury prevention topics included start training slowly – don’t just jump into a 12 mile walk, how often you should stretch, and aside from proper hydration they encouraged the consumption of a salty snack at every other rest stop to keep your sodium levels elevated.

While I thought the first two workshops were helpful and provided lots of information, it was the Life on the 3-Day that I thoroughly enjoyed. Our speaker took us through the entire 3-Day weekend from Opening to Closing Ceremonies complete with pictures from past events. Being able to see in pictures all the details of the event really helped make me feel less nervous about what to expect.

Our speaker in this workshop was wonderful too, she was very enthusiastic, (as were all of the volunteers who were working) and really raised our excitement level about the walk. She had a array of memorable snippets to describe the walk including:

The 3-Day is:

• A 60-mile buffet.
• A community of kindness
• Unlike any other weekend you’ll ever spend.
• Not based on speed. It is not a marathon.
• The largest outdoor slumber party there is.

How can you not be excited and motivated by quotes like those?!

If you are a first-time walker, I highly recommend attending the Preview Expo in your city. It’s so informative, helpful, and lots of fun. If you are a single walker it’s a great place to connect with another walker you’ve only met online. You won’t regret attending the Expo, you’ll come away with knowledge, motivation, inspiration, and maybe even a new friend.