The First Mile is the Sweetest (On Our #Journey2aMillion )

August 28, 2015 by Jennifer

Every year since our blog started we have hosted a team for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Million Mile month. During the month of September we get together, all over the country, and log miles to raise awareness while telling pediatric cancer to SUCK IT. Over the last two years, our team has logged a total of 3,413 miles and raised over $4,100.00 for pediatric cancer research. Not too shabby at all, we thinks!

We would love for you to join us! You can join the team now, or anytime in September. There’s no fundraising required (unless you would LIKE to) and it’s a great way to join in a community driven campaign! We have A LOT of fun supporting this important cause, it’s super easy to log your miles, and we’ll be giving away some fun prizes! This year, we’re mixing it up by giving away prizes randomly throughout the month, and everyone will have an equal chance of winning any of the prizes! After all, we’re a team!

A peek at some of the treasures in the #Journey2aMillion Giveaway Kitty

Once you join the team, you can log your miles using your FitBit, the MapMyFitness App, or you can track your miles manually like always. You can read more about that here. We love that we can use our FitBit to track our mileage, it means every step we take will count toward the Million Mile goal!

The month long event kicks off on Tuesday with the First Mile. Imagine people all over the country (and the world), raising awareness and fighting cancer by walking, running, or biking their first mile at the same time. YES. We’re talking POWERFUL, people! At 3:00 PM ET we’re walking together in spirit and in cause, our hearts untied and our legs in unison! You’ll need to register for the First Mile, but it’s a snap! And we’re a fun bunch, we promise!

No #lemonfacechallenge is required of course, but there *might* be a giveaway for anyone who does it. Maybe. Possibly. Probably. Yes.

Did Good, Feeling Really Good: Alex’s Million Mile Wrap-Up

October 3, 2014 by beewhobabbles

What a month! We walked, we ran, we rode. We made lemon food and wore yellow clothes. We talked about it here, there and everywhere. All with one goal- to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

This has become my favorite time of year for our little corner of the internet. Running for a cause, and seeing the momentum build among our community of friends is nothing short of amazing. Watching our miles and donations climb every day, exchanging shouty-caps texts with Mer because we’re so excited about our team’s successes, seeing that my own local friends have joined our team or donated, reading Megan’s almost daily Facebook posts just pushing for more donations (Megan really should go into professional fundraising because she’s a rockstar, and not at all pushy about it, either.) And of course, the running. I am actually running regularly again and it feels almost as good as my donation to ALSF did.

I just have to say it again- WHAT A MONTH!

First, I have to thank our team. Together, we logged 1,871.13 miles. We all deserve a refreshing glass of lemonade!

But that’s not all…

Together, we helped raise $2,070 for childhood cancer!

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has funded over 450 projects with the goal of curing pediatric cancer, so you know those funds are being used for something GOOD. I’m raising my glass to you, Team Scootadoot:

Thank you. Thank you, very much.

At the beginning of the month, we told you about a few rewards we had…

For the second year in a row, our top fundraiser is Megan! Her posts to Facebook and Instagram were funny, heartfelt, and obviously very effective. Megan, you’re the BEST! I’m sending you big hugs from Florida.

Our next award goes to Bonnie, for logging the most miles this month: 193.90! High fives to you, girl!

And finally, the winner of our random draw for our #onwednesdayswewearyellow campaign is Jenn! I like your style, Jenn!

Thank you, Megan, Bonnie, and Jenn! We’ll be in touch to get your prizes to you. We’re so grateful to have you on our team!

On a personal note, our #journey2amillion was exactly the push I needed to start running regularly again. And it only took two weeks of that for Meridith to convince me to run the Disney World Half Marathon with her in January. Looks like we’ll be having a lot of virtual runs over the next few months.

This is my last blog post for the foreseeable future. I love my Scootadoot chicks! When I say we all became friends within minutes of meeting, I really do mean it. But life is beautiful and crazy here, and I’m a girl who likes to volunteer for all the things, which leaves very little time for me to share my story on the internet. I’ll still be running and reading though (especially here!)- link your blog for me, please? I’ve enjoyed talking running with all of you, and I thank you for reading. Happy Friday, runner friends!

And I will walk (run) 500 (100) miles…

September 22, 2014 by Meridith

Oh, come on, you know you’re singing The Proclaimers song with me!

Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da

Now that we’ve gotten that out of our systems…

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you probably know by now that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. And unless you’ve been living under a rock in that cave, you probably ARE aware of childhood cancer. So why is there a whole month devoted to bringing awareness to a disease that people already know about?

Well, firstly, cancer sucks and if we can help eradicate it by any means possible, WE WILL DO IT.

Let’s take a peek at some facts.

Last year, the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation decided to up the ante and invited people to donate miles in hopes of reaching a million. What’s the significance of a million miles?

Drawing from the inspiration of Foundation creator Alexandra “Alex” Scott, who set out to raise $1 million through lemonade stands in 2004, Jay Scott [Alex’s father] feels that through combined efforts, reaching one million miles in just thirty days is attainable. The initiative provides a fun, easy and free way for people across the country to make a difference in the fight against childhood cancer.

Personally, I’ve pledged to complete 100 miles this September. It’s a higher number than what I usually do within a month but attainable and for the very best cause. Every step I take during a run, every person I connect with during a walk with my dog, and even walking my child home from school – it all counts toward my goal of raising miles and awareness! As such, I feel like I’m part of something that’s bigger than myself and that’s a good feeling!

Speaking of something bigger than myself, our team has been absolutely incredible at logging miles and fundraising. When we first heard about the initiative last year, the thought of fitness bloggers from all across the country coming together and donating their miles just overwhelmed us with emotions. Furthermore, we’ve seen both last year and this year, it has encouraged people who wanted to get moving to join us, get out there, and have the support of others while doing it.

In the past 21 days alone, our team has raised nearly 1000 miles and over $1700! And, you’ll be happy to know that it’s not too late to join our team! Want to get in on the action? Check out our Team Scoot a Doot Million Mile page.

We’re rewarding our top miles donated, top fundraiser and random #onwednesdaywearyellow social media photo with some fun prizes, including gorgeous Momentum Jewelry motivation wrap bracelets and foot notes.

Momentum wrap bracelets

Momentum Foot Notes

Make sure to swing by some of our team members blogs, like Nicole, Bonnie, Suzanne, and Kristen to cheer them on as they #Journey2aMillion!

Nine days until the end of the month… LET’S DO THIS!

Many thanks to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for the facts and figures in this blog post. And thank you, thank you, thank you to Amy of Momentum Jewelry!

Recipe Box: Lemon Cottage Cheese Potato Pancakes

September 19, 2014 by bec2point0

A.k.a. Breakfast Protein, Alex’s Lemonade Stand style.

When I was planning these breakfast protein posts for September, I knew I wanted to incorporate a lemon-y recipe that was also a good source of morning protein. This wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be! I typically like my lemon in cake form, and baked goods and protein don’t exactly go hand-in-hand for me. It usually involves adding protein powder, which just makes thing taste off to me.

And then, I stumbled upon a recipe I’d had written down for a while, but had never made. Lemon Cottage Cheese Potato Pancakes. See, still cake!

Truthfully, I don’t even remember where I got this recipe. It’s just one of those one jotted down on a slip of paper and stuck in a pile. Every time I would run into it, I would get all excited at the idea of making them, but I never would.

That was very silly of me.

These were really delicious, and one of those recipes that has few ingredients, is low on time and effort, and is both tasty and versatile. You could totally make these as a side dish for dinner, or serve them as a late lunch. But, since I’ve been writing about breakfast all month, these had a starring role for a couple of mornings.

Lemon Cottage Cheese Potato Pancakes

4 Medium sized Potatoes, boiled and mashed

1 TBSP minced shallots

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup low-fat or fat-free cottage cheese

1/2 cup flour

Zest of one small lemon

1/2 teaspoon herbs

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Form into 16 small patties. Heat oil on a griddle or frying pan. Cook until golden brown over medium heat, about 4 minutes per side.

That’s it. No, really, that’s it. Crazy, right?

A couple of notes. I used whipped cottage cheese, so no lumps, but I think it would be just as good with regular. You can totally make the potatoes ahead, just let them warm up a bit before you start mixing. For the herbs, I used thyme and parsley, but really, use whatever is your preference. These also freeze well, just wrap them in wax paper and pop them in a freezer bag. Then, when you’re ready to eat them, a minute or two in the microwave and you’re good to go.

The cakes were creamy in the middle with crispy edges. So good! Serve them…pretty much however you like. I mean, I wouldn’t put maple syrup on them or anything, they’re not that kind of pancakes. But in this case, hollandaise made a lovely ‘syrup’. Plus, more lemon! The potato pancakes made an egg-cellent (yolk, yolk) base for my Eggs Benedict. I took pictures but truthfully, the looked like crap, sooooooo….

So, why Lemon? Well, if you don’t already know, we’ve formed a team for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Million Mile Run-Walk-Ride, to raise money for pediatric cancer research. We’re walking and running and riding and raising money for pediatric cancer research. If kicking cancer’s butt is your thing, you should totally join us!

Shiny (er, Sweaty), Happy, Person Running

September 17, 2014 by beewhobabbles

If you have young kids, then you know that the only thing they’re really consistent about is being inconsistent. My happy little dude, who has always been fine with our babysitter, and really, never met a stranger he didn’t like, is currently going through some terrible separation anxiety. He cries when my husband leaves for work, he wails when we drop the girls off at school. He sobs when I leave- even if he’s with his dad, or our sitter who’s been with us since before he was born. We’ve been sitting together in the crying room at church and the gym hasn’t been an option- as soon as we walk in the doors of a nursery, he shakes his head and says, “Nope.”

I know this will pass, and typically, I’m pretty patient and let the baby lead on these things, but- (of course there’s a “but”) I need to exercise. I was excited to finally start running again, and had fallen into a decent schedule of treadmill walk/running and cycling on a stationary bike when the nursery meltdowns began.

A week passed without any workouts and September 1st arrived- the beginning of our #journey2amillion. I knew I had to do something, so I dusted off the jogging stroller and my garmin, grabbed a hat and some pepper spray, and off we went. I ran and walked just over 3.5 miles that day, the most I had done since the Nike half. A day passed and I went out again. I continued the next week, running every other day. I switched up my intervals quickly and I don’t want to bore you with all the numbers, but I started out running 15 minutes at a time, and yesterday, I ran a full 30 minutes without stopping to walk.

Slightly happier to be in a stroller vs. gym nursery. He’d probably most like to run alongside me!

I am so crazy happy to be running again. My legs feel lighter. My mind feels lighter. And the best part is, I’m running for a cause this month- for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Most of you probably already know that we’re logging miles (and wearing yellow) all month to raise awareness for childhood cancer.

#onwednesdayswewearyellow On Wednesdays, I also make a lot of jokes about dressing like Brenda Walsh.

We’re doing good, and feeling good, and I’m feeling even better because not all of my miles are coming from walking or cycling. High fives all around!

I’ve also been taking yoga classes again. Do you have a regular yoga studio? I like to switch it up based on my needs. My Saturday morning class works because it’s an early morning power hour, so I don’t feel like I’m missing most of the morning. There’s an evening class at a different studio that I love for relaxation. And finally, a new hot yoga place opened in my city! This is a BIG DEAL because all of the other hot studios are at least 40 minutes away. They have classes later in the evening, which is perfect for me because I can get the kids into bed before I “Om.”

So, hooray for recovering from injuries! I’m grateful for consistent exercise, even if I’m surrounded by chaos.

The 90s are back. Whose closet would you raid- Brenda, Kelly, or Donna (Martin graduates)? How far do you drive for yoga? Check out our page for Alex’s Million Mile! There’s still time to join our team, or donate: http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/1117658

It’s Lemon Month! Time to Run, Walk, Ride.

September 1, 2014 by beewhobabbles

A few days ago, my friend challenged me to log some miles for ALS. I’ve already done the ice bucket thing; most of my friends and family have. Isn’t the power of social media amazing? To date, the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS awareness has helped to raise $100 million and counting, and raised our collective consciousness about a disease that affects so many people, including a few of my friends. As with any internet thing, there are naysayers, but as someone with the inside scoop on charity workings (my husband serves as board president of a local nonprofit), raising awareness for your cause works. The proof is in the dollars- see that big figure up there? You never know who might be watching, who has funds to give, who has been personally affected or knows someone who has, and suddenly- they care. They want to make a difference. They want to give their money. And maybe it’s a one-time thing, or maybe they can afford a recurring donation, but either way- awareness matters.

Back to my friend’s running challenge- well, I had to decline. This month is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, and all of my miles belong to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. That’s right, it’s time once again to log one million miles for childhood cancer, and this year, we can run, walk, or ride our way through September. Check out this video:

We participated in the inaugural Million Mile Run last year, and were thrilled that so many of our friends joined us. If you would like to join Team Scoot A Doot this year, we would LOVE to have you! Fundraising is encouraged but not mandatory- what we really want you to do is log your miles with us and make some noise on social media. Let’s paint the month yellow for childhood cancer awareness!

BUT WAIT. There’s more! If you join our team, here are some things you can look forward to:

#onwednesdayswewearyellow Mean Girls wear pink, but Nice Girls (and guys) wear yellow. Show us your yellow every Wednesday on Instagram and Facebook, and help me prove that it really does look good on everyone. Team members will be entered into a random prize drawing at the end of the month, for every Wednesday they participate. (That’s one prize but four chances to enter! Time to start planning your outfits.)

We love our team so much that we have two other prize opportunities!

One prize for the most miles logged by the end of the month. Now, some of us our in marathon training season, and some of us are cyclists…who will win? Start moving, post your miles, and let’s find out!

The other reward is for our top fundraiser. Raising money isn’t a requirement for our team, but every dollar raised will help fund more research, and one day, hopefully, a cure.

We have a few other surprises in store for our team, and of course we’ll be posting lemony goodness all month long, in the form of recipes, outfit ideas, and more.

Let’s get this party started! Join Team Scoot A Doot for #alexsmillionmile and give us a shout on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Start running, walking, or riding and let’s make a difference together. The #journey2amillion starts today!

http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/1117658

Already joined our team? THANK YOU! Are you walking, biking, or riding? Do you love yellow as much as I do?

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Tag Archives: Alex’s Million Mile