The past week has consisted of a lot of cross training.. My muscles are officially confused as once they adjust to one activity, I change to another. I thought maybe some cycling outside would be in the near future, but based on the snowstorm I am watching out the window, I think snowshoeing will be more appropriate!

People continue to be generous in their words and donations and I thank everyone for that. I have had several friends state they would like to train with me as many have never tried snowshoeing before, or want to go on some bike rides once the weather turns warm.. This is turning into a great way to catch up with friends, old and new while enjoying some fun activities that don't feel like exercise!

I met my climbing partner, Patti, yesterday. It was great to sit and chat about the climb, exchange training tips, and discuss ideas that one had thought of and the other had not. She is full of energy and I think that will be helpful in those moments of exhaustion at 18,000+ feet!

Our conversation was a great reminder that everyone on this trip has to put in the time and training to reach the ultimate goal of getting to the top, disease or not... That this journey should be fun and I think I have been a little to serious about it.. Time to enjoy the ride a little more! :)

Emails have started between climbers and it has been great to read what questions everyone else has and then the responses. I cannot wait to meet in person the group of climbers I will be trekking to the top of Kilimanjaro with.. I have a feeling it will be nothing short of amazing.

In the past week, I have officially booked my airfare to Africa and started training with a 10lb pack! Five months is going to go by so fast and it seems there is so much to do with such little time :) Lori is doing a great job of sending us monthly updates of what needs to be done for the trip and where we should be at in our training, which has helped significantly.

People often ask me "What do you do to train for climbing a mountain?" I usually grin and reply with "I'm learning as I go.. A lot of hills and steps I guess!" This is all still very new to me, the training, the gear.. I must say very exciting though! Many of us climbers are starting to connect via email and I will be able to meet a couple in the next few weeks!

For the many of you who have been asking, I switched sites that you can donate to my climb through. The link at the right will take you directly to my own webpage and by clicking "donate here" the steps are very easy to follow.