10 more weeks until the Washington, D.C. 3-Day. 10 WEEKS! On one hand, that's good cause I still have some ways to go on my fundraising goal. On the other hand, the training schedule is starting to kick up and my interest in spending the better part of a Saturday walking and sweating is diminishing.

So, what do you do when your motivation flags? I do actually need help in this area. I put on my thinking cap and here's what I came up with (aside from the obvious -- walking with other 3-Dayers):

* Reward thyself. Think a long bath with good-smelling things, a trip to Dairy Queen or a massage, professional or otherwise, after a long walk.

* Get friends involved. Who has friends (who aren't doing the 3-Day) who really want to walk 13 miles? But you probably have tons of friends who can walk 3 or 4 miles. Ask them to start the day off with you or meet you part-way through the walk.

* Break up a training walk. Take your dog for a 3-mile walk, stop at home for water and refreshment, and then head out for the rest of your miles for the day.

* Use a stretching break to connect with others. Maybe text a teammate who lives in another state, a breast cancer survivor for whom you are dedicating your walk, or your mom to let him/her know how the training is going and how important you think the event is.

Every so often, when we were walking in the Chicago 3-Day 2007, my friend Danielle would mention that her boyfriend Ryan was planning a surprise. One that bubbled. And plugged into the cigarette lighter in the car.

(I think that's what she said, anyway. The exact events are blurred by the intense heat of that weekend. Very intense heat. If that's exactly what she said, I likely stopped paying attention when she mentioned the car, because, you know, there's air conditioning in cars.)

But the actual surprise definitely grabbed my attention: one of those little bubbling foot baths. He plugged it into the cigarette lighter and filled it with water, and she soaked her feet during the whole car ride home. He repeated the entire process after she walked the 3-Day again last year.

In a way, I wonder if that's better than the foot massagers they have at the 3-Day camp (which walkers invariably use to massage their legs and any other body part they can maneuver onto the vibrating box.)

Or friends who love you enough to rub your feet after a day of walking.

Or really, really moisturizing lotion.

I have yet to invest in a bubbling foot spa, but I did find some warming "thermal pedicure treatment" on clearance at Wal-Mart that will be all over my tootsies after Sunday's 12-miler. And my feet will be propped up on pillows as I watch Army Wives on Sunday night.

You have to love your feet, or there's no way you're going to make it through three days of long, long walks. And if you love a 3-Day walker, you should help them find ways to love their feet. It's worth the effort -- Ryan and Danielle got married last weekend and are presently honeymooning in Mexico.

A guy/man/boy who interned at the White House with me raved about how Nick Hornby perfectly captured men's feelings on commitment and long-term relationships in High Fidelity. (This said guy/man/boy had a journalism degree from Northwestern University, no paying job after unsuccessfully trying to start some Internet business with his friends and leopard-print sheets on his futon. I'll let you decide what category fits him.)

Partially because I really have no clue about men's/boy's/guy's feelings on commitment, I went looking for the book at the library a few weeks ago. I didn't find it, but I did find About A Boy. And I did enjoy Hornby's male perspective - a male character bluntly told a single mother that her son told her he needed a father figure not because he actually needed a father figure but because he wanted to 'win' an argument.

The same male character was wholeheartedly committed to doing nothing and having as few emotional tangles as possible while living off the royalties from the Christmas song his father wrote. In the end, he cracked and fell in love and enveloped all the messy commitments THAT entails. For me, the ending was sweet and funny and one big HA to all the men out there who think family is more trouble than it's worth.

So, in conclusion (as Crystal would say) when High Fidelity makes its way back to the Woodstock Public Library shelves, I will be checking that one out, too.