18.6 Miles, Oh My

Thus far my 3-Day training has been going pretty well.  I haven’t blogged about it because it’s really not that exciting.  It would go something like this:

I woke up on Sunday morning around 6am so that I could leave the house at 6:30. I met Lara (my 3-Day partner in crime) at Lower Huron Metropark.  We walked and walked and walked. And she talked and talked and talked.  And just a little over 3 hrs later, we had 12 miles done.   It was pretty easy.  I even did it one Sunday shortly after a bout with the stomach flu and it was no problem. And then a week later I managed to do it after a bout of food poisoning (how unlucky can a girl be?) though I had to cut it short just shy of 12 miles so I could make it to the bathroom. Too much information?

Anyway, my point is that all this walking is really nothing to write home about.  It gets done.  It’s uneventful. 

I really should stress, though, that Lara is a great walking partner because she keeps the conversation going which makes the time fly by.  I could not be doing this without her.  Thank you, Lara, for helping me keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I should also mentioned that Lara is in WAY better shape than me and I’m sure I’m cramping her style…or at least her pace.

At this point in our training, we are supposed to be doing some really, really long walks so Lara and I thought it would be good to sign up for one of the official training walks.  Maybe we could learn from some of the coaches and from some of the walkers who have done this before. We signed up for a 17 mile training walk. 

Today was that walk.

This walk kicked my ass.  There is no other way to say it. 

We walked about 8 miles and then stopped for lunch.  I was feeling pretty good at that point.  But then I really struggled after lunch.  I was just so overheated.  We were supposed to only walk another 9 miles after lunch but we missed our turn around point and ended up walking 10.6 miles.

To be fair, I think we managed to keep a decent pace.  Certainly not as brisk as when we would do the 12 mile walks together, but it was nothing to laugh at.  And, though there were many times when I wanted to just cut Lara loose because I felt I was dragging her down, I was not the slowest person out there.   Yes, I know it’s not a race and the point is to simply finish. But what kept me at the pace I was going was the thought that the faster I walk, the faster I finish, which means the faster I can get into my air conditioned car.

18.6 miles in total today.

Upon returning to my car, I took off my shoes and socks to put on a pair of flip flops. I found a nice pair of matching blisters. HUGE blisters.

I’m definitely getting nervous about the actual event but what I am thrilled about is that I’m only $128 from my fundraising goal of $2,300.

Now I think I need to start raising some money to cover my podiatrists bill.