A Wabbit Walking

Still not walking much...

2011-11-19T22:08:00.000-08:00

...because I'm favoring the foot a bit, hoping to be healed up by December 13 so that going to Disneyland is not torture.

BUT

I have faith I'll be all spiffy and shiny and good as new by the time the 3 day season starts next year (tomorrow is the last day of the last walk of 2011!) so I went ahead and registered to walk San Diego next year. I'm probably going to so another walk, too, but I haven't decided on which city. I want someplace flat. Or flattish. I'm not too picky.

I also registered to crew in San Francisco next year.

So.

Start thinking of how you want to humiliate me. I'll do ALMOST anything legal for donations.

Almost.

It only hurt a little bit...just don't poke me

2011-11-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

I had the impulse to get a pink ribbon tattoo last year...I also had the thought that I didn't want anyone to assume I'd gotten one because I was either in treatment or a survivor, so if I did get one, I'd have to cough up something a little different. Something that was clear about intent, but hinted at why I had it.

Once I knew what I wanted, I sketched it out and set it aside.

And then...I waited.

I didn't wait because I was unsure about it; I knew for sure it was the tattoo I would want. I didn't wait because I was still concerned about how it would be taken. I didn't wait for any of the usual reasons one waits to get a tattoo.

I waited until I felt like I'd earned it.

One 3 Day Walk didn't make me feel like I'd earned it. I almost got it after the walk in San Francisco, but I wasn't quite there yet. After Atlanta, though...

After walking with a broken toe and then tearing a ligament in one foot and still walking...I felt like I'd earned it.

It means a lot to me...and it's something I want to keep on earning. Next year I'm crewing in San Francisco and walking in San Diego for sure, and I'm seriously toying with walking in another city.

Santa better bring me some new feet this year...

Dean says I have 2 right feet....

2011-11-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

Really. He did. On Facebook. And Dean knows about feet, so we clearly have an idea what my problem is...

A picture of my foot with a picture of my foot

I finally got in to see a podiatrist today to have my foot checked out a little more in depth than my primary doc was comfortable with. He probably should have been more comfortable because he nailed the diagnosis and what to do about it: rest, anti-inflammatory meds, let it heal.

The good news is that it's healing up nicely and he thinks I'll be good to go by the time we leave for Disneyland. As long as I don't do anything stupid, he doesn't see a reason to not go (and he seems to be a Disney fan, got very excited when I mentioned it, and thinks we should go no matter what...because there's always wheelchair rental and that gets me to the front of the ride line! LOL)

He did a lot of manipulating of my foot, and says I have a good range of motion, though he could feel where the ligament was messed up. He was also impressed my how strong my feet are (and for some reason I was vaguely proud of this) and spent a lot of time showing me how my foot functions as I walk, how the ligament was affected (nothing I did or didn't do; sometimes this chit just happens) and there was no lecture about continuing the walk after I felt it pop.

So, yay.

He also confirmed that the kid at Fleet Feet was right: I have high arches. And he wants me to give the orthotics a try again, but this time take the time to get used to them. Hell, the ones he recommended were the same as what the kid at Fleet Feet sold me. He also played with my shoes a bit and believes I'm in some really good ones and my foot prep and blister care is on track.

Basically...let it heal so that we don't have issues in December, but everything looks good. No permanent damage, no stress fractures that he could see on the x-ray, nothing broken.

The only downside? I put the orthotics back in my shoes, went to Walmart for about 20 minutes, and now my back is screaming at me.

So, phfft.

We'll see. At least he never said I was nuts for doing the 3 Day...

Atlanta 3 Day, Part Five: Homeward Bound

2011-10-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

According to the 3 Day website, buried in the information about the Atlanta leg of the event, there is a hotel “on site” at Turner Field. This appealed to me; I knew that after the closing ceremonies we would be tired (or for sure I would be) and the idea of just grabbing my bag and walking across a parking lot was appealing.

So, yeah, I reserved a room for DKM and myself for post-walk crashing. No paying for a shuttle to get to the host hotel a good 20 miles away, no waiting in line to get on the shuttle and then wait in a long line to check in. Just drag the bags a little way, and there we would be.

But.

I sure as hell didn’t see the hotel from where we were at in the Turner Field parking lot. I could see a Holiday Inn just up the road—uphill, because I don’t think there are any downhills in Atlanta—but there was no Country Inn to be seen. According to the iPhone GPS it was only half a mile away…which was about 90% farther than I cared to walk at that point, especially since we couldn’t see it and had no idea in which direction to go.

Michelle is resourceful; she called the hotel and asked if they had a shuttle. They did not, but they would send a town car for us. She told them to look for the woman with pink pair, and we sat on a retaining wall to wait.

And we waited.

The parking lot cleared out; she called again and was assured the car was on its way.

We waited some more.

She called again; the car was stuck in traffic, but was on its way. She waved off a couple of cabs because, hey, we had a car coming.

Yeah.

Four phone calls later, the car was still stuck in traffic (which was by this point non-existent around us) so she told them to cancel and we’d get a cab. Less than five minutes later we were in a cab on the way to the hotel…which was indeed about half a mile, but around the backside of Turner Field. Half a mile, and $12 plus tip.

At that point, I didn’t care. I would have paid the guy $50. And as we got out of the car I made an offhand comment that with our luck, the hotel would have lost our reservation.

I should shut the phck up sometimes.

The clerk couldn’t find my name in the system. I had to laugh, because it just figured. I also had no idea what the hell we would do if they really didn’t have us in there and had no open rooms. I doubt either one of us was in the mood to call around and find another hotel, then find a way to get there.

But…she was just spelling my name wrong. We got the room, and thanks to a bunch of menus the clerk gave us Michelle called for food delivery, and we collapsed.

View from the front of the hotel

One of the smarter things we did, I think, was not schedule an early flight back home. We slept in, took advantage of the free breakfast (and the hotel gets bonus points; they were just about to shut it down when we went downstairs, but left it open for us) and left for the airport (this time, the town car was waiting) in plenty of time to get through security and onto the flight.

On the way back, DKM didn’t have to make me eat; we hit DFW and I was starving. With an hour between flights, we had plenty of time to walk (hobble) the length of 30 gates and get food and then board the plane.

Advice: never ever ever sit in the very last row of seats, because you will be right next to an engine, and your hearing may never be the same again. Not that mine was very good before…

Landing was almost anticlimactic; I was tired and my feet were swollen and hurt, but the 3 Day was officially over. We were home, and one of us (heh, not me) had to go to work on Tuesday.

Instead of work, I went to the doctor to get my right foot looked at, the one that snapped painfully on Day Two. The verdict: torn ligament, something my doc feels is a little outside his scope of expertise, so he’s sending me to a podiatrist. He refrained from saying anything about me having walked on it after the initial pain—too late, bub—but he nixed the idea of walking in San Diego at the end of November.

The Spouse Thingy and I have reservations for Disneyland in December, and that looks a little iffy, too. But we’ll see what the podiatrist says when I see him on the 10^th.

Still…overall I’m happy with the 3 Day for 2011. I walked San Francisco with a broken toe, and if I hadn’t gotten sick I would have done all 3 days with it broken. I willingly took a few steps out of my comfort zone and went to Atlanta, snapped a ligament, and kept walking. I did some stupid, stupid things on this walk—day three I should have bowed out early—but I finished and got my freaking t-shirt.

Next year I’m not sure where I’ll be walking, other than San Diego with DKM. I registered to crew in San Francisco so that I could experience the 3 Day from that side of it, but I haven’t decided yet if I want to do another walk toward the beginning of the season. I’m tempted to pick some place new and go alone and push myself a little further outside my comfort zone, but we’ll see.

It’s a hell of a lot of fun with people you like. I’m not sure I can beat the experience of being part of a team and camping with a treasured friend.

I have time to decide.

And y’all have time to figure out what you’re going to make me do for donations. Though I’m not sure the pink spandex on the bike and around San Francisco, and the pink hair and camo pants for the Walk can be beat.

Atlanta 3 Day, Part Four: Day Three

2011-10-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Morning in the crew area of camp starts at approximately 3:30 a.m. While the walkers catch a few more Zzzs, the crew gets up to get everything ready so that the walkers have an easier time. Being on the food crew, Michelle was up a little earlier than most, because those crew members need to eat before hitting the road to set up for the oncoming horde of people in pink.

On Day 3, things get rolling a little earlier because everyone has to pack up and take down the tents before leaving the campsite. By 4 a.m. the crew area was buzzing with voices kept low for the sake of those who were still sleeping and zippers on tents being pulled up and down. I tried to lie there and snooze a while longer, but between the noise of people trying to be quiet and my bladder screaming at me to get up…I was up.

At least I didn’t have to stumble through cold, dew-wet grass to get to a port-a-potty. We were pretty close to the REAL TOILETS so I got to stumble over cool concrete, only considering after I was already in the restroom that I probably should have put some shoes on. Cooties and all that.

Pink Slips, ready to take on Day 3

Breakfast, packed up, bag dropped off with the luggage crew…we lined up to leave, ready to tackle the Just 15 Miles we had to go.

That was a comforting thought. JUST 15. I needed it to be JUST because my feet? Not so happy with me. The blisters on the left foot, while looking all right, were poking at me, and my right foot was throwing a temper tantrum. I had a nasty feeling something was afoot (hahaha) but I’d gone this far, so a few more miles couldn’t hurt any worse.

Besides, I got to see stuff like this. Piedmont Park and its amazing view of the city skyline.

Luckily, the terrain was flatish and other than one section, doable. My feet, though, they were protesting even the flatness to which they were being treated, and as I got to the lunch area—by now separated from my team—I formulated the stellar plan of sitting down and checking my feet, changing socks and Moleskin, getting food, resting for a few, then hitting the road for those last few miles.

There weren’t many more to go, after all. Lunch was at 10.2 and the end was at 15.2. Two hours, given my slow pace. Two hours is easy.

But.

My brain was not fully engaged at this point. I took care of my feet, rested a few minutes…then left without lunch. Granted, I was hungry, but with this many miles chewed up and spit out, I’m always hungry, even after eating. It wasn’t until I was far enough away to know that going back was a bad idea that I realized I was irritable because =DUH= I didn’t have enough fuel on board.

I grabbed almost all the candy offered to me, but after a while that just makes you feel queasy. With 1 mile to go to the next grab-n-go I nearly grabbed a sweep van; in fact, I sat down at an intersection and the route safety guy was going to flag one down for me, but after 15 minutes I felt like I could get up and go on.

So I did.

And like an idiot, when I got to the grab-n-go, where there were chips and fruit and fresh water…I passed it. It was up an incline and I didn’t think I could get up there, and I decided that since the next pit stop was just a mile away I’d go there.

Moron.

Over the next mile I was asked by no fewer than 20 people if I was all right—I was limping horribly at this point and probably not walking a straight line—and if I needed them to find a sweep for me. I was not all right—low on fuel, hurting, not thinking straight—but I said I was. Boys and girls, when you participate in a 3 Day (and I know you will) DON’T say you’re all right when you clearly are not. I should have stopped. I should have asked someone to get a van for me. But I didn’t, because I am 4 different kinds of stupid.

I got to the pit stop and among the cheering crew at the entrance was a medical guy dressed like a bunny…who recognized that no matter what I SAID, I was not all right. He steered me towards the food, told me to eat some chips and fruit and to drink, both water and sports drink, and to sit.

I did what I was told. I grabbed some orange pieces and sucked them down, then chewed through a bag of potato chips, and sucked down some sports drink.

Why dwell on this? Because somewhere out there might be someone who has never done a 3 Day and is going to and I want this to be the message:

DON’T BE STUPID.

DON’T TAKE UNNECESSARY RISKS.

IF 20 PEOPLE ASK IF YOU’RE ALL RIGHT…YOU ARE NOT ALL RIGHT.

Ok.

Lecture part over.

Michelle and me in holding

The next stop was holding, and we got to “hold” at Turner Field in the concession area. I wish I had explored more of it, but after getting my Victory t-shirt (clearly, my real reason for walking) I plopped down and didn’t want to move. I did get up after a while to cheer incoming walkers and slap out some high fives, but after 30-40 minutes of that I had to sit back down, because my foot? Not happy.

Survivors gathering for closing

After all the walking, closing comes rushing at you. With all the walkers in, it’s time to line up and head out for closing ceremonies. I don’t know about everyone else, but I feel two things during closing: overwhelming awe and a want of being done. The wanting to be done feels a bit disrespectful, but pain sometimes overrides the want of being respectful, and , well….I kinda wanted to be done.

People lining the wall to watch

Community participation didn’t end at the cheering stations. As we moved into the closing ceremony area I looked up…hundreds of people lined the wall around us. Families and friends were crowded around us, and community surrounded us all.

It was amazing.

But I still kinda wanted to be done.

But I also wanted the survivors to have their due. As they come in and take the center stage, everyone takes a shoe off and holds it up in a salute…but my feet were so swollen that I realized if I took a shoe off, it was not going back on. If I took a shoe off and set my foot down, I would have no support for that foot, and down I would go.

I felt like a troll, but I didn’t take a shoe off. I may have been the only walker there with both shoes on.

My sincere apologies to the survivors.

And then just like that, it was over. I hugged the teammates I could, because I knew as we made our way to bag retrieval I would probably lose sight of them, and we weren’t staying at the same hotel…and I’m glad I did because the last I saw of any of them besides Michelle was as they headed for the line where their bags were.

We did it, though. We walked the walk and Michelle not only crewed but had my back the whole way (including a few ARE YOU DRINKING texts LOL) and all that was left was getting to the hotel.

The hotel that was supposed to be “on site.”

Yeah.

Not quite.

Atlanta 3 Day, Part Three: Day Two

2011-10-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

This is what I started out Day 2 with.

The wonder blisters.

It actually didn’t hurt as much as it looks like it would; liberal applications of 2^nd Skin and triple layers of Moleskin and it was good to go. I got dressed, headed for breakfast and DKM’s food line, forced myself to eat, and then waited for the rest of the team (I intentionally ate early, knowing me + food + walking = ugly, ugly things.)

Now, today was supposed to be flat, right? I begged the Walking Fairies; I can handle 20 miles of flat. Flat is good. I worship the flat when it’s ground that’s involved.

Yeah. About that…

It didn’t take long for the Walking Fairies to sprinkle me with Disappointment Dust. Granted, the hills we encountered early weren’t horrible and not even whine-worthy, but…

But.

Around 4-5 miles in, halfway up a not too steep incline, I felt a sharp snap in my right foot, followed by searing paid that raced along the outside edge of the sole of my foot, with a white-hot trajectory up through the bottom heading towards the ankle bone. It was sudden and surprising, and lingered for a while…and I kept walking. I probably shouldn’t have but I assumed it would ease up; after all, that hill had a peak I could see and the terrain was not the greatest (Atlanta…y’all need to work on your sidewalks, you really do…) so I didn’t see how it would hurt to get to the top and see.

And ease up it did. For a while, anyway. For the rest of the day it poked at me off and on, sometimes making me limp, sometimes just ticking me off. It hated the inclines more than the flat, which just gave me a reason to grumble with every new hill we headed towards. And eventually it never quite got to the off position, but that was later in the day and not a horrible issue before lunch.

But something I couldn’t grumble about…the people out cheering for us. We headed into this one, and from a distance I could see there were a ton of people so I stopped to snap the picture, but I had no idea.

The people I could see were just the ones up front. It went on for a couple of blocks at least, people lined up 3 and 4 deep, cheering and shouting, handing out candy and stickers. Hundreds and hundreds of people there to give the walkers a shout out.

People, let me tell you: it works. When you’re at the end of your rope and you walk into a crowd that exists just to bolster you up, it makes it a little easier to reach up and pull harder. Crowds like that are renewed energy. They’re worth miles of effort. They make a walker smile and cry all at once.

Overall, the community support in Atlanta was incredible. There weren’t many areas where there weren’t people out with signs of support, and there was a lot of handing out of candy, cookies, fresh bread, coffee…and Coke. On Day 2 we passed a family sitting there with a couple of coolers, offering Coke and Diet Coke to walkers.

I am a diet soda addict. I told the kid handing me the soda I loved him and I think it freaked him out a little.

I ambled along, enjoying the cold Diet Coke, a lull in the pain in my foot, and the flatness of land ahead.

But then the ugly thing happened.

A hill.

And not just any hill. I don’t think it was “cardiac hill” but it might as well have been because that sucker went on for-freaking-ever.

My foot finally rebelled, and didn’t stop screaming at me until the end of the day, when I treated it to a nice long hot shower and then sat my ass down to do nothing for a while.

Day 2 was hills. Not the flat I’d begged for. Hills.

Granted, they were not San Francisco type hills, and if not for the foot I think—other than the one hill that turned out to be about 5 miles long—none of them would have bothered me much, at least not physically.

Hills are a mental thing, and by next year I fully intend to make them my bitch.

After treating my foot to a nice hot shower I treated myself to dinner…and man, the food was awesome.

I didn’t even wait for the rest of my team. I ate, then hung around the dining area and talked to other people until I spotted them filtering in, and then wandered over to sit with them.

If I hadn’t been so stuffed, I might have snuck back into the food line; it still smelled awesome.

Have I mentioned that DKM took really good care of me? Lights out was at 9:30, right after the end of the camp show (and some day I’ll stick around and see the entire thing; I was happy enough to see half of it before exhaustion sent me to head for bed)…and right about that time the people in the tent next to us decided to pack up as much of their stuff as they could, to avoid having to get up a little early in the morning to do it then.

We were in the crew area; crew gets up earlier than the walkers for the most part, so I kind of get where they were coming from, BUT…I was trying to sleep and the line of tents across from us was also walkers trying to sleep, and they were freaking noisy.

At 9:45 DKM stuck her head out the tent and read them the riot act. And when they tried to defend what they were doing she said sharply, “There’s a WALKER in here and SHE NEEDS TO SLEEP!”

Yeah…they quieted down after that.

And I slept like a rock for the most part, and I’d need it heading into Day 3. We only had 15 miles left to walk, but with blisters on one foot and aching pain in the other…yeah, sleep was my friend.

Atlanta 3 Day, Part Two: Day One

2011-10-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

Really, I farking hate morning.

Day One for DKM started at OMG! O’Clock; she had to be up and outside for the 4 a.m. shuttle; I got to lie there and soak in a few more warms, since the rest of the team wasn’t meeting for breakfast until 5 a.m., after which we were going to try to be on a 5:30 shuttle (they said the last one was leaving at 6:00…since there were a whole bunch of other walkers with the same idea, I’m thinking the shuttles ran well after six…)

Now, here’s the thing about breakfast. At the host hotel in San Francisco, there’s a free buffet with cereal and bagels and muffins and other breakfasty type things. I gather from talking to other walkers, it’s been the same in other cities. This hotel opened a buffet at 3:45 and we hit the buffet line and got our scrambled eggs and grits or oatmeal and fruit…and man we were all surprised when it turned out to be $13 per person.

Yeah. I had like 2 scrambled eggs on my plate. I drank ice water. For $13.

But, whatever. We had to eat.

It was a quick shoveling of food into mouths, and we headed for our luggage and the shuttles. And man, when you think of Atlanta you think “warm,” not nipply, but it was kinda chilly outside. I was very grateful for my long pink camo pants—I almost went in shorts—and my pink 3 Day sweatshirt. Still, when we got to Stone Mountain, site of the opening ceremony, I was wishing for triple players because it wasn’t just nipply, it was cold. Very very very cold. Still dark out, and frigid.

Did I mention that it was cold?

Atlanta, next time I’m there, please make sure it’s a constant 73 degrees with low humidity 24/7. Thank you.

Once the ceremony started, the cold seemed to slip away. Sure, the temperature was still low, but we had moved en masse toward the stage and 2400 people trying to occupy one space creates a little heat. And we were getting amped up; we wanted to begin, even though we wanted to savor that moment. The Pink Slips were pretty close to the exit point, which meant we would be among the first to hit the route.

I took my spiffy walking sticks, BTW. And I quickly learned that 2400 people pushing to get to a particular area, even in an orderly fashion, is not a good time to be using spiffy walking sticks. I didn’t trip anyone, but still… they got in the way pretty fast.

The route out of Stone Mountain was beautiful. It was still freaking cold, but…beautiful. And I learned within minutes that I’ve lost some speed; my teammates hit stride easily and were off, and I kept getting passed by walker after walker, until I realized I’d probably been passed by about 600 people.

It’s not a race, but still…I was way behind my team. And it set the tone; this was not going to be a speedy walk. That was all right; I fell in with several other people and talked to them. Some were first time 3 Day walkers who had tons of questions, some were pros who totally understood the concept of walking your own walk. They had teammates who were already ahead, too, and some were behind. In the grand scheme of things, it’s no big deal.

While I wanted to walk with my team, this part of it was just as important for me. The whole trip out there was important; it was an exercise in taking myself far outside of my comfort zone. I just don’t go places without the Spouse Thingy often, especially trips. I’m shy; initiating conversations is not my forte. But when I overheard newbies contemplating what was ahead, what to expect, talking about how nervous they were, was it even possible to do this, I jumped in.

I spent some time with a couple of people who had kids who wanted to walk but were too young; they were happy to hear about the Youth Crew opportunities. I walked with some people concerned over a teammate who was walking at 5 months pregnant. I was amused over some ROTC cadets running beside us with full ruck sacks, complaining about blisters after just a mile or so.

I caught up with some of the team at the first pit stop and we headed out together and towards the first cheering station. And that’s when I realized this was going to be a little different than San Francisco. We got cheered in SF. We got cheered in Georgia. The sidewalk was lined with people waving and shouting, offering candy and snacks, pink balloons floating overhead and offerings of signs we could carry and ribbons to wear. It was emotional, and a sign that this walk might have a different tone.

Now, remember that I said I was taking my Camelbak because with it I tend to drink more? I did take it. And I was drinking more. I also—I don’t know why—took a spare water bottle and clipped it to the outside of the pack. At the second pit stop I was grateful for the spare, because as I got up, Roberta pointed out the water running from the bottom of my Camelbak.

The bladder tore.

One of my helpful teammates took the leaking bladder from me to throw away as I went to fill my thank-god-I-had-it water bottle, and Roberta took my sticks so that I could deal with the wet Camelbak pack. I wound up carrying it with the backside out, awkwardly, hoping it would dry enough to use as a backpack.

Somewhere along the way, the sticks became toys and were passed around to try. And at some point a spring was sprung, and the lock on one couldn’t be tightened anymore. I was left with a walking stick that I couldn’t put weight on, and I couldn’t really carry because it kept sliding out and hitting people.

But ya know what? Those things were getting in the way and annoying the snot out of me, so tossing them into a nearby trash can was not upsetting at all. I really couldn’t use them in the crush of walkers, and carrying them was a pain in the ass, and with over 12 miles to go…yeah, dumping them was a relief.

Not even halfway through the day I’d lost my Camelbak bladder, broken the sticks…surely everything else was going to be smooth as silk, right?

Sure.

I was really starting to slow down in the afternoon. I had blisters on my feet, but those weren’t too bad. They didn’t scream nasty things at me with each step, they simply muttered “ouch…ouch…ouch” every once in a while. But my back? My back was increasingly unhappy with me. Those vertebra that went on strike last December and sent me to physical therapy started whispering to me around mile 13, were yelling at me around mile 14, and at close to 15 started screaming Bitch, sit yo’ fat ass down now or we gonna cut you a new one!

Sandra was walking with me, not complaining at all about my snail’s pace, and when I said I thought I needed a sweep van, she flagged one down.

Hell, yeah, I took one. I could have sat there at the side of the road for an hour while I rested, but the vans are there for a reason, and dammit, I was taking one. It cut about a mile and a half off my day, but so what? And ya know why I think it was a good idea?

Because I struggled to pull myself into the van. It hurt so much to get up that step—they had a stepstool but it still took 3 tries to get inside—that I thought my day was over. I enjoyed the ride (along with 7 other people) and presumed I’d be getting on the bus back to camp at the next pit stop. But…after taking the van and getting something to eat and drink at the pit stop, I’d had enough time for the screaming to stop.

There were only a couple more miles to go, anyway.

At the final pit stop there were buses waiting to take us to camp, which was held at the Georgia World Congress Center. Indoor camp! Instead of sleeping in tents in the great outdoors where we would shiver our nipples off, we would be sleeping in tents inside, where we would enjoy REAL TOILETS instead of port-a-potties AND we would get to keep our nipples.

It was an awesome sight, all the pink tents going up. In the next room was the 3 Day Shop, Post Office, Treat Pickup (thank you for sending me candy, Leslie and Susan!), New Balance, the 3 Day lounge…and food.

Holy crap, the food was good. Or I was really hungry. But I think it was pretty damned good.

Food was a slight concern going into Atlanta; I got sick in San Francisco, remember? One of the theories was that the meatballs I’d eaten had a mushroom base. No meatballs = no protein in the meal for me…which is fine, I can live one meal without it, but those were damned tasty meatballs and I kinda wanted a couple of them.

Michelle was there crewing on food services, and she grilled TPTB about what was in the food being served, looking for the things she knows I can’t eat. I made sure to go through her line so she could tell me what I could eat and what I needed to avoid. And yay! I could eat anything I wanted, except the macaroni and cheese, and that I avoided because dairy on a 3 day would not be I my best interests. Or Michelle’s, since we were sharing a tent.

There was no huddling near a single heater in the dining tent. Inside…yes, yes, yes. We still had to go outside to shower in the semi trucks, but overall, the idea of being inside made me happy, and I went to sleep really looking forward to Day 2.

Because day 2 was going to be nothing but flat.

Right?

Atlanta 3 Day, Part One

2011-10-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

I am tired, the kind of tired that seeps into your bones and sends tendrils of fatigue shooting through your body, threading through every muscle and nerve, pulling at your eyelids with whispers of lie down and sleep for a week. I am achy and raw, injured and blistered, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I have to get up HOW early??!?!?!?

This 3 Day started on Wednesday as DKM and I boarded a plane at Frak O’Clock in the morning. I don’t do morning well; I didn’t sleep at all on Tuesday night, and let me tell you, I am not a happy wabbit when I start getting fatigued. My body ran on adrenaline and Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper for a while, until we hit the Dallas airport and the tiredness combined with hunger turned me into a twitchy, nauseated wabbit, and probably had Michelle wondering what the hell she’d gotten herself into, traveling with this cranky oversized furball. We found food I thought I could keep down, I started feeling a little better, and then it was off to Atlanta.

(But hey, I actually spared her the worst of my crankiness. No one has actually said it to my face, but when I let my blood sugar get that low—and I’m pretty sure it was really low—I can be a little bitchy. Just a little. I didn’t stomp my feet and start screaming, crying, and throwing things, so I think I get bonus points for that. But DKM gets +5 for not hurling her giant produce bag at me and telling me to shut the fark up.)

Less than three hours later, we landed.

Now, we’ve both ridden BART in San Francisco. Atlanta has their version, MARTA. We rode MARTA (heh, that sounds kinda dirty. Riding Marta.) from the airport to a station close to the hotel, and holy pizza bites, MARTA does it right. People, their trains don’t smell like pee! They don’t smell at all! They’re bright and clean and sparkly! You can hear what’s being said on the speaker overhead, and if you miss hearing what’s being said, there’s an LED screen on the wall telling you what station you’re pulling into. And did I mention, MARTA doesn’t smell like pee?

Once off the train Michelle arranged a shuttle to get us to the hotel (it’s nice to have friends who can hear on the damned phone, really it is) and that was a nice place. I figure if you have a dude taking your bags to your room and feel obligated to tip, you’re in a spiffy hotel.

The room was really nice. Spacious, comfy beds, and lotsa pillows. I loves me a hotel bed with lotsa pillows, especially comfy pillows. If I’d been alone, I might have rolled naked all over the comfy pillows while purring about my great love for them and how I was going to pound them with my sweet, sweet, sleeping love later. But I refrained, because I’m classy sometimes.

(Oh, and Michelle got another taste of my post-travel fatigue and nausea Thursday morning. She made me eat eggs ((really, I swear, she MADE ME EAT THEM)) and then I crashed the rest of the day. That’s one reason I wanted to go a day early…I was afraid of the exhaustion that comes with FMS and adrenaline. And it hit…I was very tired. Curl up on the bed all day and play with the iPad while wearing pink camo crankypants tired.)

Roberta (ya know, Jeter’s Mom), Beth, and Faye arrived later on Wednesday, and the rest of the team (go Pink Slips!) had dinner together on Thursday night.

The Pink Slips

Boys and girls, my team mates were educational. I now know how to make a napkin penis. We made boobies, too, but I remember the weenie. And I may have made a few rude gestures with mine. Just a few. And there might be pictures online somewhere of me waggling my napkin weenie.

Captain Beth

As we got to know each other, Captain Beth had us each speak a bit about why we were doing the walk. Everyone was eloquent and had some amazing things to say. But me? I lost it. I started to talk about Anne, and I choked. This is why I prefer writing to speaking; the words that get drowned in tears can still come out on virtual paper. Out loud, they get swallowed whole, and all I could really do was say that I miss her.

I have a plethora of reasons for doing the 3 Day. Some are personal; I need to know that I can. I’ve done it because I wanted to go play with my friends. The challenge. The community. I do it for all the selfish gifts it’s given me and insight I’ve gotten. But the foundation of all that is the people I’ve lost to breast cancer, and the people I never want it to ever touch.

Every 8 seconds, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.

Every year, we lose 450-500 men to breast cancer.

This has to stop; we need a cure. We need money to fund the research, to pay for mammograms for those who can't afford one, to educate those who are getting inaccurate information about the disease.

The Pink Slips walked in Atlanta with 2400 other people and with the support of nearly 450 crew members, because this has to end.

Part two coming soon...

Exhausted still, but look at this while I try to engage my brain enough to blog...

2011-10-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

...and keep in mind, this is after most of these people either walked 60 miles, or spent 3 days working 12-14 hours a day...

They know how to rock the walk and find the fun in the 3 Day...

My bag is packed...

2011-10-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

...well, mostly. I have a couple things to stick in it still, but essentially it's loaded, probably overweight, and ready to go.

I haz an excited.

Oh, and pink hair.

I haz pink hair.

I'm ready for Atlanta. I hope it's ready for me...

Hmmm...

2011-10-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

It started with this, a science experiment in the bathroom...

...and we moved onto this, which is not helped by having gotten one of the worst haircuts ever...

...and we ended up with this. Way too much red in there...

I kinda dig the color and if I was just going for blond I'd leave it, but I don't think that's going to hold the pink, so we'll be touching up later.

And that's the Royal We. As in Me. No kitties will be harmed or dyed during this process...

And I really did get a really bad, too short, weird laying hair cut :/

We leave in 4 days!

2011-10-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

Yep, in four days DKM is going to be dragging me onto an airplane at o-fark-thirty in the freaking morning (6 am...TAKEOFF AT SIX IN THE MORNING...WTF were we thinking???) so I'm kind of babying the feet and not pushing too hard.

I headed out at 11:15 thinking I'd do 10 miles; not so much as to cause muscle strain, but not too little to be beneficial at this stage. Now, I displayed a couple kinds of stupid by not paying attention to the outside temps and wore a black t-shirt and black shorts...it wasn't miserable because it wasn't hot-hot, but I did have a moment of "I need a new brain" going on.

At close to four miles I decided to stop at McD's for a drink (yes I had a ton of water with me, but I am addicted to diet soda, and it's cheap there.)

This is the stellar view I have when rounding the corner from Pitt School Road (a "major" street in Dixon) on the way to McDs.

Lots of semis...I really do think the street was designed with them in mind since it's easy access to food right off the Interstate.

In any case, my shoe was rubbing my heel funny, and it was also an excuse to stop and check my laces, see if I needed to tighten them.

Something very cool...there was a line of pre-teen boys in line when I walked into McD's, 9 or 10 of the getting-hairy-very-squeaky things, and when I took my place in line behind the last kid, one in the middle of their line said "Ma'am, you can go ahead of us, not all of us have decided what we want."

Now, I expected to hear grumbling because the kids at the head of the line obviously had made up their minds, but they all started chirping their agreement with a lot of "Yes, please go ahead."

Seriously. They were grubby but very polite and I hope their parents know they've got some good kids there.

It also made me glad I was only getting a drink.

After a few minutes of sitting I decided I'd head home after that; I wasn't going to get 10 in, just 6, but I'm erring on the side of no blisters right now.

I may wish I'd gone ahead and bought new shoes a couple weeks ago...

The walk home was nice even if it was warm.

One foot in front of the other...

Four days! And only six until the Walk!

And...there will be pink hair...yes, there will...

I have priorities, yo...

2011-10-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Come on..why else would I do it, if not for the free t-shirt at the end?

Camp shoes

2011-10-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

You know, shoes to wear in camp...

No, not gonna walk in them, but I need to be stylin' while wandering from the showers to the dining tent and stuff.

Plus, they will totally match my pink camo pants.

And oh yeah, I am totally inflicting those pants on DKM while we fly from Sacramento to Atlanta...Hat, too, I think!

Training hard...very hard...

2011-10-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to invade Atlanta...

Can you guess how hard?

WE WILL WIN THIS WAR!!!

Ya, I guess it does...

2011-10-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

More than once I heard (and read online) that participating in a SGK 3 Day is a life changing event. "It will literally change your life."

And because I am sheep, I've parroted the line a few times myself, but it really hit home today.

You should know, I've always had a visceral reaction to the color pink. It's always been a deep down disgust, bordering on stupid it's been so bad. Neon pink, I've been fine with and learned to like. But pink-pink?

Ugh.

No thank you.

But today a box of t-shirts came in the mail; a week or so ago Woot had packs of 5 t-shirts at an abnormally low price, and I ordered some for the Spouse Thingy. The thing is, one did not get to choose the colors of the t-shirts one would receive.

One of the shirts in the Woot box was a light pink t-shirt.

He looked at them and said I could have the pink one if I wanted, and instead groaning and sticking my tongue out at it, I grabbed it.

I wanted it.

If that's not a major change for me, nothing is.

In other news, my spiffy Vibram funky 5 finger shoes do not provide a cushion against banging a toe against a heavy metal object.

You know, that toe.

The one that I broke a month ago.

The one that has a bump on it and still hurts.

Yeah. Not my brightest move to date, and is proof that housework--I was sweeping--is evil and best left to professionals.

I keep thinking "Cardiac Hill..."

2011-10-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

You know if a city with a 3 Day Walk has a street known locally as "Cardiac Hill," that whomever is in charge of mapping the route is going to make sure that said street will be smack dab in the middle of one of the days' routes.

Probably Day 2, since that seems to be the hardest day.

I'm also convinced that there is no such thing as a mostly flat 3 Day route and each and every hill that's accessible will be part of the typical 3 Day Walk.

That's not a complaint. not really... Well, maybe it's a tiny one. I'd like to walk in a mostly flat city someday.

Still, with that in mind, and with the weather not exactly terrific for heading to walk in San Francisco, we headed for UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where the Spouse Thingy spends an inordinate amount of time passing gas, because they have what amounts to indoor hills.

Standing outside, looking up, it's almost intimidating. That just looks a lot higher up than it actually is.

It looked worse last year, when he first took me to walk the ramps inside.

In fact, I remember looking at the ramps last year and thinking there was no way in hell I would make it all the way up without barfing all over everything. And seeing the ramps was intimidating. I think I figured I'd go up once, come down, and be done with it.

I made it up and down three times, and then we headed for the cafeteria for burgers we didn't eat because they were cold, and drinks we guzzled down because they were also cold.

With Cardiac Hill in my head, we headed inside the building and went straight for the ramps, and oddly enough, they weren't half as intimidating as they were last year. I didn't exactly squeal with joy at the sight of them, but I didn't feel a sense of dread either.

I'll take that as progress.

We went up and down 5 times, further than we went last year. We stopped after that, not because going back up again would have been too hard--I was quite happy to know that I could have--but we had other things we needed to do, and we fully intend to hit the gym tomorrow, and I want to not be too sore to go.

Because the gym...it has this thing.

An incline trainer.

I've never tried it before, because up until now it has seemed intimidating. It has freaking handles to hang on! You wouldn't need to hold on for dear life unless it was a total bitch to use, right?

I'm not sure what the max incline on it is, but I've seen some online with as much as 30% and with 6% declines.

I need to try this just to try it. And I'm not worried about falling off it now. Only worried about running out of steam after a few minutes in front of all those women who are so thing that their heads make them look like walking lollipops.

I think from here on out, until DKM and I leave for Atlanta, my short days are going to be focused on getting more prepared for hills. I'm not worried about distance; I can do 20 miles. It's the hills that make me unhappy on the 3 Day, and that's just because I get winded and nauseated if they go on too long.

And since we'll be at the gym, I'll probably swim, because hey...swimming is fun.

As long as there aren't any creepy old guys in the pool.

It started with this...

2011-10-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

...and if you take anything from this, what's on this little image is the most important part in my verbosity.

As soon as Michelle posted that on Facebook, I was filled with excitement, joy, more excitement, and keen sense of want. I wanted to be there, to get pictures of her carrying the flag and pictures of her dad in the survivor's circle... because trust me, this is a big deal. If you've ever been to opening and closing in a 3 day, you know it's a big deal.

At the opening, you're pumped and ready to go, and there's that small part of you that just wants to get going already. And I think they know it, because that's when the beachballs come out and they get bopped around for 10-15 minutes before the ceremony starts (and for the record, my head is a beach ball magnet, as evidenced by how many times I got popped on the head by them in San Francisco.) You go along with it while Stretching Dude gets you warmed up, and you really start feeling like you want to get going.

But then it really starts. People bearing giant pink flags come streaming out--a bit slowly--from behind the stage, and those flags say "MY MOTHER," "MY SISTER," "MY FRIEND," and "MY FATHER," among others.

You still want to get going, but the meaning of what you're about to do really starts to sink in again. And then the survivors come out, and they raise the flag bearing names of those who didn't make it...and it really sinks it.

If you don't get at least a little choked up, you have a cold, dark soul...

So yeah, I got very excited that Michelle is going to be a flag bearer, and her dad is going to be in that survivor's circle.

It's a big deal.

Since I was so far from my goal for Atlanta, I shoved the idea of being there to the back of my head. At that point I was nearly $800 from goal, and I knew that if I didn't hit it with fundraising, I'd be covering the cost.

And that's fine; I signed up knowing I might cover most of it.

Then comes today, where instead of getting outside and taking a nice, long walk, I sat here most of the day texting with a friend. There was a lot of "I have to go in just a minute" which never quite turned into actually getting up and doing anything. She's bored; her spouse thingy isn't home and her kids are with their grandpa today, and I was just engaging in some professional procrastination. I didn't feel pushed to get up at any given moment, because the weather is turning and it's cool out, so there was no heat to beat by getting out the door early. And I only planned on 6-8 miles anyway.

We started talking about the 3 Day, about Michelle carrying the flag, about Atlanta and fundraising and--admittedly--not liking the idea of asking people for more. There's such a thing as compassion fatigue and once people start feeling it, they stop donating.

And I get that. You can only do so much.

But then she offered something: if I hit my goal this weekend, would I consider going to San Diego?

Considering something is always an option. Following through? That's something else. I told her I'd think about it. I thanked her (because I'm not totally backwards) but I'd think about it.

I'd been thinking for about 10 minutes when she sent another text message.

I had to go look, to make sure she was saying what I thought she was saying.

She covered the difference between what I've raised and my goal.

Not necessarily to go to San Diego for a third walk, but as a buffer for the Thumper-Patented-Guilt that would follow any need to take a sweep van or even skip part of the Atlanta walk.

For the record, it would still feel like failure--and that doesn't have to make sense, it just is--but at least it would be a donor-approved failure.

Fine. Point and laugh at me. I can take it.

It also opens the door for one last walk this year. One which will likely be mostly self-funded, which does chip away at the idea that I need to walk it all. It would be just for me, no expectations on anyone else's part.

Hate the idea of tenting with a stranger.

Still...

The only real thing standing in my way is knowing that about 3.5 weeks after that walk the Spouse Thingy and I have plans to take the first real vacation we've taken...ever. And the things we're planning on will require a lot of walking.

I think I'll have recovered by then, but...

Lots to think about.

Oh goody! It's SCHWAG!

2011-09-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

Last year Roses, she of the funny-assed blog ACK! THBBT!, made several knit caps to kick off my fundraising efforts. Every stitch done by hand, and to quote myself from last year, “Roses is filled with Teh Funny. Sometimes her posts are very short, but nearly always make me snicker. When her sister was diagnosed with cancer she managed to inject a little funny into it...and thus was born the Lily Livered Sister's Cancer Hats.”

Cancer is a bitch, peoples, any kind of cancer.

This year Roses has donated 3 even more awesome hats. She sent them quite a while back, but I’ve been sitting on them, waiting for the perfect time (well, that and I have an emotional hard-on for the strawberry hat and hate giving it away, but I can be a grownup about it) and that time is now.

We’ve got schwag, my friends. Five reusable pink bags filled with pink goodies, and 3 of those bags will come with something extra, something incredibly special: a Roses’ Lily Livered Sister’s Cancer Hat.

Inside each Komen 3 Day bag (which is also a backpack, one of those funky new kinds with the strings for straps that all the cool kids are using now) is:

2 pink Moleskine journals
1 pack of 2 pink Komen gel pens
1 3 Day Keychain
1 tin of 3 Day Mints
1 breast cancer bracelet
1 pink Komen sweatband
1 pair of hot pink shoelaces
1 Komen mini-Maglite
1 hot pink 4GB USB flash drive

You want the schwag, you know you do. And for this, we start from scratch. Anyone who donates to my Atlanta 3 Day Walk between now and October 25th—two days after the end of the walk—has a shot at a pretty spiffy hunk o’prizes. Cash value (minus Roses’ invaluable caps) is about $60 for each bag.

Here’s the thing, too… you guys have been really generous, and I’m just a tad over $750 shy of reaching my minimum for the walk. So as much as I’d like big donations, I also don’t want anyone to feel like they don’t have a shot…so with this one, it’s one entry per donation, minimum $5.

And as always, your donations are tax deductible.

It’s for the boobies, people, all for the boobies.

Clicky here for my donation page...

Tackling that hill and those stairs again

2011-09-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is kind of image heavy...click to biggify the pictures.

Today seemed a really good day to head back to San Francisco and tackle the two places I dreaded the most: the hill leading from Ocean's Beach past the Cliff House, and those stairs in Land's End.

I look thrilled, don't I? We were about a mile away from the hill, and I was so obviously looking forward to it.

I dunno.

It seemed a lot more intimidating on the Walk.

A lot more intimidating.

Partway up, we peeked over the wall to the beach below,

and this guy was having a good time playing in the waves.

Three quarters of the way up, and it wasn't bad at all. What I don't know is if that was because I had only walked about a mile instead of 9 before getting to the hill, if the walking sticks made the difference, or both.

Either way, the first thing I wanted to face again turned out to not be such a big deal.

Into Land's End...he's smiling because he hasn't seen The Stairs yet.

The Stairs.

133 of them.

The Spouse Thingy wasn't thrilled, I don't think.

Halfway up, looking back.

Oh, and you people who can run up these stairs. You suck. ;)

Almost to the top...

...and on the other side, on the way down to a spiffy path with nice views.

Like this one...

And this one...

Back down the stairs. Much easier than going up.

And on the way out, near the Cliff House, you get to see stuff like this.

All in all we did about seven miles today, most of it non-flat terrain that was pretty much what I wanted as a good training walk. I got inclines and declines and uneven paths to navigate. I got to try out my walking sticks, which I think worked pretty freaking well (and we'll see how I feel in the morning, since they worked my shoulders, too) and I got to show the Spouse Thingy Ocean Beach.

Places like this...this is why I love living out here.

There are a lot more pictures of today and the awesome scenery on Flickr [clicky clicky]

And here I thought my Camelbak...

2011-09-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

...was enough weight to carry on the Walk.

One of the 3 Day Walkers I follow on Twitter posted this today (last day of the DC walk--they raised SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS!)

I can't imagine doing a 3 Day with a full pack. Even a half pack.

Now I wonder what his story is...

$&#@*( (@)(_))^%$### !!!

2011-09-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

Max is definitely amused...

Today, I totally made up like 16 new swear words.

Even the cats were impressed.

Or maybe they were just amused because I smacked my still-very-sore big toe against the bathroom door.

I didn't cry, though. So. Go me, being all big-girl about it and chit...

Only 3.5 miles today

2011-09-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

The low mileage was intentional. I headed for the outlet mall this afternoon intending it to be a short walk so that I can get used to using my camelbak again.

Why the change?

There's some question about what made me so sick on Day Two of the SF 3 Day. Initially the Spouse Thingy thought it was the flu (or similar virus) but I still had an appetite and recovered within a few days. Then he wondered if I'd gotten a stealth mushroom at dinner on Day One; the meal was pasta and we asked about mushrooms, but were assured there were none. And it looked like typical marinara sauce, so I ate it.

I also at 2 meatballs, mixed vegetables, some kind of cucumber salad, and 2 bites of a brownie (and trust me, I wanted the whole thing, but I was kinda full by then.)

Me after a mushroom looks a lot like the flu. So he wonders if there was a mushroom base in the meatballs. Two friends who know me well enough have mused that the meatballs probably had soy filler, and I am very intolerant of soy.

But Murf had another theory, one the Spouse Thingy doesn't quite agree with because I was eating and drinking normally: dehydration complicated by being medicated for diabetes insipidus (I might not feel the thirst on the medication.) Since I do have diabetes insipidus, dehydration is something I really have to look out for. If I get dehydrated (well, like anyone else) my electrolytes go wonky, blood sodium shoots up, blood can run thicker, it feels like being run over by a truck, nausea can become a problem, as well as fever...

Looks like the flu.

I did drink while walking, but I may not have had enough. Looking back, I think I consumed about three bottles worth, which is only 48 ounces, but I also sucked down a can of Diet Coke at dinner and had around 6 more ounces of water later.

The thing is, we'll never really know if I was actually ill, if I was having an allergic reaction to something I ate, or if my electrolytes were out of whack, but of those three, I can control one of them in Atlanta.

I drink more when I wear the Camelbak. I think it's because the tube is right there bouncing around in front of me and I just naturally reach for it, whereas with bottles I wait until I feel thirst to reach back and grab one. So in hopes of increasing my water intake (and Gatorade, I gotta remember to drink Gatorade) I'm going to start using the Camelbak again.

I learned the last time I tried it, though, not to start out on a 15 mile walk with it.

So. 3.5 today, more tomorrow. I'll play it by ear over the weekend, and then take it to San Francisco next week.

Drink, pee, no IV...

Oy.

2011-09-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

When Googling info about hills in a city you're going to walk in, it's never a happy thing to discover there's one known as "Cardiac Hill" and you'll likely be walking up it...

In search of new places to walk

2011-09-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

...and we found this little gem in Davis, about 10 miles from home:

The Davis Arboretum, about 4-5 miles of walking paths that wind through redwood trees, native plants, and water. Some of it is paved, some is dirt path, but it's a nice change from the outlet mall.

We only did about 2 miles of it, just to check it out. We might have explored further but it was hot, the Spouse Thingy is still nursing a sprained ankle, and I'm not quite 100% yet.) I did get a flu shot yesterday, hoping to hedge my bets against getting further cooties in Atlanta.)

We also walked around downtown Davis a little, and for flat terrain it's also a nice change. I could easily rack up 5-10 miles just wandering around there. Plus, it has the added bonus of dodging all those teenagers on bikes that attend UCD. And there are a lot of bikes zipping around Davis.

I can train on walking and flexibility. It's a win-win :)

Next week we're heading back for San Francisco, so that the Spouse Thingy can witness the glory of the hill leading up and past the Cliff House, and if that doesn't kill him, we might wander into Land's End and try to not get lost.

You may now start your betting pools on just how lost we will get...

2011-09-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

I’m feeling the love, I really am. I appreciate the sentiments: it’s the cause, not the miles. At least for most of you it seems that way. One of you was apparently not thrilled. I got online yesterday morning and my donation total had dropped by $100. I’m not sure how, exactly, if someone called the SGK and asked for their donation back or if a credit card was suddenly declined, if someone was that ticked off or if it’s just One Of Those Things or what, but coincidentally or not, I also lost a follower at Thumper Thinks Out Loud.

To Whomever: sorry to disappoint you, but no one is more disappointed than I am. I looked forward to this walk more than a kid looks forward to Christmas. I expected more of myself and have played ‘what if’ in my head roughly 35.962 times since the Spouse Thingy packed up the tent and got us a ride back to our car. Other people got out there on day two and walked with harsh blisters, searing leg pain, crushing fatigue; what if I had just started out? Maybe I could have gutted it out. Maybe I’d have barfed a couple times along the way and then been ok? If I had just gone, I’d have been sick either way but the miles would have been walked.

You can’t beat me up any more than I’m beating myself up. I can’t help but feel like I let people down, and I let myself down. Whether it makes sense or not, I can’t help it.

But still…my apologies.

Later in the day, however, I got two more donations that more than made up for the lost one. The little notes of support have made me feel a whole lot better, too. And I'm starting to feel not so sick, which makes me a little less whiny, lets me have a little perspective...

Today is the first day since Saturday that I’ve felt mostly human. The world isn’t spinning and the vice grip has been taken off my skull. Max spent the greater part of the last three nights plastered next to me, trying to purr me into recovery, but he’s now lounging in the cubby by the fireplace and not attaching himself to my hip as I sit here, so I take it even he senses I feel a little better.

That means I should be able to get back out there and walk this weekend.

So.

Yeah. I am genuinely sorry to disappoint anyone, but I can’t change it. The only thing I can do is suck in a deep breath and start planning how I’ll train for the next 5 weeks, and then do it.

And if anyone so much as sneezes near me over the next month and a half, I may have to treat them to an atomic wedgy.

At least I get another shot at it...

2011-09-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

*cross posted to Thumper Thinks Out Loud...

The San Francisco 3 Day Walk did not go anywhere nearly as well as I expected.

Joette and I at o'dark-thirty

Day one was awesome; I slept well the night before, was excited to get up and get going, and with teammate Joette by my side started off at a decent clip and we kept the pace up for quite a while. My toe started bothering me and after a few miles of hills it hurt like hell, but not enough to stop.

I don’t think there was anything worth complaining about (well, other than “a hill already?” at the start of the walk) until we reached the base of the hill leading up from Ocean Beach to the Cliff House, and that wasn’t even complaining so much as it was Oh God, we have to made it up that thing. It’s a fairly steep incline and just keeps going and going and going. And that’s not really an overstatement—it’s a long assed climb and it’s where my foot started to scream. Just when you think it’s almost over—you’re nearing the Cliff House—you look forward and realize you’re really only about halfway.

It’s nearly a steady climb all the way to the parking lot where lunch was held, and I’m guessing it was about half a mile of steep (well, *I* think it’s steep) uphill. It was cold and breezy at the lunch stop, but the views more than made up for that…plus I got to see the Spouse Thingy there and he helped slap some Moleskin on a few blisters I was getting.

My nemesis...but I made it

From there we headed into Land’s End where I would face what I dreaded most: the stairs. These suckers seem to go on forever. And when you get to what you think is the top (looking from the bottom, you think it’s a lot of steps, but hey, there’s the end!) the stairs just kind of curve around and keep going for a bit. A lot of the walkers just breezed right up; I admit, it was hard. I’m not a stair person; stairs are why we bought a single story house.

But I did get up those damn stairs, and I thought that was the worst of it.

There were a few more WTF inclines, one especially cruel hill near the Presidio golf course. It wasn’t steep, but it went on for-freaking-ever, and after the climb to the Cliff House and lunch, and then Land’s End, it just seemed mean.

Yet, we made it.

I don’t remember anything else being too terribly difficult. I lost Joette at the second to the last pit stop and took off thinking I was following her, but it turned out to be someone else. We met back up at the last pit, where we thought we were done walking.

At Pit 5, we waited for the ferry. And we waited standing in line, after walking almost 19 miles, for over half an hour. Things tend to stiffen up when you stand like that after walking so long. Everyone did some stretching and sitting on the ground (which just makes your back sore) and some more stretching, but by the time the ferry was there we were all done. We’d been told all day that Pit 5 was the end, then we’d get on the ferry and go to camp.

While waiting for the ferry, I started feeling a little nauseated, but assumed that was because of a long day and then having to wait. It made sense. I was freaking tired by that point. I sometimes get queasy when I’m overly tired.

Once on the ferry, while heads were on tables and people tried to snooze, and other people tried to not hurl, someone went around to tell us that once we got off the ferry, we had 1.5 more miles to walk.

Now, that’s not a lot. Anyone of those walkers could do a mile and a half in their sleep. But after 19 and then standing around for half an hour, and then sitting on the ferry for another half hour…we were pissed off.

San Francisco from Treasure Island

The view from Treasure Island about halfway from the ferry to the camp almost made up for that.

Camp itself…cold, windy, and noisy as hell all night long. Treasure Island sounded fun and I was all kinds of excited about camp being there, but the reality was not so fun.

Still…it was a sight to behold, all those pink tents. The shower trucks had about an hour long wait, but it’s still the best shower anyone will ever have. The food was really good, and when I went to find out what the little gift icon was on my credentials, I discovered a few of y’all sent me chocolates. And that totally made my day.

Arriving at camp

So. I ate a really good dinner, the Spouse Thingy had gotten to camp before I did and had out tent set up and mattresses inflated, and we hung out until we decided we wanted to shower. That’s when things kinda started to go wrong. The steps into the men’s showers were placed on a patch of ground not quite level, and when he stepped off the bottom one, down he went, twisting his ankle.

The medic wound up in the med tent getting his ankle taped up. It was “just” a sprain, but those suckers hurt. He said it was all right with the tape and only a problem when he was walking on it, so he felt like he was good to go for Day Two.

Mike the Medic builds a tent

Day Two we were up at 4:45 and dressed and headed for breakfast before 5. I hate morning, so I wasn’t surprised that my stomach was a little upset, but I approached the dining tent… and that’s when the world started to spin, the proverbial truck hit me, and I started feeling really nauseated. The Spouse Thingy sat down with a plate of food, and I had to get up and head for the port-a-potty, knowing he had to leave before I’d be able to get back.

No problem. I was sure the feeling would pass. It was morning, it always passes.

But then I barfed and it all escalated, so I headed for the med tent. They assumed it was dehydration—it’s what they see with walkers all the time, those who don’t drink enough on day one and wind up feeling like crap—and I was given some Zofram and they had me lie down and covered me up; everyone—including me—assumed on a few minutes the Zofram would work, they could pump some Gatorade in me, and I’d at least make the last ferry to for the walk.

Instead, I got worse, and they put me on a bus headed for the lunch area (camp closes after a certain time, no walkers are allowed to stay) and I hung out in the medical tent there until noonish. The Spouse Thingy was working there, so I at least was hanging out with someone familiar. After a while they got me to lie down and snooze until they had transportation for me back to camp.

So I knew Day Two was not happening, but I assumed with enough water and food and rest I would be good to go. I curled up in the tent and rested. I made myself drink and tried like hell to not hurl it all over the place. I ate half the lunch the Spouse Thingy got me before I left the lunch stop.

And I got worse.

This sea of pink is amazing in person

At about 3:30, after a whole lot of text messages checking up on me, he sent one saying he was going to get someone to bring him back to camp, and at 4:10 he was on his way. When he got there, he found someone to drive us all the way back to our car parked at the hotel in South San Francisco (she totally did not have to do that; she’s been driving people around since about 6 a.m. and I know she was dead tired—she was the one who took me from lunch back to the camp—but she seemed very happy to do it. And I wish I could remember her name, but I was too busy trying to not throw up in her car…)

Essentially, the Spouse Thingy red-carded me out of the walk.

No, I’m not annoyed. I know I wasn’t going to be able to walk on day three as sick as I was getting, and he knew another night sleeping in the wet cold was not a good idea for me, so he lost his last day of the SGK (and now won’t get his spiffy Victory Shirt) in order to get me home.

I feel a little (ok, a lot) pissed off about only doing one day. Logically, I know it’s not my fault, but there’s that little part that is just pissed off. I was so excited about doing it again, and to have to bow out for any reason…it ticks me off. It ticks me off because you guys donated a lot of money for me to walk 60 miles, and I only walked a little over 20. And I know most of you won’t roast me for it, but still…it bothers me.

So now I’m really glad I signed up for Atlanta. It feels like a chance to redo it all, and to do what I said I was going to do.

I am not done with this, not by a long shot. I owe these people a few more miles...

Onward to Atlanta

Wow...

2011-09-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

All those names... and right after I took the picture and got online to upload it, there were two more waiting for me that have now been added (and you might note I left a letter off one name but that's been fixed...)

It's too many names, doods.

It's heartbreaking so see so many, and know that it's just a few.

I still have to put all the names on the cape and on a backup shirt...but I needed to take a moment to breathe deep and swallow the lump in my throat.

And for those who knew Sue Jackson, please understand why I'm carrying her name. She mattered to so many in the cat blogosphere, and in Max's apt words, "Cancer is such a bitch."

Any cancer.

Today's Toe Report:

2011-09-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

Very sore.
Slightly swollen.

BUT

As long as I don't try to actively flex my toe while bearing weight, it doesn't HURT. It pops some (but it always does that) and isn't pretty, but it's only lotsa kinds of sore, and I deal with that on a daily basis over the rest of my body.

So.

We shall rate this on a scale of 1 to 10 squarely as No Big Deal, and move on from it.

FOUR MORE DAYS!!!

Pretty,,,

2011-09-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm 99% sure that

2011-09-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

I.
Broke.
My.
Toe.

Srsly.

1 family sized can of cream of chicken soup
1 brainless placement of it in the shopping cart
1 nanosecond of inattention

That's all it took for it to slam into my big toe, and trust me, those suckers hurt when they hit a body part. It landed with a sickening thud, a couple people around my cringed and sucked in air, a guy stocking shelves was all, Are you all right? Really? Are you all right?

=sigh=

Yeah, I'm all right.

It won't keep me from walking.

But damn.

Now?

Could this be on the SF route?

2011-08-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

Looking at the route information...this lovely staircase on Lyon Street is kind of on the way to the last cheering station of the day...

Another view for your cackling pleasure...because I know you're laughing at me for 1) even thinking about these being part of the walk and 2) because you know how much I love stairs...

Of course if we do those stairs, it'll be after Land's End...

So...yay?

The Last Long Training Walk Until the 3 Day

2011-08-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

We headed for San Francisco so that I could get in one last decently long training walk before the SGK 3 Day. We checked the weather and it looked good for today; 65 degrees and very low wind.

Still, we weren't exactly surprised when we approached the Golden Gate Bridge and it was enveloped in fog. That didn't make getting out of the car at the Pier 39 garage any nicer...we were both in shorts and t-shirts, and if not for the track jackets I'd shoved in the car, we probably would have had a lot more choice words to say.

But, it's San Francisco. Mid 50s there is like 40s here, and we knew once we got moving we'd warm up and at some point we'd see sun.

One of the walks I've wanted to make for a while is to walk from Market Street to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. That's fine for me, not so fine for the Spouse Thingy. So we started at the Pier and headed back towards the GGB, a little over 6 miles away.

Once we got to Marina Green, we started seeing a little bit of sun and had warmed up a little bit. Instead of walking along the street we walked along the marina, and this little guy was sitting there, not bothered one bit by the people around him.

He was a reluctant model at first, turning his butt to the camera, but the Spouse Thingy was persistent and managed to get him to practically pose.

We headed for Crissy Field and walked the promenade path, and gradually lost the sunshine. As we got closer to the GGB, it got colder and wetter.

Yes, my cargo shorts are tres spiffy. They add 15 pounds, but what the hell. They're comfortable and hold a lot.

Except warm.

They didn't hold a lot of warm.

We stopped at the Warming Hut, just a little short of the Bridge. I was keeping track of distance and we were at 5 miles by then, and was starting to think of the Spouse Thingy's feet. He's done 10 in a day before, but that was downtown with lots of stops and starts and sitting down.

This was pretty much continuous, so we turned around and headed back for Pier 39.

The sun was out on Marina Green again, but the wind was pretty stiff.

Note the wonderful hair day I was having.

Not to mention, the way it blew my shirt made for bigger boobs...

We stopped just before the Pier so that I could grab a burger, then I left the Spouse Thingy at the Pier with his Kindle, and empty stomach, and lots of fishy places to choose from for his lunch, while I kept walking.

In order to get the same Market to GGB basic walk, I headed down the Embarcadero, but went a little further than Market Street.

I have no idea what this is, but it was just past the Ferry Building.

Someone's personal escape pod?

Old bomb gone wrong?

Whatever, it was shiny.

I headed toward the Bay Bridge, with a little voice in the back of my head saying I should go to AT&T Park, but then I realized I really didn't know how far that was or if it was a good idea even if it wasn't too far.

I got to this thing and figure it was a good place to turn around.

Nope, don't have a clue about it.

Lots of people hanging out around it, asking for money. In a 2-3 block span around it I was hit up twice as much as I was in the preceding 12 miles.

By the time I got back to the Pier I was at 14...went past it a way, wandered into a Walgreen's looking for Second Skin, helped some older couple who wanted Benedryl but couldn't find it, then went back for the Spouse Thingy.

For some reason, he was tired and napped off and on during the 2 hour ride home.

Nope, he was not driving.

All in all, I got about 16 miles in, he got in 10 (which is freaking good for not training for it.)

From here on out I think it'll be all maintenance walks, 10 miles or fewer. No sense risking blisters and the like at this stage of the game.

10 more days!

Rock the pink from head to toe?

2011-08-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, well, to ankle, because my shoes are not pink.

I have a pink shirt.

If the fabric dying works, I will have pink shorts if the tights prove be a bad idea for a long walk.

I have a pink hat.

So...

Pink hair?

The major thing about this...I would have to bleach my hair pretty much white before applying it, so even though the pink is semi-permanent, the bleach would be forever-until-my-hair-grows-out.

So my head would be odd colored for a very long time.

Very long time.

Very.

...and the winners is...

2011-08-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Winner of the iPad:

Congrats Gael!

Winner of the Kindle:

Congrats Lynne!

Winner of the Nano:

Congrats Whut?!

I'll be sending you each an email via the 3day.org site to "officially" inform you of your prize.

And thank you EVERYONE! So far we've raised a total of $3674 and I'm only $926 from hitting my goal for Atlanta...but there's lots of time left for that, and OF COURSE THERE WILL BE PRIZES!

(Probably not iPad type prizes, but prizes nonetheless!)

YOU PEOPLE ROCK!!!

WooHoo!

2011-08-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

That's a royal "we..."

It had a/c...

2011-08-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

The nice thing about the mall on a hot day--air conditioning. The downside to the mall on any day: it gets boring going round and round.

But that's where we headed today; the original plan was to go into SF again, but I was having medication issues and frankly, the idea of driving that far was kind of cruddy.

So, we went to the mall and walked, racking up 5 miles.

Not too bad.

Things were on sale.

Money was spent.

But not at the Apple store, where temptation was strongest...

Chomp, Chomp

2011-08-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

Just a tad under 15 miles today. I headed for the factory outlet mall not too long after I got out of bed at later than I should have, with a goal of 12-15 miles. I was fully prepared, though, to bail after just a few if my back clenched up.

My back decided to play nice today and I got into a pretty good rhythm right off the bat, and I was moving along at about a 3.4 mph pace. I made myself take a break at 6.5 miles so that I could change socks and get a drink, though there was that temptation to just keep going and get it over with quicker.

When I sat down with my large Diet Pepsi and started to fish for my cell phone (because what’s a break without playing on Facebook?) when a woman about my own age approached, gesturing to my arm.

“What’s that thing? Is that like one of those ankle monitors? But why is it on your arm?” I couldn’t get a word out, she was just barreling on. “And how come you’re outside? Aren’t you supposed to be stuck at home? Do they know you’re out here?”

I love it when I get a chance to think before speaking. It happens so rarely.

“I get a day pass if I go thirty days without biting anyone.”

Sadly, I must not have the greatest poker face, because after a measured beat she laughed and asked again, “what is it?”

It’s a Body Media armband; it measures the calories I burn. It does a bunch of other things, but that was the easiest to explain. At the end of the day I can connect it to my computer, and see how much I burned off during the day and compare it against how much I ate.

I think she was actually disappointed.

She moved on, I moved on. I did a few more miles and stopped for lunch at 11.5 miles; since I was close to 12 miles I settled on a Subway sandwich, knowing it might not agree with me. If it didn’t, I could just get in the car and go home. If it did, yay.

What it did was make me realize how freaking hungry I really was. I scarfed it down, and if not for knowing that if I ate anything more I would really regret it, I might have gotten another one.

I looped the stores a couple more times, and at 14.75 or so I was so close to the car that I decided I was done. I could have gone on, but the car was right there.

The good news is that going another 5 didn’t feel like it would be a problem at all. I had one tiny blister that I slapped some 2nd Skin on and covered with some Elastotape when I changed my socks, but it felt fine after that.

Nineteen more days!

In lieu of talking about a walk that didn't happen

2011-08-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

here's a cute picture of a dog with a bone.

Or it could be rawhide. It's still cute.

Today's intended 15 has been delayed until tomorrow thanks to a mostly sleepless night and a very ouchy back. I think even if I had slept well I would have put it off because I'm babying the back a bit; with only 20 days until the SF 3 Day, I don't need to push it and wind up throwing it out now. If I did, it would be a couple months of healing and frankly, I don't want to walk with bask spasms.

I'm delicate that way.

6ish miles SF

2011-08-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

We took the BART San Francisco today so I could get a few hills in, and all in all we walked about 6.5 miles. I wanted to get off at the Civic Center stop, because we usually get off a stop earlier, and I knew the Spouse Thingy hadn't seen the area before.

It was pretty cool for about 10 minutes...I had it in my head it would take longer to wander around there, but once you've seen the spiffy city hall building and the others surrounding it, you've seen them and it's time to move on.

So we headed up Hyde Street. I know where Hyde ends--not too far from Ghiradelli Square--but I'd never been on the south end of it, so what the heck. why not?

Ah, well, now I know why not.

It's not the most touristy of places to be in San Francisco. It's so not touristy and kinda rough that we turned on Eddy and headed for familiar territory. A couple of blocks down Eddy and we heard the whoop-whoop of a siren and looked around; across the street, surrounded by several bike cops, there was an old guy flat on his face, half in the street and half on the sidewalk. Other than the police, no one seemed especially concerned.

Maybe because it was half a block from the Tenderloin police station? Or maybe because they either didn't give a damn or are used to people face planting onto the pavement? I dunno. His fingers were twitching so he was alive, but I'm guessing by not very much.

We kept on walking, until we were at Powell Street, where the cable car line begins (or ends, depending on your POV.) The line to get on the cable cars is long, usually a good hour's wait long, and there's always someone there dancing or singing for donations.

We've seen this guy a few times and he's pretty good, but today he had help from a toddler who decided to dance right along with him.

I don't think he was as amused as we were.

From there we just wandered. we headed up Powell because it's got a decent incline to it, and I grumbled about my knee not liking how steep it is and how damn high my heart rate was going. No whining, though. Just grumbling.

We didn't stay long, just long enough to learn that the Tenderloin is not going to be on our future list of Places to Walk, and long enough to get a few hills and a little over 6 miles in.

Only 3 and a half weeks to go... I may get one or two more really long walks in, but for the most part I think from here on out it's going to be 8-10 miles at the most with lots of shorter walks, mostly to preserve my back. That's the one thing that bothered me today and what stopped me nearly dead in my tracks at about 6. We took a break for lunch and Motrin, but that was it. I was done.

It was enough, though. The distance was about right for today and the hills were a necessity; I'll do similar length walks this week and do a long one this weekend, if I can decide where. I'd like to avoid the heat if I can.

Where we're camping this year

2011-08-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

Treasure Island

2000 walkers and hundreds of crew members

Better get your swim on!

(OK, fine take the ferry. Wimp.)

Just shy of 15 miles

2011-08-12T17:41:00.000-07:00

For a while today I harbored thoughts of doing 18 miles, but a late start combined with heat ended that notion. I didn't leave the house until after 11, stopped for lunch at 7 miles, frozen yogurt at 10, and was feeling decent still and another 8 was not out of reach.

Seen on a truck just before I stopped for lunch...it made me giggle a little...

But then I hit 13 miles and the heat was starting to get to me, and I couldn't find any shade to walk in, so I headed towards home.

At 14 miles, just a mile from home, I thought I was in serious trouble. Nauseated, breathing hard, gut churning...I had deep enough doubts about being able to cover the last mile that I tried calling the Spouse Thingy, even though I knew the sound on the phone in the bedroom was turned off.

The only thing to do was press on...but when I hit the door I was about 3 different kinds of blah, and when the Spouse Thingy got up just fifteen minutes later, he strongly suggested I get into the pool to cool off.

Half an hour later, after twenty minutes in the pool and a few in the shower, i actually feel human again.

But definitely...this year the heat is my enemy, and the blisters not so much (though I did pop up a small one today, but some Second Skin covered by Elastoplast and it's fine.)

I'm taking tomorrow as a rest day, maybe hop on the bike for a bit.

I'll take what I can get

2011-08-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

I headed for the outlet mall in Vacaville today to knock a few miles off in the shade (and where I could duck into air conditioned stores if I wanted...) and I wore a spiffy 3 Day t-shirt.

I noticed a few people reading it, but that was it. Mild curiosity. I zipped along at a pretty good clip, and on my second lap around I decided to cave into a craving for jelly beans and went into the Jelly Belly Store.

I only grabbed like 4 ounces of jelly beans, but when I went to the counter someone behind me said, "Cool shirt," and then "Give her a discount. She has the shirt."

The shirt.

That made it sound cool.

She turned out to be the manager, and we talked for a few minutes; she's done a Team in Training walk, and last year her daughter participated in the SF 3 Day.

For the record, I'm not the only one who thinks the stairs in Land's End are satanic.

All in all I did 6 miles today, and did 6 yesterday at Six Flags. I'm not sure how many I'll do tomorrow; I'm feeling better but I seemed to have lost a little endurance over the week I didn't walk. Mentally, I'm preparing for 12-15, but if I have to cut it off before then, I'm not beating myself up over it.

Plus, that would be an excuse to head for SF next Tuesday and do a really long walk there.

Feeling mostly human today

2011-08-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

Other than being tired--and that thanks mostly to Max, who felt a deep need to have a conversation with me every 45 minutes last night--I felt mostly good today. About 95%. Good enough to hit the gym and spend an hour on the treadmill.

While the Spouse Thingy headed for the weights (without warming up...yeah, I know...) I headed for the treadmill. I plopped my iPad down and opened the book I've been reading and started to walk...

...and got to half a mile and realized I didn't have a whole lot of oomph in me.

In fact, my endurance was pretty much nil. At this point on the treadmill, a little over half a mile, when I've increased the belt speed, I'm usually just starting to get into my groove, not looking for a way out of it.

A quick HR check...20bpm over normal.

So, maybe I'm not quite recovered, and maybe I need to give myself a few shorter walks before jumping into a long one.

I'd intended on a longish one tomorrow. Instead, we're going to Six Flags where I can get a good 5-7 miles in, but take lots of breaks.

There's one month to go...I don't want to do anything stupid, but at the same time I need to really kick it into high gear.

Goal is to be able to do 12-15 one day this weekend. Well, to do it and not cry.

Taking Names for 2011

2011-08-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

The cape for 2011

In one month we'll be headed for San Francisco and the host hotel we're staying at the night before the start of this year's 3 Day.

I have a new cape this year, and as I did last year I'll wear it on at least Day One...but it's blank, peoples.

It needs names.

It needs the names of the people you love who have fought breast cancer, those you want remembered for the battle, and those you want to honor for the victory.

Whether on my cape or on a t-shirt, those names will go with me every step of the way, and carrying them would be my honor.

I still have last year's cape and t-shirts, and will write those names on it... as much as I'd like to think that there are no more to add, I suspect there are.

So please, allow me to carry the names of the people who mattered to you, who fought like hell against a disease that seems so unfair all the way around. Just add them in the comments, and onto the cape they will go.

This means you, as well. If you're reading this and you're battling breast cancer or survived it, please let your name go onto my cape.

Blah

2011-08-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't walked since last Tuesday when I flitted around SF in pink spandex. Still feeling like krap, though today's krap is less like being run over by a truck and more like having been beat up by a wayward gang of ticked off 10 year old kids. I'm sweating like I'm at mile 15 of a 20 on a warm day, my head is spinning, I'm sleepy...which means I'm probably getting better.

But still...haven't been able to walk, not even a little bit on the treadmill.

Even if I feel spiffy tomorrow, I know better than to push it, which means Tuesday at the earliest. And a week off my feet means it's probably not going to be the fastest or most fun of walks when I do get to it.

I'd originally wanted to head back to SF next week and walk along the Great Highway, but we'll see.

Only a month to go...I really don't need to be in a not-training mode at this point.

2011-08-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hahaha I'm EVIL!!!

Today's intended 12-15 mile walk was thwarted by, I think, a freaking bee.

Yesterday the Spouse Thingy and I went for a bike ride and stopped for lunch; within 5 minutes of getting back on the bike to head home I started feeling not-so-wonderful.

I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling incrementally worse, was in bed by 11 pm, and slept--other than getting up to pee and get a drink--until almost 11 this morning, and still felt like krapola.

Then this evening I realized I had a sore spot and looked...and then pulled put a stinger.

I'm guessing it was a bee, but I didn't get nearly as sick as I have in the past...no horking up of the toenails, just some unpleasantness and feeling like carp. I don't go into anaphylaxis, so it's less of a worry than bees are for most people with allergies, but still. Not fun.

If I'm feeling a little better tomorrow I'll go for a shorter walk.

If not...missing a few days won't do me in.

OTOH, I kinda want to get a long walk in and towards the end I want to try a new thingy I have for hot spots, Elastoplast. Supposedly it sticks better than Moleskin.

Yeah. I want a hot spot.

Go figure.

Not exactly an oddity in San Francisco...

2011-08-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hard rockin' the pink...

Because I made certain promises, which I am being reminded of with amazing frequency, the Spouse Thingy and I headed into San Francisco today to take a few more Rock the Pink Spandex pictures.

I got a few sideways glances, but face it, I was in SF and didn't exactly pop onto peoples' This-Is-Weird radar. Most people there have seen much, much odder...

Still, I wandered through crowds wearing my spiffy pink tiger striped spandex and awesome cape, and the Spouse Thingy and DKM captured it for posterity.

It's all for the boobies, people...

30 More Pix on Flickr!

Oh yeah...and we walked about 9 miles for training while we were at it, too!

For some reason, I could hear people laughing...

2011-07-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

No need for a reason other than this...

2011-07-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

Image found on Jay Furr's Livejournal

A wee bit short...

2011-07-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

Half an hour before it opened...nice and quiet...

I left the house this morning intending to walk 17 miles; that's what's on the schedule, and I wanted to get out there and walk it today rather than wait for tomorrow, because tomorrow it's supposed to hit 100.

I headed for Vacaville and the outlet mall because they have covered walkways, which means shade, and they have lots of air conditioning.

I made use of that a few times, especially as it pushed into afternoon and the temperatures started going up.

My pace was decent, too, and I was making good time until I was shanghai'd into helping an old lady in the restroom, and then I lost time to waiting in line at Subway. The line was long, but I didn't have any real food options, and I had no way of knowing that one of the 15 people ahead of me was going to order 10 sandwiches.

From miles 10-12 I started feeling the heat, and decided 15 was going to be the limit today. The last 3 miles took longer than usual, mostly because I kept wandering into stores for the a/c (and some shopping. I bought things.)

Ya.

96 degrees when I finally stopped.

That's enough...

Might as well make it fun...

2011-07-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Instead of plodding through a few miles on the same old streets, we decided to make use of our season passes and walk around Six Flags. Just walking from the parking lot to the front gate is nearly a mile (since we never get up-close parking) and meandering around the park all day gets in another 3-4, with one more done on the way back out to the car.

It's not a spectacularly long distance, but it keeps me on my feet for several hours, with pockets of stopping here and there to do things and see awesomeness like this:

This little guy is a Fennec Fox, and they were taking him for a walk today. We've seen them taking the camels for walks before--I'm guessing because they don't have the biggest enclosures--and once they were walking an elephant, but this is the first time I've seen them out with one of the little guys.

He was so excited, he peed for us.

I didn't overheat this time--it was about the same temp as the last time we went and I nearly horked up my toenails because of the heat--but wearing shorts makes a huge difference over black jeans. All in all I think we got in 5 miles, plus I got a really cool hat.

It might be a smidge too small, but it's spiffy and it's a funky shade of pink.

And it totally clashed with my bright orange shirt, but hey...I never set out to win any fashion awards.

Tomorrow: the gym an an hour in the pool. I'll probably take Friday as a rest day since Saturday is a high mileage day. On the schedule Sunday has a chunk of miles listed, but I think I'm getting to the point of not sticking 100% to the schedule. I've got other cardio work to get done, and apparently I have pink spandex bike video to have shot...

But if the photographer suddenly had other plans, I'd be fine with that.

Srsly.

;)

Red I Am...

2011-07-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Man, how hot is it in Boston...? Hot enough that yesterday they closed the route around noon, which means no one got further than about 10 miles, and today they were stopping people at one of the pit stops and putting them on buses to go back to camp. It's too hot to be safe... I saw mention on FB of a few people who had been taken to the hospital, and a few who decided they were done whether the SGK people opened the route up again or not.

Better safe than sorry, for sure.

Yup, another toy.

I still use the Garmin, but it's problematic in some places. If it can't pick up the satellite signal, it's worthless, really. And if I want to walk around the Factory Outlet Mall in Vacaville, it misses about half the distance, leaving me pretty frustrated. When you've walked for an hour and it says you've only gone .85 miles, it feels like a massive mound of Teh Suck.

So I picked up an inexpensive pedometer, programmed it for my stride, and have been trying it out. So far, it's pretty much right on the money. I walked a route today that I know is 8.5 miles, and when I hit the door it read 8.52. It took me some time to think of snapping a picture, but since I had mostly been sitting on my asterisk, I didn't exactly rack up a whole lot of extra steps.

I even compared it to my Body Media calories tracking thingy, which also functions as a pedometer (though there's no display, so it's not practical to use while walking) and the difference between it and the Omron was only 60 steps, some of which can be accounted for before I put the Omron in my pocket and took off.

I used it the other day in San Francisco, too, but that was the first time and I really didn't have anything to test its accuracy against; knowing the route I took today gives me a decent idea, I think.

I stopped at 5.5 for a drink break and to use the McD's facilities; while I was washing my hands (yes, I am not a total slob) a woman who was waiting for a stall asked if I was all right. Apparently my beet red, sweat-dripping face was alarming. I assured her I was fine, had just been out walking for a while, thanked her, and headed to buy my drink.

As I was filling the cup with ice, another woman approached to ask if I was all right, and did I need help?

Now, I could dwell on the fact that exertion apparently brings out the Ugly in me, but really, it's just nice to know that people give a damn. They didn't have to ask; they could have waited until I keeled over and then waited some more to see if someone else would do anything. People like that are just another reason I love living in this little town.

Tomorrow is a short day, only six miles on the schedule. Since I'm breaking in the new shoes I don't think I'll push much past that, but I'll probably go see how crowded the gym is and hit the pool if I can get a lane.

They got the hots!

2011-07-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

Boston forecast

Tomorrow is the kickoff of the Boston 3 Day.

This is the forecast for tomorrow in Boston.

100 degrees, but it'll feel like 110.

1) I'm glad I'm not walking in Boston.
2) When I saw that, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach for the people who are walking in Boston.

If you're one of them... oh, man, please take care.

While they're sweating bullets and drinking profusely on the first day of their walk, I'll be wandering around Vacaville, I think, getting 8 miles in before hitting the pool.

Oh, yeah, I'll be thinking about the Boston walkers, and I swear I won't whine about how hot I am.

Well...much.

I did hit the treadmill at the gym for a while today and then got in the pool (where I got bitched at for splashing a kid); I found a nifty waterproof heart rate monitor I can wear while swimming, so I was able to track how hard I work out in the water.

Short answer--the same as when I walk. I seem to have this heart rate zone that I stay in, right around 70% of my max.

Which, considering my age...that's not very high.

Oh, and my calves ache from yesterday's hills. Not whining about it, just stating a fact.

Oh, and I'm taking back those new shoes. They are not the right ones, after all.

Oh, and...nothing.

Keep cool, Boston.

Oh, and...

H.R. Huff & Puff

2011-07-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

View of Concord, CA from the BART platform

There are 51 days until the San Francisco SGK 3 Day; that's a little over 7 weeks (I think...math is hard) which doesn't give me much time to get into hill-walking shape.

So this morning we drove to Concord, hopped on the BART, and headed for San Francisco and the hills that still kick my asterisk.

It wasn't any different today; my feet were fine, my back was fine, all was fine other than that I got awfully winded going up more than a block and my heart was pounding like crazy.

If it's like last year, though, by the time the actual Walk rolls around I'll have done enough hills to be able to manage just fine.

On tap for tomorrow, 5 miles or so followed by an hour in the pool.

Teh Sexy, right...?

Oh, and I got something spiffy in the mail, for once something I bought.

Pink tiger striped shorts.

Granted, Char is the one who found them online when she was shopping for the bright pink spandex tights, but I kinda wanted a pair of the shorts.

Now that I have the shorts...I kinda want a pair of the tights. If I'm gonna prance around in public in spandex, these just might be the ticket.

I should have 'em next week.

My public acts of humiliation should begin shortly thereafter. First, though, I kinda need to go back and find all the things I promised to do...but I know they pretty much all involve spandex...

New Kicks...

2011-07-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

I was reminded last night that it's time for new shoes; there's just enough time to get 2 pair properly broken in for the 3 Day, and getting them now--on a week when the highest mileage day is 8 miles--is a good time.

So off to Sports Chalet I went, intending to just get the exact same shoes I've been getting. I got lucky, and the kid working shoes is the one who knows her stuff. She took one look at what I was wearing and pointed out the changes Brooks has made in the model I favored.

Not that those changes were a bad thing, but they might affect what ultimate decision I made.

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11...in size WTF?

While I tried a pair on (and they're a new color and I wanted them I really did because they were RED) she grabbed another pair of the same brand, but a different model. Instead of just selling me the $130 running shoes I was going to buy, she had me also try a pair that's intended for better stability. And she shoved some inserts in...which I wasn't thrilled about because I've tried the exact same ones and they were not impressive.

She grabbed a different size, one that is slightly bigger, and damned if that didn't make a difference.

But the shoes...they both felt about the same on my feet. I walked back and forth and really didn't feel a difference. Both fit well, both were comfortable. So I asked her opinion--given that I wouldn't be running, just racking up a lot of walking miles--which she would recommend.

She recommended the stability pair.

The ones that were $30 less.

Since I was buying two pair, that saved me $60 right off the top, which effectively made the inserts free.

Tomorrow I'm intending on 5 miles in the morning which should give one pair a nice gentle start, followed by an hour in the pool, after which all calories burned will be blown with popcorn at the theater.

Wednesday we're planning on heading into SF to walk some hills, presuming my back is up to it.

There's only 53 days until the SF 3 Day... FIFTY THREE!

Ow?

2011-07-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

All righty...the entire left posterior side of my body hurts like a MoFo today. The pain seems to be originating from my gluteal area, so given the chance that this is my back trying to pinch a nerve or something, today's walking will be postponed to tomorrow, and many anti-inflammatory tablets will be consumed.

Well, ok, it's not like I'll be eating them like candy, but you can bet I won't miss a dose.

I'm going to blame this.

I used it all last summer while I trained, so I had it on the short days as well as the long days, right up to the last couple of weeks when I decided to try a fanny pack with dual water bottle holders. I haven't really used it since then.

But yesterday I got the bright idea that since I was going to be out for about 5 hours that I would use it--it holds 3 liters--so that I would have plenty of water and ice.

The thing is, something I didn't take into account, is that wearing a backpack changes your gait. You tend to lean forward a little more to account for the added weight. And if you've been training that way all along, that's fine. But to throw that added weight onto my back on a 15 mile walk?

Not my best idea, especially given the major back problems I've had over the last year.

I'll have to rethink how I carry stuff. The fanny pack irritates my back while I'm wearing it, which is distracting, but it doesn't hurt after the fact. The backpack didn't bother me until the last couple of miles, when I was already feeling like crap. And today I'm fairly ouchy.

Man, I hate having to think...

Almost done...

2011-07-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

Today's 15 is, so far, only 13.5, but I'll finish up on the treadmill in a little while. I was going at a really good pace for a while, right around 17.3 min/mile and knocked off the first 9 faster than I usually do, and that's when I made my mistake. I took a break (my 2nd, actually, the first just to change socks and get a drink) and knew I needed food, but because I can't seem to eat the burgers anymore, and had no idea what I could eat without it ripping right through me, I settled on frozen yogurt.

Now, that was refreshing and all, but it wasn't enough. At 12 miles I realized I was starting to feel not so fresh, so I ducked into 7-11 to grab a diet 7-Up (I do take water with me...I drink more if I stop for soft drinks, because deep down I am only 12 years old...) That helped for about .25 miles, and I realized I needed to head in the direction of home.

I turned one corner and saw this guy:

At first I thought he was up there nekkid, and thought about turning around and going in another direction, because that was not going to be an attractive view. But then I realized he did indeed have pants on, and kept going, quite relieved that my senses weren't going to be assaulted by a major crack violation.

I pushed on toward home, thinking I would just lap the little park around the corner from the house until I had 14.8 miles on my spiffy GPS, because then I would have 15 when I hit the door, but I got to the park and realized I might actually be in trouble. The temperature was only about 80 but I was feeling seriously overheated, queasy, and my head was starting to hurt...so straight home from there it was. I was right at 13.5 when I got through the door, and the last mile and a half will be easy enough on the treadmill.

I'm sitting here with the a/c going, and sooner or later I'll have enough energy back to get up and get a sandwich or something.

I could be eating now if the cats would serve me...

Is This Thing On...?

2011-07-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

An hour in the pool, followed by an hour on the treadmill. This is how I look when I'm done...

I usually don't like pictures of myself, but I kinda like this one...

Lesson learned: I should do it the other way around. Less waterlogged while walking that way...

I think we're officially into the high mileage weeks now. 15 on Saturday, 11 on Sunday, unless I decide to shake it up and do it a little differently. It's supposed to be hot next week, so that might be a good time to head to San Francisco for hills and maybe make it a longer day. And maybe coax DKM out for lunch if she can spare some time from the grind...Not that she grinds in SF. I don't think. If I find out she does, I'll take pictures for you... ;)

Crosstraining 162

2011-07-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that was probably my heart rate...

Didn't stay on it nearly as long as I intended, but my knee was not happy with it.

Wherein I Say the F-Word Repeatedly

2011-07-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

Today’s 14 miles is being done inside on the treadmill. It wasn’t too hot to head outside this morning, but I felt like reading while I stomped through the miles, and I figured it would be better for my overall health to have lunch at home, something not in the vein of Eat The Burger.

This also means being able to sit in air conditioned comfort on breaks. And while I enjoy the air conditioning, without having strangers staring at me like they’re wondering if I’m homeless and all greasy and sweaty or just insane and all greasy and sweaty, I can plop the computer on my lap and surf online for a bit. Poke around Facebook. Read things at FARK. Check email.

Most of my email is spam, and today’s delightful efforts come from someone trying to get people who use Twitter to click on a video link. No idea where it leads to, but I’m not foolish enough to click on it. But one email caught my attention, as the subject header was “3 Day, How?”*

I found your blog last year through someone else and have been following along ever since. I really want to do this, but how? I am so fat and out of shape and overweight that I don’t even know where to start. I can’t walk down to the mailbox without getting out of breath. I know I’m too fat to even think about walking a 3 Day, but now it’s all I can think about.

Well…guess what. I’m fat. We might vary in our degrees of fatness, but fat is fat. It is what it is. It’s not an insult or anything to be embarrassed about; it’s just a description.

I am over a weight that is ideal for my height; I am fat.

Let’s just get the sting of that out of the way. Too many people mumble “fat” like it’s a social disease. No one ever mumbles “I’m tall,” or “I’m blonde,” but nearly everyone chokes on the description of “fat.” If we’re not choking on it or whispering it, we employ euphemisms for it. Heavy. Voluptuous. Undertall. Zaftig.

Fat. Fat fat fat fat fat fat.

Say it; let it roll off your tongue. Repeat. Fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat.

Fat.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…take it out of the equation. It doesn’t matter if you’re fat. What matters is that you want to be able to tackle a SGK 3 Day, and you feel like there’s something in your way.

There are some legitimate reasons for not being able to give a 3 Day a try.

No real time for training. (These people can crew. Just sayin’)
No way to raise the minimum funds required and no way to cover them. (These people can crew, too…)
You’re in a diabetic coma.
You hate the idea and would rather do something else. (These people can donate to me. Please.)
You have no soul. (I accept donations from the damned, no questions asked.)

Nowhere in that list is “because you’re fat.” So it’s off the table. I’m fat and did it. There were lots of people out there last year who were fat, and they did it. There were even a few fat people hobbling around with canes, and they did it.

And ya know what? There were also a lot of skinny people walking. A lot of skinny people who walked 5 or 10 miles and then had to hail a sweep van because they weren’t really prepared, either physically or mentally, for the reality of walking in San Francisco. Those hills, they are a bitch.

Focus instead of the real reason: fear.

Why would anyone eat these on purpose?

I understand fear. I’m afraid of some really stupid things, like Brussels Sprouts and going places alone for the first time. I’m terrified of social situations and God help me if the phone rings and caller ID coughs up a name I don’t know (though to be fair, my phone fear stems more from the fact that I can’t hear well on the phone.) Some of those fears I’ll tackle, some I won’t.

It’s not that I’m averse to tackling some of them; it’s that I don’t care enough about them to face them. Like Brussels sprouts. I’m not making the effort there because, really, who would?

If participating in a 3 Day matters to you, you’ll face the things that are in your way. And it’s not that you’re fat, it’s that you can’t walk to the mailbox without gasping for air, and that is some scary shit.

You’re out of shape and you know it. And to me, that’s far worse than being fat. Worse than either is being too afraid to do something about it. I think it’s worse to me because I’ve been too afraid to do something about it. Don’t ask me what changed; I don’t know. One day I was this fat person sitting at my desk talking to the Spouse Thingy, and out of my mouth came something like, “Hey, wanna give Jenny Craig a try?”

It was the first step.

For me, getting some of the extra weight off was key in feeling like I could do anything else. Losing weight feels great, and somewhere in that endorphin high I felt like moving around more. But I certainly could have done it the other way around—if I’d started moving more, I’d have lost weight, too. I would have felt better and reaped the benefit of a few rushes of endorphins.

So I'm still fat, just a little less fat. I lost 50 pounds, but have gained back somewhere between 15-18. Does it matter?

Not really. I hate the flab around my middle, but only because I have a date to wear spandex. You people viewing the photos of that event will just have to deal.

But for getting to where you can walk in a 3 Day, it’s not the losing of weight; it’s the getting into walking shape.

Here’s the truth: no matter how badly you want it and are how much you’re willing to do something to achieve it, you might not walk one this year. You probably won’t. And that’s fine. Make it the goal. Make it your reward.

Start with the obvious…movement. So you get out of breath walking to the mailbox. Do it anyway. Walk there and come home. The next day, walk a few steps further. Don’t think you have to step out your front door and walk 3 miles before it counts. It ALL counts. If you feel you are so out of shape that you’re risking a cardiac event by getting the mail, see your doctor first and find out where you really are, but do something that gets you moving.

Like…swimming. Find a gym with a pool and walk in water. Granted, from an emotional standpoint that can be one of the most painful ideas to even contemplate because there are PEOPLE there and those are people who work out, and THEY WILL SEE HOW FAT I AM!

I get it, I really do. But those people who are in the gym with their sweating and grunting and looking so fit that you just want to knock them down and sit on them until they squeal? They’re not really noticing you. They’re too busy worrying about their carb and protein intake for the day and whether or not they can afford to have a slice of white bread. They’re counting reps. They’re fixated on the underwear wedgy that is driving them apeshit crazy, but they can’t dig it out and can’t go into the locker room to take care of it because if they do, they’re going to lose their machine.

There are also fat people at the gym, even in the pool. Hell, that’s where you’ll typically find me.

Move. Just move. Find something you like, and move.

And I won’t kid you, Marge. You’ll feel a whole lot better if, while you begin to move, you address the things you eat. Food is fuel; the better the fuel, the better the machine will run. You don’t pour diesel into a car designed to run on midgrade gasoline and expect great results; if you pour sugar and saturated fats into your stomach, your overall performance is going to be less than ideal.

Don’t even worry about the calories; just consider the source of fuel you’re putting into your tank. If you want to be able to walk past the mailbox, you might find it easier if you’re running on lean protein and vegetables instead of fast food and Twinkies. And when you feel better, you start performing better.

It’s this whole circle of being thing. Eat right, exercise more, feel better. Feel better, and you want to eat right and exercise more.

Pretty soon, you’ll find that the trip to the mailbox is no big deal. You’ll make it to the corner and back, and it’ll be no big deal. You’ll do a half mile, then a mile, and it’ll be no big deal.

Well, other than it WILL be a big deal because you’re taking literal steps towards something you really want.

If you start now, if you just make small changes now that you build on, by next year you’ll be walking in your first 3 Day. You’ll feel awesome. You’ll BE awesome.

Screw it, you ARE awesome. You want this; that takes something special deep down. So go for it. And if you’re participating in the same city I am, or even close, I will be there to cheer you on. I would be proud to walk with you.

*(I should state upfront that I did try to answer this is email, but it bounced back at me.)

The Big Black Line O'Boredom

2011-07-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

I enjoy swimming, I really do.

If I didn't, I don't think I could swim laps for an hour at a time. I'd probably get in the pool, spend about 20 minutes farting around, swimming a few, walking a few, all while moaning about how hard working out is.

But, I like it. I suck at it and I'm slower than the average 5 year old, but in an hour I probably get about 120 lengths of the pool in.

That also means for 120 times back and forth, I stare at the black line at the bottom of the pool. I kinda need it, because if it wasn't there I wouldn't have even half a chance of swimming in a straight line, but after a few minutes, that black line is a reminder that I'll be in the water, doing nothing but going back and forth, for an hour.

(I would swim longer, but after an hour in the pool, I kinda have to pee. And if I get out, someone's gonna take my lane anyway. I've considered peeing in the pool, but that's kinda gross and with my luck the water really would turn indigo blue. And then I'd get banned from the gym, and I just rented a locker and got towel service, so I'd like to keep my membership. Plus, it's hard to swim laps in an 18ft round pool, and that's what I'd be left with.)

Still. I keep contemplating ways of distracting myself while I swim. I've considered a waterproof MP3 player, but those are kinda spendy. I've tried "writing" in my head, but by the time I'm out of the water and in the shower I've forgotten exactly what I intended on putting down on virtual paper. Mostly, I just swim, wondering how slow I really am and whether or not I'm making a good enough effort to get my heart rate up.

And I stare at that black line...

How I'll Learn To Love The Treadmill

2011-07-03T16:07:00.000-07:00

(The TL;DR = I walked on the treadmill and watched video on my iPhone! Yay me!)

<-- Those temps were enough to convince me that having a treadmill is a very good thing. Now, I'd intended to make use of it yesterday; I woke up early with every intention of getting outside and chewing off 13 miles before it got too hot, but the giant OUCH YOU MUTHRFARKER that my back screamed convinced me that staying in bed for a while longer was a good idea.

Because, you know, I own a treadmill and I could get on it later, when the OUCH YOU MUTHRFARKER had eased into nothing more than OY.

And I did try, but walking on it hurt, so yesterday became a day of complaining about not walking. It also became a day of reminders, like, um, raise the incline on it to ease how it impacts your back... (thank you, Dean :) )

And this morning I had every intention of getting up early, but I slept like crap, waking up every half hour and tossing and turning. So I didn't drag myself out of bed until Max headbutted me at 9, and let it be known that he wasn't going to stop until I sat up. I did all the things I was supposed to do, in the order he wanted me to do them (because honestly, if I deviate and do something outrageous like take my meds before I pee, it totally throws him off) and then opened a can of food for the kitties. The back felt quite a bit better, and I eyed the treadmill...and then went into the other room to play online for a bit.

The plan: watch a DVD while walking on the mind numbingly boring treadmill. Maybe two. It took me a while to figure out how to get the TV in the gym (ha! Yes, we have a gym at home...a treadmill and a Bowflex. That totally counts as a gym...) and the Wii to play together, but I did and I popped a DVD in...and promptly discovered that the Wii does not play DVDs.

I tried watching TV but you know what's on TV on Sunday?

Nothing. 500 channels of nothing. And it wound up not mattering, because in order to hear the TV over the treadmill, I would have had to set the volume high enough to wake the Spouse Thingy.

So I plugged the earphones into my iPhone and continued listening to an audiobook. I'm currently listening to "The Art of Racing in the Rain" which is an incredibly good story, told from the POV of a dog, but it's one that makes you get all choked up, and I have a feeling that pretty soon it's going to both piss me off and make me fight doing the ugly cry, so it might be better that I'm listening at home, where no one else can see.

Now this is when I began to realize the benefits of having a treadmill at home and actually using it. I didn't need to worry about where I was going to be when the inevitable need for a place to pee became an issue. I didn't need to worry about what I was going to eat for lunch and what digestive disturbances might occur. I could take a break and sit on my own couch and eat whatever the hell I wanted, because hey, if the horrible things happen, I could get off the treadmill and run down the hall. My water bottle wasn't going to run out and be a problem because...righto. Kitchen is right there.

Plus, on the treadmill it's a steady pace. There's no "am I really hitting three miles an hour?" because the speed is set there and it's not going to slow down for stop lights and people blocking my way.

I got online while I took a break for lunch and bemoaned the lack of a DVD player--not thinking about the whole volume thing--and the Boy reminded me that while the Wii doesn't play DVDs, it does work with Netflix Instant.

So, yay!

Then I got everything set up and remembered about the sound issue. But hey! My iPhone will run Netflix! I got it setup, got on the treadmill, and spent another hour on it, listening to Craig Ferguson doing stand up and trying to not laugh loud enough to wake the Spouse Thingy.

Six miles down without overheating and sunburn. And I'm not done...I hopped off for another break and spent some time looking for more things to add to the Netflix instant queue. I'll get back on later and do another 3 miles, and maybe another 3 after that.

I did learn that the treadmill shuts down after 100 minutes. As if that's as long as anyone should be on it...

In any case, I ~~may~~ will make more use of it now, since we're getting into the Holy Hell It's Hot part of summer.

That means I can sleep in.

Go me.

3000 calories burned, 2 pounds gained

2011-07-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

"Wow," the girl at the gym's check-in desk blurted, "I bet you lose crazy weight doing that!"

What she meant was: all that training for the 3 Day must result in a ton of weight rolling off (so why are you still fat?)

We got on the topic while waiting for someone to come to the desk and fix an issue with my locker rental (as in, they rented one locker to two people. So they assigned me a new locker, but when I got into the locker room, I discovered that getting locker #117 when there are only 110 lockers is a raw deal) and she asked about the training.

I described the training, and that's when she guessed it was a great way to lose weight.

Ah, no. At least I didn't. I went into it last year thinking I would lose crazy weight, but the crazy thing that happened was not losing a freaking thing. I didn't blow the diet part of the deal; I just didn't lose weight.

In fact, I'm 18 pounds heavier this year than I was this time last year. I am assured, however, by one of my docs that this is because I had to stop taking growth hormone (getting to the age when cancers are a reality given family history; going off it seemed the better idea) and when you make zero HGH on your own, you lose lean muscle mass. When you lose lean muscle, you just don't burn fat as well. Thusly does your weight increase.

Still...I do have hopes for losing some weight this year. Between the walking and swimming I'm hoping I do burn some body fat. At this point, I'd be very happy to just get back to where I was on January 1st 2010. Very happy.

But based on experience, I wouldn't count on the walking part of training for the SGK 3 Day as a way to lose weight, especially if you're not getting your heart rate up, and not doing the cross training (I didn't) and not dialing in your diet to optimal nutrition.

On the schedule for tomorrow is 13 miles. We'll see...it's gonna be wicked hot tomorrow.

Holy fwying wabbit twacks, Batman!

2011-06-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

It's going to be hot this weekend. Oh-holy-hell hot. The kind of hot that makes people curl up in a whiny ball of please-don't-let-the-a/c-die-today and offer up their first born kids to make sure that doesn't happen. Predicted highs are over 100, somewhere between 101-104, but as far as I'm concerned once it's over 95, it's whine-worthy-heat. Hell, let's be honest, if it's over 85, I'm complaining

The training schedule calls for 13 miles on Saturday and 9 on Sunday, and I'm thinking "Ehhhhhh...maybe."

I'll get up as early as I can force myself on both days and walk until I'm uncomfortable, but I'm admitting it up front: if I don't hit my mileage either day, I'm not losing any sleep over it. I'm getting into the experimental frame of mind, anyway. I know I can walk 15 miles. It's not even a "Well, I might be able to walk it;" I know I can. And I'm 99.9% sure I can do it three days in a row, barring injury.

Magic socks!

What I need most is to condition my feet for it--the rest of me can do it, but I imagine my feet might have something to say about it--and to build on my own endurance so that I'm not so beat up by the end of the San Francisco 3 Day that I can't recover in time for Atlanta.

I ordered a dozen more pairs of the spiffy Wrightsocks double layered wonder-socks to help keep my feet happy. So far this year the socks are the only special thing I've done to my feet--no Glide, no antiperspirant--and I've only had one hot spot. I slapped Moleskin on it and it never did blister up. I carry the Glide on my longer walks just in case, but so far the socks alone seem to agree with my sensitive tootsies.

I've also been hitting the pool at the gym and swimming. Swimming slowly, for sure, but a mostly non-stop (I have stopped for like 10 seconds a few times for some water) freestyle stroke that seems to be helping my walking pace.

I need prescription goggles...

This morning I walked 5 miles and then hit the pool and swam for an hour. The key thing for me here is that the 5 miles was an easy walk, and at the end of the hour I still could have stayed in the pool for another half hour or so. So the plan now, in the interest of continued conditioning, is to walk every day for 5-6 miles, then swim, and only do one long training walk.

As my cardiac conditioning improves, I'll probably add the Street Strider in there a couple of times a week (because as I've learned, that's one hell of a workout, and I'm not in Strider shape...) We're also planning on heading into San Francisco at least every other week to walk the hills and get ready for that.

It was suggested to me recently--and surprisingly by more than one person--that I should approach this whole thing knowing that I can always jump in a sweep van and skip chunks of both walks. Like, why work out so hard?

Well, if I was footing the bill for the whole thing myself and doing it just for kicks, I'd be all right with that. But a whole bunch of you have donated a whole bunch of money, so I damn well better be doing what I can to be able to walk 120 miles in 6 days.

It's one thing if something happens and I have no choice but to hop in a sweep van; it's a whole other thing if I have to do that because I didn't prepare well enough. I did have to skip 2-3 miles on day 2 of last years' walk; we were nearing the end, heading towards the hill from hell leading back up to the Golden Gate Bridge, and there were serious doubts about whether or not my back and feet were going to be able to handle it. Roberta pointed out the nearby sweep van and strongly suggested it. So yes, I did take one last year. I'd like to not take one this year. I know now what parts of my body were most affected; I'm hoping to condition myself into being able to tackle that mother of a hill this year.

It's your money, folks. So far you've chipped in for me to walk my furry little ass off in San Francisco, and I have high hopes of getting at least half the amount for Atlanta.

But...if it's over 100 this weekend, I may be curled up in a ball on the sofa instead of pounding the pavement, byt you can bet I will do everything I can to be in the shape I need to be...even if it is still round.

Drip...drip...drip...

2011-06-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

Last year I battled blisters. By this time I was trying to figure out how to protect my feet and failing in a fairly spectacular style, what with getting blisters under my blisters and going through Moleskin the way I would have liked to have gone through chocolate.

This year the feet are holding up; today I realized I had a hot spot around mile 7 (out of a planned 12) and slapped some Moleskin on it, and it was fine.

Not me...I sweat way more than that...

This year, my battle is going to be with heat.

We went to Six Flags a few days ago and spent the day just walking around, chewing through five miles of blacktop. It wasn't even a hot day, but I had to stop and seek shade a couple of times because the heat was getting to me; the first time we caught the Shouka whale show and reveled in the shade and the nice breeze that kicked up, and a couple of hours later we ducked into the dolphin show...where the was no breeze but plenty of shade, and during which I almost told the Spouse Thingy I needed to just go home. I felt a little queasy and very twitchy, and wasn't sure how much longer I could take walking around the park.

By the end of the 20 minute show, though, I felt much better. He got us another drink, we sought out the little shack that sells mini-donuts, and then walked back to the front of the park to grab my new pink cape.

I felt really wimpy when I checked my phone and the weather app said it was only like 72, but the Boy assured me later it was in the mid-80's. And being in a place where we were walking on blacktop with little shade, I didn't feel too bad about getting overheated.

But then came today and a planned 12 mile walk.

When I took off it was 65 degrees out and there was plenty of shade to walk in. I immersed myself in an audio book and mindlessly wandered around town, and was enjoying it quite a bit, because the book is Craig Ferguson's "American on Purpose" and he's reading it...it's funny as hell. A very good way to pass a few hours.

At around 5.5 miles, though, I started feeling the sun beating down on me, and decided to head for McD's and their wonderful $1 large drink. I could take a break there, enjoy the a/c, and I'd only need 5 more miles after that.

I hit the door at 7 miles, took a 20 minute break and then went outside to take care of my feet (because really, I am not gross enough to do it inside the store) and decided I had cooled down enough, and off I went.

I couldn't find any shade to walk in.

The more I went on, the more miserable I felt. After a mile, I headed in the general direction of home because I was starting to feel like crap. Queasy and twitchy. Irritable. I went into Safeway and bought some Gatorade, but that didn't help much.

I continued towards home, reasoning that I can walk the streets around the house and kill off the rest of the distance, or failing that, I have a treadmill.

At 9.5 miles I was near the house, and there was no choice...I had to go inside. I was close to painting the sidewalk in grape Gatorade, and my gut was churning, which meant I risked painting the pavement on much worse.

So here I sit, trying to cool down, annoyed as hell because it's only 84 freaking degrees outside, and I got overheated.

I'll finish the last 2.5 later, either on the treadmill, or I'll wait until the sun is starting to go down to walk outside.

On tap for tomorrow is 7 miles; hopefully I'll get out a little earlier and get it done before I lose the shade, or I'll head into Vacaville and walk there, where I know there's plenty of shade around the Factory Outlet Mall.

I want to finish the book, after all...

Edit...my pedometer has me at 11.5 miles. Believe the GPS, or the pedometer? Hmm...

I'm melting...

2011-06-21T23:09:00.000-07:00

It's hotter than fark here right now, so even though I should have walked today, I did not. I might walk tomorrow, though said walking will likely take place at Six Flags (because that totally counts) but today was for swimming.

And not in our cheap plastic round pool in the back yard. One, you can't really do laps in it. Two, it's a lovely shade of green right now and the idea of getting into does not appeal to me.

The pool at the gym, that appealed to me. So we braved the heat going from the house to the car (because truly, it was melt worthy. Like almost 100. Almost. We are weenies...) and then from the car into the gym, and I was actually able to get a lane to myself.

That was nice. No trying to share a lane with anyone, no trying to swim around the Spouse Thingy.

Now, the nice thing about the swimming, aside from enjoying it, is that I'm already noticing a benefit to my cardio conditioning. My pace is a little faster--not a lot, but still noticeable--and when I do push I don't feel like my heart is about to pop.

And that is a very good thing, having a non-popping heart.

It looks like the weekend will be a little cooler, so getting out there for 12 on Saturday should be fine as long as I get my asterisk out of bed early enough.

That...that my be my downfall...

3 to go...

2011-06-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

I got started later than I should have today, but when I did get my asterisk out there and walking, I was motivated. I was going at a decent 17.2 minute/mile clip (which for me is pretty speedy) and was really feeling it. But today also must have been Be Out With Your Puppy Day, and I cannot resist a puppy that shows an interest in saying Hi to me.

Not one of the actual puppies I encountered today...

In the first hour and a half--time enough to walk five miles--I was stopped by at least 6 different puppies, each demanding to sniff my fingers and then have me scratch behind their ears, so by the time I took my first break I was only at 4 miles.

No biggee. Sometimes you just have to stop and scratch a puppy.

But then it started getting warm. I walked another mile, started feeling not so hot and decided I needed fuel, so I stopped again to eat, and presumed all was well. I was fed and well hydrated, so it was time to knock off the next 7 miles.

Except...that little burger was not settling well. Kinda like last week. So I think I need to find something else I can tolerate on my walks. I kept going, thinking sooner or later that burger would have to find a spot in my stomach to just settle, but by then it was a bit warm and I was away from shade.

At a little over 7 miles, I was close to my car and decided I stop for a while. I'll go back out after it cools down a bit for the last 3 miles.

Tomorrow is 5 miles...I think I'm going to ride out to the gym, park my bike and stow my gear in a locker, and walk in Vacaville. After I'm done, unless it's way too crowded, I might jump in the pool for a bit, or at least soak in the hot tub for a few.

Presuming I remember to take a swimsuit.

I don't think they'd appreciate a nekkid Thumper in the hot tub...

It's cardio conditioning, yo....

2011-06-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

Totally not me...

I can walk a mile in about 17 minutes if I push.

I can swim a mile in about 30 minutes.

Clearly, my idea of a SGK 3 Day SwimFest is not a good one.

Might be fun, though...

In other news, we joined a gym and I'm using the pool for some cross training. I managed half an hour nonstop today, but I also walked 5 miles before that, so I felt totally justified in declaring myself done after 62 lengths (1500 meters) of the pool.

In other other news, no one has hollered "That she blows!" as I swim past them... So I have that working for me.

I Just Said I'd Do What?

2011-06-12T15:13:00.000-07:00


Really, she looked a little like this when she looked up from the computer

Yeaaaahhhh...

Kinda like that.

I'm $508 away from reaching my fund raising goal for San Francisco. I can Twitter and FB and bug people for that amount. Not worried about it.

So.

Sooo...

I went and registered to also walk in Atlanta Oct 21st. That means raising $2300 more. If other people can raise $4600 for a single walk, I can do it for two.

It's for the boobies, people!

In other news, today's six was done in Vacaville, about 10 miles from here. I parked at the Outlet Mall and walked a loop around it, Walmart, and Target...right about 3 miles. It was SO MUCH FUN that I did it again.

Almost got hit by a car, too. That was fun. I was crossing at a parking lot entrance--I looked before I started across, but there was a bush there so we didn't see each other--and voila! There was a car! The driver freaked and screamed out her window OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY ARE YOU ALL RIGHT and since she actually stopped about 2 inches from me I replied quite nicely "You got DIRT on my little finger!"

She thought I was serious.

I bet she creeps around corners for the next week.

Oh, and lesson learned... A Diet Mountain Dew is $1.66 inside Walmart, but if you get it from the vending machine right outside, it's $1.25. I shall remember that and save a few cents next time.

Eat The Burger...Maybe Not

2011-06-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

The weather was very cooperative for a ten mile walk today. It was in the mid-60s with a light breeze when I left the house, and 77 with a strong breeze by the time I got home. It was warm enough for shorts, but never got anywhere near uncomfortable.

Well, other than after I stopped and had lunch.

I knocked off the first six miles at a pretty good clip, hovering around a pace of 18:15/mile, which for me is zippy. I was right in front of McD's at that point, so I went in to make use of the facilities, and decided I'd better eat something, so I grabbed a burger and a drink.

Usually, this is not a problem. Other food rears back and attacks me if I eat and then start walking around, but I have a good track record with the little burgers...though the last time I got one it didn't set well with me, and this time I got half a mile from McD's and turned around to go back before horrible, awful things happened. I sat down for another 25 minutes or so to make sure it had passed, and headed back out for the last 3 miles.

Uneventful, the way I like it.

I may have to find something else to eat along the way if the burgers are going to start being a problem. It won't be an issue with tomorrow's 6 miles, but next weekend's 11...I may need to figure it out before then.

On the non-food front, so far this year my feet are holding up. They're sore at the end of the longish walks, but I haven't had any blister issues yet. Fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Have feet, will walk

2011-06-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

Online check-in for San Francisco has begun. Ya know, provide medical information, give them your insurance stuffs, take the safety quiz (don't tell anyone, but I didn't watch the video. Still got 'em all right...) buy towel service, and pick a tent mate.

People.

This year, I will not get a tent to myself.

This year, I will tent with a snorer. Now, I've told him to NOT snore, but you know men. They never listen.

But. we're both checked in and now just have to wait for the hotel info to pop up on the 3Day site, and I have to keep walking. I really feel like I could do it right now, if the route were flat. I need some hills...I envision many days in San Francisco to walk them, plus the gym has an incline trainer and I may give that a whirl.

As of tomorrow...90 days!

The Return of the Stink

2011-06-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

Yep...I'm back to smelling ammonia after a long sweaty walk. Clearly, this means I need more carbs on board. So I really should stop at the donut place along the way. And maybe on the way back, too.

This was from yesterday. Apparently I walk at nearly 4 miles an hour without breaks.

I knew that 10 miles seemed a little long.

Could be, too, that I forgot to turn the Garmin off when we were done, and it recorded the distance between the outlet mall and home, and I didn't notice it for about an hour.

I prefer to think I killed that nearly 20 miles.

On tap for today was 6 miles. It was cloudy when I headed out, with the potential for more rain, so I wore a sweatshirt...I should have factored humidity into it, because by the time I stopped for s short break at mile 4, I was overheated and nauseous.

Fifteen minutes in Mickey D's and a large Diet Coke later, I was fine...took the sweatshirt off and headed out for the last two.

And promptly overestimated where I'd need to go to get 2 more miles. I only overshot it by half a mile, but my ego was wounded. I should know distances by now, right?

Right.

...and I didn't melt...

2011-06-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

10 miles.

It was wet.

It was cold until I warmed up.

It was really boring for the first 3.5 miles.

Then DKM showed up to walk with me

(she threatened to just watch and cheer)

and the next 6.5 went a lot faster.

Much easier walking with a friend.

Tomorrow...6 miles.

Did someone say "Prizes?"

2011-05-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

Why, I believe it has been mentioned once or twice.
The final details are still being worked out, but here's a tease...

I am way behind on starting my fundraising, but there will be a 16GB Nano, An Amazon Kindle 3 w/3G, and a 1st generation 64 GB 3G iPad.

$5 gets you a shot at any of them.

Drawing date, etc, will be determined soon.

Gotta get going, though, because I'm $2200 behind on a $2300 goal... (if you already donated, you're already entered...)

OK, We're getting serious now...

2011-05-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

I've been babying my back the last few weeks, hoping to get to a point where I wasn't still fighting the pain left over from my little winter oopsie last December. I've walked, but not nearly as much as I should and certainly not according the to SGK Training Schedule.

I finally had a few days of relatively low pain, so today seemed to be a good day to jump into it; the schedule calls for this weekend's long days to be 8 miles one day, and 6 the next. Six is no problem; I've done it. It's a comfortable distance, though I've been ending those six mile days with a whole lot of Motrin and one or two nights that required Vicodin to be able to lie down and sleep.

It's all prep for this lovely view...

I headed out this morning with eight planned, but I made sure my route would allow me to cut it short and be home around six if I needed.

Funny enough, at about 3 miles I needed Motrin, but not for my back; my knee was cramping. I was right by Safeway, so I went in and bought a bottle, and dangit wouldn't you know that you're not supposed to take it on an empty stomach, and mine was certainly empty, and Solano Bakery is right there...

That was a tasty donut.

In any case, the rest of it was pretty uneventful. By mile 5 I was pretty sure my back was going to hold up just fine so I headed away from home, stopped at mile 6 to make use of McD's facilities, and then took the long way home. I hit the door at about 8.3 miles, and while I smell like I walked 8.3, I don't feel like it.

Next up: I joined a gym that's opening up in nearby Vacaville. They're going to have Yoga classes M,W,F at 11 am, perfectly timed for me, and I think that will be really good for my back and overall toning. They'll also have dedicated circuit training, which I enjoy (I hate places that have a circuit but it's not dedicated to it, so the gym rats hog the equipment and you never really get to do a circuit...) and all the other assorted gym stuffs.

I'm under no illusions; I no longer take growth hormone and have lost a lot of lean muscle and regaining it might be next to impossible, but I'd like to get in as good of shape as I can. I'll probably never hit the weight I want, but if I can get back to where I was this time last year (once I stopped the HGH, I regained a few pounds. Sucks, but it is what it is...) I'll be happy...for a while anyway.

Tomorrow...six miles.

Piece o'cake ;)

Unintentional Six

2011-05-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

When I left the house at 11:30 (after an internal debate about what I wanted to do more, walk or ride my bike) I only intended to walk 5 miles. I figured 5 today, 5 tomorrow, and start cross training next week.

I had a plan, peoples!

But then I got out there and realized I was hatless...I left my Skeezy hat sitting there on the sofa, and walking just doesn't feel right without it. I almost went back, but by then I was a mile and a half out, and figured that since I was only going 5 miles and it's not especially hot today, I would survive.

At 3 miles, I really wanted it. Sweat was running into my eyes, the top of my head was hot, and it felt like tiny bugs were crawling through my hair. I even ran a comb through it and checked, but thankfully, I was not carting critters around Dixon.

And then stuff started going through my head. I was stuck on wanting my Skeezix hat, and stuff just started forming in there.

To the tune of Jesus Loves Me

Skeezix digs me,

This I know

For the CB* tells me so

He sits there nice upon my head

So at mile ten I won't be dead.**

Try having that stuck in your head for a couple of miles.

I stopped for a Diet Coke at McD's since it was along the way (and to make use of the facilities...that's important, yes it is...) and checked my distance.

4.75 miles.

Still 1.5 miles from home.

So much for jst doing 5 today.

I hit the door at 6.25; my lower back is screaming at me so I'm not sure I'll get on the bike this afternoon. We'll wait to see it the Naprosyn takes effect.

Still, it was a nice 6.25 miles, with sunshine and the not-too-warms...

*Cat Blogosphere, in case you were unaware of this awesomeness
**'Cause, you know, Skeezy on my head prevents sunstroke and dying halfway though the day...

5 miles. but more importantly...

2011-04-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

Last year, I passed by this house frequently

But today:

Looks like they're finally getting around to beautifying my vistas...

Ramping Up...

2011-04-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

6 miles
1 Subway turkey & ham
1 "where the hell have you been?" yelled at me from a passing car
2 "Do you know how to get to Bud's?" from confused blondes...
Oh, and maybe the start of a damned blister :/

But...it's begun in earnest...But the real question is Can Thump train hard enough and well enough to do two walks? 'Cause she's seriously thinking about it...

It's 3 Day Season!

2011-03-27T22:38:00.000-07:00

Yep.

If you're walking in San Francisco this year, tomorrow morning--3/28/2010--marks the start of your training season.

Twenty four weeks to get ready.

Plenty of time.

Time lacking, though, is getting a $25 discount on registration. If you want to walk in SF and see Thumper dressed in something totally ridiculous, hop on over to The Susan G. Komen 3-Day For The Cure site and register, and use the code SAVE25 to save twenty five big ones.

Oh, and register to walk with team Rock The Pink. Because we're awesome.

Well...I may have to take my word back...sort of...

2011-03-16T18:50:00.000-07:00

OK, last year I said that if I met my goal weight, I would wear head to toe spandex at the following Bay-to-Breakers race. Not only have I not come anywhere near my goal weight, I've gained a few pounds. But, that's really neither here nor there. I'll be at the B2B, and I'll dress like a freak in exchange for a realllly good donation, but it won't be in this:

Oh yeah. Hot pink head to toe--covering everything, including the face--catsuit, courtesy of the sick, sick mind of Ian Murphy, with a little too much help from his better half Char.

Now, here's the thing... I have no shame sometimes. If I thought that I could use this thing to get a chitload of donations, I would vow to wear it at the B2B, or at least the first day of the SGK 3 Day. And that's what the Murfs had in mind. Aside from sticking it to me, that is.

The problem is with the suit design. It covers my face. It covers my feet--which is a problem in terms of blisters. It covers my hands. It's spandex, which means that as I sweat, it's gonna stick to me like toddler-flung snot. But the most important thing...peeing. This would make those potty breaks problematic. And having Diabetes Insipidus, that could be a major issue for me.

Plus, I would overheat in it.

However.

The Murfs don't give up so easily. Because Charlie was afraid that the catsuit would not be delivered in time (since it was coming from freaking CHINA) she sent something else.

Hot pink running tights.

That's still spandex, folks. Combine that with a hot pink t-shirt, black gym shorts, and another cape... let's just say I will feel like I'm standing out like a sore thumb.

SuperThumper.

If I can reach my donation goal by my birthday--that's $2300 by August 26--I will wear my hot pink superhero costume for at least the first day of the San Francisco SGK 3 Day.

If I reach it before my birthday, highest donor gets to decide what color I dye my hair...hot pink? Bleached blonde? I'll do it for a wad o'cash. And you bet there will be photographic proof.

Oh, and there will be prizes again this year. So stay tuned...

Consider this fair warning:

2011-03-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

If you're participating in the SGK 3 Day in San Francisco this year and are overheard whining during Day 1, on Day 2, you will be required to take this route back to camp:

Have fun, and you're welcome :)

This Totally Counts As A Training Walk

2011-03-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

A mindless day spent walking along the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

Meeting new people.

I think we did about 6 miles in total, from the Embarcadero BART station, up to Ghiradelli Square, then after we took a cable car downtown and wandered around there...

SF is becoming my favorite place to walk. I'm even starting to look forward to the hills.

Obviously, Roberta wasn't working hard enough last year if she was able to stop and smile on the fricking hill here.

Six months to the 2011 San Francisco 3 Day...I am soooo going to be ready for this...

Here We Go, Here We Go, Here We Go Again...

2011-02-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

All right. No more procrastination. DKM formed a team, so I registered for the 2011 walk in San Francisco.

I think I'll approach this will less uncertainty than I did last year; I know I can do it, and I know what I need to do to train--I just need to make sure I do it all.

This year the Spouse Thingy will be other there, too. Not as a walker--because he honestly does not have the time he would need to devote to training--but as a volunteer. He may be more valuable as a nurse than he would be as a walker. Because face it, when you're out there walking a whole buncha miles, things tend to happen: rad blisters, dehydration, falls and spills and broken bones... Medical-type people are very much needed.

Hell, so are ALL the volunteer crew members. Face it--the walkers wouldn't be able to stay the course without them. They feed us, make sure we stay on the right course, keep order, entertain the walkers, and cheer every step of the way.

So if you've had the itch to join in but don't want to can't walk, think about volunteering. It's a lot of work, but it's also a ton of fun.

Oh yeah, and most important right now...DONATE. To me. Because I'm that special :)

Oh, and to sweeten it... if I get $5000 in donations, I will totally wear hot pink spandex* on at least the first day of the walk AND I will dye my hair. Whatever color y'all want.

*presuming I can find it. If not, another color...

Um, yeah..I AM Training...

2011-02-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

Really. I am still walking. Mostly. Sort of.

I've had back and shoulder issues, no secret there, and many of the walks I'd like to have taken I didn't because, hell, who wants to go for a walk when it feels like someone has taken a hot poker and jammed it into their lower back?

Granted, my back is much better, but I still have days... and now that my back isn't in absolute agony, I notice how much the shoulder hurts, which is no fun after mile 2.

But, I do get out there when I can. Saturday we had beautiful weather, so I took two walks, 3 miles each, and the pace was pretty good. I even resisted the urge to stop for frozen yogurt.

Or maybe that was Sunday? :::Shrugs::: Damned if I know.

And no, I haven't registered yet. I'm not worried about missing out on the $25 discount for early registration; I'm not sure what I'm waiting on. Divine inspiration, maybe.

Someone to form a team, maybe...

I am trying to talk a couple people into making the trip to SF, but I don't think they're gonna. BECAUSE THEY DON'T LIKE ME.

Heh.

...And so we begin again...

2011-01-16T20:36:00.000-08:00

All righty now. After a few months off, more time than I intended due to a few injuries, it's time to get back into training mode. This year the San Francisco 3 Day Walk will be September 9-11, which gives me, um, 8 months to get ready? Eight and a half?

Math is hard.

My training this time around will probably be a little different. I have weight that I have to get off my body, and during all the walking last year I didn't lose a freaking thing. My diet was decent, so that leaves the calories burned, and obviously I wasn't burning enough, even though in the end there I was pushing 45-50 miles a week.

This year I may not do the massively long back to back distances that I did last year; instead I'm throwing in some harder cardio work--Trikking and I now have a Street Strider--and I may add weight training. That's a big maybe. That's a "we'll see how the change-up in workouts go" kind of thing.

I will get some long days in, because face it, you have to be able to do 20 miles in one day. The feet need to be acclimated to it. But I know too many people now who don't stick to the "official" training schedule--they make sure they have the 20 mile endurance and that their feet have toughened up--and they do just fine.

I had actually vacillated about doing it this year, trying to decide if I wanted to walk again or volunteer as crew, but I feel the need to walk. The Spouse Thingy is going to volunteer as medical crew, because face it, as much as they need warm bodies out there walking, they need trained medical perhaps a little bit more.

So. Onward.

Today's pavement pounding: 3 miles. Good enough start, considering I'm only a few days out of roughly 6 weeks of not-so-minor pain.

Oh...and the links for my SGK page, where I will eventually start collecting donations, don't work yet. I still need to register...

The Cost of Walking

2010-10-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I added up most of what I spent getting ready for the 3 Day. And...wow.

Six pairs of shoes. Yeah, six. Wore out the first two, got the next two too small, so got two more... $800

Socks, somewhere around 45 pair. Six pairs of Thorlos at $13/pr. Three pairs of Bali (I think that was the brand) at $10/pair. Eighteen pairs of Reebok at $36. And twenty-four pairs of Wrightsocks at $10/pair. $381. On socks.

Camelback (2...one waistpack and one backpack): $20 and $60
Other Waistpack: $10
Water bottles: $10
Cleaning Kit: $15
Sleeping bag: $70
Air mattress: $20
Air pump: $20
Suitcase: $80
Flashlights: $30
Tarp: $10
Blister care: $40

Total: $1566

That doesn't even include odds and ends, the clothing I bought because I didn't really have anything suitable for long walks, or all the burgers, drinks, and frozen yogurt I bought.

Granted, two pairs of the shoes were unnecessary, so I can subtract $280 from the total, but overall...I spent a lot to train and then walk nearly 60 miles.

On the bright side, I have all my stuff for next year, except shoes. So I kind of have to do the whole thing again to make it cost effective.

Right?

Right.

I'll start training as soon as I have all the feeling back in my feet. It's getting there, slowly but surely.

Four Days Post Walk

2010-10-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

And I still have an issue or two. One I expected: water weight. When you traumatize your muscles like that, especially when you're taking in a lot of salt (even though you're sweating like crazy) when you're done your muscles can hold onto all the water they can. The day after the walk my weight was only up a pound and a half; today it's a total of about six. No worries; I know what it is and it'll come off over the next couple of weeks.

One I didn't expect: numbness and tingling in my toes. I had issues early on in training with loss of sensation and some tingling in my left big toe, but that abated about 95%. I still had a little, but not a lot. On Day 2 of the Walk I realized I could barely feel that toe, but looking back to the numbness earlier I worried less about that than the hot spot that was developing where I normally get blisters.

I slapped some Moleskin on the hot spot and continued on; I didn't get a blister (though I admit, I thought I had...it felt all mushy under the moleskin and I was afraid to peel it off for what I might find under there) but I do have really sore balls of my feet. No surprise there.

On Day 3, halfway through the day I realized there was some tingling in my toes, but damn, we were going up and down the streets of San Francisco; there are some serious hills involved there (ok, they feel serious, but I think it's mostly that it's repetitive...up and down and up and down...) As we approached the last couple of miles my feet just hurt all over. Major hurt. But not unexpected.

It wasn't until I was in the car on the way home that I realized there might be a little more than just sore feet going on in my shoes; I presumed some swelling and didn't want to take my shoes off in the car for fear I wouldn't be able to get them back on. Since we were planning on stopping for food on the way home, I decided to keep them on.

We did stop, but when I tried to get out of the car I was so stiff--thanks to SF traffic it took us nearly three hours to get home--and opted to just pick up a pizza and take it home. When I was able to take off my shoes there was immediately relief--the feets were a little swollen--but the numbness and tingling was very apparent.

Monday morning, still apparent.

Same with Tuesday and Wednesday.

Today, I'm not sure if it's just a little bit better or of I'm used to it, but there's still quite a bit of tingling and sensation loss. No, I don't think it's permanent; I think the pounding on pavement and hills squished the nerves and they'll recover, but I'd really like to get back to working out before I turn into a giant blob, and if I start walking a lot now, who knows what I'll do to those nerves?

I'm giving it until next week; if they're still all tingly one week post-walk, I'll see my doc.

Still, all things considered--no FMS flare-up, no arthritic payback--my crappy body held up quite well.

...and we walked and we walked....

2010-10-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

10/4/2010

...and then we walked some more.

Blogger Babes for Boobies

Me, Phyllis, Michelle, Joette

Marty, Roberta, Karen

I have to admit, my tendency towards verbosity is failing me a bit right now. How can you describe an experience like 3 Day? Amazing, incredible, awe-inspiring don't even scratch the surface. Neither do hard, painful, and tough. But it was one of the hardest things I've ever done, definitely the most tough physically, and almost the worst in terms of pain. Yet it was also far more amazing and jaw-dropping incredible that I can even begin to say.

There were 1400 people walking in San Francisco, and at least 350 volunteer crew members. I'm sure everyone there had more than just "hey this will be fun!" as a reason for doing this. I saw many, many names on shirts and signs, visible reminders of how much has been lost to breast cancer, how many have beat it, and how much more can be done.

If you've ever wondered if you could do something like this, two things to consider: how much you of yourself do you think you can dedicate to training for what will become Something Significant in your life, and...fark, Thumper did it.

Now, I knew there were going to be a lot of people walking and crewing for this event, but I didn't know. It's one thing to hear that there will be over a thousand people playing in the same game as you, but it's a whole other thing to see it. It's a whole other thing to feel it. The vibe is intense, and the atmosphere is electric; even if you walk into it alone, you won't be alone.

If you can be part of a team, it'll be even better. You'll start as friends; three days later you'll be friends. You'll end feeling like you couldn't love these people more. You'll see more things to admire about them, you'll appreciate their resolve, and you'll be amazed by how tough they are.

You'll be amazed at how tough you are.

I will admit, I had moments of pride over the three days we walked. I faced a few obstacles that I normally avoid like the proverbial plague. Steep hills. Massive numbers of stairs. In any other situation I would have turned and found a less painful way to get from point A to point B, but with teammates by my side (and behind and in front of me) I went ahead and tried. And with only one exception--I had to avoid a Hell Hill on day 2 in order to be able to tackle day 3--I did it.

Yet, anything I did paled in comparison to the people around me. Roberta walked with a painful³ blister under her big toenail on one foot and a fitful arthritic toe on the other. Michelle walked with sciatica. Joette walked with a bad knee. And Karen...holy crap, Karen had major surgery just a few weeks ago and has undergone follow up treatments since then.

They all had reasons--not excuses but very valid reasons--to drop out, but they committed to it. I wasn't just impressed...I was blown-away-impressed.

No one whined, either.

There may have been some sharing of information--"Ow, my foot hurts," "Dammit, I think I have a blister," "There's another damned hill"--but there was no whining. How can you whine when you're walking for people who have been through so much more? You just don't. You put forth things for information, as Roberta said many times, but you do not whine.

So I did not whine. I did not whine a lot.

I did not whine about how damned cold I was in the tent the first night (and I equally did not squeal with bot delight and damn-I'm-stupididty when Michelle pointed out an important flap I had not closed, thus letting in all the cold and wind. I did not whine about the fog, wind, and cold the next morning as we headed for and then crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, nor did I whine as we descended Hell Hill. I also did not whine on day one when we approached the never ending (all right, 133 steps) stairs we had to climb in Land's End park. And I didn't whine on day 3 when confronted with ascending Hell Hill #2 in the city (Clayton & Ashbury, I think.)

I did share a lot of information in the form of "son of a bitch," "dammit," "Oh, fark," and a few other descriptive phrases.

My teammates discovered a few things about me as well, I believe. They think I'm quiet (eh...I just don't think fast enough for normal people conversation, I believe; it's easier to write, so that I can edit.) I won't sing along (originally I just didn't know the words...then it was just funnier to not sing.) I don't dance (ok, that's just because no one should have to see that.) Yet, they didn't shun me halfway through, so I don't think I was too socially unacceptable. ;)

Am I all over the place yet? My head still is... The thing is, it would take way too long to really pick apart and describe it.

But it was amazing. Painful. Joyous. Tough.

And I did it with some truly incredible women, who deeply inspire me.

On to 2011.

A few pictures...more are at my Flickr page...but it might take a while to get them tagged and descriptions added, and they're in no particular order.

Blog post coming...

2010-10-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

We survived the 3 day, and it was an incredible and overwhelming experience...so much so that I need to pick through my brain to find the things I want to say.

But you gotta know, the cape was there... :)

Stay tuned for a real post...

and we're waiting, waiting...

2010-09-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

Killing time until we hop in the car and head for SF; it seems a little surreal that the walk is tomorrow, that after all the time training, it's finally here.

As long as my feet hold out, I think I'll be fine. Blisters are my main worry, followed by movement-induced food intolerance and not knowing my tent mate. But mostly, blisters.

Out of curiosity, I pulled out the Garmin and checked the history. Since my first training walk on May 11, I've logged in just a little under 600 miles and burned through 65,000 calories.

You'd think I would have lost a few pounds, but no. I may actually be up a pound or two.

Still... It's been an amazing thing to do, something I never thought I'd even try.

Onward to San Francisco.

My bag is packed, I'm ready to go...

2010-09-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

~~...standing here outside your door...I hate to wake up up to say goodbye...~~

Yep, it's only Tuesday and the walk isn't until Friday, but I'm packed. I thought it prudent to pack early, and it was a good idea because when I started packing last night I realized my bag was just this much too small. So the Spouse Thingy and I went tp Walmart today and got a slightly bigger bag, and this one is really spiffy. It's not a whole lot bigger, a 29" compared to the 27" bag I already had, but it's bright red and has 360^o wheels.

It truly is all about the spiffy.

Now I sit here and twiddle my thumbs until Thursday, when I'm heading into SF to spend a night in a hotel before the walk starts on Friday. And don't worry, the cats aren't being abandoned...they'll be cared for. So any party they had planned...it's not gonna be as fun as they'd hoped.

Three more days! Well, two until I meet my team mates! I promise to not throw up on anyone.

I'm excitable, don'tcha know ;)

Taking names

2010-09-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

9-24-2010

Today's intended distance: 10 miles.
Today's reality: 8 miles.

Not a real worry; I cut it short because when I stopped to change socks and check my feet, I felt the start of a very small blister, and this close to the 3 Day I'm not willing to risk making it worse by continuing on. So I slapped a blister bandage on and headed home, and we'll see what it looks like later. There's 8 miles on the schedule for tomorrow, but again...not gonna risk it if that thing looks like it'll expand.

Now the big thing...

For at least the first day of the walk, I've got this spiffy pink Supergirl cape, and I'm not afraid to wear it. What I'd like to do is write on it the names of people we've lost to breast cancer, and the names of people who have survived it. Uppermost name will be Anne Burkinshaw, a friend of mine (we had the same birthdate!) who lost her battle with breast cancer years ago. I miss her, and walk to walk in her memory.

I'd also like to carry the names of those important to you, including yourself. So if you're a survivor, you've had breast cancer, you lost someone or care about someone who has survived it or is going through treatment for it, and want me to carry their name, just leave a comment with their name, and if you want me to write "in memory of" or "in honor of" with their name.

If the cape proves too unwieldy, I'll also write the names down on either my t-shirt, or even a white handkerchief that I carry in a pocket...but those names will go with me the entire walk.

I will be honored to carry these names with me.

It's the views, Marge...

2010-09-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

9-21-2010

Why I think walking 3 days in San Francisco will be a tad easier than walking 18 around home:

and

Views like this, they can keep you going, I think. We've spent several days in SF just walking around now, and I haven't tired of it. Granted, our pace has been slower than it will be on the SGK 3 Day, but we've pretty much kept moving all day long. Lots of stops and starts, but it's movement.

A couple of times I turned to ask the Spouse Thingy if I was walking too fast, and at one point I had to ask him, seriously, "Did you ever think I'd be the one asking that?"

Between us, it's been a typical question over the years. Invariably, it's him asking me; for me to turn to him and check my speed is a new thing. And I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it feels good. A reason it feels good is that he's not in bad shape; he Trikkes, and he's got some decent cardio conditioning going for him. But a year ago we wouldn't have even tried walking around San Francisco, because I couldn't have done it.

At least I didn't think I could do it.

Ten more days. I get more excited with each day that passes; sure, there are some nerves, but for me those nerves are tapped into my weird little phobias and not so much the whole walking thing.

I'm shy. I may not come across online as shy, but I am. This whole thing involves meeting people, people I already like but people I've never met nonetheless. If you ever wonder why the Spouse Thingy tags along with me so much, that's a major reason.

Another reason he's with me...I'm a freakishly weird about not being able to go new places by myself the first time. I do dry runs all the time, finding places I have to be at a later date, just because I have to. New restaurants, new anything, he'll go with me that first time. In that, he's my enabler, but in the sense that after that, I'm able. I can go alone.

(Unless there's someone new there, in which case I'll go alone but inside I'll be all OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!)

I have food issues. Not toddler-esque I'm not putting this odd looking thing in my mouth because it just looks wrong issues. My issues are more like, what's in it? Mushrooms? Please don't let there be mushrooms. Mango? Please no mango. I don't want to die tonight! Food allergies are a bitch, they make eating fun.

But worse than that for me is the slightly maybe major problem of being able to eat and then walk. Some not very pretty things can happen when I eat and then do anything other than sit there like a lump. Let's just be delicate and say I may be living on Immodium for three days...

So yeah, I have some weird phobias and doing this will tap into a few of them. But hell, so what?

I get to do this!

And I get to do it in one of the most scenic places on the west coast.

I have to admit, that when I began the training, in my head was this thing that was all, "You have to be able to take every damned step of the Walk; you have to keep going all day every day, and you can't take the sweeper van because that's failure. Other people can and that's perfectly fine, but if you don't walk every step of all sixty miles, you have failed."

Ya know what? I'm over that. I will do what I can do for as long as I can do it, and I will enjoy every second of it that I can. And how can you not enjoy walking around a city where a casual glance to your right pops things like this into your field of vision:

A sea lion at play.

Just ten more days...

Mmm Bop...

2010-09-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

9-18-10

8 miles.

8 uneventful miles.

That's a good thing.

I slept in a little, thanks to cats who for whatever reason decided to be nice to me, puttered around a bit, and then headed out. I was a little worried that my feet would hurt like a mofo after yesterday, but other than one little spot on each foot (same place on each foot, even, which tells me it's just how my feet were striking the surface) all was good.

I had some hip pain flare up around mile 6, but that wasn't unexpected.

I stopped at 6.5 for some frozen yogurt, and as I sat there, just outside the door, this guy walked up with his little girl, sho was maybe 5, and as he opened the door he said, "Don't tell Mommy."

LOL hell yeah, you know she told Mommy...

During part of the walk I listened to music, something I usually don't do (they won't let us on the walk, so I figured it wasn't something I wanted to train with. No point getting used to that) and I realized on the last leg that I was walking to the beat of the music. Not a bad thing, but I went from walking at a 20 mile/minute pace to a 15, and peoples, I'm too old for that chit...

I think on Tuesday we're heading back into SF to walk again, maybe scope out the Golden Gate Bridge, and figure out where the night-before-the-walk hotel is. This means we'll drive in, so if you strain and listen carefully, you'll hear a beau-coup* load of swearing riding on the breeze...

*That's French for butt-load. Really!

WooHoo, blister free

2010-09-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

9-17-10

I couldn't face the idea of 18 miles in tiny Dixon this morning, so I headed to Vacaville to start at the Factory Outlet stores again. I got there before they opened, so I had a good hour of walking around it by myself, and by the time people started showing up, I decided to wander off the outlet store area and walk around town.

Ok, a little corner of the town. Vacaville is small, but still quite a bit bigger than Dixon.

I made sure I went where there were places to stop.

Like the library.

Which has this spiffy fountain in front of it. It took some self restraint to not take my shoes off and run through it.

It wasn't exactly hot today, but it wasn't exactly cool, either. 85 with humidity...oh yeah, I wanted to run through the fountain.

After I'd looped around the library and wandered down Elmira Road, resisting the lure of the aromas Burger City was putting into the air, I headed back to the outlet stores; I was at 10 miles when I got there and stopped for lunch.

I decided to be different today and not find the nearest McD's for a burger. Instead I opted for Subway...kind of iffy when you have issues with eating and then walking. But I figured I'd stick to the outlets for a while, guaranteeing places to stop if need be.

I ripped the sandwich in half and stacked the meat on one side...I'm a little weird that way. But a smaller sandwich = less food to screw with me.

Another mile around the stores and I headed home to finish up around here.

Was boring.

Very boring.

I did start to have issues around mile 13; my hip decided enough was enough, and because my gait changed my knee joined in on that around mile 14. But by then I was a couple miles from the car, so there was no point in cutting it short. I timed it so that I would finish at Big Spoon Yogurt, only to find that today is their 5th anniversary special, and the first 100 customers after 5 pm would get free yogurt.

It was 4, and people were already lined up.

I fell to the ground and sobbed and wailed, and then went home to complain loudly to the cats.

They didn't give a damn.

Not that I would exaggerate or anything.

I Are Teh Smart

2010-09-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

9-16-2010

We had every intention of going back to San Francisco on Tuesday and racking up a few miles there, but the Spouse Thingy slept like crap Monday night and dragging him around half awake seemed kinda mean, so we switched plans and drove up to walk around the Galleria Mall in Roseville, where there were lots of places to sit and vegetate if he wanted or needed to. It worked out for the better, because I'm sporting new shoes and trying to break them in on a longer walk was probably not my best idea.

No, I saved my best idea for yesterday. I could have walked in the morning, but it was a nice day and we haven't taken a bike ride in a long time, and the bikes missed us terribly (shut up, they did so!), so we geared up and headed out for 75 miles of sun and zooms. But I still wanted to get a walk in, so at 6:30 I headed out.

Ya know, this time of year the days are already getting shorter.

And I'm night blind.

At 7:30 I was a mile and a half from home, the light was dimming and I only had about 5-10 minutes before it would be too dark for me to safely see...I wound up calling the Spouse Thingy to come get me.

The smarts, I has them.

On schedule for tomorrow: 18 miles. I may do like I did for the last 18 mile day, start at the Outlet Stores, maybe wander around Vacaville a little bit, and figure out where to go from there. Head towards home around lunch and finish there, perhaps. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

I'm stupid, but I finished...

2010-09-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

9-12-10

Thanks Max and his YOU WILL LOVE ME AND LOVE ME RIGHT NOW freak-fest at 4 a.m., combined with Buddah's quest for air conditioning the night before, I was a basket case this morning and when I rolled out of bed, one of my first thoughts (after "Why do I put up with you?" as Max head butted my boobs) was "I am not walking today. Nope. No way."

After I fed the little monsters and had some time to wake up, I pondered just doing a couple of miles. Maybe to the yogurt place and back. that would be doable. Now, I went ahead and filled my Camelback, slapped a blister pad on my foot, got everything ready like I usually do for longer walks. I don't know why; habit I guess.

A mile and a half in, I had a whole bunch of self-defeating chatter going through my head.

I feel like crap. I could turn around and go home.
Damn, I'm walking slow. Why am I so damned slow?
It's gonna get hot. I left late, and it's gonna get hot. I could go home now.
I wanna puke.
It is hot now..
No really, I think I wanna puke...

When the clammy feeling hit, the lightbulb went off in my brain, and I mentally slapped myself in the back of the head. I got everything ready to walk, but I neglected to fuel up; I left the house without having had breakfast, my blood sugar was low, and yeah, I felt like crap.

So I headed for McD's, reasoning that I could still turn around and go home, and by the time I was doneI'd have 3.5 miles, and that's not too bad.

But, kinda like I expected, within 5 minutes of downing the burger and refilling my cheap-assed large drink, I felt much better. So I decided a few more miles wouldn't hurt.

I wandered along my usual route, but when I spotted a bike path from the corner of my eye, I decided to follow it just to be different. It's nice and wide, plenty of room for people on foot and people on bikes or Trikkes, but it's hardly ever used.

I've only been on if a few times, and only pass maybe one other person every time I'm on it.

This is probably why...those cars.

The path runs along I-80 and when there's a lot of traffic--which is most of the time--it's pretty loud. Today wasn't too bad; I passed a guy on a bicycle, wasn't wishing for ear plugs, and at the end of the path is a Carl's Jr with a conveniently located restroom.

I availed myself of the opportunity and headed back out...and realized after a few minutes that I had paused my Garmin and not turned it back on. So I turned around and walked back, guessing it was about a quarter of a mile, and mentally rewarded myself a bonus point for nailing it. I headed back up the bike path and continued on, trying to figure out what mileage I'd be at by the time I got back around to the yogurt place.

6.5 miles. Perfect.

From there it's a mile and a half home...which would give me 8 miles in total. Considering I wasn't planning on walking at all, and then was going to cut it short, I impressed myself.

Yeah, I'm easy that way.

Uneventful...

2010-09-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

9-11-10

...but these guys were a little bit distracting...

'Tis apparently the beginning of soccer season. The park, which is normally very quiet save for the few regulars walking its perimeter, was overflowing with kids and parents and siblings. The parking lots were full, street parking slots all taken. And the noise? There's nothing like hundreds of little kids all jockeying for attention of one sort or another all at the same time.

I had to stop and watch for a few minutes. This is one of the things I miss about having a sport-aged kid (or band aged, drama club aged, take your pick, it was all fun.) Watching the tiny ones learn to play is at least 4 different kinds of fun, and it was worth the break in my stride and the few extra minutes to see some excited 5 year old score a goal.

Other than that, today's 10 was just routine. And yes, I did stop for frozen yogurt. I had to pee, they have a restroom, it was right there, and not buying any would have just been rude.

And I'm nothing if not polite, dammit.

But..But...

2010-09-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

9-10-10

Here's the problem with moderate distances being easier now: I don't feel justified in stopping for frozen yogurt. Six miles used to be a reason to stop at around mile 4.5 to indulge, but yesterday's six didn't feel like effort enough to warrant the reward. I'm not even sure eight is enough now.

Tomorrow's ten? That might. I'll probably stop around 5 to change my socks and check my feet, and around 8.5 if I'm near Big Spoon, I'll stop. I don't think I'll maneuver it so that's where I am at 8.5, but I'll feel like it's all right to stop if I am.

Today was shopping for odds and ends to pack for the walk; I think I have most of what I need. I probably ought to count my socks and make sure I have enough for changes every 5 miles...and I need to blow up my mattress to make sure it's usable and make sure the pump works, and check my sleeping bag, but as far as stuff...I think I have it all.

Three weeks from today, people!