I'm Back

This is the first time since I began training that I've taken a whole week off from walking. I was in Phoenix last week and Bree was in Prague. It was entirely too hot for me to walk in Phoenix. I still went to the gym and did classes, but no walking.
Yesterday morning I walked with my Saturday morning group. I walked 8 miles in a little under 2 1/2 hours. The humidity wasn't bad so it wasn't miserable. I could tell I'd taken a week off. My hips and knees were achy. I put on some Arnicare and was good for the rest of the day.
This morning Bree and I met at 6AM and walked 8 miles as well. So two days back to back have gotten me back into the groove. No soreness at all today and I walked in my new Nikes. They were great...no slipping, squeezing of toes, or rubbing.
Several people stopped us on the trail and asked if we're doing the 3 day. Yes, we usually wear a splash of pink but we're not pink freaks. I was wearing my "In Training" shirt with the pink ribbon, but people are usually so involved in their own walk or run they don't notice. Anyway, the people that stopped us said good job or good luck. It was nice and a good feeling for what we're doing.

OMG!!!

I walked 7 miles this morning in 90% humidity. Not a pretty picture at the end~ I looked as wet as the day we got caught in the rain.

I bought a new pair of tennis shoes yesterday. I tried on numerous pairs of shoes to find a comfy fit. I've read a lot of blogs by people who've walked in the 3 day before. Many of them swear by Asics and New Balance. Neither of those shoes like my feet! The Asics squish my toes on the outer part of my foot. New Balace do weird things to my arches. These worked because they're more rounded at the toe area so I have plenty of room. My Addidas, which I love, are similar and have worked great. I will be breaking in this new pair soon.

Once again I was at the back of the pack, but that's ok. I talked with a really nice lady, Suma, the whole time. She's a doctor as well, so two doctors on the training walk. Anyway, she was really sweet and it made the time go by more quickly then if I just kept to myself. Plus, the walk is about building camaraderie among women. It's nice to have another group to walk with when Bree is out of town.

Branching Out

The last few weeks we've branched out a bit with our walking. Most people have just started training in the past month. The 3 Day sends you a virtual training schedule with the appropriate mileage that you should be walking. Well, because Bree and I started walking in January, we're way ahead of the game. That's good though because the heat slows me down quite a bit.

Well, training walks are now being posted on the message boards left and right. When Bree was in North Carolina, I met with a group and walked 5miles with them. It was very hot but it was good to walk with some veteran walkers. Several of the ladies have done the walk before. So I got to pick their brains for tips and tricks.

Last Saturday, I walked again with the same group of people. We added on an additional mile and there was some light drizzle. I found out that they're all on a team and have trained together before. One of them is a doctor and another lady is an ER nurse. If something were to happen, they'd be good people to know on the walk.

Yesterday morning Bree and I started off our 4th of July with an early morning walk. She found a training walk over on her side of town. We walked from her house to the park where we were meeting everyone. The training walk was only 4 miles and at this point that's a leisurely stroll for us. Our extra walk added on 5 miles, so we ended up walking 9 miles yesterday. We finished in 3 hours which is our normal pace.

Observation from July 4th walk:

Reminded once again that it's a WALK, not a race.

I think it might be time for some new shoes~