So Close....34 days away!

Last Sunday, we changed up our route a bit and walked about 10.5 miles. The weather was very mild so we could have walked more. It was the first walk since probably April that we haven't been covered in sweat. It was a nice change.

Creepy, Crawly Critters

For some reason today the little critters were out on our walk in force. We saw numerous spiders and kept walking into webs. Ewww! We also saw a couple of frogs, a few little lizards, and one very small snake. Even though it was small, it still gave me the creeps.

We walked for 3 hours before it got too hot. We're still dealing with high humidity and temperatures in the 90s. That makes long distances a chore. It was nice today though because we saw some hot air balloons. The Plano Balloon Festival was this weekend and they launched this morning. Several were very close to us and we had a good view. It was a nice treat for our Sunday walk.

We've both reached our minimum fundraising amount!!!! However, I know we'd both be thrilled to reach our ultimate goal of $2500. Six more weeks to go....

Fundraising

Bree and I had a fundraiser at Chick - Fil - A in Murphy in August the week before school started. We were trying to get in before the schools start their spirit nights. We were both so tired after going back to work. It was still very hot and we both just wanted to go to bed. It turned out to be a fun night. We had great support from our staff members. Many of them hit the drive thru and dropped off their receipts and cash donations. Inside we had people spinning a wheel to win prizes. All of those proceeds went straight to us as cash donations. Bree had some former students come up and help with collecting donations. It was great to see some familiar faces and loving support. The pictures are somewhat of an indication what several months of fundraising will do to you.

Bree's mom has donated a case of her homemade red pepper jelly to us so we can sell it for donations. It is so good! They should sell pretty quickly. I know I plan on buying a few jars myself. Any proceeds from the pepper jelly plus what we made from Chick - Fil - A should put us at goal. We have 10 weeks left before the walk and we both hope to meet our goal of $2500.

Still Walkin'

Ok, so once again I've neglected posting for far too long. August has been a beast~ everyday has been a 100+ temperatures. Our morning lows have started in the 80s. Bree and I have still managed to walk every Sunday, but our mileage hasn't been as high as it should be. The last few Sundays we've only walked between 5 and 6 miles.
The weather is finally back to normal temperatures and our morning lows are in the 70s. That makes a huge difference in our weekly walks. Today we got out and walked 10 miles. Feet, hips, knees are feelin' great. I thought I might be a little sore after decreasing miles and then jumping right back into it. So far, so good.
Our next goal is to start walking double digit miles on Saturday and Sunday. We need to get used to walking back - to - back days on long distances.
Today was about a 3 hour walk and it flew by quickly as usual. We can get a lot of talkin' done in that amount of time and never run out of things to say. So glad we're taking this journey together.

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~