3.5 on a new trail

Today was BEAUTIFUL! 70° and sunny. This is how it should be this time of year but for the last 3 weeks we have been in the 50-60's and rainy. I took advantage of the great day and went for a 3.5 miles walk on a new path. It is a biking/pedestrian path that I have been a bit nervous about walking by myself. A girl has to be cautious. I figured today there would be lots of people out and about and there were so I felt safe. It actually backs up to houses and apartments the whole way and isn't as secluded as I thought. The other bonus is that the path has a gradual decline in elevation so the return was a slight rise which gave me a better workout. My thighs feel it.

I got an application for my Android called Runstar. It records my miles and time based on GPS. It keeps track of your elevation and time too and keeps historical data so you can see how you are improving. I love it!! Since I like to wander on my routes this keeps up with my total mileage. I am sure there are several of these apps out there but this one was free. Yay!!

Nothing

I was a slug today.

3 Miles

Keeping to the schedule, today was a 3 mile moderate walk. Done! I took the waterfront area that has a huge hill to get up and down. Near the end I stopped in a local bookstore and picked up "Portland Hill Walks." There are 20 walks all over town. Most are 3-6 miles so great for training. They go through a lot of historic area and the book describes what you are seeing. I am excited to try one.

At the bookstore I was telling the owner about the walk and she said a friend of hers is doing the Seattle walk. I told her how I hoped to train with some of the local walkers who are doing that one. She then told me her friend was a walk trainer named Bonnie. When I got home from my walk there was an email from Bonnie, a local walk trainer, introducing herself and inviting me to a training walk. How funny is that!

Yay! Good day!

The official start

Over the weekend I received my first official training email for the walk. The weather turned nasty here a few weeks ago and I have been really slacking on the training so I figured this will be my fresh start.

I got in 3 miles today before the wind and rain. I guess I will either have to move the treadmill around into a usable space or deal with the rainy weather the next few days. We are very late in getting any warm weather and I will be so happy when sun gets to be part of my walking.

I went to one of those foot stores a while ago to figure out what was up with my feet hurting. Turns out I have high arches and very flexible feet. They said my feet are "special" so really only a $500 custom insert will help. I don't think my feet are that special. I ended up getting a $60 pair of inserts. The pain was immediately gone from the right, bigger foot. The left foot is 1/2 size smaller so the insert didn't work as well. Today I did some trimming and it seems to be better. The real test will be how my feet feel after tomorrow's walk, 2 days in a row.

24 weeks seems so close!!

One of the reasons I walk

I am one of the lucky ones who's mom is a survivor. We need more stories like this.

Hurting

I haven't been getting too much walking in this week because, basically, it hurts. I have tried just about everything. It's getting to where my feet feel bruised all the time because I keep trying. I think I am going to have to suck it up and go see a podiatrist. I hope it's not too expensive. Since my job ended a couple of months ago I no longer have the good insurance. I now have a crummy plan that hardly covers anything but hospital stays. Eh, it will be worth it in the end when I can walk, walk, walk without pain.

On the bright side, I am kicking tail at my fundraising!! Woot!!!

Well here it is, my new hip pack. It is from a company called Sherpani and it's really cute. It also didn't seem to rub anywhere wrong on my first test walk with it. It has a lot of room and interior compartments. It is nice and flat so I don't look any wider. I like that! Now that I am back from vacation I have started walking again. I got a couple of good 3 mile walks in last week. I am still having a foot pain issue and trying to decide what to do. Since being unemployed, my medical plan is not great and costs me a lot of money. I would like to try everything I can before seeking a medical solution.

Today while walking I started hurting around the 1.5 mile point which is where it happens each time. We took a path that let us back through my local downtown area and since I was able to keep some $$ in my hip pack, we were able to stop and pick up a dish of Gelato for the last of the walk home. After about 10 minutes of not walking my feet felt better for the last part of the walk. They seem to feel better as soon as I am not walking. Tomorrow or Tuesday I am going to try a 3 mile walk in the morning and then see how an afternoon or evening walk will go. Maybe I can work in 3 x per day. Fingers crossed.

I am excited to hear about my teammates Missy and Laura taking really good long training walks. Keep up the good work ladies, i'm trying to keep up. :p