Day 181

I got my 2nd pair of New Balance shoes at the 3Day Preview Expo and gave them a try last night for a 5 mile walk. They seemed cushy, but stiff, but overall I did ok. My right heel has already calloused but seems like it can't decide if it wants to get a blister or not. I'll have what looks like 1 or 2 small white blisters on my heel after walking, but by the end of the night they've disappeared. Maybe the callous is just defining itself. Not sure. I haven't tried the moleskin yet, because I've heard that once it's on it'll take a few days for it to wear itself off. I may just try covering the area with a bandaid for Thursday's 6 mile walk. This weekend is the big 17-13 back-to-back walks. Once I complete those my confidence level should be good.
I really need to give myself more credit. People a lot older than me have walked in the event, as well as people a lot less healthy than me. If they can all do it, I'm sure I can too.

Day 176

It's day 176, can you believe it? 176 days since I started this blog and writing about this 3Day journey that I signed myself up for. I'm less than $200 from my fundraising goal of $5,000 - still hoping to make it. My training is going well enough.
Last weekend I took my daughter to the 3Day Preview Expo. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it seemed smaller than I'd imagined. Don't get me wrong, it was all good information about packing, blister prevention, hydration, fundraising and what to expect on the 3Day adventure. I was also able to buy my 2nd pair of New Balance shoes at $30 less than what I paid for my first pair. That alone was a major perk for going.
My walking is going well. Bought some new socks today to try. I desperately need a sock that has wicking, but also has some CUSHION. Let's cross our fingers that these work. The 'shoe guy' at Dick's Sporting Goods swears by them. Today I walked 6.2 miles this morning by myself. If there's one part of training I'm majorly not fond of it would be walking by myself. Walking and talking definately makes the walks go by faster. Tomorrow morning I'm walking 8 miles with Laura. Next weekend is a big back-to-back walk (17-13, I think). I'd love to have good socks for that one. Not 'if', but 'when' I finish the walks next weekend, my confidence level will get a huge boost.

Day 169

It's a beautiful day outside. Clear blue skies & temps in the low 80s (I think). I will walk 5 miles tonight after work and am shooting for 14 miles tomorrow morning.
Saturday I will walk (unofficially) at the 3 Day Preview Expo event in Pontiac. I'll be meeting my sister there and bringing my daughter along as well. Am hoping to expose my daughter (who's almost 15 yrs. old) to the 3Day excitement. I'm sure she'll laugh when she sees the 2-person pink tents ... who knows? I may laugh when I see it too!

Day 166

Today is Monday and the start to a new week ... hopefully one that is productive! Surprisingly my training wasn't bad last week. I needed to walk something like 32 miles and managed to come in around 30 miles. I walked 12 miles on Friday but was unable to walk 10 on Saturday due to my niece's wedding festivities. Good thing I walked extra on the other days. It all added up in the end, but I'm still trying to get things coordinated so I can get in a couple of long back-to-back walks. I walked 5 on Thursday and 12 on Saturday, but that's not exactly where I want to be.
This weekend I'm hoping to walk 14 or so on Friday, but Saturday I'll be attending the 3Day Preview Expo. I'm sure I'll get lots of walking in there and I even promise to park REALLY REALLY far out in the parking lot!
Hopefully the following weekend my schedule eases up and I can get a few weeks in of walking long ones on Fridays and Saturdays.
I am looking forward to attending the Preview Expo though. It'll do me good to take some photos for the team members who aren't able to attend, and see for myself just how small a 2-person pink tent is.

Day 161

The past week was one with training challenges. I went out of town for a few days and was unable to walk my longer training walks on the weekend. I did wear my pedometer to keep track of my walking at the airports and while out sightseeing in downtown Boston. I was also able to walk 2-3 miles on the treadmill in the mornings at the hotel fitness center. While I realize that 'something' is better than 'nothing', I can't help feeling like I underachieved in my training for the week.
This week will be better but still not where I want it to be. Due to summer cutbacks with my job, beginning this week I will have the next 12 Fridays off. I plan to make the best of it and walk my longer walks on Fridays and my secondary longer walks on Saturday so that I will begin having my back-to-back longer walks. Unfortunately while I will walk at least 12 miles this Friday, I will not be walking on Saturday due to a family wedding.
My back-to-back training schedule will have to wait yet another week. Hopefully by the end of June things will slow down. At least I should have 5-6 weeks where I can walk the longer back-to-back walks before the 3Day event ... I just hope that it'll be good enough. I am still walking on Tuesday and Thursday nights, so that part of the program hasn't lacked.

Day 153

It was a busy Memorial Day weekend, one that was filled mostly with sunshine and blue skies. Last week was my best training week yet, just over 32 miles in walking
(12 miles on Saturday morning). I have yet to walk back-to-back days which concerns me a bit, but beginning next week I will have Fridays off which I am hoping will make the walking schedule more doable.
If I learned one thing on my first 12 mile walk it was the importance of sunscreen. I think because I left my house at 7:30am & starting walking at 8:00am I wasn't thinking about the sun getting hot. But we didn't finish our walk until about 11:30am and needless to say 'OUCH'. I was careful to add lots of sunscreen (too little, too late perhaps) and a short sleeved shirt that covered the worst of it once I got home. Unfortunately my husband and I had a lot of outdoor yard projects planned for the weekend that still needed to get done. 52 bags of mulch & a patio of flowers later and it's all done.
Thank you Lord for Aloe Vera!!!