Also, a link to a few more photos from the walk. 

Yesterday, I was pleased  to realize my body felt okay.   A little weary, but [...]]]> I actually wrote this yesterday, Tuesday, but somehow put it in my drafts folder instead of the published folder.   Today is better still, after a massage yesterday afternoon (ouch!)

Also, a link to a few more photos from the walk. 

Yesterday, I was pleased  to realize my body felt okay.   A little weary, but that’s to be expected (especially given the week of travel before the walk itself).  Training works, as CR said.  Only sore muscles are on the front of my ankles and a little in my hamstrings.  Stretching also works.

I gave the dogs a short walk yesterday, which loosened things up a little, but afterward, I had to take a little nap.  Today, I gave them their full walk and an hour later, my arms are still shaky.  Still haven’t built the glycogen stores back up.  Honestly, I doubt it there would be so much fatigue if I were not also recoverying from a week of teaching very intensely. 

Luckily, the creative centers are firing happily and the girls sent up a really gorgeous bit of decoration for the MIP, one I hadn’t seen coming.   They really did just want to go sit on the beach that day, I guess.

I’m eating watermelon and drinking tons of water.  I have, however, seen enough of my pal Gatorade for a bit. 

Miles today: 16

Miles this week:  34

Ipod on shuffle, and heard things I didn’t even know were on there.

Feet are sore tonight for no reason I can name, except maybe just being on them a lot.   I ran out of water for the first time ever.  And I saw a [...]]]>

Miles today: 16

Miles this week:  34

Ipod on shuffle, and heard things I didn’t even know were on there.

Feet are sore tonight for no reason I can name, except maybe just being on them a lot.   I ran out of water for the first time ever.  And I saw a lilac bush leafing out!

The pitch: I have committed to raising $2500 by end of June. 33% there. YOU GUYS ROCK! Thank you.

It isn’t a sponsorship, but direct donations to each walker’s tally. The money goes to many areas of assistance to breast cancer patients and their families–for example, helping provide screening and care for women who are under- or uninsured, a cause about which I am passionate. You can see my tally and goals here. Or if you feel moved to donate, you can do so, here.

The disclaimer: We all have things we care about and no one can give to everything, in time or money.

Lilacs with Pikes Peak in background taken with cell phone camera

Training log for last week:

Truth: I took Saturday off because I was tired and sick of having [...]]]> It’s already Wednesday and I haven’t posted the training log from the weekend. Here it is, because I promised myself I would post it every week, to be true to the process of observation and training.

Training log for last week:

Truth: I took Saturday off because I was tired and sick of having something I had to do every single day. CR and I went to the metaphysical fair and someone read cards for me, which was fun. It turned out not to be my reading, but for one of my children, which was funny and weird, especially when that child called me five minutes later.

Sunday, I knew I had to go for 15 miles again. Not in the mood from the first, and less so after I heard a dynamic speaker was giving a program at Unity and I would have to miss it. Humph. But there is it–training is training. It’s not for anyone else but for me. I want to enjoy myself on that long walk, not die in pain and exhaustion at the end of it. I layered my clothes, filled up the Camelbak and off I went. Without earphones to start with, just listening to the day and the quiet. Not fun. I was bored. I was not in the mood. I bargained that I would only walk to eight–just eight, just do that much.

But around mile 2, something happened. My body warmed up. It was happy to have had a day of rest. I had a great breakfast (buckwheat pancakes, strawberries, soy sausages) and it kicked in just right, giving me energy and a good mood. By mile 3, I was hitting my stride and glad to be out and started listening to music. Arrived at the turn around point feeling pretty great, and I had the trail to myself quite a lot.

I would have taken a rest for lunch at mile 9, but the bench was taken up by a family with malamutes who were panting hard in the hot day. I did finally rest for ten minutes at mile 10, and aired out my feet. By mile 12, I was feeling it, and the final two seemed about three times longer than they were. By the time I returned home, I was starving, weary, and not up for anything but mindless television. I asked CR, “why are those two extra miles so much harder?” He just shook his head, wise endurance athlete, and said, “that’s just how it is sometimes.”

The next day, to stick with the training, I had to get out for the 7 miles, and to my great relief, it was fine.

All good information.

Miles this week: 25 (Sunday to Sunday). Long walk, 15; next day, 7.

On the Ipod: not a lot this time. I liked the sound of the river and the birds. Even the cyclists whoooooossssshhhhhinnnng by.

Snacks: Gu, a Luna bar, a bagel on the rest. Discovered that I do not like the tablet additions to my camelbak. Water is fine.

The pitch: I have committed to raising $2500 by end of June. 33% there. YOU GUYS ROCK! Thank you.

It isn’t a sponsorship, but direct donations to each walker’s tally. The money goes to many areas of assistance to breast cancer patients and their families–for example, helping provide screening and care for women who are under- or uninsured, a cause about which I am passionate. You can see my tally and goals here. Or if you feel moved to donate, you can do so, here.

The disclaimer: We all have things we care about and no one can give to everything, in time or money.

Discovery: eating [...]]]> Long walk day.  Almost five hours, including one small rest to eat an English muffin spread with Marmite and take off my socks for a few minutes.    I am somehow so much more tired than I was last week–it seems impossible it was only two miles more than last week’s walk.

Discovery: eating on the trail doesn’t really agree with me.  Only Gu and water.  Maybe a little bit of banana.  But a person can’t walk 8 hours or more without eating, so I’m going to have to figure it out.   Marmite is a weird and disgusting substance, but I remembered that it tasted excellent to me at the top of Pikes Peak, so I tried it today.  Weirdly, it tasted very good at hour #3.

It was still great.  There is no feeling I like better than the salty, sweaty buzz at the end of a long, long walk or hike.    Though really, it would be nice if I were suddenly rewarded with a 20-lb weight loss.  Doesn’t that seem fair? Long hike, show the universe you are earnest and devoted, and voila!  Instantly thinner!

Miles this week: 26 (not counting whatever I get in tomorrow)  This is a lot more than last week.  No wonder I’m tired.  And there won’t BE any miles tomorrow, so there.

On the Ipod:  Bel Canto for the first hour or so, then a switch to the classical playlist on my Ipod, which consists entirely of various Baroque strings and the odd waltz.  Lots of Marin Marais today, and some music from the dashing and heartbreaking Joseph Boulogne, the  Chevalier St. George, who is the person in history I remain most in love with.  (You may recognize him in Gabriel St. Ives, yes?)

Snacks: 1 Gu, an orange, English muffin with Marmite, one banana.

The pitch: I have committed to raising $2500 by June. It isn’t a sponsorship, but direct donations to each walker’s tally. The money goes to helping provide screening and care for women who are under- or uninsured, a cause about which I am passionate. If you feel moved to donate, you can do so, here.

The disclaimer: We all have things we care about and no one can give to everything, in time or money.

xoxo,

Barbara

I finally got out for a long training walk yesterday. 12 (or so) miles on the Santa Fe Trail, which runs in a ribbon between the railroad tracks and a fast-running creek. Ravens and blue jays were having skirmishes over best nesting locations. The [...]]]> Santa Fe Tail in Colorado Springs. Cell phone photo.

I finally got out for a long training walk yesterday. 12 (or so) miles on the Santa Fe Trail, which runs in a ribbon between the railroad tracks and a fast-running creek. Ravens and blue jays were having skirmishes over best nesting locations. The sun was bright, but it was windy, as spring often is around here. I took off my jacket, put it back on, took it off….for several hours.

I worked in the morning, finally breaking through to something real and honest and true in the misbehaving MIP (that would definitely be MESS until yesterday).  The weather is threatening to turn again today, so I desperately wanted to get out and do the next jump in my training walks, try out some different shoes (I don’t love the new Reeboks for long distance–they get too hot and clunky, though they’re fine for neighborhood jaunts), get my feet used to walking hours and hours.   All that.

What I most wanted was to be outside in the sunlight, walking.  Just walking.  Not doing anything, not thinking, just moving my feet over a path.  I didn’t want words, and only listened to music–mostly Patty Griffin, with her poetry and blues and folksy ways–but I sometimes listened to birds and wind and train whistles, too.

After a couple of hours, I stopped to peel the orange I brought with me, and realized that I hadn’t had a single real thought in six or seven miles.  It is, for me, a very powerful mediation technique.   I find sitting meditation to be fairly challenging, both the discomfort and annoyance of sitting still and the distraction of that four year old girl in my head, chattering and chattering.  I find myself following one thread, and another and another until it is 10 minutes later and I haven’t been still for one second.  But walking…meditation just happens there for me.  A thought might flit in, then out again, but none of them stick around to bother me.  The book slides by, riding the current of the river, but then the river itself captures me, real and deep and fast. I might think about the bills I need to pay or the garden or my children, but mostly….not.   It is the most singularly relaxing thing to do.

I suppose that means that walking isn’t really mediation, since it doesn’t require any effort or discipline to quiet my thoughts that way, but at least I get the exercise benefits.  Stong heart, strong thighs, and after almost four hours of walking, I definitely earned a treat, and very much enjoyed some beer last night!

Training log notes

Miles this week: 21

On the Ipod: Patty Griffin.  I now have all of her music on the Ipod, which is more of a treat than I can tell you.

Snacks:  1 Gu, an orange, a couple of string cheese, a bunch of water.  Might need to add some Gatorade at the end.

The pitch: I have committed to raising $2500 by June.  It isn’t a sponsorship, but direct donations to each walker’s tally.  The money goes to helping provide screening and care for women who are under- or uninsured, a cause about which I am passionate.   If you feel moved to donate, you can do so, here.

The disclaimer:  We all have things we care about and no one can give to everything, in time or money.

xoxo,

Barbara