What I was supposed to do!

Yes, an hour is a long time on the treadmill. And, yes that long does get boring.

But I should have done about 3 hours worth of walking, if I wanted to do my 10-miler.

And there is no way I would do 3 hours on the treadmill!!

Walking in Singapore

I'm not going to deny that the thought of walking here has made me a bit nervous. The hows and whys and whens... I've gotten confirmation from a few sources that it is in fact okay to skip out some.

I brought my Turbo Jam DVD (disc 1 didn't work at home, but it worked here. I hope that means the bad ju-ju is gone and it will work at home now) and did one of the workouts yesterday. That made me feel a bit better.

Today I got up, feeling better about the jet lag thing. I checked the outside temp, and it felt very humid. Since I was so off yesterday, I decided not to risk walking 3 hours in such conditions.

I went down to the workout facility in the building. I had the small room to myself at first. I walked quite a bit, then walked the perimiter of the pool area. I came back in, did a bit on the stairmaster, then back on to the treadmill. There's a 20 minute time limit. Mom and Greg said there was never anyone down there. Well, of course 2 people came in...

Oh, well. I managed to walk about an hour total. I feel better that at least it's something! And I know we do a lot of walking anyway. I figure as long as I'm not totally sedentary, I'll be fine. And I think I'll be able to get back in the groove pretty easily.

Few random things that are different here:
You have to turn on the switch for the outlets. So, when I made my toasted English Muffin today, I had to flip the switch by the plug to turn it on. Glad I knew that... but it did take me a minute or two to realize the same went for the treadmill!

I didn't know my kilogram and kilometer conversions. You know you have to put in your weight on the treadmill? I had NO clue what to even guestimate on... I knew 5 kilometers was about 3 miles. So I kinda had to guess on that when it asked how far I wanted to go.

Just the little things...

My Beach Blog from awhile ago

Although it was only a week or so ago that I was at the beach, I feel like it was a million years ago. Since then the Six Feet Under marathon has ended, and I have flown literally half-way across the world to see my mom and Greg. I'll write about those walks in a separate blog.

But first, the beach.

I was supposed to walk 10 on Saturday and then 6 on Sunday. Since there are no mile-markers on the beach, I just walked by time. I went 45 minutes in one direction, Kimberly with me for most of it, then back up to her house for a pit stop, then quickly back down for the next 5 miles. I knew if I stopped, I wouldn't be able to go again.

So, in total, I walked about 3 hours. Straight.

It was good. Made for a good nap not long after I got back and showered and ate. Walking on the sand wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be as it was pretty compacted from all the cars. And I found a cool shell to take home. There seemed to be enough that I could take just one.

Once again, the time with the people (i.e. the almost 1.5 hours with Kimberly) went by much faster. I've learned that it's better, for me, to listen to people. Like talk radio or morning shows or my new fave on Saturday mornings, Car Talk. If I listen to music, the music doesn't drown out my thoughts.

I know that all that walking could be a good time to reflect and think and plan and stuff.... but it's like it's too much. I can't get away from my thoughts. And that's not always a good thing. I'm sure some sensai would tell me that's the best time, but I just don't want to be stuck with my thoughts for so long. And not that I even have all that much to think on right now, anyway. But I'm sure once school starts again, I will.

Anyway, all that to say that I have learned I liked the spoken word more than the singing word during my long walks. That's not to say if I walked with someone and they wanted to sing that I would stop them...

But walking on the beach was nice. I did walk close to the water a few times, and even stuck my hand in it. (I tried not to let the thougt of the news reports of the flesh-eating virus get to me).

It was my first 10 mile walk, which meant I got to put another sticker on my lanyard.

Okay, maybe not....

I was supposed to walk 5 miles today. It was sprinkling a bit when I stepped outside. Decided to go. I made it about 3 houses and it started to rain a bit more. I have an old jacket in my camelbak; I could have put that on.

But I just didn't. For whatever reason, I just didn't have it in me to walk in the rain today. It's supposed to rain most of the day. Five miles on the treadmill isn't all that fun, but I may have to go to the gym to get that taken care of. Especially since I'll be on the plane (literally) ALL day tomorrow.

I will say, it's coming down pretty hard right now. I'd still be on my walk. I'm glad I'm inside.

An email from a fellow walker....

Congratulations to Debbie on the 10 year survivor anniversary and doing 10 miles to celebrate it.

Hopefully the rain will hold off this weekend. We were pretty drenched after this walk, I wasn't sure my sneakers would dry in time for the Sunday morning walk.

HillS of Terror!

As promised, my report on today's walk....


I survived the in-famous Hill of Terror. And what a terror they were. "They?" you ask? Yes, there were several.

We met at Murchison Middle School and started walking. Nice neighborhood. Then we got to the sign that said something about "steep grades" the next few miles. That'd be what we were to walk!


Here is the elevation map of what we did today:


See how it starts out at a nice small grade? Then it goes waaay down and then waaay up? Yeah, that's what we did. It was rough. It was steep. A lot of panting. A lot of heavy breathing. But such a sense of accomplishment.

So, I've done the "Hill of Terror." Felt good to do it. It was only 5 miles. Sometimes the group will do it back the other way. Yikes!

I'll be sure to feel it tomorrow (as if I'm not feeling it already today!).!

Yes, even in the rain!

Today the training schedule told me to walk 8 miles. A group of women were meeting at Brushy Creek, and I decided to meet them again, despite the early wake-up time on a Saturday. (Whatever, it's summer!). I had met them there before. It's an easy walk. It's a pretty walk. And the women I walk with are fun.

Rain was predicted. I don't have my perfect jacket yet, but did stick one in my camelbak at the last minute. By the by, I never used it. I was glad to have the hat Adrienne gave me for my birthday, though. Although not waterproof, it kept the rain out of my face.

The rain felt good. It was a steady rain. Not too hard, but not a sprinkle, either. Just a nice solid, steady rain. There were a few patches of trees and a few patches of dry-ness, but overall, I got back to my car pretty wet. Not soaked to the bone, but pretty wet.

They say you should train in all conditions. So, there was my rain. And no jacket yet to test out.

To be honest, I walked slightly less than 8 miles. But who's counting?

Tomorrow I'll be walking the "Far West Hill of Terror." It's "only" 5 miles, but I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. I hear it's tough.

Ah, the honest inocence of kids....

A few days ago, I had a "shorter" walk of 5 miles. It started getting dark (I went at night this time), so I trucked it a bit faster than normal. As I walked down one of the hills, I swung my arms pretty mightely.

I saw a young girl of about 8 and (what I assume to be her) grandmother approaching me. The girl swung her arms in a funny way, looked up at grandma, sort of pointed, then looked back at me and swung her arms some more.

It was obvious she was making fun of me. As I got closer, I took out my ear buds. As I passed, I asked, "Are you laughing at how I walk?" Without a pause, the girl said "Yeah." I kinda giggled. Grandma, trying to cover, said, "No, we're laughing at the deer." (Now, the deer really are all around the neighborhood. But really...)

Had I been wearing my quick-witted hat (which I apparently was not), I would have said "That's okay, I would have laughed at myself, too."

Just another day in the walking world.

This week's walking

Last week (well, the weekend) was pretty rough. Although I was very deep into the marathon of Six Feet Under at Kimberly's house, I couldn't help but nap through one of the episodes.

Today is a rest day. Whew....

Here's the schedule for this week. I'm looking forward to the easier walking this go-round.

Countdown: 17 Weeks
Your Training Schedule for This Week:
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	3 miles	Easy walking
Wednesday	15 minutes	Moderate crosstraining
Thursday	5 miles	Moderate walking
Friday	30 minutes	Easy crosstraining
Saturday	4 miles	Easy walking
Sunday	3 miles	Easy walking

Let's get some shoes

Last week, after my 7 mile walk, and a large brunch (of which I felt no guilt eating all of), I went to RunTex, since I had heard they were good with helping you figure out your perfect shoe. I took in my current pair and the salesman said it looked like my walk was pretty even. That's a good sign.

He asked if I had been on my feet much yet, as your feet swell during the day, and you should buy shoes later in the day. Um, yeah....been on my feet for 7 miles already. :)

I tried on about 10 different pairs. Normally I wouldn't care so much about the perfect shoe, but knowing the miles that I'd be clocking on these shoes, I knew they had to be just right.

I did find a good pair. I'm getting a bit of a blister on the bottom of my pinky toe on the my right foot, though. I don't know if it will just "go away," or if I'll wear down what I need to, or if I'll need to start over. They do seem to be good shoes for now.

7 + 6

This weekend was pretty difficult. For the same reason that last week's walks were easy. I was alone, and on the hills of my neighborhood.

Luckily I had some good radio going and I even got to hear all of Click and Clack. For some reason, on the longer walks, I like hearing the voices. When I have music, I can go along with the beat. But for the longer walks, I like the company.

Yesterday (Saturday), I walked a pretty hard 7 miles. (Not nearly as rough as the 5 I did a week or so ago--I won't be doing that walk again!) It took just over 2 hours.

Today I walked 6. About the same as yesterday. Pretty hard. Pretty lonely.

It's hard to get started. Usually the first 1/2 mile or so, I hate it. I think of how much more I have to go and that I just don't want to do it. Then I kind of get in the zone and I'm fine. Today, though, during the end, I hit a frustrated point. I just wanted to be done. But I trudged through. And it's 10:45 a.m. right now and I've already walked 6 miles. I am proud of that, I will say!

What a difference flat ground makes! .... And people

Last week I met some of the ladies in the Round Rock area for a 6 mile walk. It was so much easier than the walks I've done around my neighborhood for several reasons... It was on flat ground, and it was with people.

Two of the women I had met before, two I had not. We walked and talked. And talked and walked. And listened and walked. We were slated to do 6 miles, but Debbie said she usually did the last 1 mile loop, so I did that, too. Those were the easiest 7 miles. I even emailed her later in the day to make sure we really did do 7.

It was a nice trail (Brushy Creek). It was early enough that it wasn't so hot (let's just say my alarm went off at some point in the 5 o'clock hour, knowing I'd be left behind if I wasn't there on time). There were people on the trail (you know I love people-watching), but not tons; it wasn't crowded like Town Lake can get. It was a very beautiful trail and I hope to make it back there again some time. Especially with those folks.