New shoes!

Hi everyone! Well, I finally found my new shoes last weekend (thanks to the great staff at Start Line!) And thanks Aaron for getting me set up with my new gear, I appreciate your support! I am now the proud owner of a waist pack that will hold my water and snacks for the long training walks. No, it's not a fanny pack :)

I walked 8 miles on Saturday and another 6 miles on Sunday. My mom joined me for the walk on Sunday around Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles. I'm proud to say she kept up with me for the whole walk - even though my legs are a lot longer than hers! Great job Mom!

Today, we have a kick-off meeting at work to generate ideas for fundraising. I'm really excited to see what we come up with.

I'm back!

Well, after a 10-day trip to China and a long weekend with friends, I'm back to blogging. Obviously I'm not very consistent at this blogging thing but there is always rooms for improvement!
My foot is slowly getting back to normal and I'm feeling much better about my training. I've been mixing it up with evenings of walking and other activities like biking.
I'm now 13-weeks out from the big event!

I've lost track of what day it is!

Okay, so it's been a long time since i've posted (as I was reminded by my mom last night - thanks Mom!). Life has been busy but don't worry Mom, I've still been walking!

After walking 8 miles on Saturday and another 3 on Sunday, I started to have some serious foot pain. And i'm known to self-diagnose on the internet, so I became convinced that I had a stress fracture. After talking with our Dr. friend, i'm more convinced that it might be tendonitis. So i'm taking it easy this week to see how it feels. Hopefully it is not something that will keep me off my feet for long.

Training Day 6

I just returned from my first long walk - 8 miles! It went really well, and I actually felt like I could keep walking more! I will be heading back out tomorrow for another 8-mile walk. I am planning on looking at new walking shoes tomorrow too, the current running shoes are not really the right pair for my training. Especially since I will be logging over 600 miles in the next 17 weeks.

Training Day 4

Today was an exciting day as online donations began to appear. I want to again thank those special people who were so generous in contributing!
I will be walking 4 miles tonight (after a happy hour - yikes!) and am hoping that the beautiful weather in Minneapolis lasts until this evening.
I am really excited that there are at least three of us from my work that have committed to the team - we are on our way to raise $25,000!

Training Day 3

Today is a rest day for training! I am about to send out my first "fundraising" email - I'm excited and nervous to hear my friend's and family's responses. Most people don't know that I'm doing the walk. It's hard for me to ask others for money, but I know it's the right thing to do!
I also am trying to brainstorm ideas for a fundraising event. I think that organizing a pub crawl for my friends would be a great way to generate money and also have a really fun time. More to come!

Training Day 2

This morning, I got out of bed at 5:20 am and walked 4 miles. I will now be on a schedule of short 4 mile walks on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and longer walks on Saturdays and Sundays. Other than a minor shoe problem causing blisters, the training is off to a great start! I'm excited to find purchase new walking shoes and a Camelpak for water - these are my essentials for training.