Day 3

My wake-up quote this morning was, "The bounce has gone out of my bungee" (Wallace and Gromit, of course). But really, today was pretty good. We got to sleep in until 5:30 (ah, bliss) before checking out and heading back to the school. We got our feet taped up and then had some a pancake breakfast.

We got on the course right when it opened up at 7:00 and were the 4th and 5th walkers to go. We passed 2 & 3 and knew that the #1 was an awesome 50+ year old woman who ran most of the weekend and was not passable. But to spice things up today, we decided to come in 2nd and 3rd (not that it's a race or anything). We cranked up the pace a bit.

Still started around sunrise:



We were doing great until we hit a rest station and then turned the wrong way. We went about a block and a half before we were corrected and by then 5 people had snuck in ahead of us. We blew by the next rest station and passed two and caught up to 3, including my friend Scott from the 2005 walk. But alas, Scott was no match for us and eventual pulled ahead again when we just missed crossing at a light.

We walked through the CSU campus and also saw random things like this sculpture:



We saw lots of these high water marks in the past 3 days. I mentioned it to Jeremy tonight and he said, "Oh yeah, there was that big flood that killed some people." But I don't remember, I was living in LA at the time.



We cranked as hard as we could and maintained 5th and 6th place. And then the race coordinators held us up at the last rest station because we were so fast that the finish festival was not ready for us. We got in at about 9:40 and it was nice to stretch and rest for a bit before doing the last mile. We walked in with Scott and his group.



I had one more cup of celebratory gatorade. I had gatorade (which I hate) at just about every rest stop. All. Weekend. Long. But I didn't feel crappy or stiff this walk and I'm sure that it helped.



I'm not sure why, but Ellen wanted her picture taken with Mr. Balloon man.



The festive lunch picnic was sponsored by Chick-fil-A so Ellen and I left around 10:40. I wanted to get to Niwot so I could see Adam and Alex do a bike race at 1:30.

All and all, it was a great weekend. This walk is the best supported event I have ever done. The rest stops and meals were fabulous (even for us vegetarians) and the volunteers were so nice and friendly. Throughout the weekend we heard personal stories of where the CNS Foundation grant money was going and it was very inspiring.

It was a long 18 weeks but I'm really glad I did it!

My final update:

Mileage: 479 miles
Pledges: $1,020

Thanks again for all your support and a special thanks to my Fabulous walking partner, Miss Ellen!

Mile 17 (37) silliness

I know you were all waiting with bated breath for this video. Enjoy. I have my doctorate in music, you know.

Day 2

I'm not sure how day 2 ended up being better than day 1 (it may have had something to do with all the alleve we took) but it was not bad. Once again we got up at 5:00 am (just two alarms today). We headed to the school and had our feet patched up again. I have just one small blister on the top of my middle toe that I got taped up. Oh, and I also got some mole skin on my left arch because apparently, not only do I have flat arches, but I also have some special extra bone with a fancy name in my foot that makes me more prone to arch pain. I've developed a nice callus on my arch so the moleskin was just an extra precaution. Ellen also got some callus moleskinned up.



We started walking around 6:30. The sun was just up, unlike when we had gotten to the school and it was pitch black.



Yup, that's me walking.



We had some great rest stops today, including the carnival. This was my favorite stop because they had bags of m&ms that I could mix with the chex mix. Yesterday I was mixing the GORP and was stuck with a bunch of unwanted nuts and raisins.



And yes, there were even games. In case you are wondering, I popped 2 out of 3 balloons.



We started to get a little loopy around mile 17. Ellen had just treated me to a stunning rendition of the theme song to the Beverly Hilly Billies when we came across this informative sign. At some point I will upload the accompaning video for your viewing pleasure:



The last mile (or so they said) was definitely the hardest. But we still pulled together for a sprint to the finish line. Ellen kept her place as #16 while I came in slightly behind her. That's out approximately 86 walkers. Not that it's a race or anything, but we did gain some time by jogging peridically throughout the day. Yes, we were feeling that good (and we really just wanted to get done and get our massage).

Here's my smile that's really grimace. I usually reserve that for hard days with the kiddos.



And then we staked out the massage lady again and got a great rub down. Yay!



PS - Ellen wants to inform you that we went to 3 Margaritas last night and did not do chocolate ice cream and beer again. Although she did get a margarita but I only had a few sips as I was the dutiful designated driver. And then we watched the Teen Miss America pageant. Miss Colorado won, it's a proud for our beautiful state. Now we are off to a "fabulous" pig roast. We hear there's salmon, there better at least be bread and veggies.

TTYL (as Miss Carolina likes to sign out with)

MS Walk - Day 1

Day one started early, really early. In fact, if you count yesterday, we left for Ft. Collins around 6:00pm. We got into town around 7:00 and checked into our swanky Courtyard by Marriot. This lovely establishment had some nice goodies for sale in the lobby and we treated ourselves to beer and Ben & Jerry's.

We set three, yes THREE, alarms and were up at 5:00. At 5:30 we checked into the walk at the school home base.

6:15 Found us butts up in the freezing cold while we "stretched" our cold muscles.



See, we really are here!



Ellen was very excited (and very cold) and ready to get going!



They didn't call this the "Walkabout" for nothing. We aren't really walking to and from anything. Today was three loop in, around and about our home school, mostly on bike paths but some on residential streets. There was water and gaterade (which I dutifully, if not painfully drank) every mile and an half, and snacks at every other station. We were well taken care of.

Somewhere on the back nine Ellen started to worry about developing a blister and had medic look at her feet. She was moleskinned up in a very unnecessarily lengthy and complicated process.



I think the first 5 miles went by the quickest, the last 5 took muuuuch longer. But overall it felt like a 15 mile walk and not a 20. I had a hot spot checked on my foot at the last rest station and got some mole skin too.

We got back to the school a bit after 2:00. After much checking and pestering, we were able to score two of only 15 massage appointments. 15 minutes of pure bliss.



We also had more blister care at the school. I had to use my assertive powers when the medics started working on our feet without gloves. I asked if they were going to use them. Apparently the Walk didn't supply them with gloves and they had to use their own. I'm glad we were the first to get checked, that room is going to be a breeding ground for all sorts of bugs with that sort of cross-contamination going on.

Anyway, now it's 5:30 and we've showered and rested at our hotel and are ready for some dinner. We have another 20 miles so we need to load up on fuel.

woo hoo!

I'm not completely sure it was a full 3 miles, but Ted and Jack took us on a looong walk tonight so I'm going to count it! Last walk! Hooray!

Ted got a 20" bike today. Way cool. Unfortunately, he is even faster on this bike. Good thing I plan to start running again after this walk. I'm going to need to run to even pretend to be with him. Then again, maybe I can start biking too. It's hard for Sam to walk his bike up the bridge over Foothills, so it's easier just to walk and help him than to bike. Maybe as that gets easier I can start biking too.

We leave for Fort Collins tomorrow night! Poor Paul is sick as a dog. Figures. I'm bringing the laptop, so we'll have updates and everything! I'm excited.

There. It's done.

I walked every mile of every training day. Now I just have to walk 50 miles and then I'm really done.

Today was another short 3 and I did my old 3 mile loop up the hill. About a mile from my house I saw a big pile of bear poop on the sidewalk. Too bad I didn't have my camera to share it with you. And on Table Mesa I saw a doe with two fawns. I'm starting a new book, The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. It's definitely not Nora Roberts, but I'm not sure if I like it yet.

Mileage: 429 miles, 0 to go
Pledges: $940

more stumbling in the dark...

I left at 8 and got home at 9, so I was able to see for about 20 minutes. It was fun though. Ole and I went up the hill to 128 and back down the trail to the pool, then through the neighborhoods back to our house. A perfect 3.36. One more!! And I have a genius idea about it too. We'll see if Wendy agrees...