5-Week Countdown

Okay, y'all. The lull is over.

I'm now 2 days under the 5-week mark until the *fanfare* 500 Festival Half-Marathon!

(insert horror-movie scream here)

Last week I had one of those days. You know - several days stuck inside, weather was finally nice again, I had just finished a huge typing job and sent it in, didn't have anyplace else I needed to go for the rest of the day. Sandi was down with her back again. :(

So I went walking. With no plan, other than to rack up some miles and see how far I could go.

At first I thought, "Hey! I'll walk to the north end of town and back! Maybe time it so I have a lunch stop at the north McDonald's before turning around."

So I headed out. Went north. Past the street to Kim's. Past the high school. Got to Ethan's school and saw kids outside for recess, so took a detour around the school so I could check the playground and see if I could find my curly-haired Little Dude. (I didn't.)

And then....I got to the south edge of campus. And I decided McDonald's didn't sound nearly as good for lunch as Fazoli's did. So I turned and headed east, out toward the mall. The temps were getting warmer than I'd expected, but remember that snow I mentioned? Yeah, there was still plenty of that laying around, so I found some that hadn't been touched, grabbed a handful and ate it to both cool off a bit and to get a drink.

I got to Fazoli's and had lunch. By that point, I'd covered 5.78 miles.

And then......

I actually was able to stand again! And walk some more! And head home!!!!

Strangely, what I thought was a straighter route (not counting a trail that I just had to explore, but it actually doubled back and put me pretty close to where I'd already been) ended up being another 5.53 miles. So it wasn't so different.

But that was 11.31 miles! Less than 2 miles off the mark for the *fanfare* 500 Festival Half-Marathon!!

I would've done a happy dance if I could've still stood. So it turned out to be more like a Happy Sit-down Wiggle.

But then...I did nothing the rest of the week. Meh.

The first couple days it was because my legs hurt. But even after that, my feet hurt. So I didn't get out again.

*deep breath*

So now that we are past the springtime indulgence of Easter Dinner, and I'm now inside of 5 weeks and have to Get Serious (with the capital letters), let's see what we can do. This week, rather than use all my oomph in one or two shots, I'm planning to do more, shorter treks.

When I woke up this morning and saw that the temps outside were 38 and 39 degrees, I thought, "Hey! It's in the high 30s...it'll only warm up from here...I'll just put on a hat and mittens and we'll walk outside!" Then I walked out my front door and found SNOW FLURRIES. By the time Sandi & I had dropped off her daughter at school, it looked like a snow globe out there and the big, fluffy flakes were starting to stick.

So today was 4.4 miles at 15:34 per mile.
Doing laps.

Somehow, I don't think my bright pink
Breast Cancer Awareness shoelaces
are going to go with the neon orange.

At the Y.
Where it was warm.

Sandi was sweet and after we were finished walking, she took me to get my belated birthday gift - a new pair of running shoes. (I don't think I have EVER gotten two pairs of brand new shoes just 9 months apart!) So now I have NO EXCUSES. Plus I have a good month to get these broken in before the *fanfare* 500 Festival Half Marathon!



So here we go. I have my usual entourage of face-to-face encouragers. I have found a new group of complete strangers (who are quickly becoming compatriots) online whom I'm getting to know and who are going through the same journey I am, so they offer both inspiration and encouragement. I have Sandi back in action. I have new shoes. So I have No Excuses.

33 days and counting.......