3 weeks away from the 3 day!!!

In exactly three weeks, Laura and I will be beginning an amazing, 60 mile journey! We'll meet up with thousands of other walkers at the Del Mar Racetrack for opening ceremonies...and then...we're off! I can't believe that, after all of our preparations, it is almost time. We're meeting up with our training walk for a 12 miler tomorrow. This will most likely be my last big walk with them. I really want to give my body, mostly my feet, a bit of a break for a few weeks. I'll still be walking, just not the big miles. It'll be nice to feel like I have my weekends back. It's been worth it to have trained so much, but I'm ready to get caught up on a few projects around the house. And, sometime in the next week and a half, we'll be posting the cheering stations. Looking forward to seeing you cheer us on from the sidelines!

--Jenn

Update on my feet...

It's hard to be certain, since the variables concerning my feet weren't the same (I walked less miles on Saturday, I only walked Saturday and not Sunday) but I do think that the tape worked overall. Even before the weekend's walking began, I felt like the swelling went down from the previous weekend's walks. It could have just been a time factor, that the swelling would have finally gone down anyway, but my recovery was much better on Saturday than it had been after the past couple of walks. I'm certainly willing to tape up my feet and legs again! I got some attention, mostly people worried about an injury or curious to know if it had to do with my 3 day walk. The tape lasted for five days, showers, ice baths and all! So I might be able to just tape it once before the three day and not have to worry about taping it again during the walk. I'll probably bring some extra tape with me...just in case!

It's less than four weeks away...can you believe it???

Jenn

The Tape

The very nice lady at Dr. Runco's practice had to reschedule me from tomororw night to today for my appointment. I was pretty jazzed about it; the sooner the better, I was thinking. Overall, Dr. Runco wasn't worried about an injury causing the swelling/pain. For whatever reasons (there could be a couple different things) my body is responding to the big miles by my feet swelling up. So he gave me some ideas on what I can do to increase circulation to my feet to bring the swelling down. He's taped me up with Kinseo tape, just to see if that helps. He's given me a new shoe lacing technique which I think will really help keep my feet securely in my shoes without being so tight on the top of my foot (where it hurts the most). And, he's going to find me some compression socks. The knee high tight socks that elderly people (or diabetics) wear to increase their circulation. Triathletes favor them. Oh baby, won't that make me look EVEN hotter than I do now when I'm walking! Well I'll try anything at this point. If even one of the ideas he had works, I'll be pretty happy. In the meantime, I'm taped almost knee to toe in PINK Kinseo tape! I feel like a pink Skeletor for some reason...just in time for Halloween.

Passionate for Pink!
Jenn

It's All About the Feet

I think about my feet all of the time. I talk about them regularly with Laura, especially on our walks. I've even shown them when they get swollen up to my co-workers (they just nod and try to look sympathetic). It's just all about my feet these days! Laura and I get sore in our legs and our hips as we walk long distances, but it's our feet that we seem to need to deal with the most. There's the pain on the bottom of the feet, on the tops, at our ankles. Then, there are the blisters we get, mostly on our toes. I've just now confirmed that I must have a certain kind of insert to prevent the blisters I get on the sides of the balls of my feet. We analyze the various types of blister preventing lubricant--we prefer Tri-Glide but Body Glide is easier to pack in our non-fanny packs. (I tried the powder--messier than the others and didn't prevent blisters.) And we've tried out different varieties of socks. We both bought the same kind of single layered nylon socks, then I tried double layered (more comfy, but they stretch out and then fall down as I'm walking) and Laura checked out toe socks (but they gave her blisters). And of course you have read about my multiple shoe shopping failures. I'm on pair 5 & 6. #5 is a go! The jury is still out on #6. I'm going to give them one more try...

Laura and I both get stiffness and pain in the tops of our ankles. But I've been experiencing lingering swelling, though only only sometimes, and lingering ankle pain. I'd feel silly finding out later that there are things (such as exercises) that I could be doing that would eliminate the worst of the problems. I mean, I'm walking huge distances but even with all of the training, it's still going to be tough on my feet. There is going to be pain and swelling. But, I went ahead and made an appointment with San Diego's own McDreamy (i.e. Dr. Runco, the Ultra Marathon Running Chiropractor who owns San Diego Running Institute). Just to see if there's anything I'm doing wrong or need to do differently. I bought shoes at the store, so my first consultation is discounted and about the price of a treatment from my regular chiropractor. Who is great, by the way, but he's not an endurance athlete. So he just adjusts my feet and says, "Mine would be swollen, too, if I did all of that walking." Well, I'm just going to double check with Dr. Runco and see if he agrees.

We're a month away from the 3 day. It is FOUR weeks from this Friday. Can you believe it???

Slightly Foot Obsessed but Still Hanging in There...Jenn

Saved by Slurpees!

Laura and walked 18 miles on Saturday! By the time we were at 15.5 miles, it was after 11:00 AM and HOT! Around 82-83 degrees and very little shade was to be found. Laura said that she was going to tell her mom to bring us Popsicles on the 3 Day walk. I replied that my family could probably bring us slurpees at a cheering station. Anything cold sounded good at the moment. Then it hit me...there would be a 7-11 coming up at mile 16 (on our side of the street even!). It was time for a slurpee run!!! Oh thank heaven for 7-11! We got our slurpees, and those managed to keep us cool through out the next two miles. Hopefully, it won't get so hot a month from now when we are on the 3 Day. But if it is, we will just find the nearest convenience store and get a treat!

Brrr!

I saw that a friend of mine, who walks marathons and other such endurance walks, gives her feet an ice bath after training walks. I did some research about it on the web and decided to give it a try. BRRRR!! Is it COLD! As soon as I can after I get home from a walk, I fill up a basin with tap water. I put my feet in and add ice. The first few minutes are fine, refreshing even. Then the pain sets in! I make it to about 8 minutes without thinking that I'm crazy, but minutes nine and ten are pretty intense! Ten minutes is my limit for now. I do think that it helps the recovery go more quickly. But I'm changing from a basin to buckets this weekend. I don't feel like I can quite get my ankles covered enough in the basin without the ice water overflowing. The cats are quite excited by this new activity. They seem to think that I'm providing them with the biggest, coldest water bowl ever, and don't seem to mind my feet being in the way! Gross, Mr. Bee!

Takin' a Break...

Laura and I have been training hard! Yesterday, we made it almost 18 miles! I was slightly surprised that I could make it that far even after we finished up and were waiting (very tiredly) for our salads at Mimi's cafe. We've been walking on Sundays even after our big miles on Saturdays, and the Sunday walks have taken so long that I've missed church services for about a month. My pastors and the music director know all about the walk and my reasons for doing it. They understand, but I was ready to take a break from walking back to back, and get back to church this morning. It was nice to actually sleep in until my body was ready to wake up. Even after a two hour nap on Saturday after our miles, I still got over ten hours of sleep last night. I came home from church and rested for a few more hours. My body needed this rest!

The longer and longer walks every weekend are grueling. We need the training and practice, but the occasional break like this will help our bodies rebound from the wear and tear on our feet and legs, and help us push towards the last few weeks before we go for the big "6-0"! I'm ready to get back to walking, but am really glad I took a break today.


--Jenn (with happy, rested feet!)

P.S. Our long walk yesterday took us through Santee Lakes. We took a quick stretch break near the antique tractor show and got some pictures with the stars of the show!

October

As you've probably learned by this point October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Many businesses are running special programs this month where they will donate toward breast cancer research if you purchase certain products. So pay attention when you are at the grocery store or drug store this month! Check for products with the pink ribbon on them!

Yoplait yogurt is once again doing their Save Lids to Save Lives campaign. Mail in the pink tops from their yogurt packaging and they will donate 10 cents per lid to the Komen Foundation.

One of the important goals of having a breast cancer awareness month is of course to get information about detection, care and support out to the public. Most magazines are including articles about breast cancer this month. Many television programs will also have special reports on breast cancer. Take a little time to check some of them out so you are update to date on the info out there!

Laura

A Break at the Lake

Laura and I ended up at the lake this morning. It was a nice break from walking on sidewalks of busy streets with signal lights. We saw several other sets of 3 day in-training walkers doing the lake loop, too. We hope that they are getting out on the streets and doing some inclines! The lake is nice, but it doesn't have any hills or cars to worry about. Last weekend had been discouraging for me. My feet hurt more than usual and I didn't take the time to really rest my feet after my Sunday walk. It took several days to feel like my feet were back to normal. I started dreading the walks this weekend. It got to the point to where I decided if this weekend was just as discouraging, it was time for a break from the long miles. No sense in getting frustrated at this point. But, the walks and recovery time went really well this weekend and I'm back to feeling positive about how far I've come. I don't think that we can ever totally be ready for the experience of the 3 day. But at this point, if we end up on a sweeper van catching a ride to the next pit stop, it won't be from lack of training on our end. :0)

Jenn (writing with my feet propped up!)

We Rock!

Laura and I joined our usual group for a 15 mile jaunt around La Mesa. We got to start an hour later than usual (yes!) so that we would end up at Oktoberfest in downtown historic La Mesa as it was starting up for the day. The walk went really, really well. Our feet were a little sore and I was starting to get stiff in the ankles by mile 15, but we stopped for a quick lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant and felt revived. So we went shopping amongst the booths before taking the trolley back to our cars. We were pretty excited by our chance to shop and browse after our longest walk to date! Tomorrow we'll meet at the lake and get some more miles under our non-fanny pack belts.

--Jenn

Big Miles!

Last weekend I got in some BIG miles! It's been such a crazy and hectic week I haven't been able to blog about it until now. Doing these longer and longer walks really cuts into personal time. The start/end time for "Boob Camp Bekki's" training walk didn't work for Laura's schedule. But the ladies are so warm and friendly that I wasn't worried about joining them solo. We conquered 14.5 miles! We did the first 8.5 in Santee, then took the trolley over to La Mesa and did the rest there. Most of the group only did the first 8.5 Like Laura, they had conflicting events in the later morning.

On Sunday, I went over to my old stomping grounds, Mira Mesa, and walked some hills. Four inclines which meant, of course, accompanying downhills. Ughh! Unlike when you are riding a bike, going downhill is not very much fun or relaxing. My pace was slower than usual, as I was a little stiff from the day before, but I still got in 13.5 miles!

We're less than seven weeks away from the walk! Can you believe it?! Stay tunned, Laura and I have a 15 miler tomorrow morning! We're hoping to avoid the "possibility of drizzle." No one wants to walk 15 miles with wet feet in soggy shoes!