Countdown

Do you see that ticker over on the right? Only 16 days until the big race!! I'm getting SO excited about it. A while back I was a little apprehensive, feeling like it really was going to be hard and while I knew I'd finish, I feared that I'd suffer through it and the days after. I haven't been doing nearly as much walking as I should, or as I'd like, so I feared that the 13.1 miles really was going to be a challenge.

Last weekend my walking pal, Heather, and I set out to do our "long" walk. We'd been to a local running store for a clinic they put on about walking athletically. The talk was given by a gal that is a former national level race walker. She had some good tips and information about walking, stride, technique, etc. And on her advice, we needed to do our "long" walk soon. So we decided on Sunday. I picked Heather up and we headed to the local interurban trail, which goes 6 miles south down to a state park, winding thru the forest and past fancy houses that overlook the bay. There was a part of the trail that was actually more like hiking than walking: a steep narrow path peppered with rocks and tree roots, with hairpin turns and some serious elevation gain.

Long story short, we did it. We walked all 12 miles and though we were a bit physically tired (and hungry!!) at the end, we felt a real sense of accomplishment and felt confident that we could have easily gone on for another mile. We both agreed that the adreneline is going to help carry us along on Race Day, not to mention the other 24,998 people that will be with us.

The fear is gone and now I'm just super excited about the race, knowing that I can do it.

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"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success." --Norman Vincent Peale