Over 5 Hours of Conversation

after 15 miles...not too shabby!

As promised, here is my blog post on what Edie and I talked about during our 15 mile walk around Tuscaloosa and Northport on Saturday. I think I counted only one pause in our conversation and it lasted about a minute. These topics are in no particular order and don't even ask me how they got started.

• migraines
• how late we stay up
• work
• how to keep your kids from worrying
• how different kids are 
• wishing we could sit some of the kids down that we see everyday and tell them that it really doesn't matter in the long run...about anything!
• what we would do to different homes that we saw along the way (change the color, the porch, the concrete animals, etc.)
• power bills of huge houses
• tree houses
• how people walk different
• how hungry we were or how thirsty we were
• how many lawyers there are in Tuscaloosa
• medications
• t-shirts for our 60 mile walk 
• how much fun we will have on our 60 mile walk
• how she knows the sizes of her husbands clothes and shoes and he knows hers but Danny and I couldn't tell you what size the other one wears
• part time jobs
• The Bama Belle
• BBQ
• how much I wanted a Coke and I don't usually drink them
• family members
• breast cancer (naturally)
• almost getting hit by a car
• the creepy, white van that was parked next to Edie's car at snack time
• how much I loved the orange that I ate at snack time and I usually don't eat oranges (the watermelon was dang good too!)
• how good Edie is at packing snacks
• changing our socks after 10 miles actually made a difference
• the nail technicians we had the day before
• funerals
• porta-potties
• how fast apartments are being built in downtown Tuscaloosa
• scary people and how I think they are going to attack us
• what Edie was going to eat for lunch when we got done
• Dairy Queen
• homeless people under bridges
• how bad we smelled
• ghosts 
• Honey Boo Boo
• how some clothes match in the dark but when you get outside they actually don't match at all
• how hot it was and how the sun was sucking the oxygen out of our bodies
• gangsta walking through the shade
• dogs
• we should have worn hats
• how doable this might be (60 miles in 3 days)

We also did some singing and some dancing and there were probably 20 or more other topics but it is really hard to remember when you finish 15 miles!

Indoor Camping?

 Edie and I were going through our packing checklist trying to figure out who was going to get what and we noticed that a tarp was on our list. We found out that the tarp is to be used in case of rain. I decided to check with our coach to see if this was something that we should be worried about. Edie and I are not campers and we just assumed the tents were water proof. Guess we were wrong! The coach emailed me back and said that actually we will be camping indoors! Edie could not be more thrilled about this! I am excited about the fact that I don't have to worry about rain or the freezing cold but I have to admit that I was kind of looking forward to the experience of camping out. We will still be camping in the pink tents but we will be inside a convention center or something similar. The negative side of this is that the concrete floor will NOT be as comfortable as the grass outside.

Today, we decided to go shopping for supplies and to price a few things. I ended up with a sleeping bag. We couldn't find any sleeping bags that were pink for adults. All of them were for little girls. So I got a green one and I like it so it will have to do. We also looked at "fanny packs". They are also called "lumbar packs". I prefer the latter :-). I would like one with a water bottle. I sweat A LOT as I have mentioned before and I feel like I will need water the whole time instead of every 3 miles. I need it to hold the water bottle, cash, drivers license, camera, socks, etc. so it has to be kind of large. I tried one on that I really like but it has two water bottles and I feel like that might be a bit much. If it comes down to it though that is what I will end up with.

We missed this past weekend of training due mostly to weather. It was pouring down rain with thunder and lightning so we decided it was meant for us to take a break. We will be doing our long walk of 15 miles this Saturday. I think I will make Edie in charge of all snacks from here on out. She packs quite a spread for our long walks and it helps our energy level so much. Thank you Edie!

We've had several people ask us what we talk about for that many miles. We never run out of things to talk about. Sometimes we dance and sing! This Saturday, I will try to remember to do a post with a list of topics that came up on our 15 miler. Something for you to look forward to!

August has been a horrible training month for me but we have been so busy with school starting back! My little second grader and my little preschooler take priority over the walking and I definitely needed the time to get used to our new schedule. I think we are finally getting into the swing of things so hopefully the training will kick up! About 9 weeks to go!





The Great, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Great: I have fantastic news! One of the women I was walking in honor of, Jill Montgomery, just had her double mastectomy after months of chemo and radiation. The pathology came back ALL CLEAR!! Thank you for all of your support and prayers and congratulations to Jill and her family!

The Good: Training is going well. I was able to get back on track this past week and I feel much better. I'm not going to lie to you...the training is tough, especially now that we are getting into our double digit mileage. Overall, it isn't bad and we are making it through. Edie has almost made it to her fundraising goal and then we are on our way! We watched the safety video the other day and it really got us pumped up! Edie was a little concerned when they went over the camping and what sort of weather we could end up camping in but she still showed up for our 12 mile walk this weekend so I guess she is still on board!



after 12 miles

The Bad: I SWEAT! I mean, WOW! This morning, Edie and I met to do our 12 mile walk and I promise you I was sweating before I even got my car locked. I am seriously a bad sweater! By the time we were halfway through I could have used a whole new set of clothes! I decided to look it up and did you know that a person is born with about two to four million sweat glands?? If that is the normal amount then I am positive that I have about a billion :-) The picture that I took after my walk today really doesn't even do it justice. I couldn't wait to get home and take a shower and get rid of those soaking wet clothes! I wasn't feeling that great between mile 10 and 11 and it is probably because I was dehydrated. I went through 4 bottles of water and 2 gatorades but still, hours later, I am feeling the effects of slight dehydration and I think it is due to the excessive sweating. Thank goodness, October is cooler than August!

The Ugly: and boy is this ugly! When I was running, I really never had these weird things happen to me but I finally decided to take a picture of my bruised toe to show you the kind of damage that walking has caused. Now, this bruised toe is nothing compared to the damage that breast cancer can cause but it is my own little battle. I would like to apologize. I naturally have ugly feet and toes but they aren't normally purple. This toenail has actually already fallen off and grown back before it bruised up but I had kind of forgotten about the bruise until I took my nail polish off. I will probably have to cover it up soon because it is so gross!

Well, there you have it! Just a short little update on the great, the good, the bad and the ugly!