Nine and a half miles. A weird but good day.

This is a pic of the trail I was on, but obviously, that's not me.
I was glad to find a good map of the trails near my house, because I was able to head right out from my door for my walk today. My cramp tried to get me, but I kept it in check by going at a snails pace. Some tingling, but it went away. So that was good.

Another good thing: I ran into a teammate about 2.5 miles in, so that was nice. Being that we were all on our own today, I was half expecting to see people on the trails around here. This was Jen, who I often talk to and walk with, so we were together for about 3 miles, I would say. I met her at her halfway point, so she turned around and continued with me until I turned around. It was very nice to have company.

This is what was weird: I was walking for over 3 hours. THREE HOURS! So, I averaged about a 20 minute mile. Um, not what I'm going for. But here is what I'll look at as the bright side: I did get my miles in, and my body got a big dose of endurance training. I want to do the marathon in 6 hours or less, so this was showing my body half of that. Very slowly. Whatever.

Here are my half-hearted attempts at justification: blisters, hot, slower with friend instead of faster, 6 stop lights.

Seriously, I have no idea how it took me so long. But I didn't get the killer cramp and my leg didn't get numb, so I suppose it's a trade-off. I can pretend that my pedometer is right and that I actually did 11 miles.

The questions that arise during training: Why am I doing this? Can I do this?
Well, yes, I know I can do it. Because I'm doing it and I can see that, and also because I know that God has put this before me to do. But let me tell you, I thank God a lot when I'm almost home, because part of me almost can't believe that my body is actually doing this and didn't just quit, leaving me a moaning blob on the side of the trail waiting for a homeless guy or cyclist to fetch help for me.

Why? Well, I know why I'm doing it, too. Because I can and others can't. Because I want Jackson to see his 8th birthday and go back to school and have information and support for his family and see his 88th birthday.