Nine Miles in Sonoma

So, I've already posted about walking 9 miles- time-warpy weirdness.
I've already walked this course in Sonoma- hard and crying.

Today was totally wonderful, I tell you. It's awesome to see how much my body has changed in the past month or two. I'm stronger, I have more energy, hills are better- it's all improving. Whereas the first time I did this course, I had to seriously pray for strength the whole way, this time it was a breeze. I'm not saying it wasn't work, because there were still some hills, but compared to last time, it was like skipping through the park.

I walked most of the way with someone I've never walked with, Shelly, and that was nice. It always makes things go faster when I have company.

We had another honoree picnic after training, which was fun. The honorees didn't speak this time, so I don't really have new stories, but I did learn a new statistic from Shelly: in 1960, there was a 14% survival rate five years out for leukemia, but now children under 5 with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia have an 88.4% survival rate! Survival rates for other types of leukemia have also doubled and tripled over the past 45 years.

Training is going great!

I feel like such a slacker for not having updated this in a couple weeks. Two Saturdays ago, we walked right here in Santa Rosa on my trusty creek trail, and it was very good. I didn't have any pain at all and actually was going fairly fast, so that's cool.

Just this past Saturday, I was up in Wiemar visiting family, so I did my miles on their road. Holy cow! I didn't get the usual pain, but it was very hard. It was also good for me. The town is at about 2300 feet, plus they live at the top of a hill/mountain. I was not about to have the hill be my last mile, so I drove to the bottom and walked out to the main road and back, then up the hill, back down, out and around for my last 4 miles. Obviously, I wasn't going uphill the whole way, but even the road that seems flat when driving on it turns out to have an incline.

It was nice because Kecia walked with me for 3 miles, and company always helps. And just walking to the end of the driveway is an adventure, so my body is definitely sore in different ways this week.

What do I see on our training calendar for this Saturday? Hill. Oh, yippee. Hey, I'll just be really, super ready for that hill come race day.

My fundraising isn't going too swiftly right now. I appear to be having a bit of a lull. If you haven't donated yet, please consider what you can give, and if everyone could please pass the word on to people that would be willing to help, that would be appreciated.