The Walk

Well, the walk is over and I survived. Wasn't sure I would complete it this year because of a bunch of different factors but I did!

First of all, this allergy season has been bad. Friday I caught myself wheezing in ways/tones I have never heard. Had to go to 3 different shops to finally find eye drops because the other stores were all sold out. But it wasnt bad - it was the one day in recent memory that was not windy, so that helped a lot.

And it was hot. I had bought a special shirt for the walk and could not wear it. So I wore a short sleeved t shirt and carried a light sweater with me. And sweated the entire walk so never needed the sweater! Last year was windy and cold. This year hot. Go figure.

I was also tired. We had recieved a call about a situation at our rental so we had to drive down to deal with it yesterday. The renters have a brand new baby and they have seen, and caught, some rats and noticed a bad smell coming from under the house. So my husband - who is always my hero but especially so yesterday - went under the house not once, but 4 times! Something you could not pay me enough money to do! Cleaned up the "bathroom" under there - set out a bunch of traps - and put some odor neutralizer things there. I just hope it all works.

Yesterday was also the retirement party for one of the best - and most irascible - OB's I have ever worked with. I planned to stop by on my way to the walk, but with the trip down to Seaside, I had no time. So I was very disappointed about that.

Plus I was disappointed that my whole team had flaked on me. There were supposed to be 5 of us - and there was only me. Of course I am very proud and very thankful to all my supporters - I had well over $700 in contributions! And I wasn't walking totally alone - I walked with my daughter and her friend.

So I was just not in the best frame of mind to do a 10 K walk. I was also sad to see that there were less walkers than usual. And altho there were some interestingly decorated bras there was just not the usual array of originality (I even saw one group who had copied our idea from last year - guess imitation is a form of flattery?). Later today I will post the few photos I have.

We managed to be near the front of the pack which is great. The beginning of the walk is thru the main downtown street and it usually gets bunched up and slow there. It is fun because a lot of the restuarants have outdoor seating and they get a free floor show and we get a lot of cheering on - but it does slow us down.

But the first 2 - 3K was miserable for me. My knee was killing me as well as the bottom of one foot. I wanted to quit right then and there. So I started making deals with myself - if I could make it 1/2 way, I could get a ride in and still feel ok about myself. Then I started thinking about calling husband to come pick me up....there is a small hill up to and through a park (found out form a lady behind us that there is a family of foxes living in that park - that would have been neat to see!) and I did not think I could make it through that.  Got past that obstacle and kept going and all of a sudden I had no pain anywhere!!!!! YAY!!!

I think the fact that we were keeping up a pretty fast pace is what initially did me in. We usually are in complete darkness when we get to a certain part of the walk that is almost 1/2 way through and it was not completely dark when we hit that place.

If we hadnt stopped for a bathroom break (the part after the break has some really long stop lights to wait for) we would have made it back in 2 hours. That is like a 20 minute mile which is pretty darn good. But we had to stop and they didn't have many bathrooms open - but we didnt realize they had another bathroom stop shortly after that. After that point it felt like we were at the back of the whole walk - but turns out we weren't.

I think we made it in at about 2-1/4 hours which was pretty darn good!

Sat there sweating and drinking more water - and eating some goodies (would love to know where the awesome cupcakes came from). Sat through the raffle drawing - none of us won anything - and the costume prizes  - again, we didnt win anything. And came home.

Tossed and turned all night even with my tylenol on board but today am feeling pretty good. Tired and my knees are a little stiff - but not so bad after all.

Happy Mother's Day to all - we will shortly be going to daughter's house for the annual brunch. I will post photos after we get home (if I have any energy left!)