These Chucks Were Made for Walkin'

Lots of changes around here!

As Tiffany mentioned in the previous post, I have finally relocated back to Texas! With the anticipation of the "big move" I have let a few things slide with the hope of focusing on them at a later date. For one, I have not done much walking. And by "not much" I mean, I have.not.walked. Nothin', zilch, nada...you get the idea. It's not that I hadn't entertained the notion of a crisp walk through Central Park, it's just that crisp turned into freezing very quickly this Winter and I was not on board. Knowing that Texas (and 3-Day training) were in my near future, I felt that in due time I would get all of the walking I could handle. So just like that, came idleness. And with idleness, came one excuse after another, leaving me with the following habits that I now have to break/fix:

1. My training gear. Something tells me that my favorite NYC shoes are not going to get me very far...

My Chuck T's

2. My diet. I am fully aware that I have put on a fat suit and zipped it up in my final weeks of NYC residency. This, unfortunately, will be one of the first things to fix.

My weakness - Magnolia Cupcakes

3. My stamina. Today I rode my Nana's bike back to her house (approximately 1/4 of a mile) and thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I am ashamed for so many reasons, age and expected athletic ability being chief among them.

4. I finally have an iPod. I know it seems ridiculous, but after getting my iPhone taken in February I was left with no technological device to keep me company. Melodramatic? Sure. But who wants to know what would race through this mind after 20 miles on the road? With that said, proper "Training Tunes" will be necessary so any suggestions would be wonderful!

And lastly,

5. No excuses. Walking should be a daily practice now that I have settled back into my "comfortable" zone of 90-degree weather. God bless Texas.

Technically...

So technically, training doesn't start until the week of May 25th. We will be doing the 24 week training program that starts with walking about 12 miles a week and works up to walking 44 miles in a week. That is the longest week (mileage wise) before we do the 60 mile event. The 12 miles in a week isn't as much a challenge, but it will be the beginning of my full dedication to this event. It is making the time 5-6 days a week to train that will be difficult. I speak only for myself that that will be my greatest obstacle. The miles I believe I can do. I'm certainly NOT saying 60 miles will be easy, but I do believe that with training, I can achieve that goal. But I do know that carving out the time to diligently train will be vitally important to my success.

I have been walking lately in anticipation of the actual training regiment, and I have been walking about 3-3.5 miles a day. It has been very sporadic. I thoroughly enjoy walking when I come home from work. It relaxes me, and now that the weather has been so fantastic it is really a nice way to spend the evening. The trouble is all of the "other things" that tempt me. Like last night....a fun time with my friends. And tonight....dinner with my family because Kristen moves back to the Lone Star State today!! She has spent almost 2 years in NYC and we are so excited to have her back. So that takes care of this evening's events, and then tomorrow night is another dinner with family friends to celebrate Kristen. Weeknights tend to fill up quickly and I am taking notice of this as I begin to get ready for weeknights filled with walking. I'm committed and I'm ready, and I have thought through some action items to help me achieve my goal:

1. Instead of dinner with friends, we could walk together. We still get to hang out and chat, but we're getting active.
2. Our dinner meetings might need to occur later in the evenings to accommodate an after work walking session.
3. Remember what is important to me and make wise decisions!

Those are all of my action items. Pretty simple really! And, in other exciting news, Coleen has MET HER FUNDRAISING GOAL!!! This is so exciting for our team. Now we have 1 team member complete and 3 team members still fundraising to meet the $2,300 EACH minimum. And, as I briefly mentioned, my sister, my best friend, and fellow team mate will hit Texas soil tonight! We are so proud of her for her time spent in New York. She followed her dreams, had the time of her life, and is now ready to come home to Texas and start something new. We're looking forward to having her back and enjoying this journey together!