It is Tuesday, right?!?

Just checked, and yes it is...so here's Rachel's AVON Walk training update for this week's Boobie Tuesday...

So I had a much more active week than I have for the past two. On Saturday, my friend Nathalie and I met in Los Gatos and headed out toward them thar hills. We didn’t find gold or oil, but we did find a fair amount of mud. It was a good walk though. We decided to push it and every time the trail presented us with options, we opted for the steeper one. I don’t know if I’d mentioned it before, but I have real trouble walking up hills and stairs; it doesn’t take a lot to make my heart pound and my breathing to become pretty labored. This is a side effect of having had radiation and it does slow me down.

The last time we did the hills, I had to stop a few times to rest, and also to bring my heartbeat down and my breathing back to normal. Each time I did this, it took 5-10 minutes for me to feel as if I was ready to get going again. This time was different. The hills were still hard, but when I stopped to rest, my heart and breathing stabilized and I was ready to go a LOT faster! I’m totally psyched about that. I’m a bit frustrated by not having lost any weight since I started walking in January (though I am getting firmer in crucial places), but hey – my heart is doing great. And while I’d love to feel slim and gazelle-like now, I’d rather have a healthier heart so I’ll be alive to appreciate my ever-slimmer self later.

We did about 5 miles on Saturday – the pace wasn’t fast, but we’re blaming that on the hills. We opted for something different on Sunday, and met at my house for a little more speed on the flats. This walk wasn’t nearly as pretty as the trails in Los Gatos, but we need to get used to walking on pavement since most, if not all of the walk course for the event is on paved roads. So we did around 6 miles. We probably would have done more if Nathalie had been feeling up for it, but she had been sick all week and couldn’t push it too hard. That’s really unusual for her – she can pretty much kick my butt any time when it comes to working out! And it looks as if she’ll be kicking it again pretty soon. We’ve decided we really need to start pushing it harder and going for some longer walks starting with a 10-miler next week. 10 miles. Holy crap! Now that’s some mileage.

Anyway - 11 miles this weekend. Not bad, especially when you consider that nearly half of that was on some seriously steep hills. Oh yeah – remember in my first guest blog I said that all of this walking was inspired by Rachael starting up the Runagogo blog (www.runagogo.com) where we all have the goal of walking, running, biking, swimming or any combo thereof, at least 100 miles total by April 1st? Well Saturday I cleared the 100 mile mark. Another reason to celebrate! Want a 3rd reason? I’ve raised over $2,500 to benefit the Avon Walk for Cancer, and still have promises for more! If you want to help me reach my fundraising goal, check out my walk page – the link is on the side bar. Any support you can offer for this cause will be very much appreciated!

I’m going to celebrate my 3 accomplishments by going to bed at a reasonable hour. Clearly I need a life. : )

Rachel

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Mercy! Rachel and her team mates sure are rackin' up the milage! And it's only March...

Rachel, please keep on keeping track of the miles you walk for training. How many shoes you wear out, etc. I'm really interested in knowing the finals come walk-time.

Just for the record, my last walk, I managed to gain 5 lbs, but lost several inches and a dress size - which is more important to me than how much I weigh. And also, there is no jiggle when I walk - my ass is solid. Word.