Four million miles by foot

Ok, so my blog post title is a little bit of an exaggeration, I'll admit it.

I've decided to walk the 3 Day Breast Cancer walk to benefit the Susan G Komen foundation (I wonder if I posted that correctly, there are rules, apparently). Anyway, the walk is in August, which seems like a ways away, but for someone who hasn't worked out in a couple months (:eek), it's sooner than it appears.

Based on training tips given by the walk organizers, I'm going to put myself through the 24-week training regimen. Counting back the weeks means I begin said training next week (February 22nd). As if I weren't busy enough with work and school, now I have to fit walking AND working out into my schedule? Sionara free time.

The training seems pretty well thought out, and fairly easy to follow - but that's also easier said than done. The first six weeks only require 20 miles or less per week, seems doable. The majority of the training calls for the bulk of the walking to happen back-to-back on Saturdays and Sundays. Additionally, the training calls for taking Monday off, walking Tuesdays and Thursdays, and doing light to medium cross-training on Wednesdays and Fridays. I'm hoping my 30-minute work outs at Curves will suffice for that. I'm also lucky, I organize and run the gym membership program at work - with that, comes a free membership to Fitness Formula Clubs... which will be heavily beneficial for walking in these cold months at the beginning.

I'm also faking myself out into thinking I'll be willing to wake up earlier and get the walks (or part of the walks) completed before work. In about a month, I'm sure I'll be laughing at myself for even considering it.

Another benefit I have - I work downtown - so some of the walks required over the summer will be the perfect length for me to walk home. I live about 6 miles away from my office, and there's an awesome lakefront path, so, at least I have that to look forward to. Too often over the past few summers, I've told myself I'd walk home more, but ended up being lazy/wanted to get home for a baseball game/going to happy hour instead... so, now with a training program in place, as well as Matt & at least one teammate also working downtown, I'm hoping I'll do a better job at walking home from work.

Speaking of my team, four of us went to Fleet Feet this past weekend to buy shoes. Fleet Feet has an awesome practice of fitting people with the proper shoes. They ask what your shoe needs are, watch how you walk, and then fit you into 3 or 4 pairs of shoes, based on their assessment. I'm pretty thrifty/cheap when it comes to buying most things, especially shoes... so this sort of freaked me out. I told myself prior to going, that I would not base my selection on purchase price, but rather, how well they felt and fit. (Seems normal to most people, I'm sure, but not me. If I find something cheaper & slightly less comfortable, I will ALWAYS buy the cheaper item). Anyway, I ended up buying the most expensive pair (go figure) - and they were most expensive by a long shot (I tried on shoes priced at $105, $115 & $140). I didn't look at the prices until after my purchase. A lot of money to spend, but it's all toward a greater good, so there's nothing I should really complain about.

Anyway, I've put a link to the walk to the left. The picture is all cut off and stuff, but you can still click on it to get to my page, in case you want further info on it, or wish to support me...

happy day.