Well, the weekend of my Avon Walk has finally come and gone. Strange, I looked forward to it for so long it seems odd that it is over! It was a great weekend, though!

I arrived Friday night, and my nerves were absolutely jangling as I went to check in for the Walk. But check in went smoothly and quickly, and I did manage to resist spending tons of cash on some really cute t-shirts that were there!!

Saturday morning, I was up and ready for an early shuttle to the Walk start point at 4:15 am. It was drizzling, and in fact, it rained, hard sometimes, for most of the morning. I was soaked through pretty quickly, and that didn't bother me. What was starting to bother me as the walk went on was the fact that my shoes were soaked! Hello, blister! Urgh! Well, I did pretty well with the walking itself, though.

Just for the record? If you ever do a long walk like this, and it is raining, be extra careful, it is hard to gauge how thirsty you are in the rain. Yes, that is foreshadowing.

So toward afternoon, the sun came out, and it got a bit warm. Around 2:20, I had been walking for 7 hours and 20 minutes, and hit the rest stop at 20.9 miles. I had a raw place on my foot, so I stopped by the med tent, where they expertly checked and dressed the blister I had, plus a couple of tender spots. The doc was finish my feet, when it happened.

Have you ever almost passed out? I hadn't. Please note past tense. Well, the world suddenly went dim, and echo-ey. Like, I could hear people's voices echoing in my head. It was really bizarre. I told the doc that we had a problem, and next thing I knew, there was a flurry of movement, as they got me more Gatorade and put me on a cot. I did manage to avoid passing out, but I didn't finish the 26.2 miles for that day. I am not sure if my sodium got too low or if I was simply dehydrated, it doesn't matter too much, because I was ok after a rest and a ton to drink.

The next day, I was ready to roll again by the 7:30 start time. It was windy and slightly chilly, but I did complete the day, in a happily uneventful manner, finishing the full 13.1 miles within 4 hours and 30 minutes, by noon.

I am pretty pleased with how the whole thing went. I would have liked to finish the whole 39.3 miles, instead of just 34, but I feel like I did really well for my first attempt at it. And I had a few minor blisters. But as many signs along the route point out, you don't need chemo to cure blisters. :) I also learned that I have to be even more careful about hydration than I realized, especially when it is rainy and I am already fighting off a cold. I also met a lot of really wonderful ladies, and had a great time!! I am already thinking about next year!