I have signed up to walk a half-marathon on June 18. Yikes!!! I'm loosely following a half-marathon walking training program that I found online - one of Hal Higdon's programs. Anyway I say I'm only loosely following it because it's still so icy and snowy here that I don't feel safe walking outside - ice is not my friend. So I have chosen to just do the long mileage walk on the weekend and do other workouts during the week when he suggests timed walks. Instead I do my elliptical inside.

So today I decided to do the first week mileage walk. 3 miles. Should be a piece of cake right? Ha! I decided to do it at the mall. Let's just say there aren't any big malls around here - so three miles is like a bazillion laps around the mall. But there were other mall walkers there so that made me feel good. I learned a few things on my walk:

1. This is going to take a lot of work and a lot of walking.
2. I need to wear longer socks with my shoes.
3. My shoes aren't super comfortable, or my feet aren't used to them, or both.
4. My ankle is good so far.
5. Right now I'm only walking about a 22 minute mile - without really trying for speed.

So it took me about 65 minutes to walk three miles. And my legs were quite jellified. Then I went to the grocery store and now I'm home relaxing before my quilt/potluck class tonight. I'm so glad I have two more hours to rest before class.

This half-marathon is going to be a TON of training, but I still think I can do it. It's just going to take a lot of work - duh. I have two friends who are running it so I do have someone that I can talk about training with, although it's different for them. But anyway the first walk I will have to say was a success. Next week I'm going on vacation which will actually give me the opportunity to walk a lot more because there is no snow/ice where I'm going. So I anticipate walking a ton just by virtue of being on vacation, and being able to get my next mileage walk in.

Ok time to relax a little and figure out what fabric to take to my quilt class. :-)