1-21  My first walk! A whole hour. Not exactly what I’d call a “training walk,” but since I haven’t walked in about 3 months, it’s worthy of a journal entry. Felt fine, despite old shoes.

1-25  Sometimes Avon is just a little too organized. The wonderful walker coaches who are assigned to who-knows-how-many walkers send out weekly e-mails with how much money each has raised. My coach has been diligent in sending me my “Donations: 0” e-mail. Kinda disheartening, but then, I haven’t even written my pledge letter. Last year I didn’t send my letter or start training until the first week of March, so I figure I’ve got time.

Man! At this time last year I was reluctantly turning in my registration form. Now, registration has closed for Chicago, with 4,100 walkers. Meanwhile I’ve already received my Avon shirt (gray this year) and info packet. Things look pretty much the same. The dates for this year’s walk are Friday, June 15 thru Sunday, June 17. Seems like a long way off.

1-29  Got my orthotics today! How exciting. I hope these will make a difference in toe pain. We’ll see. Dr. Ross yelled at me (nicely) for the shoes I was wearing. Time for new shoes again. Already!

2-17  Let’s see, according to the Avon training schedule, I should be walking at least 15 miles a week. Hmmm...since January 1, I’ve completed 2 1-hour walks. Almost there!

OK, I’ve got some good excuses. I’m still breaking in my orthotics, which seem to fit nicely, I’ve been extrEEEmely busy with work, and I still need to get new shoes. Plus, as I keep telling myself, I didn’t start training last year until the first week in March. So there. I really think I’m in better shape than this time last year, too. Even tho I was walking more, this year I’ve been going more regularly to aerobics, plus I started doing Pilates a few months ago, which is GREAT for back and legs. I love it.

In other news, I got my pledge letter written this weekend—finally! and will mail out 70 letters and forms on Tuesday. Glad to have that done.

2-25  Woo-hoo! I’ve already gotten 3 pledge forms back! Have I said it enough? “I love my donors!” Also put in another grueling hour-walk on Friday. I think official training will begin next weekend, no excuses.

I have, in the last few weeks, added a fun new activity to my workout routine. I call it: DanceAerobothonics and it incorporates wild, frenzied dancing (the kind you never do in public); aerobic, kickboxing, and non-specific flailing moves; air guitar (complete with head-banging motions and pained facial expressions), and breathless singing. It’s fun! And a helluva workout. And you can do it in the privacy of your own home. In fact, I highly recommend you do it only in the privacy of your own home. Just put on some good music and rock out. Kick those legs! Swing that hair! Go Townshend on that air guitar! Recommended DanceAerobothonic songs include: “It’s Raining Men,” by The Weather Girls, “Flirtin’ with Disaster,” by Molly Hatchet, “Rock of Ages,” by Def Leppard, “This Is Love,” by PJ Harvey, “Sister Havana,” by Urge Overkill, and, for warming up or cooling down: “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” by Travis, “Lovely Day,” by Bill Withers, and “Green,” by Edie Brickell.

But readers might be more interested in some good walking songs. Obvious choices are “Five Hundred Miles,” by The Proclaimers, “Ray of Light,” by Madonna, and “Praise You,” by Fatboy Slim, but don’t overlook oldies such as “Downtown,” by Petulia Clark, “Windy,” by The Association, and the theme from Hawaii 5-0. These recommendations are, of course, limited to indoor walking.

3-04  2 beautiful days this week meant 2 beautiful walks. The first, another hour-long solo venture felt great, tho I’m still wearing last year’s shoes. But the orthotics felt okay, and my back, which I screwed up a few weeks ago, feels a lot better when I’m exercising.

Also, by the end of the week, I received more pledge forms! YAY! and thank you again to my wonderful donors. I’m more than halfway there.

Saturday was our first official training walk. I met Elma at her house in Evanston at 8:30, just like last year, except this time it was just the 2 of us. Still, the memories flooded back: walking along the lake, watching the seasons change from winter to spring, noticing, especially, the seasonal changes in the lake’s appearance, the gardens of the homes we passed, and how many layers of clothes we could peel off. Elma reminded me of how last year, she and Annette were the “Hot Mamas” (because they’re just plain hot, but also because they were each experiencing the joys of hot flashes), and Candus and I were the “Cool Babies” (because we’re just plain cool, but also because, at the tender age of almost 40, we stayed bundled up while Elma and Annette shed layer after layer).

We walked our usual route, tho due to time constraints (you’ll be hearing that phrase a lot), we did only about 5 miles. What a great day! So good to be out in the fresh air. Made our usual pit stop at Northwestern’s Henry Crown Sports Pavilion. I remembered that they often had free pretzels and snacks, but not today. Wish I’d brought a water bottle, but I figured for a 2-hour or less walk, I wouldn’t need it.

Had to take out my orthotics halfway thru. The right one is digging into my instep, but I can’t really tell if it’s a problem with the orthotics until I get my new shoes. They were supposed to be in this week! Grrr. It’s amazing: After hour-long walks, my feet feel fine, but after a walk just under 2 hours, all the weak spots make themselves known: Bunion? Here! Sore toe? Here! Achilles tendon? Here! All present and accounted for. Oh, well. New shoes will help. Funny, as I was walking and taking foot inventory, my mom was at my podiatrist. Turns out she has the same foot problems I do, aggravated by arthritis. Surgery is in her near future.

Got back to Elma’s by around 10:30. I remembered some of our training walks last year, seeing my car parked in front of her house from a distance, thinking how glad I would be when I could sink down into the seat and drive home. Of course, today’s walk hardly merited that level of relief; I definitely could’ve walked longer if I’d had the time. After running my errands I paid a visit to my friendly chiropractor, Dr. Taylor. He volunteered at last year’s 3-Day and will do so again this year. Hey, Dr. Taylor! My back is finally starting to feel better. Thanks!

3-11  Yay! 3 walks this week. Walked by myself on Tuesday, just for an hour BUT it was pretty cold and I started out the day thinking I wasn’t going to do any type of exercise. Also did some upper body weights afterward.

On Thursday, I woke up at 2:30 AM. This was not by choice. However, I’ve been so busy, it was a good thing. Got up around 3, chatted with Dave, who’d gotten home from work not long before, and then got in a very productive 6 hours of work. Thank goodness I decided to start drinking real coffee again! Met Elma at her house around 9:30 and set out. It was a little chilly, but not bad. We planned to walk about 2 hours so I could be back at my car by about 11:30. Despite my productive morning, I don’t want to get in the habit of last year, where I just sort of vegged as soon as I got home from walking. Plus, it’s not a good idea to go too far too soon while training. We stopped at the Bahá’í Temple for a stretch and bathroom break at about 10:20. I was tempted to turn back, but I was STARVING! Actually, I was starving even before we left, which is not a good way to begin even a fairly short walk. So, I suggested we walk to a Starbucks we’d gone to on past walks and then turn around.

Well, the Starbucks was a LOT farther than I remembered! AND it started snowing! Yuk. I wanted to turn around and head back about 1,000 times, but honest to god, I was that hungry. Just had to keep plowing ahead to Starbucks. FINALLY we got there, and it was worth it. We sat down, ate a bite, and rested for a few minutes before heading back. Needless to say, we walked farther and longer than we’d intended, but we didn’t feel too bad by the end, or, more important, the day after. Later we figured we’d walked almost 8 miles. Not bad! (That night was definitely a bubble bath night.)

Today (Sunday) Elma and I walked about an hour and a half in my neighborhood in Skokie. Definitely not as walker-friendly as the lake, but it worked. Until I slipped on what looked like a completely innocent sidewalk that was actually a deadly sheet of ice. SLAM! Right on my knee. But I was fine. When things like that happen in normal life, you barely give it a thought, but when you’re in training, it can really make you panic a bit!

Not sure how much walking I’ll get in this next week; it’s gonna be a busy one.

3-18  And so it was a busy week. But, although I missed all three aerobics classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I did get in 2 good walks. Tuesday was a solo, hour-long walk followed by my beloved Pilates tape. Felt great. My back is much better this week.

Thursday: rain. Cold rain. Elma doesn’t do cold rain, or so she told us last year. We all agreed we could walk in just about any weather but cold rain. So Thursday it was raining. Coldly. Resulting in the aforementioned cold rain. The weather we said we’d never walk in—the weather Elma swore she’d never walk in.

So, of course we walked. Man, was it awful! Since Elma was the one with the cold rain phobia, I told her to just say the word and we’d turn around. Really, Elma! Say the word—right now! But we soldiered on. We talked at length about hot baths and hot showers and hot tea. We only walked a little over an hour, and that was more than enough. At one point, to my alarm, Elma began foaming at the knee. After ruling out bird droppings, leaking lactic acid, and rabies, Elma determined that it was laundry detergent that hadn’t completely rinsed out and that the rain was causing to foam up. We had a good laugh about her foamy knees.

(I just got off the phone with Elma, who asked me to remind her NEVER again to walk in cold rain. Done!)

Except for being cold and soaked, I felt great. I was especially pleased that my feet were still dry. Boy, did that hot shower feel good. If it’s raining on the walk, at least it will be WARM rain. I hope!

I still haven’t gotten my shoes from Murphy’s Fit!!!

Now it’s Sunday morning at 8:30. I’m sitting here half-hoping Elma doesn’t want to walk. It’s sunny, but kind of icy. I have a bunch of stuff I want to do today (including playing with my new CD burner), but I know I really need to take advantage of the weekends to get in some good walks. I’m thinking up excuses to give Elma, but when she calls, her enthusiasm is infectious. Good thing! We’re off!

Later that day...  Boy, am I glad we went. It was a great day to walk: sunny and around 40 degrees. Did our usual route by the lake and saw remnants of a Tom Hanks’ movie set: a bunch of 1930s-type cars. No Tom Hanks, tho. We also saw a huge inflatable dinosaur on someone’s front lawn announcing that Robert is now a teenager. Lucky Robert! We walked to Plaza Del Lago, once again motivated by food (I wanted some of Convito Italiano’s tuna salad). We walked for about 3 hours, and I was more than ready to see my little green Jetta waiting to speed me home to my foot massager.

It’s funny how different parts of my body hurt: today it was left hamstring and feet (had to take out orthotics again halfway through). Last year I remember having a lot of trouble with my back and hip flexors. But regardless, my body seems to crave this exercise. I remember from last year how, even when I didn’t feel like doing anything else, somehow I could always walk.

3-20  Busy today so just walked by myself around the neighborhood. Didn’t mind, since I wanted to try out my new Discman. Cool! I know, we’re not supposed to walk with headphones, but I am very careful. Did about 3 miles followed by Pilates tape.

3-22  I finally got my shoes from Murphy’s Fit!!!

And they seem fine. Thank goodness. Walked again by myself on an absolutely beautiful Thursday for about 2 hours. The shoes felt fine (after much adjusting and re-tying), and the orthotics felt okay, but something wasn’t right. My right foot hurt and once I got home, the left one did, too. Still, it was a GREAT walk, thanks to gorgeous weather, great music, and REAL coffee (which I treat myself to every now and then).

3-24  Hey, fellow walkers! Did you ever have one of those days when you feel like you could walk forever? No, me neither. But today came pretty close. Not as warm as Thursday but still pretty nice. I decided to try wearing my old Thorlo socks (from last year) instead of the new, thinner ones I’d bought for this year. They made a BIG difference! Amazing how these little things seem to do that. Finally, everything: feet, socks, orthotics, shoes all came together and felt GOOD! Did about 4.5 miles (figured out how to work my pedometer!) and felt like I could’ve done more, but I had stuff to do.

And the pledges keep rolling in...!

4-01  HEY, FELLOW WALKERS! It’s not long now! The next 10 weeks and 6 days will FLY!!! Hold on! It’'s going to be an adventure!

No, that’s not an April Fool’s joke; it’s a message from my hardworking walker coach, Quincy. 10 weeks! I can’t believe it. Just 2 more full months of training. Quincy also mentioned sending out “gentle follow-ups to the people you sent out pledge letters to who haven’t pledged you yet.” I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to do this. Last year I sent out update letters to people who did donate; I’m not sure how I feel about the “gentle reminder” tactic. We’ll see.

Anyhoo...Only 2 walks this week. A very unenthusiastic solo walk on Tuesday. I didn’t realize how chilly it was, and was fighting the urge to turn around and go home practically the whole time! But I stuck it out. It was worth it—I ran into one of my neighbors and got some great gardening advice. Walked for about an hour. Shoes feel fine.

On Thursday I was prepared to walk, but when Elma called and said she was kind of busy, I was more than happy to blow it off! Besides, I had to clean that day, and since my workflow was low, it was a good time to do it. FIVE HOURS OF CLEANING! OK, maybe it’s not quite the same as walking 10 miles, but it sure was a workout. And my house is lemony fresh!

Now it’s Sunday morning, and those stupid weather people! I was sure Saturday would turn out to be the better day to walk; now it looks like today is going to be a gorgeous day. Oh, well! That’s “springtime” in Chicago for you. To Elma’s house by noon, where we met the lovely young Kristina, who I’ve been e-mailing for a few weeks. Kristina had planned to train and walk with her best friend, until she (best friend) got accepted to med school. Kristina got my name from Susi at an AIDS Ride event (they’re both volunteers), and hooked up with Elma and me. It’s her first 3-Day, so it was fun to talk with her about everything. We almost made it to Plaza del Lago, but between Kristina being cold (the temps dropped rather dramatically as we headed for home), me having to be back in time for Dave to go the Y, and Elma being “famished,” we were all ready to turn back. It was just starting to sprinkle as I sank gratefully into my car. We did about 8 miles. Ouch. Achilles tendon pain again. But I stretched and iced it as soon as I got home, then sank gratefully into what I thought was going to be a hot bath, but surprise! No hot water! So I sank ungratefully into a lukewarm bath. Bleah.

And today (Sunday) I feel great! No walking today, tho.

4-08  Yay! 10 weeks from today at this time, Chicago walkers will be enjoying Evanston’s lakefront on their final leg of the 3-Day! Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it is today.

I think Elma and I are experiencing some kind of “mid-way slump.” We both found excuses not to walk on Tuesday. I think part of the problem is that we both feel pretty confident that we’re in good shape and, having done the walk last year, we know we can do it again. But it’s dangerous to be too confident. I still need to break in my orthotics, figure out how to get around this achilles tendon pain, and just basically still get in shape. Elma was busy on Thursday, too, and I was REALLY tempted to blow off walking yet again. After all, I did absolutely NO exercise on Tuesday and it felt really good—first day of no exercise in more than a week. Sooooo, wouldn’t another day off be good for me too??? No, I forced myself out, and I’m really glad I did. Tho it wasn’t quite as warm as I’d hoped, it was pleasant enough, and I was really jamming to my music. I ended up walking for 2 hours (7.5 miles!!) and feeling great. I also saw about 25 cardinals!

And today, Sunday! What a great day. I hope everyone was able to enjoy it. I know it was nice yesterday, too, but kinda windy. Today was perfect weather for walking. We actually complained about the heat! Elma and I walked with her friend and houseguest, Nicole, who kept up with us admirably (actually, I’m pretty sure she could have gone farther and faster than we did!) 3 1/2 hours! Woo-hoo! I figure it was about 8-9 miles. What a difference beautiful weather makes! As usual, we walked from Elma’s to Plaza del Lago, where once again I rewarded myself with a treat: this time delicious FRESH-out-of- the-oven garlic bread that we feasted on as we headed back.

Lots of walkers, runner, bikers, etc. Saw one group of women in 3-day shirts. Saw billions of crocuses. Got stopped for directions to the Bahá’í Temple (a popular request; last year someone stopped and asked us where it was, and we were right across the street from it! Kinda hard to miss.) In short, a gorgeous day and a great walk. AND my feet and ankle feel the best they’e felt so far, so that’s encouraging. Back is good, too.

4-15  Happy Easter! Journal entries coming soon.

4-22  I missed updating last week due to the holiday, but you didn’t miss much. Only walked twice Easter week, about an hour each time. Easter Eve was a gorgeous day; all conditions right, but I just didn’t feel much like walking. Still, managed to put in about an hour. Gotta do better!

This past week, again, blew off walking on Tuesday (mainly cuz I had to go for my mammogram), but did walk on Thursday, about an hour and a half. And on Saturday, met up with Kristina for a nice, BRISK walk by the lake: about 3 hours. Yay! It was a great day, weather-wise, except for some wind. When we got back to her place and my car parked in front, she saw her husband and stepdaughter across the street and motioned for them to come over to us (probably because she realized I couldn’t walk one more yard!) Pain inventory: left toe, right achilles, left knee, left hamstring. Exhausted!

I did see my podiatrist that morning, too, and was relieved to find that the only adjustment I need to make to my orthotics is to buy some flat insoles to keep them from sliding around. Done!

I was VERY happy to make my $1,900 minimum this week! Thanks, donors!

4-29  Happy Spring! After a slumpish week, Elma and I got back on track. On Tuesday, we walked up to New Trier High School in Winnetka. Gorgeous day, coolish and sunny. At first I didn’t want to go that far, but then decided, what the heck. The highlight (besides lunch at Panera) was running into several groups of 3-Day Walkers (funny how we seem to always know they ARE 3-Day Walkers, even when they’re not wearing any 3-Day stuff). One of the women (hi, Julie!) was familiar to Elma; they had walked in the Survivor Circle together at the 1999 Walk! She didn’t recognize Elma at first, because Elma now has a gorgeous head of long, ponytail-length hair. Two years ago, things were pretty sparse up there. So that was pretty neat. I must say, this walk felt GREAT! I think a big difference between how I felt after this walk and after my long walk last Saturday was the pace. We didn’t walk quite as briskly, and I really felt much better. Absolutely no toe or achilles pain, back felt great, not even that tired! And we walked over 12 miles!!!!! Even felt great once I got home: worked until about 7 and was up until...10:30!!!

On Thursday, somewhere between many bathroom breaks, lunch, stretching, and basic cracking up, we managed to get some walking in. We made up another song, the lyrics of which I will spare you, but it included rhyming “bladder stimulation” with “frequent urination” and ended with “Those Kegel muscle exercises just are’t doing the job, It’s times like this I wish my name was Bob!” Guess what was on our mind at the time! Anyway, we walked up to Plaza del Lago and strolled through the nice Jewel there. After spending about 20 minutes looking for potato chips, we finally settled outside for hummus, tuna salad, and fritos (fritos dipped in hummus are excellent, by the way). Thursday was another great day: warmer than Tuesday. For some reason, tho, we both felt more tired, and my feet were aching. It was not easy getting up after lunch and heading back. I think the reason my feet hurt more on Thursday is that I didn’t have one of my orthotics in quite right. That throws everything off. Veeeery glad to see my car! Felt pretty useless the rest of the day, but HAPPY to have put in another 9-10 miles.

Today (Sunday), Elma and I had planned to do a shorter walk, but I decided to walk by myself so I could have a more unscheduled kind of day. That’s what Sundays are for, after all. So, I’ll walk for about an hour and a half, do some weightlifting, then spend ALL afternoon in my beloved garden, where I plan to put in some mesclun salad mix, spinach, and a tomato plant, and try to wrest control of my peonies away from the evil morning glories. Meanwhile, I’ve got radishes, sugar snap peas, and onions coming up!!! My backyard bunny is waiting for the carrots.

5-6 To continue from above, I did walk on Sunday, just for about an hour. The highlight was wearing my new insoles with my orthotics, which made a big difference. Now I can’t even tell they’re in there.

Elma and I walked on Tuesday, about 3 hours. I was tired and crabby from having not slept well the night before, but I was determined to get in this walk. One thing that really brightened my mood was running into two other 3-Day walkers, Mary and Pam! We spent about 10 minutes chatting with them (this is their first walk) and comparing notes. Mary demonstrated how she had literally “walked her butt off” (wish I could) and talked about why each of us was doing the walk. I told them I had a 3-Day Web site and asked if I could put take their picture. When I whipped out my camera, Pam said, “Wow, she was serious!” You better believe it! Anyway, they were both so nice. I hope we meet up with them again. The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful; in fact, so uneventful we decided to try a different route next time. Even tho we love the lake, we felt like we were ready for a change of scene. Stopped again at our favorite Jewel at Plaza del Lago so Elma could get a Power Bar. I resisted the Twinkies.

The rest of the week? Too busy to walk on Thursday, so I think Elma walked on her own. On Friday I really wanted to get in a good weight training workout before my much anticipated appointment with Connie—Goddess of Acupuncture & Massage. I saw Connie regularly during last year’s training, but haven’t been able to at all this year. Until Friday. Aaahhhh. I’d really been having problems with my lower back and now, after just one hour with Connie: my back is CURED! It feels great!!! Thank you, Connie. Hopefully I can get in to see her a couple more times before the walk.

Woke up Saturday feeling ready for anything...except rain. I was supposed to meet Kristina in Evanston, but a communication breakdown and the rain kind of shattered that plan. I had so many other things I wanted to do that day, it was easy to blow off walking.

However, on Sunday (today) I was determined. YES! A great 2-hour walk. Feet felt fine. Orthotics felt fine. Everything great! Except: People? Can you please keep your dogs on a leash? Even the small yappy ones that don’t look threatening but to people who’ve been bitten twice—and no, I was not provoking the dog in either case—they can still seem quite scary and are still capable of biting. Thank you.

Less than six weeks! I still need to get a sleeping bag, cheap watch, disposable cameras, decide SOON whether or not I’m going to buy a second pair of shoes. We also have to supply our own tarp/bottom for our tent this year. Luckily Elma saves her shower curtains! And we really need to get in some longer walks and at least one back-to-back walk. Hopefully this week.

5-12  Happy Anniversary! To me! And Dave! Eleven blissful years. We’re celebrating by going to a Guided by Voices concert tonight.

Also worth celebrating is a fantastic training week. On Tuesday, Elma and I walked 15-count ’em-15 miles. The key word for the day was “efficient.” Elma had walked by herself on the previous Thursday and carefully timed her bathroom/stretch stops to be 1 hour apart. So we went for the same goal. We were so efficient (or busy gabbing) that we completely walked by our designated bathroom stop at Gilson Park. Not so efficient that we didn’t stop for lunch, tho. We grabbed some tomato and mozzarella sandwiches at Convito Italian (and tried out their bathroom: A-) then ate outside at a park in Wilmette. Still had plenty of energy for the rest of the afternoon.

On Wednesday we went to aerobics as usual, then walked for about an hour and a half afterwards. It was such a gorgeous day! We took our time, just enjoying the weather by the lake. In an effort to avoid buying another new pair of shoes, I wore my aerobic shoes to see if they might hold up as a back-up pair. Probably not. My toes really hurt afterward. I thought I’d kept my shoes from last year—they’d be good enough to bring along as back-ups, but NO! I threw them out! Grrrr. It’s definitely a good idea to bring a second pair, especially, as Elma pointed out, if it rains.

On Thursday (yes, we did 3 days in a row!) we decided to try a different route. We walked west on Lake, swung over to Church, then headed north on the trail that runs parallel to McCormick. This was good practice (yay!) since we did more walking on concrete and it was a bit more humid than it is by the lake. We congratulated ourselves about 50 times on what a good idea it was to do this route. Made our way up to Green Bay Road (passed Dunkin Donuts with GREAT difficulty), grabbed sandwiches at Panera and ate outside by the Kenilworth train station. Elma was doing a real “practice day” by walking with her Avon fanny pack stuffed with everything she plans to bring on the walk, including foot powder, which we used liberally after eating. This was probably the closest I’ve felt to actually doing the walk. I can’t really describe it, but there was just this sensation of tiredness at the end of the day that I haven’t really had before during training. My left toe was pretty sore and my feet were just plain TIRED. Still, we felt great. 16 miles! It was a good 3 days.

Took a day off on Friday to rest up. But I felt pretty good, so that’s a sign that we’re probably ready. We need to get in a few more long walks—maybe a back-to-back walk this weekend, then start tapering off. Only 5 more weeks!! Also found out that the Closing Ceremonies will be at the same location as last year: Montrose Harbor. The Avon newsletter urged attendees to take public transportation to Closing Ceremonies. However, if you’re meeting a walker and planning to take him/her home, please drive!!! I can’t speak for everyone else, but I would NOT be too happy if I had to stand on the “L” after walking 60 miles!

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