Friday, March 4, 2011

Walk 500 miles...



Next time you make it to a gym, and head over to the treadmill, set the speed to 5.0 mph. Now WALK that speed...don't ever break into a run/jog. That's what I've been training at. Training for what?! A marathon. WALK A MARATHON you ask? Who in their right mind would even THINK about doing something like that?! Well - me for one. My knees just can't take running, and I really wanted to keep in shape while in The States. So - I started with a half marathon training, and graduated to the marathon training. I use Hal Higdon's training methodology for marathons - I just walk everything he says run.

So - what would that look like on a map? Well - I've walked over 550 miles so far in my training and I have about 70 more miles until the marathon. Currently, that's the equivalent of walking from Boston to Richmond, Virginia. And what would I have seen along the way?

Boston
Hartford
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Washington DC
Richmond

Lots of blisters, a few injuries, burned tons of calories. During the training I've trained in California, Arizona, Utah, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama and Honduras. I've only missed 2 cardio training days in that entire time - and even threw in some hiking in the mountains of Arizona on my cross training days. I will have done five 10K races and 1 half marathon race. That means walking 13, 15, 17, 18, and even 20 miles during my training. And yes, what you are thinking, it takes a LONG time! My 20 miler took me 4 hours and 11 minutes. I ate along the way, drank over 2 1/2 liters of water, and burned over 2,400 calories.

I think I'll take a break when I get back to Honduras - I'll be ready for the week drive home!

In honor of my Walking 500 Miles:


1 comment:

Unknown said...

I just think you are the coolest missionary, mother, wife and nurse there is. That is a LOT of freaking miles and the perfect song to commemorate. Only 70 miles to go. YOU CAN DO IT!!!