Training Walk on the B&A Trail

Some of the Harbor City Titty Committee and Friends

Went for a training walk today with some of the HCTC team members. It was a hot, humid morning here in the Baltimore area, and we definitely felt it! Even starting at 8:15am, the temperature was already in the upper 80's with very high humidity. By the time we finished the car thermometer said it was 91 degrees. I believe it!

The Baltimore & Annapolis Trail is a former railway that used to go between - yep, you guessed it - Baltimore and Annapolis. It has been converted to a recreational trail for bikes, joggers and walkers. There are mileage markers every half mile or so, which of course helps you know just how darn much further you have to go until you get to your car!

Nancy, Lori D, Jen, and Lori C

Today also happens to be my hubbie's birthday, and he was really great to not only not mind that I was out training on his birthday, but to come along too!

Dave and me - Happy Birthday!

We dropped a couple cars at our end point, then drove back to Jen's house and started out from there. It's pretty convenient that she lives very close to the trail! We walked from her house back to the cars we had dropped earlier.

Woohoo for a snowball stand at then end of the walk!

Yum - Cherry!

We walked just over 6 miles in just about 2 hours. That's 6 miles further on our training journey and 6 miles closer to a cure!

HCTC Training Walk

It was an early morning wake up call today. The alarm went off at 6:45am -- and on a Saturday, that's a tough thing to hear -- time to get up and get moving. Harbor City Titty Committee (HCTC) was meeting up for a 7 mile training walk!

This is the first official training walk that I've attended which has been sponsored through the Susan G. Komen 3-Day website. I've been kind of hesitant to sign up for them. I don't know why. Maybe it's going by myself to meet up with people I don't know. Luckily for me, five other members of the HCTC were there today, so I didn't feel out of place.

Lori D, Lori C, Nancy, Jen and one of our newest team members, Christy, met up at Down's Park in Pasadena, MD. Once there, we hooked up with Training Walk Leader Jennifer Delandy, plus a handful of other women. I should really say that the others met up, and I came in late because of getting lost after taking a stupid turn that I shouldn't have taken. But anyway...

We got under way walking the perimeter trail of Down's Park. The trial is a 3.5 mile loop through mostly wooded areas right by the Chesapeake Bay. There were trail markers every tenth of a mile, so you could easily track your progress. We walked the trail clockwise first, then turned around and walked the loop again counter-clockwise, totalling 7 miles.

So, what did I think of the event?

I really enjoyed walking with my HCTC friends - having them there made it much, much, MUCH easier to walk so far, compared to if I tried to do that on my own. We did get separated throughout the morning for various reasons, and we paired off and clumped up in different formations, giving everyone a chance to chat. (except Lori D, who had another place to be at 10:00 so she zoomed ahead and walked the whole thing herself, probably in about half our time!)

I found that I did not really mingle much with the other folks who were on this walk. I'm not really good at the whole mingle thing, never really have been, and I'm always awkward and uncomfortable in a new group of people. It's one of my worst traits. So I didn't really benefit from the "get out and meet new people" aspect of this walk. It's my own fault, really, so I'm not complaining, just noting.

Overall, I am very glad I went. We got hot and tired, but we all finished, and most of us probably would not have been so successful on our own. So, the HCTC is going strong!

I've been a slacker...

... and have not been doing much preparation in the last two weeks for the 3-day. In fact, I've not done much training, have not done any fund raising, not even any blogging. I have not figured out how to fit training walks in on Tuesdays or Thursdays (or any other work day), because of stuff going on in the evenings. Weekends have been hit or miss. I've not yet done the full mileage that the training plan calls for on *any* day. The more I write this paragraph, the more I feel down about what I've not been able to accomplish. (sigh.)

On the bright side, I did walk last night and this morning. Last night I did a 3-mile loop at dusk, and had the pleasure of seeing hundreds of fireflies and a few deer in the woods, plus some butterflies and squirrels here and there. That was very pleasant. This morning my husband and I went out for a bagel, and took the 4.6 mile round trip that I described here. I had a yummy breakfast, a nice walk with my sweetie, and got the walk out of the way early. Which is great, because it's about 91 degrees here today with hot sun and high humidity. Whew!

Now I have to build on this momentum and keep up the good work this week. I'm going to look at the calendar today and make sure I schedule in my walk time. I'll see if I can get some walking dates planned with friends so I have no way to back out. Gotta get back on track. Wish me luck!