Training on Vacation - Part 1 - Rose, OK

I'm on summer vacation with my husband and kids, taking 2 1/2 weeks away to visit family across the country. Will I still be training for the 3-day while on vacation? Heck yeah!

First stop on the trip is a few days at my parents house out in northeastern Oklahoma. Mom and Dad live off the beaten path - ok, they live off the paved road! It's 2 miles to the nearest black top, and between their house and the road is just Oklahoma red clay and gravel road.

I decided this morning to walk an "out and back". Dave and I got up fairly early (at least early for vacation) and left the house at 7:30am. We walked out to the gravel road and turned right to head west on the rural farm road. After about 10 minutes, the road turned left to head south. Right after we turned the corner, about 100 yards ahead of us, we saw four dogs in the road. They saw us too. Soon, they were running at full speed right toward us! So we turned on our heels and high-tailed it back toward mom and dad's driveway. Those dogs ran behind us until we had gone around the corner and out of sight from them, down and up two hills, until finally they decided we were really, truly leaving. That was more excitement that we counted on!

Not wanting to call it quits quite yet, we walked the opposite direction on the road for another 20 minutes, passing by a chicken farm and a cow farm, and going up and down some fairly impressive hills. I thought Oklahoma was flat?! After an hour (3 miles), we stopped at home for a break.

I wanted to do more but didn't want to be too far away from a bathroom. I also was not keen on encountering any other stray or loose dogs out here in farm country. So Dave and I thought we'd drive into town and use the high school track. We hopped in the car and drove the 13 mile drive to the nearby town.

We walked on the track for 2 miles, then stopped into a near by convenience store (the Git-'n'-Split. I'm not kidding.) to use the facilities and pick up some Gatorade. Then back to the track for more miles.

We were working on our 7th mile when it started to drizzle. Actually that was pretty nice, because it kept us cool as we walked. But at about mile 7.5, it started to just downright rain. I wanted my miles in, but not bad enough to walk in a downpour. So we stopped at the 8 mile mark and headed back to mom and dad's house.

All in all, we logged 8 miles this morning before lunch. Awesome! We did not get attacked by dogs. We didn't melt. And I felt great from the accomplishment.

I'm not quite sure when I'll do the next long distance walk on this vacation. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Monday. I don't know. We'll have to play it by ear. It is, after all, a vacation!