In April Todd and I started a diet and we have both lost 40+ pounds. Back to walking, as the pounds have shed I have been able to walk faster and not be as winded and same with Jill. We walk about 3/12 miles 3 times a week. Of course sometimes weather or other things stop us but we keep at it. Monday's are the worst. Who wants to walk on Monday morning at 7:45am. I don't but I know Jill will and she knows I will. So we both depend on one another to stay at it. It's great having a friend to walk with even though some days we don't want to do it.
About a month ago Jill found out about a walk/run at Shakertown, a 5K, that's just a little over 3 miles so we signed up. The money helps Shakertown and we would get a long sleeve t-shirt. So today was the day. We met out there about 7:30am checked in, got our packet with the shirt and a free entrance into Sharkertown for their Fall Festival. So we lined up in the tradition of Shakertown, women on the right (do I need to say why) and men on the left. Walkers started at 8am and runners at 8:30am. The man in charge told us there would be water at mile 2 and 4 but we figured that was for runners. We took off strong with our usual pace and the gravel path was great. We were loving it then at about then end of the first mile the gravel ran out and we were walking in wet grass, down hill then up and some of the ups were hard to look at. I'm not sure where exactly that we realized that it was a 5 mile walk and not a 5K.
Later we would look at our t-shirts and see 5 mile on it. I guess we just thought these walk/runs are always, 5K 10K and etc. So we two grown adults didn't really read the info thoroughly and we found ourselves in a five mile walk. We had already walked about 9 miles this week but we couldn't quit. Jill is a cheerleader and kept us going. I probably would have caved with a little encouragement.
At mile two there was no water, so we were walking for mile 4 and water. To get to that we had monster hills and more narrow trails than at the beginning. We tried to stay to the right so the runners could pass but the terrain was bumpy and it was hard to stay over. If you are running behind me and you can see me but I can't see you can't you move to get around me? It seems like some runners are like trucks on the road they think they own it. On the other hand, some runners were very encouraging to those of us trudging along. The water at mile 4 was like gold at the end of a rainbow, and I ask for a second cup and so did Jill. The last mile was less incline and wider and somehow we just kept going and low and behold we made it. Jill figured it out at a 17 minute mile. Not too bad for two 50 somethings on a slippery, hilly, trail.
