Training, Saturday, October 2 – 20 miles baby!

Today was a BIG deal! My teammate, Grace and I tackled our first 20 miles! WOW! I can't believe how proud of myself I am!!! And am surprised by how good I feel! Really curious how tomorrow will go down. But today, I feel amazing considering we walked more than 20 miles today! 21 to be more exact, but who's really counting anyway? OK, ME! But... :)

We walked in Martin's Landing subdivision where Grace lives. We thought the hills (which felt more like mini-mountains by the 2nd and 3rd trek around) would be great training ground... OK... My butt hurts, but it's nothing like last weekend after Sunday's 15 mile day (more than 1/2 of that in the rain)!

The day now feels like a blur... And it seems ages ago that we did this! haha! Either I'm getting old or I'm more tired than I give myself credit for! ;) But then again, it was HOURS ago! ;)

We started out about 8:30-9:00 AM... A little late really (but that was my fault – long week, ugh). And our journey began... It started great with a nice, steep downhill incline where when we finally reached the bottom, we were followed by two small kitties for a little ways... Thank God we didn't have to take them back home! It was beginning to look like maybe we would!

Then, we headed out of the subdivision and down Riverside Drive along the Chattahoochee River, up Eves Road (where we encountered the first of many, up hill climbs on a mini-mountain!) and turned back into the subdivision via Eves Circle and up and down a series of mini-mountain hills back to Grace's place to complete the first 6 miles... Time for a break! ;)

There were also a couple of potty breaks/rest stops mid-walk which veered us on/off course a few times (the walk took us out of our way roughly 1/4 mile round-trip each stop).

Break was a great time to rest, eat a sandwhich, change/adjust footwear, dress blisters, etc. Then, back out to tackle the same loop for the next 6 miles to complete our first 12! ;)

For the next half of our journey, we decided to break it up by walking 4 miles down the mini-mountain, past the kitties, to the lake and around and back.

Two rounds of this completed our day which totalled 21 miles!

At the end of the day, I inherited a few blisters and sore buttocks. :)

And not to forget the two fabulous ladies we met today! Once at the tennis center on Eves. There we met Sarah from Top Shelf. Sarah was wearing her SGK T-Shirt which caught my attention and I HAD to speak to her! Sarah tells us she is/was walking TWO SGK walks this year! You go girl! One was in Chicago. And with us in Atlanta. We'll be looking for you lady! She was great to talk with and we learned some fabulous tips from her! ;)

We also met, Sandy with the Miller Zell Souls. We met her at the Riverside Tennis facility. She was awesome and stopped us because she noticed our team shirt! ;) We also learned some great stuff from Sandy, too! ;) We'll keep an eye out for you guys, too! ;)

I'm so amazed how many people are involved in this cause in some way! It touches my soul! :)