GU-Gone Mad

We had an absolutely lovely weekend here in Ohio. It was perfect for a loonnnnng, torturous suppose to be 14-mile, ended up being 15-mile walk.

We are moving right along with our training. This weekend our schedule said 14 miles. Due to a gap in the trail and a lovely little loop-around in the ghetto of Massillon we logged 15 total. It was much better than my original (incorrect) plan of walking what I thought would be somewhere between 15.5 - 16 miles. I missed a gap on the map that was a 2.6 break in the trail. Let me just say that if we didn't catch that and ended up walking almost 19 miles at least one of us would have been in tears and at least one more seriously injured. Luckily, the mistake was caught well in advance and our alternate 15 mile route was planned.

The walk started off well. I had my lovely new hydration pack that I just bought the day before (on sale!). Everyone was jealous of how snazzy I looked. And even more jealous when I was able to sip and walk without digging through a bag for my water bottle. Everyone should own one. They're snazzy. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. They're just jealous.

So, we were bee-bopping along fairly smoothly for the first half of the walk. Nothing too overly exciting happening. Apparently some shady character was following us for a while. I missed him. I was in the zone. Nature Guide Jen (there, someone else has a nickname now) was pointing out creatures to us. BLS was trash-talking the geese. Geese were spitting at BLS in response to her apparent disrespect towards them. Monica was trying to break her ankle. I was sipping water from my snazzy hydration pack. We had snack-time so we could try GU. Blackberry flavored. Ummmmm....not so GUd. Not horrible. But, not good. The Cliff Energy Block gummies were waaaay better. That's our personal endorsement. Take it for what it's worth.

I think all of us were feeling pretty good right up to mile 12.5. After that things went downhill quickly. That would be shortly after we saw the "Trail Ends in 3.12) sign. I became delirious with excitement that it was almost over and was convinced the car was "right around that bend." Had to be "at the bottom of the hill." Of course, it was "right around the corner." Can I just say that those last 2.5 miles felt like 6 miles. I started to worry that somehow we parked the car at the wrong place and we were going to get to the end of the trail and be stranded. Monica and I decided to jog the last bit to the car because we were so sure it was that close. Needless to say, it wasn't and we didn't last long with the jogging. We passed a lovely older couple out for an afternoon stroll and our response to their greeting was, "How far to the end?!?!?" Luckily, the car was parked at the correct trail head, we found it before I started to cry and anyone became seriously injured.

I did feel like I had went a little doggone mad by the end of this one though. It seriously kicked my arse. I had leg pain that I've never experienced. My hydration pack, as snazzy as it is, made my back hurt like crazy. Ankles were spraining, knees were clicking, blisters were forming and hips were aching. But, I'm proud to say that after walking for 4.5 hours, burning more calories than I've probably every burned in one afternoon and logging 15 miles that we finished fairly strong, in my opinion.

On the way back to the car, we popped pain pills, day-dreamed about narcotics, giggled in awe over how we traversed Massillon, Navarre and Bolivar and tried to contain our excitement over our pending ice baths.

Ice baths. The new, exciting part of my life that I look forward to.

61 Days, 14 Hours, 5 Minutes and 40 Seconds until Race Day.....