3 weeks and 3 miles

I am in pain today!! I decided yesterday to challenge myself and go on a very hilly walk. Its called the Duke Trail and its a 3.2 mile walk with a few big hills and small hills around the track. I decided that before I leave, I would take the challenge and walk the hill. I remember back to my first walk here at Structure House and it was a very flat 2 mile...I thought I was going to die then. Then I did the same walk two weeks later and it was a lot easier that time... I have been working out since I have been here and felt I could mentally take on the walk. I told my group here that I was going to do this and out of 4 people, only 1 made me feel like I could not make it. He was on that first walk with me and I guess felt that I was not going to be able to handle the intensity of this trail. Anyways...I decided this was it and I was going to go on the walk... So I woke up first thing yesterday morning..EXHAUSTED because I had a late night before hand but I refused to back out of my challenge...I ate breakfast and waited at the bus for us to take off. There were a total of 4 people: Nancy (a fitness instructor and also the driver) , Kim and Chris. Chris is in my group and was there to support me. So off we go...

When we got to the trail, I saw lots of cars parked and many people begin and ending their walk. I started at the same pace as Nancy. Now..Nancy is a fitness queen and set a pretty fast power walking. I was proud because I was keeping up with her...well..that is until this giant hill crept up on us... I climbed the hill slowly laggin behind Nancy.. at this point, Chris was behind us and Kim had jogged ahead (yes..JOGGED!!). We continue to walk and I am feeling the burn and am keeping pace with this Nancy..she was talking and all I could think was..I cant waste any breaths on talking...so I just nodded and gave one word answers...about 1/3 of the way..I am slowing down...I felt like I just couldnt catch my breath...so I started walking with Chris and even slowed behind him a little... At one point, I just bent down and tried to catch as much air as possible. Chris waited for me and he and I walked at a little slower rate. Nancy had long passed us but we continued walking and talking. Chris was able to keep me motivated and take my mind off the burning and nausea... When I got back to the bus, everyone had congratulated me because it was my first time walking the trail..

I felt very triumphant that I had walked the trail and survived! Chris pointed out something to me on our walking...we were significantly heavier than a lot of the other people on this trail.. yet we were able to complete it as well...when I thought of it..I realized he was right. How many times have we judged ourselves and felt disappointment because we feel like we dont measure up with other people. So often we fail to look at things objectively. For example, I was the heaviest one on this trail. Everyone else was at least 50 lbs smaller than I am... so for me to expect myself to walk at their pace and be ok was unrealistic....so I did it at my time and was able to SUCCEED!! YES!!

Like Brenda said... 2 miles in 2 weeks...and 3 miles in 3 weeks!! This is my 4th week but I dont expect to walk the 4 miles- haha.. we'll see!!

As always..thanks for reading and take care!