Just to be the WOman who walked 1000 miles To fall down at your door

Fall down at my door indeed. Today was day one of the 18/15 walk. The 18/15 is the test to see how ready you are for the 3 day. It's 18 miles one day and 15 the next. I had serious concerns about the 18 because the last 18 almost killed my little tootsies.

It is with great excitement that I can say 18 wasn't so bad today. My feet are tired, but not sore like they normally are. We walked a wicked path though that included a "HILL OF DEATH". Which you may or may not know, but Seattle is full of them.

We started at Greenlake again and headed northwest. We then walked down into Ballard. And by "down" I mean down, big hill, way down. About mid way down this "HILL OF DEATH" I realized our walk was an out and back meaning we'd have to walk UP this hill. Oh hell. AND this hill would be at mile 16 or so - oh double hell.

On the other side of Ballard we walked across the Chittenden Locks again. Not so many people there in the morning, but it was packed in the afternoon. On the other side of the locks we walked through Discovery Park again. You may remember a Discovery Park walk from some months ago where we did our first 13 or so. Anyhow, we took a path through the woods that went UP HILL again. It was a beautiful walk in the woods, despite the uphill nature of it. On the other side we walked through Magnolia - a wealthy Seattle neighborhood. On the other side of Magnolia we stopped and had a snack.

This is probably a good time to tell you we walked with the Warming Hut Hotties again today. They have route support on these long walks and so every stop a woman (Adrian) with a car and goodies in the back, with water and gator aid stopped for us. It was great because then we didn't have to worry about finding a place to find food and water...only a place with a little girls room.

Anyhow, after lunch we turned back. I couldn't believe by lunch that we had walked 9 miles and I felt great. My feet didn't hurt and I was quite happy about that. Now, if only the next 9 I'll be so lucky. We made it back in record time it seemed, hill and all. In fact, I couldn't believe how good I did on the hill. It was a 3/4 of a mile hill and I found that stopping after each block helped. Just a little stop at the light for a breather and I was good to go.

Tomorrow we do 15 with the Hotties. We'll see how I feel tomorrow, but right now I feel surprisingly good. Blueberry and I stopped and had pizza on our way home. Then a quick shower and slathered up with Hanah Montana lotion (aka Arnica Montana - but it's more fun to call it Hanah Montana).

So until tomorrow, if I can feel my fingers I might drop a line.