Training walk...9 miles, 11 miles, who knows!

Today we - and when I say "We" I mean me, my husband and our dear friend Jen, who is referred to lovingly as Auntie Jen - did a 9.4 mile training walk at one of the Forest Preserve trails on the southwest side of the city and finished at probably more like 11 miles. That's not a bad thing...just when the temperature hit something like 96F?...not so much fun. "Are we there yet?" came to mind on more than one occasion.

I love Auntie Jen. We met her on some small training walks last year at Vollmer Trail (like I-57 south just past I-80...I want to say the area is Mattson? Not for certain). Jen is a total dog lover. I am an animal lover. Instant connection. She has an psycho smart Australian cattle dog. We have a psycho smart Austrailian cattle dog (so glad that means Malena is actually normal). Definate connection. We call Jen "Auntie Jen" because we took Millie, our pit bull/beagle/maybe a pinch of boxer mix Millie on training walks with us. Millie is just a bouncy 90-pound lovey dog, and Jen fell in love with her. So, Millie became our training walk mascot, dressed with her 3 Day buff and pink collar. Jen is just cool. Great to chat with, great to joke with, great to bounce ideas off of, great to just hang out with - love love love Jen.

Jen is walking the San Diego Marathon next weekend for the Wisconsin Team in Training, so this walk was a good last long walk until her event. This was a good long walk for us too, however...after a few hours the novelty wore off, the heat set in, the water didn't stay cool, and the desire for air conditioning was high. At one point, Michael's pedometer had 8 miles, and that was about 3 miles from our start. By the time we ended...the pedometer read 0.76 miles. WTF??? So, I am guestimateing at the mileage, but feel pretty good stating about 11.

Mental note. Bring more than 1 bottle of water on a walk like this. Maybe entertain the idea of bringing something to eat. (went to Applebees' after and I personally sucked down an entire appetizer portion of nachos. Yum...but...uggghhh...but YUM!!)

Technical note? Perhaps I need new sneakers. I wore my favorite pair - I purchased them in 2004 for the Chicago Marathon, wore them again for the 2005 marathon, did 2 of the 3 days walking 2 3Day events, and now am doing training walks in them. My feet hurt a bit after a walk...maybe I need new sneakers? ARRRGGGG...I hate breaking in new sneakers.

Recap of the day? Overall excellent. Except the heat. Well on my way for training... but glad to be indulging in a glass of wine and air conditioning.