I've got to admit: I'm pretty proud of myself.
This weekend, I woke up at 6:00am, on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, drug myself out of bed, and walked 12 miles each day.
As you may know, I'm in training for the 2010 Komen San Francisco Bay Area 3-Day for the Cure. The actual event is the first 3 days in October, meaning we're about 7 weeks out now. I've been out on a few training walks with my teammates, Carol and Melissa. We have done two 8-mile walks, and one 9.5-mile walk together so far.
Carol and Melissa both live in the South Bay, and Carol is away most of the summer, teaching drum corps. She had suggested to me that I hook up with the Warming Hut Hotties on weekends to train with them. The "Hotties" are a group of women (and sometimes Men) who have been training together since 2003. They meet at the Warming Hut in Crissy Field, hence the name. :)
The Warming Hut in Crissy Field
They start training in the Spring, meeting every Saturday and Sunday until the weekend before the event. They design their training schedule so that the members can build up their strength and stamina each weekend - eventually working up to 2 20-mile training days. During the last week of training before, the event, they ease the miles back a little bit so that the walkers won't be exhausted for the big event. Check out their schedule here.
I signed up for Saturday's 12-mile training walk on Friday afternoon. I also posted my plans on Facebook figuring if I put it up there, I'd be committed to make sure I did it! I was pretty nervous about the walk before - unfortunately, I think my nerved kept me from falling asleep Friday night. I wasn't able to fall asleep until 2:30, and I had to wake up at 6:15 to be at the Warming Hut by 7:00am.
Luckily, I woke up at 6:00, rolled out of bed, and gathered my things that I had prepared the night before. I arrived at the Warming Hut just before 7:00. By 7:15, we had about 20 people, and we started out 12-mile walk.
I can't express how super impressed I am with the organization of this group! These women are really amazing! We were each handed a piece of paper which had the map route on one side (with the mileage markers) and the turn-by-turn directions on the other. Very nice! They plan on rest/stretch breaks every 3-4 miles, and they plan their route around clean public bathrooms. At the 6-mile mark, we stopped at a nice grocery store, where everyone picked up some snacks and water.
Saturday Morning's Route
Saturday Morning's Route with turn-by-turn directions
I made it through the 12 miles pretty well. I was very pleased with that. We took a really great and interesting route that took us through Pacific Heights, up the Lyon Stairs (super cool!) through parts of Golden Gate Park (including the Rose Garden), into the Richmond, and through some walking/hiking trails in the Presidio. It was really great to see some of these areas that were new to me. I think I know a lot of areas around the City, but there's clearly many more more me to see!
The first half of the Lyon Street Stairs
The women that I met on this walk were amazing, and such an inspiration! Some of them have done as many as 13 events, with many of them having done more than 5. They are all-ages (as far as I can tell, ranging from late-20s through early-60s) and all body types. What an absolute pleasure it was meeting each one of them, and talking with them during the walk. My feet and legs were a little tired by the end, but I was so inspired, and had such a great time, that I decided that I would try to make the 12-mile training walk the next day, so I could have the experience of doing a big training walk like this on back-to-back days.
Saturday evening, we were invited to an amazing dinner party at Barry and Andrew's House. It was a great evening - amazing food, great company, and lots of laughter. My body was tired from the walk, but not too bad. I decided that night that I should get up again at 6:00 on Sunday morning, and do it all again.
Sunday Morning's Route
We met at 7:00am again, and were given the day's route maps. This route was one I was actually very familiar with. I'd done all of it, though never all at once. :) It went from Crissy Field to Divisadero Street, which has about 5 consecutive (very) steep hills in Pac Heights. Carol and I had tackled those hills a couple of months ago. We took Divisadero all the way to Castro Street, which is just a few blocks from my house. We took Castro Street up and down to 24th Street in Noe Valley, which is again, a route I do fairly routinely. It was kind of nice to be so familiar with the route, as it gave me confidence that I could do it. :) We stopped for a long break at Whole Foods (see, it's all centered around food and clean bathrooms!) before turning back, and doing the route in reverse. We got back to the Warming Hut right around Noon.
It was only during the last mile or so that I noticed my legs and feet getting tired. Not too bad. When I came home, I took a warm bath, which helped. My legs were pretty tired and sore for the rest of the day.
I had a really good night's sleep last night (finally) and my body felt all better when I woke up this morning.
This weekend, the Hotties are doing a 20-mile walk on Saturday, followed by a 16-mile walk on Sunday. Originally, I was planning on only doing the 16-mile walk on Sunday, figuring it would be the next logical step in my training. Many of the ladies were trying to convince me to just come on Saturday, and see how it goes, though. I'll see how the rest of this week pans out, and will decide by the end of the week.
I do plan to join the Hotties for at least on day, if not both of each weekend from now until the event in early October. They are really fantastic in every way - very nice people, very supportive, and very organized. I''m looking forward to more adventures with the Warming Hut Hotties!
Some of the Hotties from Saturday's walk
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