You've Got Mail

The 3Day will have a "post office" in the campground where I can get letters during the actual event. I've been so lucky to have received many wonderful cards, notes and emails during my training and they have truly inspired to keep walking on some of the longer walks. I'd love to have some more inspiration during the 60 mile walk!!! So if you want to send a letter/card/yellow sticky/quick note, I'd love to hear from you! No packages will be accepted, so an actual Bed delivery or other modern conveniences is out of the question!

Here are the details:

* All mail must be postmarked by July 20th.

* Only letters, no packages, will be accepted.

Mail to:

3-Day Camp Post Office

Aimee Floyd

PMB 232

203 Washington Street

Salem, MA 01970-3680

31 Miles

That's right! I walked 31 miles this weekend - 18 miles Sat and 13 Sunday. I tried out the actual 3 Day schedule on Sat, and did I ever pay the price. For the 1st time I stopped during the walk and took a lunch break for about 25 minutes. This is what will happen on the actual event so I thought I'd better see how my body reacted. For the record - my body HATED stopping. The actual sitting down and relaxing was enjoyable, but my muscles just got cold and then tensed up. Both calves were killing when I had to walk the last 4.5 miles home after lunch. But I learned a good lessons - I MUST stretch VERY thoroughly before my lunch break to avoid a repeat of that pain.

After the 18 miles I showered and headed out to find a dress for a wedding later this summer. I didn't exactly have a spring in my step, so I went dress shopping in sneakers (which I kept on while trying on dresses) with the aroma of the Icy Hot slathered on both legs following me everywhere. Here's hoping I look (and smell) a lot better when I wear the dress to Stephen & Robin's wedding!

Camping Gear

I went to the Wrentham Outlet to pick up a few things...

I've been there a million times and know where the stores are and usually just pop in and out of Banana Republic, J Crew, Ann Taylor, etc. Not this time. This round I had to print the map of store locations and highlight the athletic & camping stores so I'd have a clue of where to go! I know so much about wicking materials, I had no problem buying clothes to walk in, but the camping gear is another story. I went to the Coleman outlet and came out with all sorts of "goodies." As will be no suprise to most of you, I've never been inside a camping store! I nice saleperson guided me through the process and found a cheap sleeping bag which is also light and rolls up small to fit in my bag. I was thinking of getting a self-inflated camp pad but couldn't do it. It's only about 1.5 inches thick when inflated, which as I told the guy is about the same thickness as the sole of my flip flop. I can't imagine sleeping on my flip flop. Let alone after walking 20 miles! So, I bought an air mattress w/ battery operated pump. Also picked up the 3-Day recommended head-lamp (to give some light in the port-o-potty at night, and inside your gear bag). I'm sure there will be a bidding war to get the rights to the pic of me wearing the headlamp!

Bake Sale, part deux

Yup, I had another bake sale this weekend! The weather cooperated more than last time when it was 45 degrees, so I was able to sell cold Pink Lemonade! New dilemma this time was caused by the sun. The platter of brownies was baking in their plastic bags sitting out in the sun! So, I left the majority of the brownies under the table and had a few "display brownies" to let people know they existed. Even when I told customers I had fresh ones underneath, you'd be amazed how many people wanted to take the ones baking in the heat with little water droplets forming inside the baggie!!! Those brownis were gross....I know b/c I tasted one. Here's my total take for the 5 1/2 hours outside of Stop & Shop! Not exactly sure how much because I'm so tired I keep getting a different result when I count the money - but it's about $500!!!

Tentmate

I have a tentmate.....here's hoping she's an expert tent putter-upper! Laura and I met during a training walk, and we're both first time walkers. Her first comment to me was "you look familiar." Hmm.....that's what I was thinking. Turns out we went to high school together, graduating 2 years apart! Who knew my days at L-S would come in handy 15+ years later!

Marathon

I walked a Marathon for training ~ 15 miles on Sat, 11 miles on Sunday! Saturday was a group training walk from ChestnutHill down Beacon St thru Kenmore Sq to Boylston, Public Gardens, Parker House Hotel and then back again. It was cloudy w/ a light mist and some humidity. My left calf felt like a charlie horse was going to kick in for the last 6-7 miles, but thankfully the pain went away with a good nights sleep! Sunday was a breeze (down my normal route) sun shining, 65 degrees, no humidity ~ pretty much my perfect walking weather!

Closing Ceremonies
The starting and ending points of the walk have been announced! On Friday, Aug 3rd Opening Ceremonies will begin at 6:30 am at Farm Pond Park in Framingham. After 3 Days, and 60 miles, Closing Ceremonies will occur in Boston at The Bayside Expo Center on Sunday, August 5th at 4:30 pm. I'd love to see you at Closing Ceremonies ~ so save the date!!!

A note regarding Closing Ceremonies from the 3-Day:
Your friends, family and supporters should arrive at the Closing Ceremonies site at least one hour early to enjoy the special activities at the Spectator Café, and to secure a space by the stage that will give them the best view of the program.

Bayside Expo Center
200 Mount Vernon Street
Boston, MA

Driving Directions:
The Bayside Expo Center is located off of 1-93.
If coming from the south, take exit 14. Stay in the right hand lane and follow Morrissey Boulevard. At the third set of lights, take a right onto Mount Vernon Street. Follow the signs to Bayside Expo Center. Take your third left into the Bayside Expo Center Main Entrance.

If coming from the North on 1-93 and/or West via 1-90/Massachusetts Turnpike to I-93 North, take Exit 15/Columbia Road. Take a right onto Columbia Road. Enter the next roundabout and take the 2nd exit onto William J Day Blvd. Turn right to stay on William J Day Blvd. Turn left onto Mt. Vernon Street. The entrance to the Bayside Expo Center will be on your left.

Jinxed!

Sunday was not my best walk....

Set out to do 14 miles and pretty much everything that could go wrong did.

Mile 7 - legs start tingling and weighing a million pounds. Not sure why b/c from the waist up felt fine, not dehydrated, etc. I sat down gulped some Gatorade, ate a Power Bar and then started walking again. Weird sensation went away quickly so I guess a just needed a little food & drink.

Mile 8 - Now that I have the legs under control I thought I was all set. Oh no. Stopped at Dunkin to replace the Gatorade. After filling up my water bottle, put the infamous fanny pack on (weighs at least 5 lbs) but I didn't snap it shut correctly. So, from the weight, it fell off my waist, hit another customer in the leg, AND the clasp broke. SO, I thought it was embarassing walking around w/ a huge fanny pack strapped around my waist, but now I needed to walk 6 more miles CARRYING the fanny pack. Not exactly fun having a dead 5 lb weight alternating between hands for the next 2 hours.

Miles 9, 10, 11 - Still carrying the Fanny Pack and it decides to rain. For an hour. Although I have a ton of essentials in the pack, I've yet to buy the recommended Rain poncho, so I'm pretty much just getting rained on, dragging my pack w/ me. You can imagine what the people think driving by!

The Good News? I walked all 14 miles!!!!!

You never know what type of weather we'll have or what will happen on the actual 3-day event, so it's important to train through everything. Guess yesterday was a great training ground!

Side notes:

* Went to the Expo - learned a bunch - but NO tent demo! I'm still clueless about how to build shelter on the 3-Day. Hope I have an expert tentmate!

* Thanks to Rob from Marathon Sports who gave me inserts for my heel pain at the Expo. Walked in them yesterday and definitely felt an improvement!

*Went on my 1st Training Walk w/ other 3-Dayers on Saturday. It was great having people to talk to. Only concern? 3-Day walkers need to follow all rules at crosswalks. For a girl who went to college in the city and would cross 2 lanes of traffic on Comm Ave, 2 "T" tracks, and 2 more lanes of traffic on Comm Ave just to get to class everyday this is difficult. You can imagine jaywalking was a daily activity....now we wait for the little walk figure before crossing the road. Tough adjustment!

Opportunity

The pink rubber bracelet for today:

"Sat AM- Opportunity is one's turn to make a difference."

I actually wore this bracelet last Saturday as well....but forgot how much I like this quote. Today I'm off for a *quick* 10 mile group training walk ending at Watertown HS. There's a 3-Day Expo there today where I can learn not only how "easy" it is to put up the tent but also a ton of other things. Here's hoping I'm a smarter 3-Dayer by the end of today!