"Training" update

I mentioned a few posts ago that I had signed up for the 10K walk portion of the Honolulu marathon, coming up December 14th. Since then, I've been taking some long walks, with 77 minutes yesterday being the longest. I really enjoyed that. Didn't really want to stop, but had to get on with the day.

I took a route today for 62 minutes that I plan to drive with my car to measure. I have a pedometer, but I don't think the distance is accurate. My 77 minute walk was only 4km, according to it, but some 8700 steps. Since I'm walking at a pretty decent rate, over 100 steps a minute, I don't see how that can only be 4km (abt 2.4 miles. I bought this pedometer from amazon.uk while we were in England, which is why it gives me km instead of miles. Even though they use miles there in England, not km....)

I think I could walk 6 miles tomorrow if I had to, but I want to do it with a reasonable amount of comfort and not be overly sore the next day. The Easy Spirit shoes I ordered don't feel as good as the ones I currently have, so I'm going to send those back and look locally where I can try them on. I was pretty bummed. Normally I have such good luck ordering those and it feels like I'm putting pillows on my feet. Plus sending things back through the mail is such a pain.

They're already advertising the Great Aloha Fun Run on President's Day in February, so I registered for that, too. It's 8.15 miles, and they have a walking category. As part of the registration, you estimate your finishing time, and I figured I can finish that in 3 hours, worst case. By registering early, I get an "In training" T-shirt, so couldn't resist that deal...

Then I looked at the finishing times, and they showed the top 3 for the various age groups. In the 80-99 age group, the top female finisher did it in 1:39:17. (In my age group, the top female finisher did it 58:37.) I doubt if I can beat the 80 year old.... *sigh* But the last finisher last year came in at 4 hrs, 18 minutes, and I think I can better that....

I see the doc on Tuesday for a general physical and want to especially discuss the bad knee with him, to see if he thinks surgery is still the best option. If I can squeeze it in between these two events, I should be able to do both...

The main thing is I just want to be more active and the occasional race should help my motivation (not to mention my T-shirt wardrobe). I still want to be that 90-year old woman I saw on TV. "I think I can beat my time..." You go, girl. I'm right behind you... Better yet, maybe a few steps in front...