Training Walks

Well - it has been WAAAAAAAAY to long since I last posted so I figured I would post before hitting the hay! I have finally started training again and am working on my fundraising letter to hopefully send out soon! Recovery has been slow from my wrist injury and I had surgery May 6th to repair damage to it but, on Friday I went with the Fam to the LA Zoo and talk about a training walk! I was tired and sore for 2 days after walking around there all day.

I have a training walk planned with a dear friend on Friday so that will be nice and then it is going to be hitting it hard! The walk is only a 4 months away and it is time I kick it into high gear! I have a new camera and plan to take tons of pics on the walks so keep checking back for more updates and pics from how things are going!

If you would like me to walk in honor of a friend hit me up at piccpat@rocketmail.com and I will gladly add their name to my list of people I am walking in honor of!

God Bless!

xoxoxo!

Patricia

Random Pics from day 1 - No particular order

Here are random pictures from day 1. They aren't in any particular order but here they are!!!! Enjoy!!!!
This was take off on day 1. It was amazing to be apart of that and step out with 2800 people to raise money for breast cancer research and support.
This sign was awesome. I just wish I could have gotten pictures of more of the signs that were up. It was awesome the support that we had and that is what kept us going!
The last few miles on day 1. We were walking through Montecito heading towards mile marker 23.
These guys were awesome! I only saw them once but they were funny!!!
These people were awesome!!! It was fun seeing all the support we got from people as we walked past their homes!!!
Love Team minus Jesse and Lauren who weren't there yet at Opening Ceremonies.
The Love Team at the half way mark!!! We were so glad to all finally hook up there!!!
Part 2 of my cheer team - Mom and Sam!!!! I talked my mom into walking with me next year so she enjoyed checking out the wellness village. She was impressed and I think it helped seal the deal for next year!
Steve and Leya - part 1 of my cheer team! They came and met me at the Wellness Village and Steve showed off his chivalry by carrying my bag to my tent for me! He was so sweet!!!!
Laura and I at opening ceremonies! She was a second time walker and I was a first time walker. We walked a lot together and it was nice having a pro to walk with!
Laura soaking in the CA sun!!!
It was also silly time for us. We were in the home stretch(just about 5 or so miles to go) and we were excited!! We kept laughing at the rest stops and quick stops they had after that point too. They were off the path and would have added mileage to our walk and we said no!
We were on the bike path coming up on the Biltmore. I was a lot of fun there. There was a casting call going on at one house, another there were a bunch of people in the pool all partying and then on Butterfly Beach there was a wedding going on and we got to see the bride right before she went to walk down the isle! I bet she loved the sea of pink that were in the back ground of any of those photos!!!
Jan and Pam at the finish line on day 1. Jesse, Lauren, Laura and I ended up going ahead of them after the Fess Parker pit stop and we didn't see them again until they crossed the finish line! I am so proud to call them teammates!!!!
Jan and I with the Pink Ladies! They followed us along the route and kept cheering us on! It was awesome!!
The sign reads IndiaNIPPLEous 39.3 miles. The best part - a guy was driving this truck!!
Coach Ian and Jan our fearless Love Team Captain!!!
I think the men who dressed in pink to cheer us on were awesome!!! I think that if your loved one is walking then you should be able to join a team to come out and cheer us on and be all dressed out and crazy!!!

The bathroom wait lines!!! Some were horrible - some weren't so bad. This one was horrible!
We loved this walker! It made us smile and was awesome!!!
Walking in Montecito. The girls you see right in the picture were only 16!!!

Day 2 Mile Signs

Here are the mileage signs from day 2. The first 2 miles were mad because people were fighting for road space and having to deal with oncoming traffic. After that we did a lot of looping and circles. I made a few notes under a few pictures of the fun pictures. Next year I am going to get into more of the mileage sign pictures.
Mile 10 was so funny! We passed our lunch stop just to go part of a loop in this field and then double backed to lunch. We all were laughing and thought it was pretty funny!!!
Mile 11 lead to a beautiful view and the sounds of seals. It was a lot of fun actually.
Oh so close to the finish!! Just 1.1 miles to go!!!!

We were so close to the finish line and oh so happy to be there!!! The music was loud and the people were energized - it made it a lot of fun!!!
The finish line was amazing!!! We had to wait to cross so that we could get our picture taken and we could get counted but it was worth it!!! Next year I hope to have my family waiting for me there if not walking with me!!!

Mile Signs Day 1

Mile signs! All but 3 are here!!! I missed one due to dead batteries and I missed the other 2 due to getting a sweep forward after finishing the hills. I only missed about a mile but that mile contained both of those signs. I was bummed but my knee was grateful for the break!


First Mile of the day! It was fast but set the pace for the rest of the day. We were so glad it was overcast that morning!
Mile 2 - it was a pit stop and the top of a hill - our first hill of the day. If only all the hills that day were that easy!!!!Mile 3 - yes, I took pictures of almost every mile marker I saw! There are 3 missing but I will get them next year!!
Mile 4 was atop of our first big hill - little did we know that this hill was the first of 2 hills that would soon have us all wishing we had trained more on hills!
When we hit mile 5 we were happy - it was flat. We had just come down a hill and little did we know we were about to go up another hill. It was mile 5 that I slipped and did the splits but more on that later!!
You can't really tell but reaching mile 6 meant reaching the top of our 2nd huge hill of the day. We still had a couple more hills but nothing like the first 2 hills.
For those wondering the pink paper reads "GET YOUR MAMMIES GRAMMED" - they had signs like that along the entire route. Next year I plan on taking a little more time and getting copies of all of the signs!!!! Hopefully I will have a new camera by then(hint hint Steve - it's time to upgrade!!!) Mile 7 was right after the Youth Crew Rest Stop and that was a lot fun!!!

Mile 8 was the mile I had dead batteries so I missed it!!!

We were approaching lunch and it wasn't even 11 yet!! The park in the background was Oak Park where lunch was - we opted to get food the hit the bathroom - the lines were insane except after we ate our food - no lines what so ever which made leaving before the crowd left so much easier!!
The sun broke through between lunch and hitting mile 10 - it also hit as we were climbing up a couple more hills. The pink sign says "WALKING IS THE BREAST MEDICINE" for those who are wondering. Mile 10 was huge though for me because that was the furthest I had walked on a training walk and was about walk further than I ever had leading up to the walk.
Please don't ask me where Mile 11 was taken - I think Constance Street or down towards the mission - that's it, we were getting close to the Mission before heading up to APS. It was getting hot too which made the hills a little harder to take.
The John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John's Health Center was a sponsor for the walk greeted us with wet bandannas at mile 12 which also happened to be the top of our last big hill for the walk. The wet bandanna's couldn't come at a better time as the sun was hot and we were starting to get tired. The other two ladies in the picture are Jan and Pam - two of my teammates!!
Mile 13 meant that half way was .1 of a mile away! We were happy!!!!

Miles 14 and 15 I missed. My knee was throbbing as we approached the rest stop right before mile 14 and I had to hitch a ride with another teammate to the next stop just past mile 15.

Miles 16 and 17 were quick - we blinked and we were past them which was nice.

Mile 18 brought us back to where we started from - Chase Palm Park. How they found 18 miles to make a loop with surprised us but they did. We are all hoping that next year they either start the walk at Goleta or find a few less hills to make the 18 mile loop!
We loved miles 18 - end but especially mile 19 as we got an awesome breeze from the ocean!!
Mile 22 brought us back across the freeway (3rd time we had crossed it that day!) and we were excited!! We could feel the end drawing near and ended up stepping it up to a 4 mph pace.
We couldn't wait to get to this mile sign as Lauren's mom and aunt were not that far ahead waiting to cheer us on and we were looking forward to seeing some familiar faces.
Oh so close to the finish line!!!! We passed a restaurant right before this where there were people enjoying wine and cheering us on!!! It was really funny!!!!
If you look really closely up on the pole you can see the mile 25 sign. It was kinda funny because we all realized we probably should have been walking on that path instead of in the bike lane - oh well!!
The final mile marker!!! Only .2 miles to go and the line to get a picture with this sign seemed like a mile long. Thank goodness they just let me snap a picture of it without being in it!!
Mile 26.2!!!! What a victory and what a great feeling!!!! We were tired and sore and ready to crash and very glad to be crossing that finish line!!!!