So it looks like I’ll be walking solo for this year’s 3 Day. I’m really rather looking forward to it.

I’m about a month out and walking (or making every attempt to walk) somewhere between 15-20 miles per week. In another week or so I hope to increase that to 20-25 miles per week, but I’m running into some logistical problems for the longer walks.
In other words, it’s hard to continue to walk when all one is doing is trying to find a convenient and private bush behind which to have a desperately needed pee. It’s much easier to walk distances and remain well hydrated while doing so when one is provided a comfort station every 2-3 miles. I’ll figure it out.

I’m enjoying my training. It’s very soothing to have nothing to worry about besides what song is coming up next on the walking music file I’ve got on my i-Pod and the area through which I walk most of the time is drop dead gorgeous. I am trying very, very hard to include hills (both up and down) and multiple walking surfaces on my training route. Since I’ve made the basic rule that I have to walk to the beat of the song that is currently playing on the i-Pod, sometimes those uphill climbs can be remarkably strenuous.
I also find it fairly distressing to note that disco music in general, and The Village People in specific, makes extremely good walking music. I find it much easier to go up hills with “Go West” blasting at me.

I’ve thought a lot about what I’ll do walking 10-12 hours a day 3 days in a row with no specific group with which I am associated. I’m not by nature a tremendously outgoing person, but I’ve found in previous years that it’s an easy thing to strike up a converstation with just about anyone on just about any topic (although the conversations are very often boob or walking centered). I’m considering carrying a small digital voice recorder with me so I can record some of my conversations with people, full disclosure ahead of time of course, and have some sort of coherant written commentary to blog on as well as photos. Still working on fleshing that idea out, I’ll have to get back to you all.

I’m also wondering a lot about the route this year. In 2002 we walked from the King County Fairgrounds in Enumclaw to Auburn on the first day, from Auburn to Bellevue on the second day, and from Bellevue to Seattle Center (via the I-90 bridge and south Seattle) on the third. The I-90 crossing and the walk through downtown were a real hoot. In 2005 we walked from Lake Sammamish State Park to Marymoor Park on the first day which was remarkably frustrating because I know the area like the back of my hand and was tempted more than once to take off in an unapproved short cut just to keep from having to walk back and forth. On the second day we walked from Marymoor to some place outside of Shoreline and on the third we walked from Shoreline through Ballard and Freemont to Magnuson Park on Lake Washington. I didn’t get to walk last year but my understanding is that they camped in one spot and walked loops from camp to camp on the first two days, suffering many a shin splint on the second which mostly consisted of up hills, and then walked from camp to the closing ceremonies in Seattle on the third day. I don’t know that I’d really enjoy the loop walking as much. At least with the long strung out route you really felt like you were accomplishing something. This year they’re starting us out at Bellevue Community College and ending 3 days later at the Seattle Center again. I think I’m in for loops unless they plan on sending us WAY south and WAY east before letting us head WAY north and WAY west. I hope we get to cross the bridge again.

And I’m a little concerned about how the tummy weasels will behave. Most days so long as I am careful about eating frequently (shouldn’t be a problem), eating carefully, and swallowing a shocking handful of dietary supplements, the tummy weasels and I get along quite nicely. I’m anxious about the affect that significant physical exercise paired with frequent infusions of food with which the weasels may not be completely familiar will have on same. I’m considering carrying a small bottle of Pepto with me in my waist pack but the idea of honking down a slug of Pepto while hot, sweaty, and constantly in need of liquids is a little (okay a lot) horrifying. YUG! On the other hand the idea of getting pulled off the route and sent to the medics or sent home with chronic debilitating indigestion is considerably less appealing so maybe I’ll just suck it up and carry the Pepto

Andrew has promised to do the shirt design. I’ve got a really good idea of what I want, I just need to hand it over to him for coordination and fine tuning. Hee hee! This year’s design is even going to blow the first shirt (the “Because Pets Have ’em Too” shirt) out of the water. Hee hee hee! This one’s going to involve Sperm whales and gerbils and I refuse to answer any more questions until the design is done.

Anyway, that’s the latest update from me-n-my feet.
Please consider following the link below and sponsoring me. I’m about halfway to my minimum amount and every little bit helps a lot.
http://www.the3day.org/seattle07/margarethammond