Eleven Miles Today!

I left with my dad on Friday and headed to Johnson City, Tennessee, for the funeral of a cousin of mine. He  was 55,  and a summer playmate for many years, as our family vacation always consisted of a week in JC with my father's kin. Some things never change, and in the South, in both joy and sorrow, comfort is always found in FOOD!

Which is to say that I didn't get much walking in this weekend, although I did find time to walk around my dad's old high school, Science Hill, which has turned into a mega-campus and took an hour to walk around! So, to assuage my guilt, I decided that it was time to see how well I would fare in attempting two walking sessions similar to a day's walk on the Camino. After helping MB pack up some care packages for the deployed military in our church, I headed out to a favorite walk close by: Buttermilk Falls. That was a five-mile walk and it took me an hour and a half. I then went home and took a break for lunch. I meant it to be an hour, but catching up on email and getting the archeological society newsletter out...well, the break turned into two hours.

I then headed out for the six mile walk around my neighborhood. I managed it fine in two hours and ten minutes. That last quarter mile suddenly found my right knee protesting a little, but Natalie McMasters fiddled her way into my gait and I stomped and jigged up heartbreak hill, which I purposely placed at the end of my course.

So, I am complacently sitting before the computer with a large and well-deserved glass of bourbon in my hand. This coming Saturday is the Papa John Ten Miler race which I have signed up for. I have to do an eighteen minute mile for 10 miles, if I want to finish before the race closes. (How's that for a goal? Just get done before they close the course!) No break, either! Can I do it? Solo el tiempo lo dira!