Two Months to Go

Weekend of August 7 & 8

I can't believe we only have two months until the walk. It seemed like it was so far away when I started training. I received an email from my walking buddy reminding me how close it is. I still have quite of bit of money to raise. If you are interested in donating, or donating more, please go to this page http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/NewYork?px=5419561&pg=personal&fr_id=1970 and make a donation.

I didn't walk on Saturday because we had 3 consecutive days of heat advisories in a row. I woke up at 5:00, but I didn't feel great and didn't think it was a good idea to go out.

Today I was up early and cooled my heels until after 6:00 am so it wouldn't be too dark. That was just too creepy. I started walking just after 6:30.

If last week was the week of the dogs, this week it was the birds. As I walked past the water hole near the beginning of the trail, a blue heron landed on the trail about 5 feet in front of me. It wasn't full-grown, but was about 4' tall. It stood on the trail for just a moment before it flew off to my right. As I watched it fly away, my eye was caught by 5 ducks paddling on the water hole. They were also young, but not young enough to still be with their parents. My guess is that they weren't too far away, but it wasn't very light and I couldn't see across the water. As the ducks paddled away, I heard an owl hoot in a tree very close to the trail. Some time later a small, quick brown bird with a very orange beak landed on the trail about 16" ahead of me. I had never seen or heard any of these birds before. It was very cool.

I finished the first half of the walk 3 minutes faster than my usual time. I was walking very fast for me. By the time I finished, I had cut 5 minutes off my time, but I was winded. I'm thinking about adding some additional distance next week.

Keep your eyes open - sometime in the next couple of weeks, I will be raffling off a quilt that I designed yesterday. I think it is going to be very pretty and I'm hoping it will raise some good money for the walk. I'll be sending out emails, but I will be sure to post the photo on the blog as well.