Boarding the Plane !!

Wow, I can't believe after everything I've been through on this journey that in less then 24hours I will be boarding a plane destination .. Athens Greece !!! It's going to be a long couple of days getting there and hopefully my hip holds up with all the sitting on the plane. I have a flood of emotions to deal with today, the marathon, the flight, leaving my family ... and the list goes on and on !! I'm pretty much packed, and holy crap who knew that a 20lb pack could feel so heavy ...lol !! I was thinking to myself as I packed around the 20lb on my back and it felt heavy, that a year ago when I was packing over double that around how in the world did I do it !!
I will be arriving in Athens Thurs night around 6pm which will be about 9:00am your time.
Race day is Oct 31 (Greece time) so when you are settling into bed for the night around 11pm I will at the start line ready to walk a marathon. I seriously get butterflies and sick to my stomach when I think about it ..lol !!! I will go and do my best, do as much as I can. I am prepared to walk the full 8 hours and if that takes me across the finish line, I will be extremely happy !!! If I get the chance to get on to the blog before the race I will post my bib number and you may be able to view the results on the website I previously posted.
It's going to be an adventure and I can't wait to let everyone know how I do !!

I am truly blessed to have such an amazing support system through this entire journey and I couldn't have gotten this far without all of you. :-)

Donations can still be made to my fundraising page if you have family and friends that would like to donate. I have met my goal but I would like to continue fundraising for the Arthritis Society and raise awareness. I want to be the success story that people donate to !!! :-)

Well off to do some last minute things so stay tuned for the big day !!!! :-)

Thanks everyone !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last long one!!!

So this past Sunday was my last long walk at 18k. Time to give my body a chance to rest and prepare for the big day. The most I will be doing will be 10k. I was thinking back to a time when I was trying to log 30k in a week, now I do that in 2 days. Who would have thought.

Time to start gathering things up for the trip so I don't forget anything. I can't believe I leave in 8 days !!!!!!!!!

The marathon is Oct 31 at 7:00 am but that will be Sat Oct 30 @ 10:00 pm your time. I have 8 hours to finsih so when you get up at 6:00 the next morning hopefully I will be finished and celebrating at the finish line..lol !!!



Today is a rest day and tomorrow I will do 5k. That should feel like a breeze ..lol

Marathon Link

Here is a link to the marathon and it's countdown timer. :-)
http://www.athensclassicmarathon.gr/Marathon/StaticPage2.aspx?pagenb=21712

Less then 2 weeks until I leave and it appears the last of my training has to be outside in the SNOW !!! ughhhhh !!! But then it is Calgary, the snow could be melted by tomorrow ..lol !!!

Enjoy the weekend !!!

Countdown !!!

Wow, it's only 15 days until I leave for athens and 19 days until the marathon.
My chiropractor has given me a hip brace/belt to wear at night to help with my hip pain and it seems to be helping a bit.
I did 10k walks last week with one day of hills. I did do a bit of running one day and it didn't feel too bad butI decided to save the running for Athens. I did my long walk Monday instead of Sunday cause a friend (thanks Kelsy) was able to join me and we did 20km. I really would have liked to have at least one long walk in of 30k before heading to Athens but it isn't going to happen. We have to start tapering off our distances so I'm just going to go and do the best that I can. At this point I need to conserve what I have left so that I can at least participate.
Sitting on the plane for so many hours could ultimately decide whether I am able to even try the full marathon or have to switch to the 10k.
It is a bit frustrating after all this time and effort that I might not be able to do what I set out to do but I promise I will do the best that I can.
I want nothing more than to complete the 42k and that's where my heart is, I just hope my body is in the same place ..lol
It has a been a roller coaster of a journey this far and expect that isn't about to change now, so I'm holding on tight for the rest of the ride. :-)

Thanks again to everyone who follows my blog and supports me in so many ways. It means the world to me.

Let's start the countdown together.

16km today.

So I found a new path today. I left my house and headed over to McKenzie Lake and then down into fishcreek park and walked the trails along the bow river. What a beautiful morning for sure. It made me think that walking in Greece might not be so bad cause I will be so occupied checking out the surroundings I won't even have realized I just walked 42k ...hahahaha !!!
I was alittle disappointed that the route was only 16km but it was good. My hip is pretty sore so I will be off to see the chiropractor again tomorrow. I was there a couple of times last week, as well to see the sacrial cranial therapist. So hopefully a couple of visits this week will make it feel good again.
I wrapped up my feet in tape this morning to see if it would help with the burning and prevent blisters on the bottoms of my feet. All was good so as long as I don't forget my tape I should be good. I can't believe the race is 4 weeks today and I leave for Athens in 3 weeks and 3 days.
Complete craziness. Since our training isn't supposed to increase the distance we are walking/running now I guess I go into the marathon as 21k being the maximum I have a walked. I plan to do 10k 3 days this week and then do my 16k route on Sunday again.
I have to say the adrenal is already starting to kick in so I can't imagine what it's going to be like once I get over there. I just really wish I wasn't having hip issues this close to leaving.
But as I said before, it is what it is and I will go and do the best that I can. :-)
Thanks again everyone for the support and keeping up with blog (even when I'm not so good at keeping up with it...lol)

Have a great week everyone !!