The 69th day of #WalkForever training! Christmas Edition: 🎄🏃‍♂️ The 8th 40 mile walk

Hey, y’all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! This training update has been lonnnnnnnnnnnng overdue. Thankfully the weather was agreeable both on Christmas, and Sunday. When it comes to doing these long walks, taking a week or two off is so deadly. This is perhaps the first time I’ve attempted #WalkForever on a major holiday. Since the weather was going to be on the warm side, I decided to leave close to the 4 in the morning on Christmas. The temperature was 55 degrees. The first 10 miles was kicked off with Christmas music! (However that didn’t last because most of them were too slow.) I walked up a total of 17 hills during this set. My average pace was 12.16! (Yay!) The second 10 miles was kicked off with a Rock mix! The temperature was at 54 degrees. I walked up a total of 10 hills. My average pace increased to 12.39 for this set. During this set, I began walking toward the nearest shopping center. It was surreal doing the walk because it was barely anyone outside. I realized that since there were no grocery stores open, I would have to walk back to my place of residence to re-fuel. The third 10 miles was kicked with a homemade cup of coffee and a mix of the band, Red! The temperature increased to 61 degrees. I decided to walk to the nearest Starbucks because they were open for a few hours. (Starbucks is about 6 – 7 miles.) My hamstrings started feeling heavier during this set. Once I got my coffee, I immediately began to head back. At the time, it was my third serving of coffee so I was definitely in go mode. My average pace had increased to 12.51 by the end of this set. I walked up a total of 12 hills during this set. The final 10 miles is quite a story. So once I was back in my familiar surroundings, I had to make another pit stop before completing my regimen. The temperature was now close to the 70s. It was gorgeous outside so I was looking forward to finishing. However once I reached the middle of this set, I felt myself starting to feel unwell. I thought it was something that required a couple minutes of rest, but it only became worse when I started walking fast. As much as it pained me, I has no choice but to pause the activity and head back for rest. I knew if I sat down for too long, that I probably wouldn’t be able to start again until the next day but I couldn’t risk getting sick. Fast forward to Sunday morning, my tracker is miraculously still paused exactly where I left it yesterday! (This never happens because it usually closes of it has paused for too long.) I take it as a way of saying I need to finish this training. So, for the first time, the final 4 miles ends the next day in under an hour. This is also the longest post I’ve written so if you were willing to read this, you are so awesome! I’m thankful to have this training session finally done. This means the next session will be number 70. Next weekend will be holiday themed as well, so we will see how that turns out! Following this post will be a “Leg Progress” photo. Thank you to all keeping up with this superheroic fitness journey. I will see y’all, next weekend. 🏃‍♂️