I DID it!!! Yesterday I walked for TEAM in Training in San Diego's Rock n Roll marathon. I walked 13.1 miles. Many times I felt inadequate being surrounded by people walking or running 26.2 miles. I have so much respect for them! I also knew in my heart how hard I trained for this and that many people cannot or will never walk 13 miles. It was hard, physically and emotionally. It felt like the end of a long journey. I walked in honor of my niece, Elli who has leukemia. I walked in memory of my Dad who died last month from lung cancer. At mile 12 a man was sitting a the corner holding a sign that said "thank you. I've been in treatment twelve years." Then he looked each of us directly in the eye and said Thank You. I touched my jersey where my dad's name was written and nodded. I cried the last two miles. It was an intense release of physical challenge and emotional passage. I highly recommend the TEAM in Training experience. We had a great team and pulled each other to the finish. I even saw TEAM in Training coaches pull non-TEAM people to the finish.

Thank you SO much to my Move it Monday friends for keeping me on track and motivated to do my walks. I'm not done walking, so Karen, don't get your hopes up!

Today I will walk 30 minutes. :)

Awwwww, Laura! What a sweet post! And then after I got all teary, I laughed OUT LOUD!

So, back to the gym for a "real" not "Karen-er-cise" workout. stretching, 35 min of weights, 22 min (5 miles) of biking.

Lemme say, that after about a week or so of doing other stuff, doing the weights again was ROUGH. I need to be a better llama. That was today's lesson.

Yes, one of my favorite exercises is lifing flowers around the yard and planting - What a joy it is to dig in the dirt and anticipate the beauty. As you know, Steve and I walk around the yard and he tells me what has bloomed when and where. My other exercise passion is tandem cycling with him -- we did two great rides this weekend and then my new passion of the past 4 months is yoga! Love it!

Congratulations Laura! What an amazing, moving experience.

I also love your competitive spirit! Thank you all for helping to motivate me and inspiring me to keep exercising.

Also, I love the pictures! :)

Oh! Davina and Mike...I met a really nice coach from N. Carolina and gave her your info! Her name is Meg. Go TEAM!

yea laura. way to go!!! walking a half marathon is one of my life goals--and now that i think about it, i really don't have a whole lot of major "i will do this in my life" goals. seems like everything is pretty short term. maybe i should change that. hmmm.

anyway, i worked out at the gym today. i did short warm up with hooping and jumping rope, then i lifted weights for upper body (on a stability ball rather than a bench). it's fun to change it up sometimes. i think i'll be a the gym a lot more now than i was this spring. it was officially HOT in NC today, and i would have had a hard time getting motivated to go for a walk outside. i need to revisit that comment i posted a couple months ago (around spring break time) to see what my summer work out ideas were.

Walked to school this afternoon. I felt great! I found out I have a bulked up hamstring muscle when I lift my heel up towards my butt. OM gosh! I didn't know it could do that! ha ha.

Wondering what my fitness future holds once school gets out.
Am feeling great and don't want to lose this!

Did some "Karen-cize" today. Hauled mulch around in the wheelbarrow to spread around my new garden area. It was a success because I didn't hurt my back!

Walked to school this morning then did a bunch of pruning around the yard.
Count down to school's out!