Training Highlights: Palo Alto (Day 1)

Last weekend, I went on a couple training walks around Palo Alto with Laurie, Chitra, and Shruthi. It was great walking with them because they were so welcoming to have me join their group and kept an excellent pace. I enjoyed walking with them a lot! :)

Stanford Dish recreational trail

On Saturday, the plan was to walk 18 miles around Palo Alto. I was down for it, even though I was nowhere near walking that many miles. Whoops! My longest walk before this was about 10 miles. We started out at The Dish. Such an awesome trail! I know I'll definitely have to go back when I'm training for a 10K or half marathon...just to get some hill training in there. It has one giant hill at the beginning. Kinda reminds me of Big Mama and Little Sister from the Lagoon Valley Invitational in Vacaville...or maybe those hills at the Nevada Union Invitational (way back when during my cross country days).  Anyway, the point is the hill is a doozy...kinda.

Stanford University campus

Afterwards, we made our way to the Stanford campus (which I haven't been to since middle school) and downtown Palo Alto, rounding out 10 miles before lunch. We stopped at the Farmers' Market and got some grub.

Huevos Rancheros from the
Downtown Palo Alto Farmers' Market

By this point, my feet and right leg was aching like no other. :( I dropped off from the walk with 10 miles under my belt. However, I was in desperate need for new shoes because my knee was hurting, my right hip had sharp pain with every step I took, and my arches were not liking those new insoles. :( I went straight to the Sports Basement and bought a pair of Asics. Yup, that's right...I went back to Asics - my go-to shoe. I don't know why I strayed away from them. :\ But now we're back together...

Training Highlights: Weekend in SLO

In early April, I decided hiking would be the best way to go to make training a little more enjoyable. Luckily, I went to San Luis Obispo to visit my sister, who knew a thing or two about some great, long hiking trails. Definitely a productive weekend for training! Oh yeah! :)

Coon Creek Trail 

Cal Poly school spirit! :)

First on our list was Coon Creek Trail in Los Osos. Location was key here, especially since we were heading to Sylvester's afterward (yes, that may seem a bit counterproductive getting burgers, fries and shakes after hiking but it was so worth it)! The 5-mile trail took us about 2 hours as Ryan predicted. Hiking through the canyon was great, especially as the fog rolled in. There were a couple of other trails that were connected with this, which would have been cool to explore, but with the limited daylight we were trying to race against, we saved those for another time.

Cerro San Luis (or San Luis Mountain or Madonna Mountain)

Madonna Mountain Hike

Not sure why this trail has so many names but it does. This trail was also about 5 miles and took us up about 1,000 feet. Savannah, Ari (the dog) and I got to see a lot of cool things along the course of the hike, including horses, cacti, golden poppies and an amazing view of San Luis Obispo. While we were almost at the top, there was a viewpoint that looked over the entire campus of Cal Poly. It was pretty neat!

Cal Poly

After hiking, we relaxed with some sandwiches from Lincoln Deli. They honestly have a sandwich named Tassajara Delight. I, of course, got that, but I'm positive they didn't believe me when I wrote down Tassajarra as the one ordering that sandwich. Oh well. Maybe I'll just need to back another time. 

Lincoln Market & Deli 

To cap off our day's adventure, Savannah, Ari and I went to the beach. I think walking on different terrain was helping. Although I'm not sure if we'll even be walking on a beach during the SF walk. It would be nice though, especially for those are visiting from other Edelman offices and haven't been to SF before.

Beach time!

Avila Beach

Bob Jones Trail

Let's just say I never found the trailhead and ended up back at the beach...because that is exactly what happened. While Savannah was at work, I wanted to do some more hiking/walking, so she suggested the Bob Jones trail since it would take me back to the beach we visited the day before. Easy enough to find the road and all, but I'm pretty sure I drove straight passed the trailhead and just went to the beach. Instead of having a long walk, I ended up looking at tide pools and running in and out of the waves. 

Ended up at the beach instead of hiking/walking a trail

A very active weekend to put in some mileage for the 3-day walk! #60milesorbust

Starting out on a Journey

Hello family & friends

This year, I will be participating in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day in San Francisco on June 21-25. In addition, I'll be representing the Edelman Silicon Valley office on our 60 Miles or Bust team, which includes representatives from across the country.

I'm excited to be part of this as it brings several challenges that I look to overcome in the next few months. Of course, there is the physical challenge of walking 60 miles over the course of three days. I'm looking forward to explore different parts of the Bay Area while training.

In addition, I will also fundraise a minimum of $2,300. With some help from previous walkers and college experience, I'm coming up with some fun and creative ways to fundraise, so I'm looking forward to reaching my fundraising goal of $2,500. Speaking of fundraising, I'm also the lead of Edelman's fundraising committee.

Most importantly though, I'm excited to support this foundation and to spread awareness about breast cancer.

I can't wait to meet everyone else on my team as well as other participants in the San Francisco walk, but in the meantime, I'll be training and fundraising. If you have any suggestions for training or fundraising, please let me know by leaving a comment below. If you would like to support me through a donation, please visit my page.

Stay tuned for updates as I embark on this journey.

P.S. When I was starting to write this blog, I definitely had this song stuck in my head: