Walking in Someone Else's Shoes

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Originally this blog was going to be titled "when the cat's away" and I planned to write about some of the differences between my training style and his. I thought today would be good timing, since he and Rob are winging their way to Leon via Vancouver, Toronto and Madrid, leaving me with free reign on the blog. I still intend to do that, but as they say, "a funny thing happened on the way to the ..."

I dutifully saw the guys off...

grabbed a quick breakfast, then met my training partner, Mary at her house for an early morning walk. The goal was somewhere over 25 km, with a stop at a nice little restaurant she knows along the way. As I laced up my boots, I noticed something different - they weren't laced in the normal way...so I adjusted and carried on. I have to say they felt a little different too, but it was early and I just kinda ignored it. We headed out, taking a pause early on to see if I could tighten my boots a bit more. By this time I had a sneaking suspicion that these weren't actually my boots, and when I checked the size label, sure enough they were a men's size 11...quite different from my women's size 9. Mary offered me a pair of her boots, but we were on our way now and they really didn't feel too bad. I had my own orthotics in them, and aside from being a bit roomy (and a little heavy) they seemed fine. I wasn't totally committed to a long walk in today's heat and figured the boots could be just the excuse I needed to shorten our goal. I'm happy to report that both the boots and I held up for the whole duration so Geoff now your boots have an extra 26 km on them. And i didn't even acquire any blisters!

Mary and I met in May...Geoff and Rob were walking around the lakes in one direction, and I was walking in the opposite direction. Mary was a little ahead of me, and she stopped to ask me to take a picture of her and her friend. We soon discovered she was planning to walk the Portuguese at the same time as us, and was in need of a training partner...the rest, as they say, is history.

 Our training  has been somewhat gentler and has included more of a gastronomic element than Geoff and Rob's. 

Although no food appears in these pictures, rest assured we have eaten well while we've walked.

After all, when we're in Spain and Portugal we will need to eat,  and I think we need to practice that as well - although I'll admit we haven't yet taken ourselves to a Spanish restaurant. 

Mary has managed to fit in some shopping, too.

And both Mary and Rob like to take in the view at the lake.

As do I 

Maybe next week Mary and I will find a Spanish lunch...Mary is insisting we do a 30 km outing, which could easily take us to one of the Spanish places downtown. 

We're getting lots of practice walking in the heat, though...25 degrees when walking with Rob on Saturday, and the thermometer in the car registered 33 degrees on my way home today! Rob and Geoff have left, and I'm feeling close to ready. I think I'll use my own shoes from here on though.