Day One
We left the house at 4:45 (hence the very tired look in the picture from Friday) and picked up my teammate Cindy before meeting
Cindy's sister Carla at the Kansas Speedway around 5:30. After standing around for over an hour, the (slightly cheesy) opening ceremony started, while we stood around for another 30 minutes. My back was killing me after standing around for almost 2 hours, but around 7:15 we finally started walking in the chilly morning air. We walked around the Speedway to the car entrance and then made a lap around the track, which was pretty neat. After leaving the Speedway, we moved on to some pretty rough terrain, where we expended some extra energy for several miles trying not to twist ankles on the uneven ground. We walked through a park and through a scenic rural area before moving on to K-7,
where a lane was actually blocked off for us to walk in. Between the truck exhaust and the 30 mph wind, this wasn't exactly a pleasant walk, to say the least. The winds apparently stirred up all the allergens in KS, so I was pretty miserable because I just couldn't stop sneezing! We finally got off of K-7 and had a good lunch, then headed out and walked the rest of the day on the very scenic (but no less allergic) hike/bike trails in Johnson County. There were lots of hills, so by the time we arrived at Shawnee Mission Park just before 3 p.m., we were pretty much exhausted. We were supposed to have traveled about 21.6 miles, but according to the GPS devices many walkers were carrying, the mileage was actually between 23 and 24 miles. To top it off, our tents were more than a quarter mile from the dining tent and showers, so we walked another mile or so in the evening just getting around camp! Needless to say, I was asleep in my tent as soon as my head hit the pillow at 9:00, and thanks to Tylenol PM, even though I woke to gusting winds all night long, I was able to fall right back asleep.Tune in tomorrow for the details of day 2!
No comments:
Post a Comment