Training Walks

I am a Training Walk Leader, a 3-Day Ambassador, and a first time walker. I hosted my first training walk yesterday (that actually had a participant). I live in a "non-market area" so there aren't very many 3-Dayers around...20ish within 25 miles of me. I have been doing my training walks by myself and listening to my ipod or talking on the phone (both are things that you are not allowed to do on the event or during official training walks). I discovered how much more fun it was to walk and talk with someone else during my walk, but I did also miss my upbeat music to keep me moving. If you haven't looked into a training walk in your area I strongly encourage you to do so. It's a great way to build the 3-Day community before the event and it gets you use to walking with the 3-Day rules. I loved exchanging fundraising ideas with Jillian. She has also done the walk before so she was able to pass along a lot of advice to me a newbie. It might be scary to go join a group of people (or one or two people) that you don't know for a training walk, but trust me you won't run out of things to talk about. We walked 5 miles in 1.5 hours and it felt like 20 minutes. I walked the same route the week before and it felt like it took 3 hours. Check out the training calendar on the 3-Day website or message boards for upcoming training walks. If you need help finding a training walk in your area all the coaches and they will be happy to help (or become a Training Walk Leader yourself so others can come join you). It's usper easy and if your going to be walking anyway you might as well have some company, right?