Great Strides- Glendale

7:00am: There was no dog walk this morning because of the Great Strides Walk, so J Bell was none too happy. She had been at my door whining since six, so she definitely thought she was going to get her stroll around the block. I knew that I was going to be able to sleep in a bit today, which I tried to do, but I was in and out of sleep from 6am on. My body is now fully programmed for that six o'clock wake up time. I can't say that that has ever been the case with me. It's kinda nice though cause it feels like all of my days are longer (which of course they are) and I'm able to get in so much life throughout the day. I really wish I had started this waking up early thing years ago.Jezzabel was ready for the walk. Too bad she didn't go.

Mandi and I didn't get to the walk until about 8:30am because we of course had to stop by Dunkin Donuts. I look forward to the good ol' DD every weekend morning and I know that she does too. There were quite a few people at the walk by the time we arrived and it felt like it had an overall positive energy flowing throughout. There were people of all ages there which included a lot of high schoolers which is always nice to see. It's such a good feeling when you see young people involved in their community and giving back.

Everybody warming up for the big walk ahead.

As far as the actual walk goes, it went really well. Mandi and I kept a good pace the entire time and I worked up a pretty good sweat. The only hitch was that we got off course and kind of got lost for a bit. The actual walk is 3.1 miles long and Mandi and I guess that we did 2.5 of it. We weren't the only ones to go off track, but most people were able to figure it out. It's just a good thing that people didn't follow us cause we could have had a mob situation on our hands. One thing I learned early: Don't lead people astray on charity walks. Just trust me on that one.

Team Conner was there in full force!

I was also able to meet some other CFers and some other bloggers at the walk. One in particular was Sarah and her husband Mike. You can check out their blog by clicking here. They both had such great attitudes and Sarah is quite an inspiring story. Within months of her transplant she was running half-marathons! You got to be kidding me! Talk about taking advantage of your second chance. They were both really nice and I hope that Sarah continues to flourish with her new lungs. It was great meeting you guys!!!!

Me, Mike, Sarah (OceanDesert)

Total Distance: 2.5 miles

6:00pm: We headed to the gym tonight with the mindset of just getting in and getting out because we were both exhausted from a day in the sun and shopping. Now when I say shopping, I mean going to about 15 different stores looking for a desk. None of which I liked, or if liked, I couldn't afford. There was a TON of walking today after the Great Strides so we decided that we wouldn't do a walk/run tonight and just stick with the gym. We both did chest and back and really treated it as a cardio workout as well. We took very short breaks and were both sweating pretty heavily towards the end. It gave my lungs a good work out too because I decided to go really heavy on every lift with fewer reps. My muscles were requiring a lot of oxygen tonight and the only way they were going to get it was with deep breaths. Overall, it was a very good workout, but I'm looking forward to just relaxing tonight. Current Weight: 190 lbs.

Total Distance Walked for Day: 2.5 miles