We started off the day bright & early and hopped the T into town.
What's there to do while freezing your arse off waiting for the train to come? Take pics to take you mind off of it of course!
And yes, that's an "I <3 Adam" keychain I'm holding there. My cousin Dee bought it for me as a gag gift & gave it to me that morning. It's hot pink & glittery and I adore it. Hilarious! Thanks Dee!
And we were off! It was amazing to see how many people were there. Just crowds & crowds of people everywhere. Pretty cool!
However, It was tough in the beginning. Talk about being packed like a sardine. I'm slightly claustrophobic and we were walking shoulder to shoulder for what felt like forever before the pack started to break off [breathe..breathe...where's my paperbag?!]. Nah, It was all good.
1st few miles were of course a breeze. Flew by. Lot's of girl talk, plus we had the sights of the beautiful city as well as some interesting characters along the way to keep us occupied.
Yes those two copper "statues" are real people. Just sitting there talking. No money basket looking for donations. Just chillen' out. Odd. And then there was the one kid that was giving out "free hugs". How generous of him...? I guess? Kinda creepy? Yeah. No thank you.
Last time I walked, which was at least 5+ years back, I can remember starting to get sore sooner than 1/2 way through, so I was pleasantly surprised when we reached the 10 mile mark and I was feeling great!
[i really suck at self phone pics, eh?]
Now, I know this is def frowned upon, but my strategy for the day was to drink as little water as possible so I could avoid these for as many of the 20 miles as I could
But once I realized how many stores, restaurants & coffee shops were along the route, which meant clean[er] bathrooms, I was good to go & went along my merry way H2Oing it up.
Speaking of restaurants, I packed a lunch & planned on stopping for a few on the side of the route to rest & eat, but apparently I was the only one in our group with that bright idea since no one else brought a scrap of food. SO, we agreed that we'd walk until we found a little cafe or food shop that looked semi healthy/tasty.
That didn't happen, so we settled for a pizza shop...
And b/c I was walking 20 miles that day, that entitled me to not one, but TWO slices of pizza. [OK, you can stop judging me now]
Again, I had walked this walk a few different times over the years, but never with my cousins, so I was shocked to hear that the walk route actually passed by the street with the house where our mom's grew up. The house that so many family stories were based at over the years. One I have seen in countless black & white pictures but never in person. At least, not that I can recall. I was too young to remember it, but Dee & Jen have lots of memories from there. So it was pretty cool to be able to detour for a few mins to check it out & snap a few pics.
Isn't it gorgeous?! What I wouldn't give to live there. sigh
My goal in walking was to not only finish the whole 20 miles [obvs. duh.] but to take photos of all the mile markers.
And I did. But there were only 14 signs? And no mile 20 sign? whatsupwithdat?!
At mile 19 I told the group I was gonna run the last mile. Be a goof and pretend I ran the entire 20 when I passed the finish line. I actually felt good enough to do it and was skipping along the final stretch. I limped that last mile the last time I did it.
But we decided to all cross together. Sentiment and schtuff. And 8 hours later, we were back in the park.
[excuse the super sexy high socks, Jen let me borrow a pair to prevent heel blisters. My ankle socks never would have cut it]
And we were all feeling great. Some a little sore, tired & over it, but all feeling so accomplished. 20 miles!
Really makes you appreciate all those Boston Marathoners who ran last month.
What an incredible day. I will for sure remember this day for years to come, for so many reasons. The family time, the stories & jokes we all shared along the way, the people, the house, the miles. Everything.
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