Last weekend I attended an 18-mile training walk in preparation for the upcoming Breast Cancer 3-Day walk.  And I failed…failed miserably.  The day was perfect, the route was fine but by about mile 10 I had a hot-spot on my heal.  I stopped to lube it up with Body Glide which helped for another mile or so.  Then it started irritating me again.  By the time we got to about mile 12 I was visibly limping and the wonderful woman who I was chatting with urged my to drop out.  I powered through a bit more but was slowing down and holding my partner back.  I felt like a fool when around mile 13 I had stop at at Wal-Greens to put a call in to Mark to come pick me up on the route.

When I took my shoe off I had a deep blister about 2 inches long and a thumb-width wide on the side of my heal – a place I have never gotten a blister before.  By the time I got home it had filled with blood.  It was a beauty.

I wore flip-flops the rest of the weekend to keep the pressure off the blister. Luckily I found that my trusty Chaco ZX/2 sandals don’t bother it and was able to get in a couple of 5-7 mile walks this week after bedtime.  The only problem is that my sandals give me a couple of new hot-spots so now I tape up my feet before I walk.  It looks a bit silly but it works.  Since the blister is still healing I haven’t gone back to my walking shoes yet.  These sandals may turn out to be my main shoes for the walk.   They are incredibly comfortable and keep my feet cool.

Next weekend I’m signed up for another 18-mile training walk – I hope I will make it all the way this time.  Only 21 days (and $560 left to raise) before the start of the 3-Day!