From Teacher to Pilgrim: Training

Not much to report, but here's what I've got....

Spanish Anyone??
Now that I have all of my stuff for my trip, there isn't much to do besides conditioning my body along with learning Spanish. Still not doing so hot in the area of learning Spanish. I thought that using an audio learning program would work; however, I can hardly remember anything from the lessons. A book I must get to help me I guess. There are only 37 days left before my flight takes off, so this is crunch time. I am considering taking a book with me so I can study on my long flight to Paris. Since I can't sleep on planes, and there are only so many movies the airlines can play, it might be a way to pass the time away.

The Camino Forum to the Rescue
The Camino forum has been my best friend this week, trying to get the details ironed out for a safe and smooth arrival to Saint Jean Pied de Port. Personally, I don't feel like getting lost in Paris--a foreign country with a different language doesn't seem like a place to get lost. When the only thing you know how to say in French is "do you speak English", having a plan is imperative! I will study the layout of the airport to know where to go for immigration and how to get to the bus station. From the bus station, I will need to find out where the train station. Easy peasy....well...I hope so. Thank goodness I already have a plan for getting to my hotel after the long train ride.

Since I am going by myself now, I was in need of information about when to book my hotel at the end too. I just wasn't sure what to do because my arrival date to Santiago isn't really final. There is not a way to know if I am going to need to use my 7 resting days along The Camino or not; therefore, my arrival date isn't set into stone. Now I can relax....the forum said that I can wait to book the hotel when I am a couple of days away from Santiago! YAY!

It's also been helpful with trying to find the best way to share video. I have some folks that will KILL ME if I don't send them video regularly while I'm gone. First I was going to use Dropbox as suggested, but it won't run on my iPod. Then iCloud or just using email was suggested. Email might take a little too long, but that might be the last resort. If anyone else has any better ideas, I am all ears.

Training Update
There hasn't been much training the past couple of weeks. A good friend of mine (well....my traveling buddy to be more precise) has been in the hospital; therefore, being with her is a little more important right now. Also, while I was visiting my friend, my dog thought it would be a good idea to chew my running shoes! She's lucky to be alive! I may be able to resume training in the next few weeks. Being on my feet most of the day counts right???

***Don't forget to sign up for email updates if you want to keep up with me along the way. I am NOT going to be posting my blog on Facebook....so, if you want to "be in the know", you've got to follow with email updates.

Well, I went and conquered the Spartan Race. It wasn't as nearly as bad as I thought it would be. All I know is that I didn't have the strength that I thought that I did. Trying to get over some of those walls and pull the sandbag was hard. The running wasn't that bad. Although, it was NOT a 5k! The race was 4.5 miles! It was fun though and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

The hardest part was crawling under the barbed wire with gritty and stone filled mud. I have so many cuts from that part. the burpees were not that bad. No one was watching over you to make sure that you did them by the book. This was to my benefit, hehehe.

Injuries: lots of scraps and cuts from the horrible gritty mud crawl, very sore muscles, and some bruising.

Total Number of Burpees: 5x30 = 150

How did this prepare me for my pilgrimage?? Maybe it gave me the boost to get into shape otherwise I'm not too sure.

Don't worry, I didn't forget about the pictures....here they are: