Walking and More Walking

This weekend I walked enough to allow myself to safely sit in the last of our dining room chairs without fear of collapse for at least some time. On Saturday, we walked in our second March of Dimes WalkAmerica walk-a-thon, and on Sunday, we went hiking with our friend Anna and her dog Molly. Marielle had a great time in both cases. On both walks, Marielle spent a decent amount of her time in her jogging stroller, but she seemed to think bouncing along was pretty cool.

With Marielle having been born premature, we have been trying to make the March of Dimes our charity. Both last year and this year we, with the help of friends and family, have raised money in the form of donations leading up to the walk. This year, we managed to raise $450. With the help of what we raised, Viv's company's team went on to raise around $5,000. We think it's a wonderful cause and are grateful to the organization because there is no doubt in our mind that Marielle benefited from some of the NICU advances funded by March of Dimes research.

Sunday's hike was also a lot of fun. White Ranch Open Space is an amazing park. It sits high above Golden and offers some hilly but fairly easy-going terrain. There were a few technical patches but nothing the jogging stroller couldn't handle. Our biggest threat came from rain early on, but it passed relatively quickly. This was good because no of us was too well prepared. I'd swear we all left or Colorado Resident status in bed that morning because we rolled into the parking lot like a bunch of amateurs as far as preparedness was concerned. I suppose we each get points for realizing this up front. Also, we weren't hundreds of miles from civilization since Denver and Golden were almost always visible below us in the distance. Needless to say, we did get a little wet at the beginning. Marielle kept dry thanks to a blanket Anna had in her car (yes, the parents forgot a blanket for their daughter) It was funny. At one point we all look to Marielle only to find her completely hidden in the blanket which she had pulled over her head. This hike also marked the first time our dog, Sophie, and Anna's dog, Molly, have met each other. They got along great. It was good to see that Sophie does well with other dogs her size. To date, Socks, a 5-pound Pomeranian has been her only company at times, and she thoroughly annoys him mainly because of their size difference. It was funny watching the two of them casually try to take the lead from one another.

So, I think that between the walk and the hike, we easily cleared ten miles this weekend.