The Walk - 2011

Chuy's to Chuy's

Walk from Chuy's in Austin to Chuy's in San Antonio - April 28 to April 30

Go to the Google map to see where they are now or go to last year's walk page.

Real time tracking provided by Google Lattitude.        Map of the planned route.

They will be sending in short reports from the walk and an occasional picture (when bandwidth is available) about every 2 hours.  Watch for them here.  The Google Map will be updated more frequently from their Google Latitude automated location feeds.  Newest report will always be at the top of this page.

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Total round trip elapsed time 40 hr 50 min; distance of 131.46 miles

Elapsed time from San Antonio to Austin of 8 hr 25 min; distance biked of 65.43 miles; avg 7.8 mph.

Final comments from David (Sunday afternoon):

My journey, our journey

“We did it”!!!....; I did not write during the journey but now, almost recovered from the whole endeavor, I feel I definitely need to share what it all meant for me. "Why did “YOU” go?”, is probably the first question some may be asking. And the answer is simple, it was because I have never done it before or even considered it but, I can walk, I can ride a bike, so I was meeting the first two basic requirements. The decision…, just a little tease from Thomas, Darren and Kevin about two weeks before the day of leaving and I said “you know what?...yes I am going to go too”… but those two weeks, for some reason turned into days of excitement and encouragement from Thomas and Stacey while getting ready with the minimum things I was going to need…yeah I was shopping!!

It has been extremely gratifying to spend two days with friends, and see how four people leave on a journey with a goal; and hour by hour, going through the same pains, talking, listening or just walking next to someone in silence the group solidifies. I will not be able to describe here how it really feels when a blister bursts inside your shoes while on the go, or how they hurt after you start walking again after a simple 15 minutes stop; but when Jim, Thomas or Stacey screamed about any of that, I knew exactly what that “OUCH”,”OW” single noise meant.

Was it tough? Yes, very much!!! But I managed though, and I am still trying to figure it out. What can I say, one always hears that you need to prepare yourself or be a semi athlete to do things like this, and I did not do or I am any of that. I am not a real regular at the gym, I walk my dogs for an hour maximum, but as a joke we said that maybe all the years I have spent going out to dance floors have paid off??? Anyway definitely this experience has been more valuable and also has been the perfect excuse to get back to the gym more often, now that I definitely know that “I can do it”!!

But is not all about how fit you are, and believe me I know, cause I am not in the best of shapes compared to Thomas, Stacey or Jim, as you know. And we always hear about self-determination, motivation, encouragement and all those self-help words in books and speeches. Well in my case I have come to realize that they are true words, and the media that worked for me to firmly believe in them has been to put myself through the San Antonio experience.

I have to give a big THANK YOU to Thomas, because he talked to me and found what I needed to drink and eat when I almost gave up with just a few miles to go.

And a big THANK YOU to Stacey because after I managed to recover from the down, he walked next to me in silent most of the time, hehe J

And a big THANK YOU to Jim because he let me know how well I was doing on the ride back and gave me all sort of tips to ride better – I did not think I could have done all the ride back to be honest, but again, it was one of those things, it was just what I had in my mind after we left San Antonio.

A big THANK YOU to the ladies sitting next to us at Chuy’s for all the encouragement when I was saying that I did not think I could ride back.

A big THANK YOU to the staff at Chuy’s for the food, attention, appreciation of what we were doing and fixing my bike – in case they read this – Muchisimas gracias amigos, aprecio mucho todo el esfuerzo que hicisteis en reparar la cadena de la bicicleta”.

A big THANK YOU to everyone that followed us on the amazing blog that Earl created and updated with so much dedication; and from the feedback I was having, believe me that all the words of encouragement and comments on how much I had personally achieved were felt and were part of the help I needed to finish when I thought I couldn't. And thank you Michelle for the water and the 2 visits. So THANK YOU to ya’ll for after all make me believe that I could do it. Finally, here is what I really found out. I looked at the big picture with some naivety but with conviction that it could be done. I got myself into it and was impressed of how much I was accomplishing. I got to a breakdown and almost gave up near the end but with help and looking at the picture again I adjusted my own personal strategy. The goal was still to finish this trip and back, but from then on I was looking down at the road and finding a post, a stain of tar on the pavement, a stone, a piece of broken tire, a road sign or anything that would be 100 yards away, and once I got to it I will see it go pass and my eyes would go to the next until we got to San Antonio. On the bike, where amazingly my legs did not hurt as much as my….ermm, cant’s say that here…I did the same and every downhill where you could coast at high speed and feel the air going fast was a reward that was bringing us back home. My friend Eric has told me that what I did is called meditation. Now the facts:

- I have about 12 blisters on my feet

- I wore my new shoes for 3 days for about 3 hours – I know Thomas, I know – before using them for this

- 5 hours energy extreme bottles and a coke work to get you out of an I almost give up situation

- I had to do the whole ride back on second gear on the pedals cause it was broken.

- Nothing other than the blisters on my feet hurts right now.

- I have 3 new friends and next year there will be more San Antonio idiots like me I hope to join the group. Anybody that thinks that wants to do this next year but does not believe they can, please let me know, send me questions, let’s go for lunch and talk about it, I will be more than happy to help you the same as I was helped to believe that “it can be done”! David

Final comments from Thomas (Saturday afternoon):

The 2nd annual walk was a success.  What an amazing journey.  I got to spent time with three other amazing people.  The time we spent from beginning to end was 40 hours and 50 minutes.  Last year, it took us 41 hours and 44 minutes.  Once again we had a 100% finishing rate.  Four of us left, David, Jim, Stacey, and Thomas, from Austin, and all four of us came back by only using our legs, walking and biking.  What an amazing and awesome 40 hours we had.  We had some great conversations, laughed a bunch, got to know each other a lot better, but most of all, we all worked together as a group in other in order to accomplish this.

For myself, this year went better than last year overall, although I did develop several blisters on my heals and the bottoms of my feet that I didn’t have last year, but I had my feet taped up last year before we left, and I didn’t tape them up this year.  Until now, I’ve never suffered from blisters like this ever before, but I saw this as a positive so that it would give me the experience to know how to take care of these and to learn how to keep going through the pain.  But, I don’t plan on any of us to have to deal with this again, if I can help it.  I will be doing some research as to why we all got blisters so bad and take the necessary precautions.  We may have to start out with our feet taped again like last year.     

When you go on something like this, one of the pluses or perks is being able to stop and go into a convenient store and being able to buy and eat whatever you want without having to worry about how much sugar, fat, or carbs the item has.  The rule is, if it sounds good to you, then it’s something your body probably needs, so buy it.  It doesn’t matter if its Twinkies, ice cream, Coke, candy, etc.

I learned that air pressure on a bike is very important, more important than I ever knew.  Until yesterday, having enough air in the tire meant that either the rim wasn’t touching the ground when I was sitting on it, or you weren’t able to squeeze the sides of the tire together with your hand.  Luckily, we had a biker, Jim, with us, and he helped educate me on the importance of air.  You see, if you don’t have enough air pressure in your tire, you lose too much energy when pedaling and coasting.  Unless all you’re doing is riding around the neighborhood for a few minutes, if you plan on going on a long bike ride, I’d recommend you check your tire pressure and make sure it has the recommended pressure set within manufactures specifications.

Some people want to know about how much our legs start to hurt.  I’ll say that the soreness we experience is very little compared to the pain of our blisters.  If none of us had developed such bad blisters on our feet, I believe all four of us could have walked, instead of biked, back to Austin.  If a person can walk around a theme park from open to close without any problems, then they could probably walk from Austin to San Antonio. 

The hero of the trip has got to be awarded to David.  Without a doubt, David was a huge source of encouragement for us.  For most of the journey, David just smiled and kept moving forward.  I figure if someone were to look at each of us, the surprise would of this whole adventure was with David.  People would be surprised because we all set limits on what we can and can’t do, and some people just believe you have to be a certain way in order to do something like this.  For example, I train and participate in ultra runs, Jim is an accomplished marathoner and triathlete and has done a 50 mile race, and Stacey, well, what can’t Stacey do.  So it’s probably not much of a surprise that the three of us finished, but what about David?  Yes, David does eat healthy, takes care of himself, and does do some cardio, but he’s never done any sort of long distance event like a half marathon or triathlon before.  He’s never spent hours running or riding a bike.  So how could he possibly be able to complete something like this?  How was David going to walk the distance of two full marathons, 2 10kms, a 5km, then bike the distance of a half ironman plus 9 miles one would ask?  I’ll tell you my opinion.  I believe David finished this because he believed he could finish it.  There was a time when things got very difficult for him, around mile 53, and he wanted to quit, and I think it was largely due to the fact that he stopped believing that he could do this.  I guess if you want to know how or why he eventually kept going, you’ll have to talk to him and let him tell you. 

A lot of people ask why I do stuff like this.  For me, one of the main reasons is because I think, as people, we tend to put up walls and barriers on what we can and can’t do.  I think the barriers we put up only limit us in what we can do.  So, for me, doing these type of things are a way to tear down those barriers.  Now that David has completed this, my hope is that he’ll start taking down some of the walls he’s put up in the past and start believing in more things that he can accomplish and doing them.   Besides breaking down limits, I also enjoyed the time I got to spend with David, Jim, and Stacey.  You don’t spend time with the “work” person, you spend time with the true person.   

The stop at Chuys was so amazing.  First, the celebration of finishing the walk was so liberating.  After you’ve been going for so long, and you finally accomplish the biggest part, you feel like you’re invincible.  Then to walk in, be greeted by Baer and the other employees was awesome.  They treated us so well and took care of us.  My only regret is that we didn’t get a picture with them.  There was so much going on in our minds and we were so exhausted, that the thought of getting a picture didn’t occur to me until after we left.  I won’t forget to take pictures of this next year. 

Thanks to Amy and Diana for being so nice and friendly and making our Chuys visit fun.  It was nice meeting you two and we look forward to you two possibly joining this adventure next year. 

Just so everyone knows, we will be doing this again next year.  My hopes would be that the four of us go again, plus have other new people join.  I also hope Chuys will be involved again.  I believe anyone can do this, but you have to be committed to reaching the goal, even when things aren’t going good, and  above all, you have to believe in yourself that you can do it.  If you’re thinking you’d like to come with us next year, but maybe you think it’s too tough, or feel like you can’t do it, I’d recommend you take some time and talk with David. 

Thank You:

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1:05 AM Saturday:

Arrived back at the office.  Once again hugh crowds were there to greet them, but alas it was so dark the crowds don't show up in these pictures.