I went to the Team in Training informational meeting & found out several things. First of all, the Des Moines "walk" is actually a full blown marathon, but you can walk it, BUT you have to be able to keep a pace of 16 or 17 minutes per mile. Good thing they are going to let the walkers start 1 hour early - so I will need to keep a pace of 18 minutes per mile. With the extra hour, the race will last 8 hours & then they take down the cones & remove the policemen that stops traffic along the way & then you're on your own. Next fact I found out is that I am the only walker from Lincoln...the others are traditional marathon runners. And oh...I am definitely the oldest - by maybe 30 some years! I truly wondered what the hell I was getting myself into, but I paid the $50 to get signed up anyway. I may have temporarily lost my mind. I met my personal coach, Rachel, & she seems very nice. I told her I was new to all of this & she said that was fine & hoped that I would join the team. I don't think she had any idea of how "new" I meant. I tried to explain to her that not only do I not run, but I don't walk. This didn't daunt her. And then I said I know nothing of stretching/conditioning & she said that's OK, too, that she would help. BUT, it finally sunk in when she was talking about nutrition & the need for lots of carbs & I told her I was on a low carb diet. She just started blankly at me, unable to speak for a minute, then said "that will have to change". I think she finally understood me! So I signed on the dotted line, realizing full well that there may be some hitches to this scheme - but if it didn't work out, at least the $50 would go to a good cause.