Charity Walk Completed
Reading time: 3 minutes (607 words)Author: @pugmiester
Tags: walking , charity
It’s a wrap…
The morning of the event
We were up and about around 05:30. Fed the cats, grabbed some breakfast and made a move around 06:10. We knew it would be an hour drive to the start and I wanted to get there early to see if I could swap the t-shirt I had been supplied for the walk. It was a large, but a ladies large, and a little too snug. As it happened, I was able to swap for a gents large which was a better fit.
The day started cool, at around 8 degrees C but the forecast looked like it was going to stay dry and sunny through the day so I made the bold decision to get the knobbly knees out and walk in my shorts. I had already decided the night before that with no rain on the forecast I was going to leave my waterproof trousers at home anyway.
At the start, I met up with the other crazy folks from work who were taking part in the full marathon, plus a couple of hundred other rather fitter looking folks. We managed to grab a group photo before our planned start at 08:00.
It was a pretty exhausing day with more height change than I thought there would be. Even with a 2 litre aquapack in my rucksack, that I refilled at each stop, plus 2 500ml bottles of energy drink I still didn’t take on enough water.
I finished with an official time of 10 hours, 25 minutes and 8 seconds which includes 2 water stops plus a stop for lunch. I remembered to pause my workout recording for lunch and stop 2 but forgot for stop one so I estimate I covered the distance in around nine and a half hours of actual walking. Not that I could have walked it in that time without any sort of break but I just wanted to see how long it took me and to try to keep my average walking pace fairly accurate in the app so I could assess how well I was getting on.
The morning after
The usual suspects (my legs, ankles and back) are not aching as much as I thought they might be but my feet are a mess. I have huge blister across the inside half of the balls of both feet so at the moment I can’t even stand without help or balancing on the outside of my feet so any sort of movement is painful and very slow progress.
I was going to include an image of my damaged feet but nobody needs that level of detail.
The day after, the day after
It’s Monday so I’m off to work. Well, I would be if I could walk. My feet are still a complete mess this morning and I can’t put any weight on the balls of my feet. Fortunately I have the option to work from home but even getting around the house is such a challenge I can’t make it to and from the home office without being in a lot of pain so I’ve thrown in the towel and I’m instead spending the day on the sofa with my feet up.
Summing up
Will I do another marathon walk? Probably not. I had the stamina and energy levels for about half of the event but my body is just not up to that level of abuse anymore.
But, I raised £745 for Cancer Research UK with the last £100 or so coming in while I was still walking thanks to Mrs P sharing my progress on social media.