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St Jean to Muxia in 20 days - or less !!
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[QUOTE="tigermike, post: 1185594, member: 79510"] Hello everyone. Its now been 12 days since I was forced to retire from my self-imposed Camino challenge with a serious foot injury. The recovery process has been difficult and am still experiencing electrifying stabs of pain in the wound as my heel gradually heals and begins to fully support my weight again. Yesterday I went back to my favourite training ground, Ickworth Park in Suffolk, and walked the 5km circuit that I have done many hundreds of times in recent years, in order to see just how far I was progressing. The skin over that horrific blood blister had hardened to the extent there was no concern about chafing or, more worryingly, opening the wound again. But the area around it, still bruised and tender from the swelling, meant that I limped/hobbled most of the way. Have to say that it really did feel WONDERFUL to be back on my feet, in the late afternoon sunshine, in spite of the discomfort. I'll rest today and see how I feel about another attempt tomorrow. The past several days have given me a good deal of time for reflection and I am reluctantly beginning to conclude that, walking approx 900kms in 20 days or less, was never a particularly sensible idea for a man of my age to begin with. Sure, I could have taken more breaks, elevating my feet thereby allowing the blood to circulate better - but would it have made any difference ? In the 12 days it took me to cover 541 kms, I was essentially on my feet and walking for six of them ! That is to say of those total 288 hours I was hiking for almost 140. An average speed of less than 4k/h. Not especially fast I grant you, but it was the relentless pace, without a rest day, that did it for me in the end. I was slowing down, my body was telling me to ease up, and I didn't listen. BIG mistake ! Another important factor I believe was lack of proper deep sleep. Some people, I have noticed over my many Caminos, have no difficulty in getting those precious and rejuvenating hours of slumber - by contrast I seem to awaken frequently throughout the night, my sleep thus interrupted - aching limbs, a strange bed, adrenaline still pumping ? I don't know, all I can say is that I sleep like a baby at home, and within minutes of my head hitting the pillow - so why can't I fall into a deep, deep sleep after so much long and exhausting physical exercise ? Whatever the case, there is likely to be a combination of factors that brought this most recent Camino to such an abrubt ending. So would I have another go ? Most probably not. Even if I could discover some magic formula to cover the daily distances without physical injury, there is still the all-important issue of the mental pressure. It was tough, there's no denying it; extremely tough at times... Nevertheless I approached this, as I have tried in the past to approach other great challenges, not by obsessing negatively about the ordeal at hand, rather by understanding that by taking each day at a time, I was taking another bite out of the overall task and therefore getting closer to my goal with every step. Visual hurdles are important in the process, milestones, those first 100kms, passing the halfway line and, for me, the most spiritually important of all, Cruz de Ferro. And I got so close, so very very close. From there on, my past experience has shown me, after the huge emotional unburdening that consumes me up there, the final one third of the CF is a comparative breeze... So much so that even after Sarria, with all those additional people to contend with, I tend to slow down considerably - not wanting my Camino to end - a sentiment that I share with many others on this platform I have no doubt.... [/QUOTE]
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