About four months ago, I saw in my local, free paper, a charity night walk of 25/50 km. A friend and I had been walking on and off for several years doing 5 km in just over an hour. I thought, that this night walk would be a good way to put all our walking to good use. Silly me!!! 50 km is more than a marthon and was too long, so 25km it was.
25 km/15.5 miles is no easy feat for a person who is not build like a sprinter. Nevertheless, I wanted to do something for a non for profit charity and had previously talked about doing a night walk with another friend. After a few weeks of coaxing, four of us were signed up. And so the training began...
I have been going to the gym for nearly two years and try to go two or three times a week. However, I had to mentally get my head around walking non stop for at least 6 hours!!! Each training session involved me pushing myself just that little bit more.
The day of the walk, I had eaten some pasta: I hear that it is good for long walks and I also managed to have a little nap and was ready to do my walk.
The beginning was fine, we did our stretches and 100 other people were also in good spirits. By 10 km, my energy was going and I couldn't wait for the pit stop at 12 km. The pit stop couldn't come soon enough and was needed and after replenishing all my energy, I was raring to go.
When I had reached 24 km, I seemed to have a sudden burst of energy. We had nearly finished it. We started at 7.45 pm and finished at 1.05 am, minus a 20 minute pit stop.
The finish was lovely. My friends and I couldn't stop smiling, as we felt so proud of our achievement: for finishing, helping a worthy cause and we also contemplated doing the 50 km next year!!!
I don't think that I will do the 50 km – but for this walk, there really was no pain, no gain.
www.widehorizons.org.uk
Poem reference: The Season I Smile – No more excuses.
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