I was going to use the title "Highs and Lows" but given the weekends walk I thought undulations was more apt! I could have equally have used "The problem with a DNF" but that sounded very negative. So anyway...
Last weekend (as in the weekend before the walk!!) I started a thread ... I didn't use the name Evil Pixie though. I was worried, looked to the forum for support and got it. During most of the week I was distracted. I was also looking forward to the Wales walk, the team finally getting together and a lovely day strolling through the lovely Welsh countryside.
I got over my stress about Thursday having worried that it was more serious than it was nad being calmed by the forum and a nurse. By this time the Wales walk was all but the next day (well a 4AM start is very early!)
Friday we were, well I was!, buzzing and excited.
Saturday AM tired but excited. We started the walk frustrated at the delay and not finding Sue and annoyed at lovely countryside meant no signal to get hold of Sue and update her!
Given my phone wasn't registering any missed calls or messages I assumed Sue was having the same signal problem! Leon and I are on the same network so neither of us had a signal!
I am sure there was a signal going up that hill but I was too scared to take my focus off the ground to be able to check ... so I called Sue when we got to level ground. She had no signal so I left a message on the answerphone!
Finally meeting up with Sue was another high! (See I said undulation! Up and down and up again!) The team was finally complete! Horrah! Despite knowing she was a strong walker I suspected and hoped, she would hang back so was thrilled to have meet her so soon! The cooked breakfast at CP3 made the gathering even better!!
The locality of the walk was wonderful! So pretty! The endorophines were high, the company was good and life was good!
Leon dropping out was a low. Two kids running up the next hill was a low for me. The hill taking forever was a low! Pulling out was awful.
I'm a bouncy positive person and having not had any problems with my heel for weeks I wasn't expecting any (I did take some drugs in the morning as a safety net - afterall they would do no harm!). I hadn't considered any of us pulling out. It just wasn't an issue!
As I walked the last section I had to try and pick myself up so I searched for the positives and this is what I came up with.
Last weekend (as in the weekend before the walk!!) I started a thread ... I didn't use the name Evil Pixie though. I was worried, looked to the forum for support and got it. During most of the week I was distracted. I was also looking forward to the Wales walk, the team finally getting together and a lovely day strolling through the lovely Welsh countryside.
I got over my stress about Thursday having worried that it was more serious than it was nad being calmed by the forum and a nurse. By this time the Wales walk was all but the next day (well a 4AM start is very early!)
Friday we were, well I was!, buzzing and excited.
Saturday AM tired but excited. We started the walk frustrated at the delay and not finding Sue and annoyed at lovely countryside meant no signal to get hold of Sue and update her!
Given my phone wasn't registering any missed calls or messages I assumed Sue was having the same signal problem! Leon and I are on the same network so neither of us had a signal!
I am sure there was a signal going up that hill but I was too scared to take my focus off the ground to be able to check ... so I called Sue when we got to level ground. She had no signal so I left a message on the answerphone!
Finally meeting up with Sue was another high! (See I said undulation! Up and down and up again!) The team was finally complete! Horrah! Despite knowing she was a strong walker I suspected and hoped, she would hang back so was thrilled to have meet her so soon! The cooked breakfast at CP3 made the gathering even better!!
The locality of the walk was wonderful! So pretty! The endorophines were high, the company was good and life was good!
Leon dropping out was a low. Two kids running up the next hill was a low for me. The hill taking forever was a low! Pulling out was awful.
I'm a bouncy positive person and having not had any problems with my heel for weeks I wasn't expecting any (I did take some drugs in the morning as a safety net - afterall they would do no harm!). I hadn't considered any of us pulling out. It just wasn't an issue!
As I walked the last section I had to try and pick myself up so I searched for the positives and this is what I came up with.
- We had covered more ground than before! (Previous walk was 28m in 13hrs this was more like 35m) so going strong!
- We had covered some very tough ground, harder ground than there would be on the TW.
- We had concured some mighty hills! Much harder and higher than on TW.
- We were a team of four fit, healthy, bright, cheerful and wonderful people!
- TW is supported and we have a fab support team to fed us, hug us, massage us and send us on our way!
- We would be carrying much less at TW.
- The negatives of today would make us stronger for TW.
Not a bad list I thought. I knew I could fix my heel, and that we had 3 wks to recover from this.
A DNF was cruel and harsh but was just as useful as a finish.
So despite a week of lows and highs I think we pulled all the lows round to a final high! Now is not the time for negatives anyway! PMA as they say! TW is more of a mental challenge than a physical one so these positives must be focused on and we will all four of use succeed!!
Go Team Go!
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