And...having completed the 100km Trailwalker UK Challenge this weekend, there is ONE thing that I think I have in common with Sir Steve.
Is it, you may ask, the fact that we are both finely tuned athletes? - NO!
Or is it, the fact that having declared that I would never do Trailwalker again I am soon likely to do an about-turn as the pain in my toes starts to subside? - again, NO!
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| I don't know if I'll get a "Little Help From My Friends" but it is certainly WET, WET, WET! |
The ONE thing that we do have in common is...that actually we would have been better off if we'd been able to use his boat!
Now, not wanting to imply (as some bloggers already have about theirs) that we didn't have total harmony within our team, but I do think that it is fair to say that the blame for the first SEVEN hours of rain, was laid firmly a my door. (As were fourteen sandbags, to stop the said rain from seeping under this analogous door and soaking my analogous carpet).
So often have I explained in this Blog how we had not encountered ANY rain during all of our training walks, that it appears that a higher power decided that enough was enough. Not that I'm implying that GOD is a 'regular' reader of this Blog, just that he is allegedly 'all knowing'.
The fact that HE gave us more rain than was absolutely necessary if HE was simply trying to make a point, I will let pass without further comment on this occasion.
So our plans of achieving this 100km feat, (with our feet?) within 20/22 hours were dashed, or more accurately "splashed", pretty much from the word go.
Our prime objective - for all four of us to complete the distance in under 30 hours - was also dashed, when Rob was advised by medics not to continue at CP7! It should be noted that people don't "pull out" or "drop out" of Trailwalker. They are "pulled out", usually on medical advice.
So, we reverted to plan B, (not that we ever really had a Plan A, or if we did, I'm not sure that we actually ever read it) and the remaining three of us, managed to cross the line in 24 hours!
Physically, this was definitely the most demanding thing that I have ever done, or I suspect, will ever do (especially given that I am not of child-bearing age or rather gender!).
But, was this a ’life-changing’ experience? I am inclined to say no.
However, if I do have to have both of my little toes amputated then it may yet prove to be. Were this (a double toe amputation) to happen, no doubt I would fall over more often, without having to rely on alcohol for assistance, and I guess that in one way, that WOULD be life changing. Certainly less costly than at present, although without alcoholic anesthetic, possibly more painful.
That being said, there were both very good and not so good elements, as detailed in the following lists, & I will start off with the not so good!
- Managing to walk at least 100,000 steps before the finishing line, without a problem, despite treacherous conditions, and then missing a step at the ’medal ceremony’ and falling sideways off the podium!
- The rain - Maybe I should go to Church if I want or expect my prayers to be answered, but to throw down so much water, almost seemed harsh, given the money we were all trying to raise for extremely “good” causes!
- Cyclists! - Not all cyclists, just those that decided to ride on the South Downs at the weekend. It can only have been to make a point, because it cannot have been enjoyable for them. In protest I am planning to walk down the centre of the Champs-Élysées on Sunday afternoon, to see how they (the Tour de France cyclists) like that!
- Losing one of the team - Rob, at CP7 due to injury.
- Oasis music - being played loudly through tinny speakers (not headphones) on the night stages by one of the teams. Either better music, headphones or better speakers needed next time lads!
- Lack of awareness - from a very small number of teams on the narrow stretches of the route as to how much they were holding teams behind them up, by walking two or three abreast!
- Narrow boots - I still haven't found boots that are wide enough for my 'plates of meat', resulting in aforementioned little toes being destroyed.
- The course alterations - both at Chanctonbury & approaching Lewes which seemed to go on for ever, and certainly took a lot longer to walk than the alternative/original routes we had walked many times in training.
- 1km to go signs - not the actual signs, but the fluorescent yellow signs which from a distance looked as though they were going to say "1km to go", but in fact said "Trailwaker this way" or something equally annoying. If they had said "Hah! You haven't walked quite as far as you thought you had!", they wouldn't have been any less annoying!
- Very fit or very unfit people! - although I would exclude all Gurkhas, however fit from this list, because they are just great. The ones I'm talking about are the fit ones you meet and when you ask them how much training they had done for the event, they reply "Training? No, we didn't do any training!" and then walk off at a speed that Roadrunner would have been proud of! To which all I can say is BEEP, BEEP! As for the 'unfit' category, I would also include those that in all reality were probably uber-fit, but wanted others to think that they weren't. In this category I am including the four lads just ahead of us on the start line, with no apparent walking apparel, and just a cigarette in one hand and a can of Fosters in the other for sustenance!
So that was my "churlish" list, and now for the good bits...
- Our support team - Simply the best!
- The Gurkhas - The nicest bunch of guys you could ever hope to meet, or to organise the logistics of this amazing event
- The Oxfam support team - Always encouraging, always cheerful (Even when I asked for a pint of John Smiths at CP 6!) Brilliant!
- 99.9% of fellow Trailwalkers - Friendly, encouraging, genuine, all round good eggs!
- The sight of miles and miles of head torches shining behind us in the night sky - Whilst I have plans to improve this (see below) it was still an awesome sight
- My team-mates, Matt, Pete & Rob - it was a genuine honour and privilege to walk with you!
- Comedy moments along the way - most notably at CP 3, when a fellow walker slipped headlong into the mud...picked himself up, only to do the same again a couple of yards later. We didn't even see the falls, but both he and his team were in stitches and he was covered in mud from head to toe. We did witness his attempts to clean himself off my rolling in the grass, and I truly hope after seeing him again at CP 6 in some discomfort, that he was able to make it to the end.
- Zinc-oxide tape - I think this was the difference between me, or more specifically my feet, being able to survive this challenge. Whilst my toes may have been battered, the soles of my feet were 'blister-free'.
- Positive emotions - these were in abundance on the day, and even remembering these now gives me goose pimples.
- The Finish Line - enough said?
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| Proof, if proof were ever needed! |
"What are you going to call it?", people asked. "Harper?"; "Seven?"
"No..." we replied. "We're going to call it....BLOODY KNACKERING!"
