Walking Until You Require A Walker

I really like testing my body's endurance during a performance and my brain's stupidity to comply. So, on Saturday, I put myself in motion for a continuous 10 hours.


This photo couldn't be more appropriate. I found this car around 8:15 a.m. as I began to walk. Who said God doesn't have a sense of humor?

The easiest way to prepare for a big walk is to run 8 miles, then walk for hours. Here is an outline of my pretty nice little Saturday:

SCHEDULE

6:00 a.m. - Woke up
6:15 a.m. - Left the house with my vest, wallet, keys, phone, hat, & trusty Gatorade bottle full of Instant Breakfast
6:15 - 6:30 a.m. - Walked and drank my breakfast
6:30 - 7:15 a.m. - Ran 5 miles to TEAM practice
7:15 - 7:45 a.m. - Ran 3 miles
7:45 - 8:00 a.m. - Drank water and stretched
8:00 a.m. - 4:15 p.m. - Walked (and questioned what I was doing with my life)

I tried to think about each hour differently and focus on what I would be walking past during that hour. One thing I like to do on a run, or in this case a walk, is look at my body like I am looking at a car dashboard - how's the old speedometer, fuel gauge, am I overheated, or see if the check engine light is on. I also like to monitor each part. Here is what started to break:

BREAKDOWN

Really early, like in the 1st hour (8:00-9:00 a.m.) I made up my mind I wasn't doing a round trip, way to taxing to decide to come back mentally. It was going to be far easier to just runaway (walkaway). My phone quickly became my most important possession.

My right calf became hard around the 4th hour (12:00 - 1:00 p.m.). It never cramped up fully, it just felt really tight and balled up, like I had a baseball for a muscle.

My right hip started to hate the continuous motion around the 5th hour (1:00 - 2:00 p.m.). Around this time I also started to feel pain on my feet. I wasn't sure if I had blisters or not, but it didn't feel good. It rooted from the fact that I was walking along highways, right beside the access roads, and often there was no sidewalk and I was mowing my way through knee high grass and weeds. The part of my feet that hurt were the side walls, my blisters were not on the bottom of my feet, it was a first and a wired hurt, not ideal.

None of this stuff got better or stopped hurting as a reward for walking farther.

MISTAKES

I didn't treat this like I should have, like a real endurance event. I should have made a lot more "race day preparations." I will spare details, but Body Glide (just check the product rating) should have been heavily applied.

I should have brought and used sunscreen. (No brainer? My head might be a no brainer.)

I should have mapped out a plan. I was trying to walk to the Premium Outlets and just had a general direction I was walking. I should have had a mapped out plan so I could avoid highways and utilize roads and sidewalks. I found that I walked about .5 - 1 mile per hour farther just by walking on a solid surface.

I should have brought an extra pair of socks and shorts. After an 8 mile run, I sweat, and I don't mean that in a "glistening" way. I mean, jump in a pool and quickly spring out kind of wet. It amplified a couple of the breakdowns.

MAP

The dots don't mean anything I just had to plot my course.

AFTERMATH & CONCLUSION

After I called in my AIRVAC, I was picked up at point "B" (290 and 1960). I was so tired, I only wanted a nap, a nap right after a shower, my legs were covered in lots of dirt and brush. It didn't help that I was so burned on my neck, heat felt like it was radiating from me. After the shower I had the chills pretty good, I haven't really had that after a race. I would be burning up and sweating, but felt like I was freezing under a blanket, that hurt the nap a little.

I wish I had of made it to my destination, but (in this case) there is always next time. If you have an idea of something crazy I should do, let me know and I will consider putting myself through it. One day I plan on being able to tell my body, "Quiet you, you've been through worse."