A Practice Sending Blog from Blackberry

Monday I went walking in the beautiful Bernheim Forest. I just decided to walk as I pleased and not worry about the miles, so I just walked for four hours or so and enjoyed the time. I brought one of my trekking poles and found what a great help it is in walking up and down hills and jumping across streams. The photo is a sculpture in one of the gardens of a boy emerging from the stone. Reminds me of that Michaelangelo one--don't know the name.
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La Penitente

I didn't do the mini-marathon. I got the packet and the bib and the t-shirt the day before, but was divided on whether I really would go because the weather prediction was severe thunderstorms all day long with possible tornado conditions. When the alarm sounded at 4:15 am, I looked out the window at the pouring rain, imagined fighting the traffic of cars of 15,000 crazy marathon people, finding my way to shuttle buses with 15,000 other people, only to walk for hours in a drenching rain, and... well, I wimped out. But darned if the weather didn't clear and become overcast for the rest of the morning, perfectly respectable weather for walking.

So, I feel bad and have to do penance. Tomorrow I will do my own mini-marathon, rain or shine.

I have my new boots and my new orthotics and have pretty well broken them in. Lift-off time is less than three weeks away. I am very grateful that I changed my original plans to go in April because the Iceland volcano would have put the kabosh on that. I only hope that the backlog of folks trying to get home from Europe and to Europe will have thinned out by May 16th.

I am getting a bit panicky with so many loose ends to tie up before I go. Bills and  other obligations to hand off to others. Little odds and ends of things to buy. Figuring out how to blog and post through my BBerry. Practicing my essential French and Spanish. Researching how to get from de Gaulle airport to the correct train station. Je veut acheter un billet-simple pour Bayonne. Ou et le ATM? Hola peregrino! Buen Camino. Soy americana de Kentucky. Hace muchos cabellos rapidos!

Papa John Ten-Miler

I completed the Papa John Ten-Miler on Saturday in Louisville. That is all I can say...I completed it. It took me three hours and ten minutes. That's a nineteen minute mile. Well, let's put it this way: the traffic control guy was right behind me picking up the cones until I did manage to pass a few other "dawdlers." I swear there were a bunch of people behind me until the drenching rains came. My theory is they all gave up and went home, leaving me as the last of the determined ones. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. Il faut aller doucement does not apply to this kind of race, but I really did want to see how I would do walking in the manner I plan to walk on the Camino. The rain came somewhere between the second and third mile. It was a little chilly, but no big deal. I had to smile as I came up to a couple of young boys who were laughing hysterically at their wet condition. One turned to me and said, "I got drenched back there!" as if he were the only one who had found himself in that situation.

I have been finding lately that my shoes are not as comfortable as they once were. (In fact, during the walk I had a severe pain in the ball of my left foot for several miles.) So I went to Foot Solutions in Elizabethtown last week to have it checked out. The folks there were great and spent a couple of hours with me. In the end, I am getting new orthotics and new boots. My old boots were a size too small. Maybe they were always too small, or maybe my feet are bigger. Who knows? I should have them in two weeks, with enough time to break them in before I leave. I hope they come before the mini-marathon on April 19th.

Eleven Miles Today!

I left with my dad on Friday and headed to Johnson City, Tennessee, for the funeral of a cousin of mine. He  was 55,  and a summer playmate for many years, as our family vacation always consisted of a week in JC with my father's kin. Some things never change, and in the South, in both joy and sorrow, comfort is always found in FOOD!

Which is to say that I didn't get much walking in this weekend, although I did find time to walk around my dad's old high school, Science Hill, which has turned into a mega-campus and took an hour to walk around! So, to assuage my guilt, I decided that it was time to see how well I would fare in attempting two walking sessions similar to a day's walk on the Camino. After helping MB pack up some care packages for the deployed military in our church, I headed out to a favorite walk close by: Buttermilk Falls. That was a five-mile walk and it took me an hour and a half. I then went home and took a break for lunch. I meant it to be an hour, but catching up on email and getting the archeological society newsletter out...well, the break turned into two hours.

I then headed out for the six mile walk around my neighborhood. I managed it fine in two hours and ten minutes. That last quarter mile suddenly found my right knee protesting a little, but Natalie McMasters fiddled her way into my gait and I stomped and jigged up heartbreak hill, which I purposely placed at the end of my course.

So, I am complacently sitting before the computer with a large and well-deserved glass of bourbon in my hand. This coming Saturday is the Papa John Ten Miler race which I have signed up for. I have to do an eighteen minute mile for 10 miles, if I want to finish before the race closes. (How's that for a goal? Just get done before they close the course!) No break, either! Can I do it? Solo el tiempo lo dira!

Compeed, I Love You!

A very strange thing happened last week. I was out on my usual walk, with my usual backpack, in my usual boots and socks, on a usual day, when, about two miles into the walk, I began to feel the dreaded hotspot on the ball of my right foot. I remembered what the pilgrims say about attending to it immediately, so I stopped and searched in my first aid supplies for some blister protection. I had purchased some little band-aid type things with a gel pad in the center made just for blisters, and so I found one, applied it to the hotspot, and proceeded on my way. Before long, however, the pain of a blister started to accompany my every step. I decided to soldier on, knowing that more than likely this will happen on the Camino and I'll just have to learn to deal with it.
       When I got home and took my boots off, the puny little blister protector had come off, and a full-fledged blister was there. The next day, I was scheduled to walk a 5K in Louisville, as the first leg in the "Triple Crown" leading up to the mini-marathon in April. What to do? The next morning I applied moleskin but the pain was my friend for the whole walk. Nonetheless, I met another walker, a very interesting lady who made books; that is, she handcrafted her own paper and bound it in handcrafted covers. And she was on her way in a couple of weeks to serve coffee to participants at the end of the Iditarod. There are so many interesting people in the world!
      Anyway, when I got home, I was determined to find a source for that miracle mentioned by many pilgrims. It is a British product called Compeed. I found out that Johnson and Johnson in the US had bought the rights to the technology, so I thought surely a pharmacy would carry it. I went to Walgreens and found it. It is called Tough Pads, and they are expensive: about $5.00 each, but if they work, they will be worth their weight in gold. (Well, they are very light, but still...)
      I slapped one on, and believe me, they are technological miracles! I could walk without pain; it stayed on through showers, walking and a sauna, for three days. By the fourth day, it was starting to come off. I peeled it off. It did not stick to the skin and the blister was gone.
      The mystery still remains as to why that blister popped up out of nowhere, but I am glad because now I am ready for them. My first aid kit will be replete with them for myself and other blister-prone pilgrims I may meet along the way.
     

Diez Kilometros con La Mochila al Hombro

Friday the sun showed her shining face and smilingly beckoned me to hit the road. I donned my new Osprey Aura backpack, filled with most of the items I will be taking with me (sans-or rather "sin"- toiletries, rain gear, and water bottle). I clipped on my newly acquired Blackberry, and headed out on the six mile path I had just mapped out around my neighborhood. (The pack weighed in at 8 pounds. I hope I can keep it under 12, or at most 15.) I soon entered a kind of Zen in my loping gait, a mental state that I acquire when walking slowly and steadily. The pack never gave me a moment's discomfort. I paused once to snap a photo with the Blackberry camera and send it on its way to my husband's cell phone. Yes! I can do this. Six miles in the early morning manana temprano, six miles in the late morning, with a break for almuerzo, perhaps a little Rioja vino tinto to make light the heart. But can I do it for forty days in a row? Solo el tiempo lo dira!

Brass Tacks

It's getting serious now. Last Friday I went to Quest Outdoors and bought my Osprey Aura backpack and an ultralight sleeping bag. I put in my high tech quick-dry shirts and one of my quick-dry, zip-off pants, some coolmax socks and sundry other things that I will itemize at a later date. It weighs seven and a half pounds so far. I still need to put in raingear, some lightweight sandals, my Brierley guide, and toiletries. (I am determined not to pack any cosmetics--ugh!) So, I think I am doing quite well. I am also researching the possibility of getting a Blackberry cellphone upgrade so I can text home once in a while, take some good photos, listen to some music, and use it to blog on the road without breaking the bank.

My friend, Tuula, has given me some Spanish lessons, and I have been refreshing my French. A friend who is a UPS pilot has offered to get me a stand-by ticket to Paris and back. My plan is to fly from Baltimore/D.C. to Paris in mid-May, take the TGV train from Paris to Bayonne, and then a local train to St. Jean Pied de Port to begin my trek.

Meanwhile, I've signed up for several walks in Louisville. A 5K, a 10K, a 10-miler, and the Derby mini-marathon. I'll take my backpack on all of those and see how I fare. Six miles is easy for me now, and I've done ten miles, so I think I'm ready. I am excited!