Saturday 4 August 2007

The walk of death

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this walking thing. It was raining quite heavily for the last hour or so of today's walk, but did I care? No, because I had on my "ocean" Kathmandu Gore-Tex jacket and navy blue Team Stolite rain trousers, and because unlike last week, I wasn't tired and didn't have aching legs. OK, so the legs were a bit sore for the last couple of kilometers, but it was nothing like last Saturday, when I hit the wall at about the 20km mark.

I'm not sure why I felt so much better today. Maybe it's because I was a bit more careful about what I ate. For a start, I had peanut butter on my toast this morning instead of the usual Vegemite. I also took along a packet of "trail mix" (a mixture of nuts, raisins, dried fruit, and chocolate), which I nibbled on throughout the day. I didn't have much for lunch - just a muffin and a cup of coffee - but the trail mix kept me going. Then again, maybe it wasn't the food; maybe all the training is finally paying off.

Death seemed to be a recurring theme throughout today's walk. Heading into town I discovered a new walkway that eventually led me into the Addington Cemetery. (I enjoyed it so much I took the same route coming home.) Later, while walking along the Avon River, I passed the Barbadoes Street Cemetery, one of the city's oldest. Later still, I passed through Bromley, which seems to be full of cemeteries, crematoriums, and memorial gardens.

The only sour note of the day was struck when I got home and found that my socks and feet were a bit damp. (Also the pockets in my jacket aren't waterproof, but I knew that and so I've only got myself to blame for the fact that my cell phone got wet.) But the shoes are a bit of a worry. I'm wondering if I should I shell out $300 for a pair of those waterproof Rockports I tried on a couple of weeks ago. They were pretty comfortable.

Distance walked today: 34.8km
Total distance walked since blog began: 404.9km
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 78

3 comments:

Erik said...

wow. you go. i'm sure the constant nibbling helped a lot, and the cumulation of walking of course. talk to you tomorrow, be sure and stretch.

Anonymous said...

Aren't your feet waterproof? When it rains, you get wet.

Walking fool said...

Cheeky bastard!